Dear Parents/Guardians,
Reading is critical to your child’s academic success. Your child will be receiving 1.25 hours of reading instruction every day this year. We are also spending 45 minutes every day for at least three weeks covering phonics. You should see the handouts entitled, “Rewards,” that we use to cover the lessons coming home with their graded classwork. By mid-October, after their Fall reading test scores are analyzed, our team plans to have focused reading intervention time (F.I.T.) set up to continue to improve the level at which your child is reading.
Reading for 20 minutes a day 5 days a week is a requirement. A reading zone has been identified for your child that indicates the book level your child should be able to read at independently. I encourage you to set the expectation that the reading is to be completed and suggest when that could be taking place (i.e. as soon as your child gets home before any TV or video game may be turned on, in the morning before school, at night before bed, on the way home from school on the bus, on the way to their sibling’s ballgame, etc.). Reading slightly above or below the zone identified for your child is fine, but most of the books should be within the zone. Books below level 2.0 will not count towards any student's goal. As weeks go by, your child should be trying to read toward the higher level of their independent reading zone.
While I would love for your child to be able to score 100% on every AR test, the goal is to score 85% or higher each time. You and I will both want to be watching how they are scoring on the tests they are taking. We want to make sure they are understanding what they are reading and that the level of what they are reading is appropriate for them to be successful. I have several short National Geographic books in my classroom library that most of my students have enjoyed reading. Some kids can read them once, take the AR test, and score 85% or higher. Others, it’s best for them to read it twice before testing. It’s important your child learns what works best for them.
Reading a book with your child can also be a great way for them to gain experience with reading. To hear another fluent reader read with varying tone, expression, and correctly pausing after commas and end punctuation is quite valuable as well as they will love to spend that time with you. Please ask them foreshadowing questions (ie. What do you think might happen next and why?) or comprehension questions (Why do you think Jason ran away? What directly or indirectly gave you the interpretation that that was going to happen?). In fourth grade, students are being asked more questions that do not have answers directly stated in the reading. Instead of the text stating that it was raining, perhaps it says , "Hope and Anne ran inside because they didn’t want their clothes to get soaked before their recital that afternoon. " It’s also great to ask them if there’s anything they are wondering about from the book and have a conversation about the book. In doing so, you are bearing witness to the fact of how important reading is and what they should be thinking about as an active reader.
Our school offers ebooks that can be checked out from home. The link to the site is https://thinkusa.mackinvia.com/dashboard. It is also listed on the district web page, or you can
download the app. Your child will need to use their school email and password to get started. If
your child has never used their school email the password will be USA* four digit lunch number.
Your child’s email can be found on the student profile page under Family Access in Skyward.
Your child will be going to the library on most Thursdays and may also go most any day that he/she may need to go to get a new book after finishing one. After getting permission from me and checking with Ms. Fischer, our librarian who's also one of our school secretaries, that it’s an appropriate time, a book can be checked out with her in the office.
I have also compiled a nice size classroom library that the students may use. They should take no more than two books at a time, take care of the books, and return them to the same color labeled bin as is on the borrowed book. Normally the kids are great about this.
I will also send home monthly book orders with your child throughout the year. Buying books is yet another great way to show that you value reading. Books may be ordered by filling out and sending in the form with the exact amount of money (or a check made out to Scholastic Book Clubs) or going online to scholastic.com/bookclubs and putting in our class code of P2KRQ. You can pay online by credit card or Paypal. Your order helps to get more books for the classroom library.
Together, we can improve upon your child's reading skills and continue to nurture their innate interest to learn something new.
Your child's teacher, coach, and cheerleader in education,
Mrs. Kristi Eurich
Reading is critical to your child’s academic success. Your child will be receiving 1.25 hours of reading instruction every day this year. We are also spending 45 minutes every day for at least three weeks covering phonics. You should see the handouts entitled, “Rewards,” that we use to cover the lessons coming home with their graded classwork. By mid-October, after their Fall reading test scores are analyzed, our team plans to have focused reading intervention time (F.I.T.) set up to continue to improve the level at which your child is reading.
Reading for 20 minutes a day 5 days a week is a requirement. A reading zone has been identified for your child that indicates the book level your child should be able to read at independently. I encourage you to set the expectation that the reading is to be completed and suggest when that could be taking place (i.e. as soon as your child gets home before any TV or video game may be turned on, in the morning before school, at night before bed, on the way home from school on the bus, on the way to their sibling’s ballgame, etc.). Reading slightly above or below the zone identified for your child is fine, but most of the books should be within the zone. Books below level 2.0 will not count towards any student's goal. As weeks go by, your child should be trying to read toward the higher level of their independent reading zone.
While I would love for your child to be able to score 100% on every AR test, the goal is to score 85% or higher each time. You and I will both want to be watching how they are scoring on the tests they are taking. We want to make sure they are understanding what they are reading and that the level of what they are reading is appropriate for them to be successful. I have several short National Geographic books in my classroom library that most of my students have enjoyed reading. Some kids can read them once, take the AR test, and score 85% or higher. Others, it’s best for them to read it twice before testing. It’s important your child learns what works best for them.
Reading a book with your child can also be a great way for them to gain experience with reading. To hear another fluent reader read with varying tone, expression, and correctly pausing after commas and end punctuation is quite valuable as well as they will love to spend that time with you. Please ask them foreshadowing questions (ie. What do you think might happen next and why?) or comprehension questions (Why do you think Jason ran away? What directly or indirectly gave you the interpretation that that was going to happen?). In fourth grade, students are being asked more questions that do not have answers directly stated in the reading. Instead of the text stating that it was raining, perhaps it says , "Hope and Anne ran inside because they didn’t want their clothes to get soaked before their recital that afternoon. " It’s also great to ask them if there’s anything they are wondering about from the book and have a conversation about the book. In doing so, you are bearing witness to the fact of how important reading is and what they should be thinking about as an active reader.
Our school offers ebooks that can be checked out from home. The link to the site is https://thinkusa.mackinvia.com/dashboard. It is also listed on the district web page, or you can
download the app. Your child will need to use their school email and password to get started. If
your child has never used their school email the password will be USA* four digit lunch number.
Your child’s email can be found on the student profile page under Family Access in Skyward.
Your child will be going to the library on most Thursdays and may also go most any day that he/she may need to go to get a new book after finishing one. After getting permission from me and checking with Ms. Fischer, our librarian who's also one of our school secretaries, that it’s an appropriate time, a book can be checked out with her in the office.
I have also compiled a nice size classroom library that the students may use. They should take no more than two books at a time, take care of the books, and return them to the same color labeled bin as is on the borrowed book. Normally the kids are great about this.
I will also send home monthly book orders with your child throughout the year. Buying books is yet another great way to show that you value reading. Books may be ordered by filling out and sending in the form with the exact amount of money (or a check made out to Scholastic Book Clubs) or going online to scholastic.com/bookclubs and putting in our class code of P2KRQ. You can pay online by credit card or Paypal. Your order helps to get more books for the classroom library.
Together, we can improve upon your child's reading skills and continue to nurture their innate interest to learn something new.
Your child's teacher, coach, and cheerleader in education,
Mrs. Kristi Eurich