Welcome to the Parent Resources page for Literacy at Plum City!
We’re excited to partner with you in supporting your child’s reading and writing journey. Here, you’ll find a variety of tools, tips, and resources to help foster a love for literacy at home. Whether you're looking for strategies to enhance reading comprehension, fun activities to practice writing skills, or guidance on how to support your child's individual needs, we’re here to help. Together, we can make a positive impact on your child’s literacy development and set them on the path to lifelong learning!
As we work together to support your child’s literacy growth, we’re excited to share some easy, hands-on strategies you can try at home. These activities are based on the five key pillars of the Science of Reading: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
Incorporating these fun and engaging activities into your daily routine can help boost your child’s literacy skills in meaningful ways.
For more ideas visit our Parent Resources Padlet- new links, tips, and tricks will be added often!
If you have any questions or would like additional resources, don’t hesitate to reach out—we’re here to help!
Phonemic Awareness: Building Sound Awareness
Phonemic awareness is the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate sounds in spoken words. Here are some fun ways to strengthen your child's sound awareness:
- Sound Games: Play “I Spy” but with sounds. For example, “I spy something that starts with /m/.” This helps your child tune into beginning sounds
- Syllable Clapping: Choose words and have your child clap out the syllables. For example, “table” has two syllables, so your child would clap twice
- Segmenting Sounds: Say a word like "cat" and ask your child to break it into individual sounds—/k/, /a/, /t/. You can make this fun by using small toys or blocks, with each sound getting its own block.
Phonics: Connecting Sounds to Letters
Phonics involves connecting letters to the sounds they make. Here are some engaging ways to practice phonics:
For Kindergarten and 1st Grade:
- Sound Sorting: Write a variety of words on cards that begin with different sounds (e.g., “cat,” “bat,” “sun,” “sock”). Have your child sort the cards into piles based on their starting sounds. This helps reinforce sound-letter associations and improves their ability to recognize phonemes.
- CVC Word Building: Use magnetic letters or letter tiles to create simple consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words like “cat,” “dog,” or “pen.” Ask your child to rearrange the letters to form new words. This activity builds an understanding of how letters combine to form sounds and words.
For Grades 2-3
- Word Detective: Ask your child to become a "word detective" by searching for specific phonics patterns in a book or around the house (e.g., finding words with the "ai" sound, such as "rain" or "train"). Have them list the words they find and practice reading them. This activity connects phonics practice to real reading and reinforces pattern recognition.
Fluency: Reading Smoothly and with Expression
Fluency helps children read quickly and accurately while also understanding what they are reading. Try these ideas to build fluency:
- Read Aloud Together: Set aside time each day to read aloud with your child. Take turns reading pages or paragraphs, and encourage your child to read with expression and at a comfortable pace. Repeating this practice builds confidence and fluency over time.
- Practice with Poetry or Song Lyrics: Choose poems, rhymes, or song lyrics that your child enjoys. These are great for practicing fluency because of their rhythm and repetition. Have your child read them out loud, focusing on smoothness and expression as they become familiar with the text.
- Use Repeated Reading: Choose a short passage or book and read it multiple times together. Each time your child reads the same text, they’ll become more comfortable with the words, leading to smoother, faster reading. Start slow, then gradually increase the speed while maintaining accuracy.
Vocabulary: Building Word Knowledge
A strong vocabulary is essential for comprehension. Here are a few easy ways to expand your child’s vocabulary at home:
- Word of the Day: Introduce a new word every day and use it in sentences throughout the day. For example, if the word is “gigantic,” use it during meals, playtime, or while talking about the weather.
- Word Mapping: Choose a new word from a book or story your child is reading. Write the word on a piece of paper, then help your child explore its meaning by discussing it together. Break it down by identifying its definition, using it in a sentence, and finding synonyms or antonyms. Create a “word map” by drawing connections to other words your child knows. This activity helps deepen understanding and strengthens word recall.
- Vocabulary Scavenger Hunt: Turn learning new words into a game by setting up a "scavenger hunt" around your home or neighborhood. Pick a theme (like nature, colors, or animals) and challenge your child to find objects or examples that relate to new vocabulary words. As they discover each item, ask them to describe it using the new word and reinforce its meaning. This makes vocabulary learning interactive and memorable!
Comprehension: Understanding What We Read
Comprehension is all about understanding and connecting with the text. Here are some ideas to boost comprehension:
- Ask Predictive Questions: Before reading a book or passage, ask your child to predict what might happen based on the title, cover, or first few sentences. After reading, revisit the predictions and discuss whether they were correct or not. This encourages active thinking and helps children make connections between the text and their prior knowledge.
- Story Mapping: After reading a story, have your child create a simple "story map" that includes key elements like the characters, setting, problem, and solution. This visual aid helps your child focus on the important parts of the story and supports understanding by organizing the information in a clear, structured way.
- Summarize and Retell: Ask your child to retell the story in their own words after reading. To help with this, you can prompt them with questions like, “What happened first? What did the character want? How did the story end?” Summarizing strengthens memory and comprehension while also helping children identify key details and events in the text.
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