“Reading is thinking.”
We are off to a great start this year in grade 4! Students are reading texts in many different formats such as books, articles, and short passages. Our focus is to encourage students to think while they are reading by using strategies such as predicting, wondering/questioning, noticing, and summarizing. Students should also be able to identify the story elements of their text, adjust their strategy use accordingly, and monitor their understanding while they are reading. Knowing which strategy to use when can be tricky, but this will lead to a deeper understanding when they are reading. This sounds simple, but it isn’t.
Please encourage your child to read at home. Practice is key! Even though s/he is a more independent reader, you can still ask questions to prompt your child to talk about her/his fiction book. Perhaps ask questions such as:
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Talk to me about your book.
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What is your book about?
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What do you like best about your book?
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What do you like least about your book?
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What do you think might happen next?
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What character traits would you use to describe your character(s)?
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What the lesson of the story?
Thank you for your continued support and happy reading!
Mrs. VanDerheyden
Monroe Elementary Reading Specialist