Reading Tips for the Family:

First Grade

• Prediction, look at the pictures and talk about what's going on.  Review the story title and predict what it's going to be about.  Talk about the subject matter elaborate your knowledge of topic.
• To discuss what kind of story selection it is, fiction, non-fiction, poem, nursery rhyme, etc.
• Construct simple time lines, story webs, sequence stories.  At this age, much of this would be oral.
• Ask many "why, who, when, what" questions.  Elaborate questions, "what if."  Discuss and draw a picture response with a one sentence description.

Second Grade

• Use title of story, chapter heading and pictures to predict what might happen.  Discuss other books by same author, or other books on the same topic.
• Story time line, sequence of activities.  Web of story elements.
• Have the kids make up questions using the questions words:  who, what, where, why, how.

Third Grade

• Look at pictures in story, predict setting, characters, etc.  Discuss chapter titles/story title, what do you think the story/chapter will be about, etc.  Discuss/compare author's previous books.
• Time lines for stories read (e.g., for biographies).  Webbing for different aspects of story (One group does web for characters, another group a web for setting, etc.)  Writing a diary from perspective of one character (sequence of events).

• Have students write their own questions (given a list of ? words).  Ask contrasting wh questions.
• Brainstorming different answers.

Fourth/Fifth Grade

• Looking at title, what will story be about?  Cover, what does the cover show?  Look at author, what kinds of stories does he write?  KWL, discuss together, independently/partners/ group.
• Discuss genre and how each is set up, organized, before reading it or after (i.e., Biography, chronological order, Mystery, cause/effect.
• Make cause/effect charts
• Time lines for biographies.
• Story elements (each group takes one and illustrates and explains).  Story cube, illustrate important parts of story/book and explain orally.
• Have students write questions that cannot be answered "yes" or "no."  Give kids list of questions words (who, how, why, etc.) and have them develop questions about story/book.