ACORN Monthly

Now that the school year is almost back in full force it's time to kick off the Oakhill-Stone Canyon reading incentive again! This is our 5th year partnering with Stone Canyon, and we are very appreciative of their support to encourage our students to read! 

I am very passionate about this program because reading or being read to at a young age helps students develop early literacy skills that will help propel them to be successful readers down the road. Many of the daily lessons and activities in our classrooms are centered around books which gives students plenty of exposure to reading at school. Carving out time to read at home expands that exposure and creates a routine and fun bonding opportunity with your child. An idea to help make this happen is to set a “quiet time” that includes everyone reading their own book or reading a book to your child for ten minutes at the same time each day.

Another opportunity to read is making it a part of your child’s bed time routine. For students in grades K-5th, a helpful strategy is for parents to read a stretch book that is exposing students to new vocabulary and sentence fluency. A "stretch" book is a book beyond what students are capable of reading on their own. This allows you to stop and explain the meaning of certain words or phrases and ask your child questions about the book. As students continue to sharpen their reading skills, another strategy could be to trade off reading every other page with them. Even if students are just listening they are still working on their comprehension skills, which is a very important skill! 

 Vox books or Me Reader books are also a great tool for students who are learning how to read. They are books that will read to you and tell you when to turn the page. The Me Readers are a step up from push to read books and are color coated with the pages and buttons. Vox books will read out loud or you can plug in headphones if necessary. This is a great activity to use in the car as an alternative to screens!

The best part about incorporating reading at home is that it’s not complicated. There is no planning involved other than finding a suitable book, magazine, or article and setting aside time. After that you just sit down and read! Such a simple academic investment that anyone can make! 

The final thing I will say about the Stone Canyon reading incentive is that it’s another way to build community with other families at Oakhill. If you’ve ever gone to Stone Canyon on a week night you will notice that 75% of the people there are also from Oakhill! That’s been my experience, and it’s always fun to connect with other families. Enjoy some reading and reap the benefits of free pizza and fellowship with friends! 

Below are a few notes about how the program works …

•  Pretoddler-5th grade students can participate to earn a free kid’s pizza for completing their reading trackers each month.  
• To earn a free kid's pizza, students must read or be read to for at least 20 minutes per day for at least 20 days in a month. Each month starts over, so you can't combine your days from multiple months to equal 20 days. 
• You can break up your reading during the day, for example reading 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes before bed counts. The goal is to create a regular habit of reading. It doesn't matter how many pages or books you read, it only matters how much time you spend doing it. As stated above, time spent listening to books also counts.
• Your teacher will send home a reading tracker at the beginning of each month. The tracker will have an item to color in for each day that you read, along with a space for parents to sign at the bottom.
• Once you have completed 20 days for that month, please bring your sheet to turn in to your teacher. Your teacher will turn it in to me and I will reward your child with a free pizza coupon!   

Please let me know if you have any questions. I am so excited to get our students pumped about reading!