The Importance of Reading to Self

We all know that reading is a crucial life-long skill.   Readingrockets.org states, "Unfortunately, the older a child is, the more difficult it is to teach him or her to read. The window of opportunity closes early for most kids. If a child can't read well by the end of third grade, odds are that he or she will never catch up. And the effects of falling behind and feeling like a failure can be devastating."  At Heart of the Lakes Elementary school, we strive to reach all students before that window of opportunity seems out of grasp.   In second grade, we have taken great strides to help each child succeed to his or her greatest potential in reading in a variety of ways.  One of the biggest (and perhaps sometimes the most under-estimated practice) is to provide each child with a quality chunk of time to read books at his or her reading level.

This starts first with assessing your child and assigning him or her with a reading level.  We then help guide and train each child on how to select "just right" texts.  This is key because students who are reading books that are too hard will become overwhelmed, get lost in decoding the text and lose focus of the meaning.  And sadly, the joy in reading will be lost. Your child will gain fluency and comprehension skills when they immerse themselves in text that are at their reading level, or books that are easy!


In our second grade classroom, we practice reading to ourselves for 22 minutes a day.  This is in addition to a guided reading lesson,partner reading and hopefully the reading your child is doing at home!  Each student has her or her own book box and is in charge of filling it with "just right" texts.  Everyday we are busy learning new strategies to use as readers.  We talk, write and most importantly, THINK about our reading.

So tonight, ask your child about what it means to pick out a "just right" book.  See if they can find any around your house.  You will know it is "just right" if they can read most of the words with 95% accuracy.  Get a book box started at your house, and lets get all kids soaring through that window of opportunity.