A Game for the Road

Research has shown that students whose parents play word games with them out perform in reading achievement and reading skill development. One word game that can be played while traveling to Grandma's house is "Change That Word." The first person says a word like "cat" and then spells it out loud. The next person has to change some part of that word to make another word. For example, they can change the beginning sound to make "sat." They might choose to change the ending sound to make "can." Maybe they change the vowel to make "cot." The previous word keeps getting changed by the next player. Each new word is spelled out loud. As the players get older, the words can get more complicated. For example, the players might add prefixes or suffixes to the first word to change them. The baseword, the prefix or the suffix can be the start of the next word. For example, the play may go something like this: "decide," "decided," "undecided," "unusual," "usual," "usually," "helpfully," "helpful," "helpless." If you want to keep points you could have each person receive a point who could not think of a word or who did not spell the word correctly. The person with the least points wins.

Board Games

Each Christmas I make sure at least one person in my family receives a new board game. Even though our hectic lives keep us from playing them much during the year, we always find time to play them during the winter holiday break. I like to purchase games that have won educational awards - I feel like playing these types of games is a win-win situation. Not only do they provide a fun time of family bonding - but learning is a natural byproduct. I hope each of our Prairieview families will have a very happy holiday and a wonderful New Year.

Books Children Enjoy

The following are books picked by children as new ones that they enjoy. This list came from The Reading Teacher, Volume 62, Number 2, October 2003, pp.162-167.

Grades 3-4

Animals in the House: A History of Pets and People by Sheila Keenan

Babymouse:Camp Babymouse by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

Babymouse: Heartbreaker by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm

Big Cats: Hunters of the Night by Elaine Landau

The Book Club Kit by Patti Kelley Criswell

Could You? Would You? by Trudy White

Crazy Cars by Matt Doeden

Dare to Dream! by Carl Sommer, Jorge Martinez, Greg Budwine and Kennon James

Dinosaurium: 10 Books in One by Laura Buller and Carey Scott

Dinosaurs Across America by Phil Yeh

Do Not Open: An Encyclopedia of the World's Best-Kept Secrets by John Farndon

Dog Diaries: Secret Writings of the Woof Society by Betsy Byars, Betsy Duffey and Laurie Myers

Dogs by Meish Goldish

Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case by Donald J. Sobol

Every Minute on Earth: Fun Facts That Happen Every 60 Seconds by Steve Murrie and Matthew Murrie

Explorer: A Daring Guide for Young Adventurers by Dugald A. Steer

Extreme Dinosaurs by Robert Mash

Extreme Pets! by Jane Harrington

Goosebumps Graphix 3: Terror Trips by R. L. Stine, Jill Thompson, Jamie Tolagson and Amy Kim Ganter

A Horse in the House and Other Strange but True Animal Stories by Gail Ablow

How Big Is It? A BIG Book All about BIGNESS by Ben Hillman

Medical Detective Dogs with Frances E. Ruffin

Military Dogs by Frances E. Ruffin

Monday With a Mad Genius by Mary Pope Osborne

Mythology by Dugald A. Steer

Old Penn Station by William Low

The Painted Circus by Wallace Edwards

Race Horses by Michael Sandler

Real-Life Sea Monsters by Judith Jango-Cohen

The Richest Poor Kid by Carl Sommer

Scholastic Book of World Records 2008 by Jenifer Corr Morse

See What You Can Be: Explore Careers That Could Be For You! by Diane Heiman and Liz Suneby

Spike the Rebel by Carl Sommer

Turtle Summer: A Journal for My Daughter by Mary Alice Monroe

Wolves by Duncan Searl

The Worst Name in Third Grade by Debbie Dadey

Lexiles

The next school week will be conference week. During that week you will be receiving your child's ISAT scores. On the bottom left hand side of the 2nd page will be his/her lexile. This number can help you find books at your child's reading level. For independent reading, choose books which are between your child's lexile and 100 points below that lexile. So, for example, if your child's lexile is 570L then choose books between 470L - 570L. If you are planning on reading with your child so that he/she will be supported, then read books that are up to 50 points ahead of his/her lexile. So, for this child you would choose books between 570L - 620L. You can go to the lexile website, www.lexile.com, and it will help you find books that match the lexile you are looking for. You can also write in the title of a book and it will give you a lexile number for that book. Not every book is listed, but a lot of them are. Choosing books within these ranges will help insure that your child does not get frustrated and quit because of the difficulty of the book.

How to Pick a Book Part 9

Am I interested enough in this book to think that I will read it all of the way through? This is the question that readers must ask themselves before committing to a book. By going through these nine exercises when choosing a book, most students will be able to answer this question. It is important to answer this question. Settling on a wise choice for a book will help to keep the reader engaged and therefore, learning. Flitting from one book to another, without engagement, will stagnate a reader's growth.

How to Pick a Book Part 8

When deciding on a book to read, the reader should try to make a connection with the book. This connection can be small or great. By making a connection to something in the reader's life, to something they have read or heard read, or to something going on in the world, the reader is more likely to stay with the book. If the reader cannot relate the book to anything they have experienced or learned about, then there is little to hold him/her to that book.

How to Pick a Book Part 7

Before deciding to read a book, the reader should examine the topic of the book. There are a wide variety of topics in books and not all of them are suitable for all students at the same age. Students should be aware of the topic and decide if they are ready for that topic. Students should be encouraged to consult their parents or caregivers when uncertain if a topic is suitable.

How to Pick a Book Part 6

Before selecting books, students should think about the genre. By making connections between the genre of the book they are selecting and other books they have read or heard in the same genre, they can better understand what to expect in this book. If the book is a fantasy, they will expect things to happen which they have not experienced happening in their own lives. If the book is a biography, they will expect to read facts and interesting details of the person's life.

How to Pick a Book Part 5

Open up the book and read a page. Ask yourself if you understood what you read. Could you explain what you read to someone else? How many words couldn't you read? Were there meanings of words you didn't understand? If the student is reading this book independently, five words on a page that they don't understand or can't read should be the limit. In other words, the student must judge the book before choosing it by deciding if this is a book that he/she can read with understanding.

How to Pick a Book Part 4

When readers select books, they should think about what they already know about the subject of the book, the author, or illustrator. Read the title and the summary of the book. When readers think about what they already know about a book they can build on that knowledge to create greater understanding of the topic. If they know very little about a topic, they know that it will probably be harder reading than if they know quite a bit about the topic.

How to Pick a Book Part 3

The third item to note when picking a book is its organization. When readers understand the way books are organized, they can better understand the book. When readers understand how they learn best - they can choose books which help them most. So encourage students to look at the layout of the book. Are there long or short chapters? Are there a variety of pictures, illustrations and diagrams? Are there headings and subheadings? Even the size of print can have an influence on how easily a students understands the book.

Small Group Time

It was wonderful to see how all of the teachers and staff worked together to make Small Group Time work. As small groups meet from various classrooms to work on individual needs it takes a lot of coordination. Students have to be at different locations at different times. It takes a lot of scheduling and teacher preparedness for that to happen seamlessly. I was very thankful that teachers and students remained flexible and ready to work on doing this right. We are off to a great start and we will continue to improve as we work at making it even better.

How to Pick a Book to Read Part Two

When picking a book, it is important to look at the language of the book. Does the language sound natural to you? When you read a random page, is it relatively easy to understand? The first "O" in "Bookmatch" stands for "ordinary language." Students and adults can better pick a book they won't put down if they follow these principles during selection time.

How to Pick a Book to Read

Linda Wedwick and Jessica Ann Wutz, in their book, Bookmatch, How to Scaffold Student Book Selection for Independent Reading, give helpful advice on what readers should look for when selecting books to read. Each week I am going to present one of their ideas of something readers should do when selecting books. The "B" in Bookmatch stands for book length. All of us have only a certain amount of minutes in the day that we can devote to reading. We want to find a book that is the right length for us. Are we marathon readers that can hang in there for the long haul - or do we loose interest and put a book down before we are finished? Finding the book that is the right length, one that we will finish, is the first step in finding the right book.

Books for an Election Year

This is a good year to include some books about voting and elections in your family reading time. Family discussions about this important topic help students to understand some of the issues involved in an election. Some good ones include:

Vote! by Eileen Christelow (ages 6 and up)

So You Want to Be President? by Judith St. George (ages 8 and up)

Independent Dames: What You Never Knew About the Women and Girls of the American Revolution by Laurie Halse Anderson (ages 8 and up)

See How They Run: Campaign Dreams, Election Schemes, and the Race to the White House by Susan E. Goodman (ages 9 and up)

Welcome Back!

I am looking forward to a great 08-09 school year. This will be my fifth year at Prairieview and the time has flown by. I can hardly believe I have been here this long. It has been a wonderful experience with great students, staff, administrators, parents and fellow teachers.

For those students who are just beginning to tackle chapter books, I have a list of good ones with which to start. Just email me at lslinger@ccsd66.org or send a note and I will email a copy or give your child a hard copy.

Reading helps us grow!

Mrs. Slinger

Have a Safe and Pleasant Summer

Thank you students and parents for another great school year. I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching your children. Just a little learning every day in every subject adds up to a lot of learning by the end of the school year. It is fun to think about the growth these students have experienced. I wish for you a happy and safe summer enjoying the delights of warm weather, sun and some good books!

Response to Intervention - For the Week of May 25th

Center Cass School District #66 is in the process of implementing an Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) mandate, Response to Intervention (RTI). RTI is an array of procedures that can be used to determine if and how students respond to specific changes in instruction. RTI provides an improved process and structure for school teams in designing, implementing, and evaluating educational interventions.

Please look for the additional information on RTI, which will be included with your child’s end of the year Report Card.

Pourquoi Tales for the Week of May 17th

Pourquoi tales are oral stories that have been written down. They use animal traits or human customs to help us understand how something came to be the way it is. A few examples of Pourquoi tales you might want to check out from the library are:

Alexander, E. (1989). Llama and the great flood: A foolktale from Peru. New York: Crowell.

Bruchac, J. (1993). The First Strawberries: A Cherokee story.New York: Puffin.

Goble, P. (1983). Star Boy. New York: Bradbury.

Hurston, Z.N. (2004). What's the hurry, fox? And other animal stories.New York: HarperCollins.

Something for Parents - For the Week of May 11TH

An interesting website with all types of parenting issues is www.greatergood.berkeley.edu/half_full/. This site contains a variety of articles, podcasts, videos and comments from readers. A couple of examples of topics are "making dinner time a happy habit," and "raising optimistic kids."

Book Reviews

Another website your children might enjoy is www.bookhooks.com. Students can read book reviews written by other students and write book reviews of their own. Full names are not used so the student will remain anonymous. It can be motivating to students to have the opportunity to write something that the whole world can read.

Great Website for Summer Learning

A free website that has ideas for summer learning is www.readwritethink.org/beyondtheclassroom/summer/. In it you will discover great ideas for students in grades 3-5. There are literacy ideas, book lists, podcasts and videos, tool tip sheets and a downloadable "What I've Read" sheet to record summer reading. Check out this website for some valuable help.

Summer Reading

It isn't too early to begin thinking about how to schedule reading into your summer. If your child is already an avid reader, you probably don't need to think about it. If, however, your child needs to be encouraged to spend some time reading almost every day, here are some suggestions:

1. Join a library reading club or make up your own reading club where the child earns points to do something special during the summer.

2. Hire a junior high or high school student to come and read with your child several times a week.

3. Decide on several books to read together as a family and then as culminating activities, watch the movies of the books. This will give you opportunities for great discussions comparing and contrasting the books with the movies.

4. If your child is a video game player, have them earn video playing time by reading.

5. Set a certain time of the day for your family reading time. For example, you might decide that right after dinner everyone will relax together for 15-20 minutes reading independently or taking turns reading aloud.

In order for students to become better readers - they need to read. Just like playing basketball, playing the tuba or becoming a ballerina, practice is key.

Family Book Club

We had some great discussions around various topics during our Family Book Club evening on April 9th. There were many positive comments about the evening. One parent said, "Getting together with other students and parents is a great way to improve comprehension." Another said that they enjoyed exporing "history in a story." Another commented, "I enjoyed spending the time with my child doing an activity with some teaching moments."

One students said, "I enjoyed the raffle and the snacks and drinks." Another stated,
"We had funny conversations."

There were also some suggestions for future book clubs and we are looking at those carefully. One person suggested using the book The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tullane. We would love to use that book if it comes out in paperback.

Thank you for a great evening. We look forward to hosting another Family Book Club next school year.

"Reading is Fundamental" Website

Check out this website. It is helpful and encouraging. The following is an except from its article, "Creating a Reading Environment at Home."

Be Reading Role Models
As much as they may deny it, most children want to be like their parents. Their lifelong habits start to form at the earliest ages, often by mimicking older members of the family. If they see you reading daily—both for function and for pleasure—they will more likely become avid readers themselves. If children see parents visiting libraries and checking out books, giving and receiving books as gifts, and borrowing and loaning books to friends, they will know their parents place a high value on reading.

http://www.rif.org/parents/articles/Creating.mspx

Reading About Math?

Did you know that there are books that your children can read, or that you can read to them, that are based on math? What a fun way to explore different math concepts. These are informational texts, but written in such a way to engage students and make learning fun. Why not pick up a couple of these at your local library?

Math Curse - Jon Scieszka

The Grapes of Math - Greg Tang

Cheetah Math: Learning About Division From Baby Cheetahs - Nagda

The Monster Who Did My Math - Schnitzlein

Read Across America

Read Across America is an event sponsored by the National Education Association (NEA) to honor the birthday of the late Dr. Seuss. This year it happens to fall on March 3rd, which is Pulaski Day, so there will be no school. This would be a good day to celebrate with a little extra time for reading. For some good tips on reading to and with children go to the NEA website:

www.nea.org/readacross/parents.html

Award Winning Books!

These books have won the Newbery and Caldecott awards for 2008. Look for them in your local library and see if they might interest your student.

Newbery:
2008 Medal winner: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies
Honor:
Elijah of Buxton
The Wednesday Wars
Feathers

Caldecott:
2008 Medal Winner: The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Honor:
Henry's Freedom Box
First the Egg
The Wall: Growing Up Behind the Iron Curtain
Knuffle Bunny Too

Clap it Out!

This is a fun little game you can play anywhere and it will help students to hear the syllables in longer words. First each person thinks of two syllable words and everyone claps while saying the syllables together. For example: sub ject, (clap, clap) con flict, man age, re spect. After doing that well - begin doing three syllable words. At lan tic, sub trac tion, col or ful. Then go on to four syllable words. rec com mend ing, re spon sib le, trust worth i ness. Then try to think of words that are longer. See who can think of the longest word to clap out. Su per in ten dant, mi cro scop ic, con grat u la tions.

Reading Fluency

Rereading a passage a number of times and being coached by a fluent reader are both ways to improve reading fluency. The best pieces of literature to use to practice fluency are artistic passages. Have your child practice poems, or stories that have interesting dialogs. Model for them how the piece will sound if read well. Show them by scooping with your finger or a pencil under phrases as you read so the child can get a feel for the flow of the language. Then provide an authentic reason for them to practice - "I want you to read this to Grandma when she comes over so she can hear what a great reader you are becoming," or "Daddy said when he gets home from work he wants to hear you read this." An audience is a motivator and encourager. It just makes it more fun to read to an audience!