Helpful+Hints

__Parent Tips for Reading __ Reading is one of the most important things students can do at home to become more successful learners. By reading at home, students will improve their comprehension skills, their reading accuracy, their reading fluency, their vocabulary knowledge, their spelling, and their writing skills. All fourth grade students are expected to read at least 40 books over the course of the school year. Students have a lot of time  in school to read and they should be reading at least 20 minutes at home every night. Thus, students should be able to complete a book every week or two. It is essential that students are reading books at their own independent reading levels. There are 3 levels of books: easy, just right, and challenging. Most of the time students should be reading just right books. Please look below for some tips to ensure your student is reading a "Just Right" book.

__Tips to Finding a "Just Right" Book __ 1. Complete the Five Finger Test. (See below.)

2. Encourage your child to read the back cover and the book jacket before they begin to read the book. It is important for the book to sound interesting to the reader.

3. Encourage your child to read at least the first few chapters before deciding to abandon the book. Some books have slow beginnings.

4. It is OK to abandon a book occasionally, but not every week.

You can also check the reading level of your child's book on the website Scholastic Book Wizard. Click [|here] to navigate to the website. Once you are there, select "Guided Reading" and type on the book's title. You can find a lot of book levels on this website.
 * Five Finger Test ||
 * 1. Open your book to a page in the middle that is all text without pictures. ||
 * 2. Hold up 5 fingers on one hand. ||
 * 3. Begin reading at the top of the page. ||
 * 4. Put down a finger each time you stumble over a word or come to a word you do not know. ||
 * 5. If you can get to the bottom of the page and still have at least one finger up, this book haspassed the five finger test! ||

<span style="color: #3722d3; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">__Other Reading Tips__ <span style="color: #3722d3; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">1. Talk to your student about the book he or she is reading. Ask him or her questions about the book.

<span style="color: #3722d3; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">2. Read with your student. Children are never too old to read with their parents.

<span style="color: #3722d3; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">3. Have your student read to a younger sibling, younger child, or even a pet. This will help your student improve his or her fluency.

<span style="color: #3722d3; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">4. Take your student to the public library. Show him or her that reading is important to you.