Reading Briefcases

Kindergarten reading homework will be in the form of a "Reading Briefcase" that will start coming home this Friday, October 5th! This is oral homework that your child will do with an adult or capable older sibling on your own schedule. Nothing needs to be turned in to me. I recommend that you practice from the reading briefcase at least 3 times a week. Find what works for you and your child, and make sure you return the briefcase on Fridays so I can swap out the old items with new ones. I would suggest keeping the briefcase in the backpack when you are not using it.

Homework Included:

• Homework Sheet (A new homework sheet will be placed in the briefcase each week that includes that weeks new skills and a review of old skills. This is not written homework and will require an adult to participate. It only takes a couple of minutes, I promise!)
• Alphabet Chart (Your child knows how to recite the alphabet chart and you will catch on pretty quickly. Say the letter, sound, and picture in order.)
• Text (A new text will be added each week in the form of a book or paper that your child has already learned in class. Check your child for accuracy and work on fluency by re-reading.)
• Letter Naming Fluency (letter automaticity is important! Make a game out of it and "speed drill" your child twice to see if they can beat their own time!)

Tools Included:

• Phonics Progression & HFW List (The high frequency word list and phonics progression are included so that you can see what order we will be learning our letters and sight words in case you would like to introduce them at home before they learn them at school-- this is not homework :-)
• Alphabet Tracing (not required but a resource for you to see how we learn the proper letter formation at school. You can have your child trace the letters with his/her finger/markers/crayons/pencil at home if you choose. If I think your child needs extra practice, I will send home tracing homework in the blue folder. Otherwise, this is just an option for you if you choose to use it.)
• Reading Log (record each time your child has read the text 3 times. For instance, if you listen to your child read the new text once on Monday and twice on Tuesday, you can fill out the reading log for that text since you have read it 3 times. One text can be used multiple times on the reading log as long as you read it 3 times before recording. Repetition is KEY! Completed reading logs will receive a Recognition Notice.)