Okay, good morning. We are going to start. I will share my screen and admit other parents as they enter. So, this is our sixth parent session for the year. And this particular session is titled
the importance of reading for students in grades K through 8. I'm Dr. Lori Jones. I'm the director of curriculum and instruction for the district. So, I will begin. The purpose of today's presentation is
just to review and discuss why reading is the foundation of success not just in school but in our in our lives. Um why is it crucial for all grades? It really it builds your brain. So when you
read when your children read it strengthens their memory. It strengthens their concentration, their way of thinking. It increases their vocabulary and helps them to really comprehend and understand difficult words as they get
older. And it builds upon their different reading pathways. So, you're starting off as a very beginning reader in preK and K as just recognizing the letters, sounding out the letters, understanding that when the letters are
pushed together, they make words that make sentences and paragraphs, and then it really builds off of that foundational learning. Um, it also builds academic success from the very beginning of their early childhood years
up until they graduate 8th grade and move on to high school. It also helps when you build strong readers, you are also helping not only in ELA, which is English language arts, but you're also helping in other subjects, particularly
math. There is math word problems that you have to read in order to solve. It helps students understand science concepts much faster than if they were unable to read what was being asked of them in order to solve. And it helps
students write more clearly. To be able to read and express your ideas on paper only adds to their academic success. It also builds upon life skills. So as I
said in the very beginning, it's not just how they do in school but how they perform in life. So it will help them understand author's point of view or other people's perspectives. So it can provide that empathy. It can provide um
that confidence and the independence that they need that they are longing for when they are coming to reading. It helps build curiosity in students creativity. So maybe when it comes to writing passages and writing prompts, they can create their own essays and
create um their own fascination with reading to then build upon other reading genres that are learned. When looking at different ages, I'll focus at the younger learners right now, grades K through two, even preschool.
The saying is learning to read. So, they're really honing in on that phonics and that strong foundation. How do you sound out words? How do you put them together? Do you recognize site words? Do you recognize nonsense words?
Are you able to read to make sentences? What helps students at this age level is reading out loud or having someone read to them, rereading their favorite books, talking about the pictures and the stories, making some predictions. What
is your favorite character here? Does this remind you of a time at home or in school or something that really makes that real life connection? In grades three and five, students become more fluent readers. Meaning when
you're a fluent reader, you don't sound like a robot. So for example, the next bullet, if I'm a fluent reader, I'm reading it as this focus, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary. Whereas if I'm not fluent, I sound more
remote. So focus, fluency, comprehension, vocabulary. And what happens if you're a nonfluent reader is you don't comprehend what you're reading because there's no emotion put to your reading. There's no fluency, which is
really being able to read as if you're having a conversation. So being a fluent reader helps with daily reading routines. It helps with students answering simple questions like, "What happened in the story? What was it about? What's the main idea? What did
that character do? And as they grow into the older middle school ages, they're ready to learn. So their focus, it builds upon that learning to read,
understanding that connection between reading and fluency. And at the older grades, it's do you completely understand what you're reading with a deeper understanding? Do you have the stamina to read longer books, to analyze
characters, to analyze books, compare and contrast? What helps with the ages of these students is a choice in reading material. We have a lot of reading material up at the middle school in these grades. We have a lot of choices
for novels that the teachers show the students and have novel studies and socratic seminars. There's discussion on books. There's non-fiction articles that we have through different curricular programs, Newella being one of them. And there's even graphic novels that
teachers in the grades six through 8 expose the students to for book studies. And you can still model this reading at home. Even even children at this age, sometimes they still like to be read to. Or if you devote the last 20 minutes
each night, depending on what their bedtime is, you can all sit down and read. And this really builds the great family routines. It builds upon modeling reading at home if they see you reading a book. And it builds upon them becoming
more enriched with vocabulary and comprehension and analysis for reading. How you can support your child at home is setting a daily reading time. depending on their age, 10 to 20 minutes, or as they're older, I want you
to read one chapter or two chapters. Let them choose what they want to read. Maybe you choose a family book together. You each take turns reading, depending on their age. Again, um but let them choose. Maybe there's something that there's a genre that they're really passionate about. Allow them to choose
that if it's appropriate. Talk to your children about reading. You don't have to quiz them. Let it just be something fun. Unless it's a homework assignment, let it be something fun. Or who does that character remind you of? Or that character reminds me of me in a
way because of this. You know, build upon that dialogue. But it doesn't have to be very remote on um you know what happened in this passage, what's the problem here, what's the solution? You know, let it be more of a conversation
reading together alongside with your child. As I as I said on the slide prior, you can really um form that nice routine at home and it will really count. It will help benefit them every day. They'll get used to that routine
and it'll become something that they enjoy as opposed to something that is a chore at home. And celebrating the efforts. When children are just learning how to read, they make errors. Even older kids make errors. So instead of
focusing on the errors, you correct the errors, but you say, you know, you did such a great job. This is such a hard book or this is something that I really love listening to you read. It's not just the level that these students are on. It's and it's not really about the
speed of, wow, you read that chapter in 5 minutes. I'm so proud of you. It's more about what you gained from the experience. Did you enjoy what you were reading? Can you share with me your favorite part? Maybe when we're finished with this story, we can move on to something like this. Um, a lot of
students that have a hard time sitting still and reading audiobooks is an excellent uh resource. They're still listening to the story. So, they're still listening to the problem and the
solution and the vocabulary and the different characters and the author's point of view. So, that's also an option. If you have a child at home who can't sit still or who doesn't really enjoy reading at this moment, you can have them listen to a story. Um,
reading, it doesn't just have to be a book or a novel or a chapter book or a picture book. It could be comics. It could be a magazine article. It could be recipes. They read the recipe as you both cook together. Or if they want to cook something special, it could be
sports articles. It can be um any type of of articles really. It all counts. Everything counts when you're reading. I have um some parents that tell me when they're
watching movies at home that they click to add the subtitles. So instead of listening to the movie at home, their kids are reading it. Sometimes that's great for a non-English
movie where you can translate it at home as well. So reading is really there's so many options and opportunities for reading, not just what is in this slide. And our key takeaway message is you
don't have to be a teacher to teach reading and to raise a reader. You just have to make it fun, enjoyable, valued, and part of your everyday life. So, I
gave a few examples in here, and um there are only a very few parents on this uh webinar, but I do want to thank you for attending. And if there are any questions or uh comments, you can put
that directly in the chat if you would like to. I'm also um this presentation will be posted on the website over the next few days and on our YouTube channel. So if there is something that you want to go back to
what I was saying, you can definitely do so. But at this time, I can take any questions in the chat or any comments. Okay. Um, I don't see any
right now, but you can always email me at ljones longhill.org. And again, thank you for attending. Have a great rest of your day.