Fall Into a Good Book!

Wow! We are starting the fall of with great enthusiasm for independent reading!
Rebecca and I recently went to a curriculum update meeting and left there just full of excitement and a desire to help kids catch our love of books.
Research is showing just how valuable time spent reading independently is for students.
Independent Reading:
*provides opportunities for students to initiate their own reading,
*the material should allow students to pursue their individual interests,
*provides opportunities to practice newly acquired skills, and
*to read more about topics and themes currently being studied in the classroom.”

A Book Is a Present, Mooney, pg. 74

The graph below illustrates just how much time spent reading can impact student performance on standardized tests.

Armed with this validation of what we always knew was true, we plan to get our whole Resnik family pumped about reading!

Consider sharing your love for reading with your family daily:

read a novel together as a family, purchase a magazine subscription for your child, host a book swap party, talk to your child about what you are reading (our staff will be talking about what we're reading with your children!), consider starting a parent/child book club.

My three daughters and I each have a mother/daughter book club and we have discovered a wonderful way to connect with friends and talk about difficult themes in a loving and safe environment. Please contact me, Tracy Craemer, if you'd like help in getting a book club started with your child.

Getting Ready for Read Across America Day!

We are getting so excited as we plan Read Across America Day! We have contacted many local authors and celebrities who will visit the school on March 2nd and share their love of books with our students! What a great way to remember Dr. Suess!
We are also excited about our reading incentive program that we are launching Thursday Jan. 21st in conjunction with the Frederick Keys. Hit a Homerun with Reading. The Keys mascot will be here during lunches on the 21st to kick off the program. Participating students will receive a free ticket to the Keys game on April 17th where Dr. Settles will be throwing out the opening pitch.

Read, Kiddo,Read

Check out our newest link: http://www.readkiddoread.com/ There is something for everyone -- teachers and parents alike. There are great recommended book lists and lesson plans. Have fun exploring the website!

How to help your child have organized writing with exciting word choice!

As the calendar year draws to a close, we continue to work on writing traits here at Resnik. Currently we are working on the "organization and word choice" traits. We will continue to work on these all year and have some suggestions for how you can help your children with these traits at home.

Organization is the internal structure of the piece of writing, the logical pattern of the ideas. It enhances the central theme by making everything fit together like a puzzle. Parents can suggest that their children ask the following: Does my paper have a good opening that captures the reader's attention? Are my ideas in the best order? Does my paper have a strong ending?

Word Choice is the use of rich, colorful, precise language that moves and enlightens the reader. Word Choice enriches our writing and makes it almost come alive.
Parents can suggest that their children ask the following: Will my reader understand my words? Were my words accurate, original and just right? Did I use energetic verbs? Did I use language that painted a picture? Di d I make things interesting?

Finding "Just Right" Books for your child

It is no secret that the way a child grows as a reader is......to READ MORE!!!
Kids should be reading EVERY SINGLE night. Now that everyone has received their child's first quarter report card and knows where their child is (and/or should be) reading, we often get requests about how to find books at the child's reading level.
The attached link is a great resource for finding books at your child's independent level. Most of the books on the list are ones that you can find in the local library, bookstore, or maybe even your own house! Look up your child's reading level and gather some titles at that level and then encourage your child to read, read, read! Sometimes the best way to do that is to have a "family reading time," when the TV is shut off and everyone sits around with a book. It may be met with resistance at first, but if you persevere, it can become a nice family tradition.
We also want to share with you a plot diagram which will help you discuss the way plot works with your child. Talking with your child about the rising action, the climax, the falling action and the resolution in a story will help them understand the characteristics of plot better. Here's to a holiday season full of reading fun!

Focusing on Writing!

Our focus here at Resnik this year will be writing. We will be focusing on one of the six +1 traits of writing each month.
During October we focused on the trait of Ideas. The Ideas Trait is about the writing's overal message and meaning. The best ideas are strong and focused. Primary writers can show their ideas through drawing pictures with lots of lines and colors, experimenting with letters and words, talking about what happened to themselves or their characters, asking questions and making lists about things that interest them. We were lucky enough this month to be able to get into several of the classrooms and model an "Ideas" lesson using the mentor text, The Squiggle, by Carole Lexa Schaefer. Stop by the bulletin board near the first grade playground door to check out the great ideas our children have!!
On Nov. 3rd we presented information about the Six Traits and BCR writing at the PTA meeting. We know many of you were not able to attend so we have posted some information about what the six traits are here on the blog. Please contact us if you have any questions!
Mrs. Craemer and Mrs. Silverman

Welcome to Resnik's new reading and writing blog!

Welcome to our new blog!!! As the reading specialists here at Judith A. Resnik ES, we are so excited to have a chance to communicate with all of you in another way! We will be posting lots of exciting reading and writing news on the blog throughout the year. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoy providing the information to you!
Mrs. Craemer and Mrs. Silverman