Web Resource

For ELA and reading teachers and parents, I have located a web resource that appears very promising. English-Zone.com contains resources for both reading and ELA. It covers skills from grammar to vocabulary and contains a number of lesson plans and activities that can be used in the classroom or in the home. Take a look at this site the first chance you get.

Internet Resource

Math people, don't say that I don't ever think of you. I have two neat sites for your. I was peeking over my wife's shoulder as she searched for math resources and discovered these sites. Take a look at it and see what you think. coolmath-games.com features about twenty or so math games.

coolmath.com appears to be the parent site for coolmath-games.com. It advertises itself as "An amusement park of math and more." The ages it services are listed at 13-100. Not only does it feature games, but it appears to contain lesson plans and activities as well. I also see an online math dictionary, a math practice area, and an area for parents. It covers pre-algebra, algegra, and geometry. This is certainly a site you should check out!

Daily Buzzword

Click on Buzzword below for meaning and usage:

plaid

The Truth about Book Lists

I have had a lot of questions about the use of book lists in deciding what students should be reading. Book lists have their good qualities and bad qualities. Okay, I'll give you the good qualities first. Book lists give us a general idea of what students might like to read. I say might, and that leads us to the bad part. Most book lists are compiled by adults. That is to say, most book lists are simply a list of children and adolescent literature that adults like. And you know as well as I do that most of the time what adults like and children like are two different things altogether.

The best way to pick books for your child is to allow them to choose their reading material themselves. They know better than anyone what they like. Also, you might ask a librarian what is popular, or if you are in a book store, ask the manager what most students your child's age are reading. But perhaps the best means to determine if your child might like or dislike a book is simply ask another child. But if you are really looking for book lists, try the following link. It is a list of book lists put together by the American Library Association (ALA). It will more than get you started.

www.ala.org/yalsa/booklists

What Should My Child Be Reading?

This morning I had an interesting conversation with a parent. I got his permission to recreate that conversation here.

He was concerned about what his son was reading. His son is a sixth grader who reads voraciously. He reads constantly. At least he did. You see, he loved reading fantasy books. You know the ones, books like The Circle of Magic Series, The Edge Chronicles, or the Pendragon series. His father grew tired of his son reading what he thought of as garbage, so his father insisted that he read the classics—William Shakespeare, Alexandre Dumas, George Orwell, and so on. When he caught him reading “garbage”, he would take it from him and replace it with one of the classics. Eventually, his son stopped reading altogether.

The questions he asked me were, “How do I get him reading again, and how do I get him to read the classics?” My answer was simple; let him read what he wants. I absolutely love the classics, but when I was a child, I loved garbage too. In fact, my love for the classics came much, much later when I was a college student and had the tools to really appreciate them.

So this is my advice to you. Don’t worry about what your child is reading. Just make sure they are reading. As his or her love for reading builds, pretty soon they’ll pick up the classics on their own.

Emphasis: Vocabulary

The Reading Leadership Team (RLT) has identified vocabulary as an area of immediate concern. To this end, for the month of September, we will be concentrating on vocabulary during our daily reading period. We will continue this emphasis during the course of the school year.

I cannot emphasize how important the development of a good vocabulary is to student success in and out of the classroom. I can assure you that your students reading instructor will be doing everything humanly possible to insure your student develops those all important vocabulary skills. The most important thing you as a parent can do is to insure your student reads everyday. Also, you will find a list websites to the right of this blog that will assist your student in developing a good vocabulary.

Encouraging Students to Read

If students are to improve their reading ability, it is important that they read, both in school and out of school. As with most skills, reading skills get better with practice. Students will get plenty reading practice while here at school; however, it is up to parents to insure that students read at home. First, please insure that your student has plenty of reading material on hand. Books, newspapers, magazines—and yes, even comic books—are all acceptable. Here are just a few tips to get students reading at home:

• Make the local public library a frequent family outing.
  
• Make reading a family activity.
  
• Turn off the television (and video games).
  
• Set a time every evening for reading (about thirty minutes).
  
• Read to the student or have the student read to you.
  
• Take time to discuss what the student is reading.
  
• Ask questions about what the student is reading.
  
• Make sure they see you reading!

This list of tips is by no means complete. It is just something to get you started. Happy reading!