Wecome to Mr. Love's 1st Grade Class
215-233-6085-5110
Mr. Love's class is the place to bee!
This page contains the following sections...
1. About Me
2. Current News
3. Reading Strategies
4. Links
Last updated 2/25/10
About me-
I've been teaching first grade for over 6 years, and I love it! In college I started out in the engineering program. Although I do enjoy math and problem solving, I decided I wanted a career where I would be making a daily impact. I graduated from Penn State in 2001 with my B.S. in Elem. Education, and in 2007 I received a Masters in Special Education from Arcadia University. I have worked in Springfield Township since 2004.
When I'm not at school you can often find me outside going for a run or hike in the beautiful Wissahickon Valley Park or playing tennis and other sports. I also enjoy mental challenges, and I spend a lot of time playing Bridge. I also live with 3 cats (Zeppo, Kafka, and Lavender), and they often get mentioned in class!
Current news-
*Thanks to the Rutkowski family who has dedicated several new indoor recess activities to our classroom.
*We are collecting pennies (and other change) in our classroom for the new Erdenheim playground.
*The Read for Ronald program has started. Your child should be collecting donations from relatives, and reading all of February.
*Our Adventure Aquarium Trip is 2/25. We don't need any more chaperones, thanks!
*We are going to the Keswick Theater on 3/23
*If you are interested in assisting with centers, please contact me. We could use some support Mondays and Tuesdays from 10:25-11:20 (you can eat lunch with your child immediately after if you wish). Either every week or every other week is best.
Reading strategies...what do I do for Book in a Bag?
In 1st grade, students bring home books every night to read. When your child is stuck you probably remind them to sound out the word. But what else can you do? Here are some suggestions. Your child will benefit from hearing the same language at home as he/she hears at school. I've broken it down into 4 sections.
Before they start reading...
1. Preview the book yourself. Do you see a word that you know your child is going to have difficulty with?
2. Have your child take a picture walk. This is most helpful in books that are about at the F level or lower.
3. Ellicit background knowledge on the topic. Ask your child what they might learn in the book, or what they think the book will be about.
While they are reading...
1. Make sure your child is reading at a comfortable pace. If they are rushing, they might not be comprehending. If they are going too slow because of difficult vocabulary, they should reread the sentence a 2nd time more smoothly.
2. Do ask questions periodically. Vary the types of questions you ask. On a difficult book ask questions to ensure that your child is understanding the basic plot or ideas. On an easier book ask more complex questions that will allow your child to have a richer understanding of why a character is acting in a certain way or an event is taking place. Some starter ideas might be "What might happen if...", "When else...", or "What does remind you of?"
3. Have them use their finger or a bookmark to point to the words while they are reading if necessary. As your child gets to levels of about G or above this may no longer be necessary. If your child skips lines, takes wild guesses at words that only match a couple of the letters, or makes substitutions like "of" instead of "a" that might be a sign they need to be tracking the words with their finger.
4. Have them read all words on the page including important words in pictures. If the text that accompanies the pictures is considerably more difficult than the other words in the book, than you might need to read it to your child.
When they get stuck on a word...
1. Remind your child to look at the pictures again.
2. Tell your child to try sounding it out (tap it out). Don't spend too long here or your child will get frustrated and not try any of the other steps.
3. Have your child look for an ending. Common endings include "s", "ed", "ing", and "er". Sometimes there is an "s" after one of the other endings. If your child recognizes the ending, have them cover it with their finger and focus on the beginning part of the word. They can easily add the ending on at the end, and a 5 letter word is far less intimidating than an 8 letter word for a young reader.
4. Tell your child to check the vowels. This is VERY important. You'll find that the majority of the time your child is stuck, it is the vowels that are confusing them. There are two rules that I mention nearly everyday in the class that are the most helpful. English is a fickle language, and there are many exceptions, but these two rules help a lot.
A. The magical "e"- Have your child get in the habit of looking to see if there is an "e" at the very end of the word, or right before the final "s" or "d". An "e" at the end of the word rarely makes a sound. More often it "magically" makes the vowel before it (usually two letters away) "say its name". Here is an example. Think of the word "cut". It's pretty easy to figure out...just make the sound of each letter. Now think of "cute". The "e" at the end
doesn't make a sound. Instead it magically makes the "u" say its name. In the word "cute" the "u" is now making a long "u" sound. There are hundreds of common words that this trick works for. Here is a fun starfall movie on the topic.
B. Two vowels walking- It goes like this... "When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking, and it says its name". This trick is most useful for the following 4 combinations... "ai", "ee", "ea", and "oa". In each case there are two vowels next to each other. The first one is the only vowel that makes a sound, and just like in the magical "e" trick, the vowel says its name. Here are some example words "hair", "keep", "seat", and "soap". Here is a fun starfall movie on the topic.
4. Read the whole sentence- This is another critical step that few children naturally do. Most advanced readers are able to look at the whole sentence or even the whole paragraph as they read the words. Their eyes quickly glance around. When they don't know a word, they are able to use the other words to help them. Beginning readers take it one word at a time.
Consider the sentence "The cat climbed up the tree." A novice reader would naturally go "The cat..." and then would be stuck. Without an exact picture clue, they are unlikely to figure out the word "climbed" without any context. A wise reader would temporarily skip the word and go, "A cat --- up the tree." That will often be enough to help them get the word, but they can also play "guess the covered word." For this trick your child physically covers up the ending to the difficult word. They then reread the whole sentence quickly (it won't work if they read too slowly) but they only make the first sound in the word they don't know. They would say aloud "A cat cl- up the tree." At that point it is very likely the
child will figure out the word.
After they have finished reading...
1. Have your child do a retell of the story. This should be more than 1 or 2 sentences, and should include all of the important events. In an 8 or 16 page book a good retell will probably include something from each page. In a fiction book the student should know the names of all of the major characters. They should be able to tell about where the setting was. If there was a problem and a solution, they should be mentioned. In a nonfiction book your child should know the topic, main idea, and many details. They may need more prompting to retell what they've learned.
2. Extend the activity. Here are some possibilities. Have your child come up with an alternative ending, or what might happen next. Talk about what the book reminds you of, or what you were thinking of when you read a part of it. Talk about what questions the book didn't answer. Think of another book that was like this book. Talk about why the author wrote the book. Discuss some of the pictures.
3. Monitor your child. Somedays your child will be highly engaged, and you should look to extend the reading process. Other days you may not want to spend as much time. Just make sure not to get in the habit of just reading the book, asking one simple question, and putting the book away. This will not help your child learn to read critically and it may develop poor habits. Of course other times your child (with or without you) may just want to read a book for fun. While your child may want to summarize the book at the end, you should not feel compelled to have as formal of a retelling process. The ultimate goal is to get your child to progress as a reader but also love the natural process of picking up a book and reading it too!
Useful Links-
Starfall- many reading activities on a variety of levels
Everyday Mathematics- This is the website for the math program our district uses. It has a few free games. You can also buy materials to play math games offline or online (your child can also checkout games for free at our library).
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