Teacher, parent(s), and child must be invoved to make reading happen.  Here's what you can do to reinforce and continue reading skills at home...

Read "Just Right Books"

Goldilocks tried the Three Bears' porridge, chairs, and beds.  She continued to try each one until she found the ones that were "just right" for her.  The books your chld reads can be thought of in the same way.

A book that is "just right" is one that your child cna red independently.  It is not too hard and it is not too easy.  It's a good fit - it's "just right".  Here is one way to help your child choose such a book:

FIVE FINGER RULE

While reading the first page of a book, count the unkown words (using fingers to keep track is fine).  If there are five or more unknown  words, the book is too hard for now.  Read that book together.

Another important consideration - some first graders have learned to read many words.  They even may be reading "chapter books".  However they might not be understanding what's been read.  Ask your child lots of questions about the story in general and about specific pages to see if he/she really understands what was read.  It also is important to monitor your child's choices for appropriate content. 

Reading Strategies

Check Pictures - Look at the illustrations for a clue.

Guess and Go - Guess what word would make sense and try it in the sentence.

Guess and Check - Guess what word would make sense and scheck to see if the letters in the printed word match your guess.

Running Start - Go back to the beginning of the sentence and start again.

Word Find - Find the word on a previous page.

Sound It Out - Use the phonics rules that we are learning in class.

Chunk it up - Break the word in parts containing 2-3 letters.

Word in a word - Look for words within words.

Baseword Find - Cover suffixes and prefixes to find the baseword.

Consonants Only - Sound out the word using just consonants, no vowels.