The Beckford/Richmond Times

School News

The end of the 2007-2008 school year is rapidly approaching.  The final day for students is June 5th.  Teaching, learning and student assessments will continue until the end of the year.  Please make sure the students are in attendance and on time as the teachers and students are prepared for curriculum opportunities and planned activities.

We are all very proud of the academic accomplishments and student achievement during the year.  The teachers and staff worked hard to provide all students opportunities to learn in the classroom and during field trip experiences. The students were engaged in many academic and social experiences that will enable them to continue to learn and grow. 

The 2008 FCAT Parent Network Letters, with the login ID and password, were sent home in April with your child’s report card.  The FCAT Parent Network website www.fcatparentnetwork.com  is available to give parents’ access to test scores.  The website also provides resources and additional information about the FCAT. All test scores will be distributed when they become available. We look forward to a positive outcome for our students and the school.

 On behalf of the entire faculty and staff, I would like to thank the EESAC committee members and PTA Board members and volunteers for their time and dedication in making this year successful. 

Parents are encouraged to join us for activities scheduled during this month.  Please refer to the calendar on page four for times, events and dates. 
Additionally, all students will be dismissed at 1:45 p.m on June 3rd, 4th, and 5th.   Please plan accordingly for the safety of the children. 

Parent Tips for Practicing Reading at Home to Increase Reading Success

The goal of teaching your child to read should be helping to develop a fluent and confident reader who can quickly and accurately comprehend what they read and be able to use proper verbal skills such as rhythm, intonation and expression when speaking.
Guided Oral Reading does not refer to a specific program, rather, it occurs when students read out loud to a parent, who corrects their mistakes and provides them with feedback. The process begins with choosing a book that your child can read independently. You want to find a book that your child can read while making no more than one error per page. If your child makes more than one mistake, try to find an easier book to read.  Thus, daily oral reading for a period of at least 20 minutes is recommended for all children to improve fluency.
The following are five basic tips you as a parent can consider incorporating into reading at home with your child, regardless of reading delays. As a parent, it's important for you to understand that reading can be a frustrating and emotional task for a child with reading delays. These guidelines can reduce some of the anxiety about practicing reading at home and reinforce the value of daily practice for your child who can be easily frustrated.
1. Never restrict reading to a bedtime activity - Bedtime stories are used to ease a child into sleep, reading practice needs to be done during a period when your child is alert and ready to learn from the process of reading instruction you give. Try using the time as a "cool down time" after dinner or when you arrive home from work. It is excellent way to spend time with your child in quiet activity.
2. Preview the book with your child before reading it - It's a good idea for you as a parent to look through the pictures with your child and have her or him imagine what the story will be about based on the images. This process helps with reading comprehension and teaches your child to use the context of all of the information in book to understand its content.
3. Don't be reluctant to repeat books - Parents you do not have to be  concern that your  child will memorize the text and "read" it from memory rather than decoding the text. However, an alternate way of thinking about that process is that repetitive reading of the same book is actually helping your child to recognize words by sight.  The more words that your child can recognize by sight the quicker he or she can read which is one of the goals for reading practice.
4. Play number and word identification games. - Parents you can use a book for purposes other than just telling a story. Games, such as finding every letter "Q" on a page, or looking for everything in pairs, help children rapidly name letters and numbers, which is a key factor in developing reading fluency.
5. Immediately correcting mistakes can do more harm. - Parents you can help your child more by teaching a process of how to correctly pronounce words.  Ask your child if the word sounds right. Ask your child if the word makes sense in the sentence, or if it matches the picture. This technique helps children learn to use context to correct themselves as opposed to focusing on word-by-word reading processes.
Daily guided reading practice is an important tool to help all children achieve reading fluency, and especially important if your child has a reading delay. It is recommended for children between the ages of five and nine, but can be adapted at any age. It also promotes the value of reading and perseverance through adversity. Using reading time productively will ultimately give your child lifelong tools to reach their fullest potential.

Pre-K: Your preschool child uses her ever-increasing language skills to become a "big talker" and develops an awareness of the power of the written word. Parents and caregivers of preschoolers can help them develop into readers and writers by playing with letters and their sounds, promoting dramatic play using characters from books, and reading lots of books together. Most kindergarteners are on the threshold of becoming readers. At this stage, children typically "read" by looking at the printed word, but they often rely on their memory of the story and on the pictures. At home, you can extend your child's budding literacy skills by reading and writing together as much as possible, by encouraging your child to read, by playing language and letter games, and by introducing new words when talking together.  The number of words your first grader can read and spell increases dramatically during this year. Through talking with adults, listening to books read aloud, and discussing everyday experiences, they continue to develop the language skills that help them learn to read and write. Most second and third graders are able to read independently. The more they practice, the more fluent they become. At this stage, your child begins to focus in depth on the meaning of what she reads, and she uses reading as a way to help her learn many new vocabulary words and concepts.

In his 2004 book, Why Do They Act That Way?, about how parents can understand and deal with teenagers, David Walsh, a psychologist and the father of three grown children, contends in an interview that research shows the adolescent brain is not "wired" properly yet.

"The 15-year-old brain is not the same as a 30-year-old brain, and so things are not going to affect it the same. And that's true of alcohol and it's also true of violent video games," Walsh says.

And while Walsh says it's not that kids who play violent video games are going to become violent themselves, he worries about the "culture of disrespect" those games may foster.

TIPS FOR PARENTS

Advice to parents from David Walsh, founder and president of the National Institute on Media and the Family, on what they can do about their children's video-game playing:

"Know what games your kids are playing."

"Pay attention to the ratings."

"Monitor how much time they spend playing games."

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10 WAYS TO BE A GREAT PARENT

1. Be a good role model. Your child learns from the example you set.
2. Show respect for your child’s feelings, thoughts and suggestions.
3. Make your child feel loved with your words pf praise, and your hugs and kisses.
4. Keep your word. If you must break it, apologize and make it up to your child.
5. Encourage your child’s creativity. Ask questions to stimulate curiosity and imagination.
6. Build your child’s self-esteem by showing appreciation for all genuine efforts.
7. Stay involved. Know what’s going on in your child’s life, both at school and with friends.
8. Discipline your child fairly, firmly and with love. Focus on the behavior not the child.
9. Establish family traditions and make time to do fun things together.
10. Think positively. By expecting the best, you empower yourself and your child to solve problems and achieve goals.

Learning Styles

Learning is reflected in the way we respond to environmental, social, emotional and physical stimuli, to understand new information. Learning style is defined as the way that information is processed. It focuses on strengths, not weaknesses. There is no right or wrong learning style.  Most children show a preference for one of the following basic learning styles: visual, auditory, kinesthetic/manipulative. It is not uncommon to combine the primary and secondary learning styles.  Parents also show a preference for one of these learning styles. It is not unusual for parents to prefer a different style of learning than their child. In order to work effectively with your child it is important to understand your own learning style.
Visual learners learn by watching. They call up images from the past when trying to remember. They picture the way things look in their heads. Forty percent of secondary students fall into this category.
Auditory learners tend to spell phonetically. They can sometimes have trouble reading, because they don't visualize well. These students learn by listening and remember facts when they are presented in the form of a poem, song or melody.
Kinesthetic learners learn best through movement and manipulation. They like to find out how things work and are often successful in the practical arts, such as carpentry or design. These students make up 50 percent of secondary students and may have difficulty learning in a traditional setting.
Knowing your child's preferred learning style can help you interest a child in new material. With this information you can also learn which style your child needs to strengthen because of the way most information is presented in school. Only 10 percent of secondary students learn best auditorily, but 80 percent of instructional delivery is auditory.
You may have found that you use different learning styles in different situations. Your child does the same. If your child is having difficulty in school you might want to explore the way that information is being presented in school and approach the subject with your child at home using a different learning. It may also be advisable to discuss this with his/her teacher. Another consideration is the environment in which people learn best. While tradition tells us to have a quiet room, well lit with a straight back chair, some children learn best in a more chaotic environment. Loud music, laying on the bed, and a dimly lit environment may be the best study situation for others. Trying different methods of learning may prevent the children from feeling frustrated and inadequate when they are not able to work up to their potential. Experimenting with different learning styles and environments may improve the child's accomplishments and feelings of achievement.