Dear "Butcherites" and Parents,
I hope the first three days of school were rewarding. I've loved seeing all the eager, perky faces shining up at me, and I'm working on learning names. Your child's homework this year is to read for 30 minutes, every Monday to Thursday. Please allow them to choose their own reading material. My objective is to have every student in love with reading and perceiving themselves as a "reader" before the end of the year. Here are some good things to know:
1. Motivation is 5 times more important than reading level. If they pick books above their "reading level," they just read them slowly. That's fine.
2. There is a natural progression in growth as a reader. They tend to start with comic books, then series books, then focusing on one author and genre, and then they start branching out and choosing higher level material.
3. Tread lightly when you are tempted to push them to a book you loved. Even kids with a high reading level are not always ready to enjoy the Stephen Crane or Jane Austen book you loved. Depending on age and personality, some kids are put of anything that their parents recommend on principle!
4. The kids get a form every 2 weeks where you verify that they did indeed do the 30 minutes of reading. Please sign nightly and find a way to ascertain that they really did the 30 minutes. Having them read where you can see you is obviously the best practice. They'll get one of these forms this Monday. Extra forms can be downloaded on the website.
kacybutcher.weebly.com password: Loving-Learning.
5. Library books and audio books are great. They'll also get regular opportunities to purchase from Scholastic book clubs. This company has been really generous and ethical. When we purchase from them, they allow me to pick gorgeous, free books to put into our classroom library, which your kid also gets to read. Support us if you can. The site asks for the class website code which is MZC93. Here's a link to the site.http://www.scholastic.com/home/
I hope the first three days of school were rewarding. I've loved seeing all the eager, perky faces shining up at me, and I'm working on learning names. Your child's homework this year is to read for 30 minutes, every Monday to Thursday. Please allow them to choose their own reading material. My objective is to have every student in love with reading and perceiving themselves as a "reader" before the end of the year. Here are some good things to know:
1. Motivation is 5 times more important than reading level. If they pick books above their "reading level," they just read them slowly. That's fine.
2. There is a natural progression in growth as a reader. They tend to start with comic books, then series books, then focusing on one author and genre, and then they start branching out and choosing higher level material.
3. Tread lightly when you are tempted to push them to a book you loved. Even kids with a high reading level are not always ready to enjoy the Stephen Crane or Jane Austen book you loved. Depending on age and personality, some kids are put of anything that their parents recommend on principle!
4. The kids get a form every 2 weeks where you verify that they did indeed do the 30 minutes of reading. Please sign nightly and find a way to ascertain that they really did the 30 minutes. Having them read where you can see you is obviously the best practice. They'll get one of these forms this Monday. Extra forms can be downloaded on the website.
kacybutcher.weebly.com password: Loving-Learning.
5. Library books and audio books are great. They'll also get regular opportunities to purchase from Scholastic book clubs. This company has been really generous and ethical. When we purchase from them, they allow me to pick gorgeous, free books to put into our classroom library, which your kid also gets to read. Support us if you can. The site asks for the class website code which is MZC93. Here's a link to the site.http://www.scholastic.com/home/