February Chatter Article
Posted February 4th, 2012 by rmeyerFirst I just have to say, “WOW!” What a huge turnout we had for our PTA Family Fun night! Our gym was packed with Churchill families having fun together. Everyone was entertained with a night of magic, laughs, songs, and even some dancing. We all enjoyed seeing some of our students assist in the show, a few of our dads perform, and the kids anxiously waited to see Mrs. Hopkins get all tied up. A big thank you to our PTA who provided this family fun evening to our community free of charge! Thanks also to the PTA clean up crew, who certainly made quick work of putting back all of those chairs!
Our PTA works very hard to support our school. With their time and support they are able to provide nights like Tim Hannig – The Pro-Kids
Show!, fun food days, hot lunch days, field day, yearbook, school pictures, book fairs, and much more. This is a good time for us to remind you to join the PTA. A portion of our membership goes directly to events like those mentioned above. If paying for a membership is not what you wish to do, we also ask that you consider giving the gift of time to the PTA. When we share the responsibility to support our students the load lightens. Even 60 minutes makes a difference! Call any PTA representative to ask; “What can I do?”
Not only does our PTA work hard, so do our students. It is evident, from the many students who met their mid-year MAP goals that you and your families are finding time in your busy days to read with your children, ask them about books, and check their homework. We are very proud of the progress your students are making here at Churchill! We thank you for your continued support in your child’s education.
You are a very important person for your child’s reading and language development. You are your child’s first teacher and mentor. Children of all ages love to be read to and have people listen to them read. Encourage your children to pick books out of the library they are interested in and share them together. You could promote effective reading strategies by suggesting the following techniques when your child struggles with an unknown word.
(suggestions adapted from Attempting Unknown Words: Suggestions for Parents , by Katie DeSotell)
SKIP AND READ ON
When faced with an unknown word, your child should continue to the end of the sentence or paragraph. At that point go back to the unknown word and have them make a meaningful substitution and then reread the sentence with the substitution. Always encourage children to monitor their own comprehension by asking, “Does that make sense?” Often time, children will provide the correct word by utilizing the context clues.
PICTURE CLUES
Ask you child, “What do you see in the picture that may help you?” Attending to details in the picture may support your child’s attempts at unknown words. In addition to illustrations, encourage your child to use maps, photographs, charts, and diagrams to support their reading. All readers should be gaining meaning from the pictures as well as the words.
VOCABULARY CUES
Often times, a student’s oral vocabulary is greater than their written. Children are exposed to language so much more than they are exposed to print. Many times children will already know the unknown word and use the word appropriately in their own vocabulary, but may have never seen it in print to make the connection. You could say to your child, “Oh! You know this word. This is the word you use if you are very, very scared.” The unknown word in this case could be frightened. This helps students connect what they already know to the print in the
textbook.
SOUND IT OUT or “CHUNK IT”
Beginning readers should look at the letters in the word. Ask your child, “What sounds do you expect to hear?” Children can also think about word families that are familiar to them (such as cat, hat, sat). Ask your child, “Does this look like a word family you know? Does it rhyme with another word that you know?” Older readers should look for word parts they recognize‐‐base words/root, words within a word, suffixes and prefixes.
Happy Reading!
Mrs. Hopkins and Mrs. Lindblade