Newsletter Contents

• Publisher's Pen
• Empowering Parents and Teachers
• Empowering K.I.D.S. (Kids In Daily Situations)

Publisher's Pen: What Teachers Want

Attending my workshops in Buffalo, New York, were teachers with a list of what they wish parents would ask for, related to their child and his/her school progress. Some parents do ask these questions; however, others don’t know what questions to ask.

There appears to be a gulf in the communication, as well as in understanding what needs to be accomplished.  Parents want to help their kids, and teachers want to help parents. But, the gulf is widening due to a combination of factors.

Teachers are dealing with new standards and instructional plans. Parents are dealing with an ever-increasing fast-paced world for their families, with precious little time left over at the end of the day. How and where do we focus our efforts?

This is what teachers want parents to ask: 

• What specific strategies can I use with my child?
• What materials best suit my child?
• How can I support you from home?
• How can I structure my learning environment at home?
• How can I help with behavior management?
• How can I make myself more accessible to you?

This is what teachers want parents to do: 

• Spend time reading and writing with children
• Spend time conversing with children
• Plan activities with children
• Set limits with children
• Attend as many school functions as possible
• Keep the communications lines open

Right now, I know there are parents reading this who are feeling frustrated. You have tried some or all of the above and don’t feel that you are getting the support that you need from your child’s classroom teacher. Your needs will be addressed in upcoming issues. For this month of September, make a point to open the lines of communication with your child’s teacher and see where it leads you.

May our efforts be fruitful in this first month of the school year to help our children by forming a strong team to mine the gold in each and every child.

 Smiles,

Elaine

Empowering Parents and Teachers:

The National Panel on Reading has given us what they believe are the basic skills for reading and writing according to their own research. I have sifted through the reports to bring you a one-page list with quick tips to help you to diagnose what kids need to improve upon and what you can do to help them in just a few minutes a day.

After the reading tips, you will find a “writing rubric” (scoring guide) used in state assessments across the country. Both can be reproduced and used as blackline masters to be used as a quick reference.

 Reading Tips:

What the Research Says Kids Need:

Skills needed – “The Big Five”: 

What You Can Do:

Strategies to Figure out a Word: 

The Top Nine Reading Comprehension Strategies: 

• Ø      Prior knowledge – using what we already know.
• Ø      Predicting – look at covers, pictures, headings & ask “What’s next?”
• Ø      Inferencing – using clues to figure it out when we don’t have all the facts.
• Ø      Questioning – thinking out loud about what the author wrote.
• Ø      Visualizing – picturing the setting from reading/hearing the details.
• Ø      Summarizing – being able to retell what the story is about in fewer words.
• Ø      What’s Important – knowing which details are important to the story.
• Ø      Connections – connecting the story to what we know.
• Ø      Genre – understanding the difference between fiction & nonfiction.

Writing Rubric:

Children’s writing samples are scoring on a scale of 0-4, based on six categories. The six categories are: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency and conventions.

 A score of 4 (exceeds the standard) will look like this: 

A score of 3 (meets the standard) will look like this: 

A score of 2 (below the standard) will look like this:

A score of 1 (far below the standard) will look like this:

 A score of 0 (no attempt was made).

Note: writing sample evaluation is subjective. This rubric is used to evaluate a writing piece by the child’s classroom teacher, and also by a second, unbiased teacher to give the fairest evaluation possible. Please keep this in mind if you are using it in a student group or at home. 

Empowering K.I.D.S. (Kids In Daily Situations):

Looking for some cool books? Here are some great websites for very cool books:

• http://www.bestsellersguide.com/bg/bggiftskids.htm
• http://www.kidsreads.com/
• http://www.worldalmanacforkids.com/
• http://www.bridgelogosretail.com/booksforkids.htm
• http://bestsellers.zezenetwork.com/bggiftskids.shtml
• http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/bestsell.html

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