First Grade

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First Grade

• How can I help my child to become a better reader?

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First, make sure your child understands the
basics!

• Have your child point to the words as he or she
  reads.

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As your child points to the words, make sure
he/she is moving from left to right, is pointing
to each word as it is said, and is not saying
words that are not there.
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When can my child stop pointing?

• When he/she can read sight words consistently.
• When he/she notices when what is said does not
  match what is on the page.
• When you notice that he/she is reading books
  without patterns easily.
• When pointing to the words slows him/her down
  instead of helping him/her read!

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What prompts can I use to help my child read?
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Use Picture Clues!

• Pictures help your child figure out words that
  he/she cannot yet sound out.
• They help your child make meaning of the story.
• Children build their vocabulary as they look at
  the pictures and discuss what they see!

7
Look for sight words, word wall words or high
frequency words that you know.
come
what
said
went
was
look
this
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Look at the punctuation marks!

• Punctuation marks help tell the story. Remind
  your child to look at them while reading.

Help!
I can help you.
Can I help you?
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Get your mouth ready to make the first sound.
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Blend the sounds to figure out an unknown words.

• c a t

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Look for a little word in a big word or a part
that you know.
c am p
b all
th at
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Think of a word that makes sense.
The fish swims in the ______.
lake
pond
water
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Read the sentence again to make sure it

• Looks right
• Sounds right
• Makes sense

The cat is small.
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Or you can

• Look for patterns in text.
• Substitute another word that makes sense.
• Make predictions (What do you think would work
  here.)

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But most important of all
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Read to your child, Read with your child,or
Listen to your child read every night!