LITERACY LINKS

*New links for summer reading taken from the June issue of Parents magazine!*

Scholastic's Summer Reading Buzz This site lets kids send e-cards with a literary theme and hook up with kids across the country all reading the same book.

Kid's Space This site is filled with stories, poems, and other compositions written by kids for kids-and your child can post his/her own too!

RIF Reading Planet This site has activities, contests, author interviews, and games to meet every kid's reading level and area of interest!

The following lists and websites are just a few of the great resources that we all have because of the hard work of teachers and the accessability of the internet. Keep in mind the different purposes for reading and the levels and genres of reading material available to you and your children when selecting books.

Reading Tips:

1. Children should be read to in order for them to hear stories and informational text that interests them beyond their reading level. From this experience children get to hear extended vocabulary that they would otherwise not be able to access reading on their own. They will also hear what fluent reading should sound like. The reader can stop periodically to check the child's understanding of the text in a very natural way. This experience promotes a joy of reading as a family experience.

2. When using leveled text it is important to know what your child's independent reading level is .With that knowledge you can make appropriate book choices for your child so that he/she will be able to read fluently and with good understanding.

3. It is suggested that you listen to your child read out loud periodically if he/she is in grades 3 - 5 to check the appropriateness and understanding of their selected reading material. Out loud reading is suggested to happen more frequently in the lower grades for the same reasons as stated above.

4. Allowing your child to read a familiar book that they love and appears too easy or memorized is okay. It just should not be your child's only at home reading experience.

5. Select a variety of books from different genres: fairy tales, poetry, informational text, magazine articles, tall tales, etc. Each of these book types presents its own format to master.

6. The Robbins Library is a wonderful resource for children's books and tapes. The staff is extremey knowledgable and is willing to assist you in selecting books. Their summer reading program is outstanding. An additional booklist will be sent home at school's end for summer reading.

7. Read to learn. Read for enjoyment.

Helpful Literacy Websites

National Eduaction Association Parent's Reading Page

www.nea.org/readacross/parents.html

This website offers several lists of recommended books including Teachers' Top 100 Books for Children, Kids' Top 100 Books, Celebrity Book Picks, and more.

A site that gives a reading level for every available book is:
http://bookwizard.scholastic.com/tbw/homePage.do

Another great phonics site is: www.funbrain.com/kidscenter.html

On Funbrain, check out the games:

• Spellcheck
• Scramble Saurus
• Spell a Roo
• Word Confusion
• Word Turtle (word search)
• Wacky Tales (Mad Libs)

Six Traits of Writing Online Lab (for students) http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/concord/teacherlinks/sixtraits/sixtraits.html

100 Best Books for Children http://www.teachersfirst.com/100books.cfm

Children's Literature - Resources for Parents http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/rparent.html

Children's Literature Web Guide http://www.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/

Kindergarten Leveled Book Lists (scroll down for a link to all grade levels) http://home.comcast.net/~ngiansante/kindergarten.html

About.Com Children's Books http://childrensbooks.about.com/od/forparents/tp

Scholastic Books Site www.scholastic.com

Robbins Library Online http://www.robbinslibrary.org/

Content on this page provided by Marie Janiak, Carol Andrus and Suzanne Trottier