By Mrs. M.
Greetings from School Daze! Last month I talked about the “new” math, but this month it’s all about the new direction in English language arts (ELA).
The shift in this area is the amount of reading your child is doing in fiction versus nonfiction. In the lower grades, reading fiction allows students to develop the necessary skills related to character traits, story elements, summarizing and much more. However, the current trend in curriculum is to have students read as much nonfiction as fiction, and this begins in kindergarten.
This shift in the increase of informational text allows children to gather a wider knowledge of topics. Children are now required to read more difficult text at an earlier age. Children also are required to talk and write more about what is read, using facts and details to explain. By engaging in a more rigorous ELA curriculum, children will develop stronger speaking and listening skills as well.
For the lower grades, have your child read both fiction and nonfiction aloud. If your child has difficulty pronouncing the words, help him/her sound out the word. Review the text features and explain why they are used in the book. For example, explain why a graph, or a map, or a diagram is used in the book. Talk about why an author puts a heading at the top of a page. Your child must know these components of a nonfiction story as he/she moves up in the grades.
For the upper-grade students, have your child read two articles on the same topic. Have your child compare how they were written, what facts they had, and how they were alike and different. You can also have your child read an article in the newspaper, perhaps our very own, The Bee-Intelligencer, and ask him/her to write down the facts and details. Your child can then summarize what he/she read in the article. This is a nice way to incorporate current events in your child’s academics.
In the area of writing, a journal is a great way to get kids to write. It can be a notebook or composition book. However, Barnes and Noble does sell some pretty fancy journals kids love to use. Whatever you choose will be an awesome avenue for kids to write.
I use daily journals in my classroom, and the students love to write in them. You can have them write half a page and then draw an illustration to go with what they wrote. You can give your child a prompt such as, “If you were principal of your school, what new rule would you make?” Just 15 or 20 minutes of this can help your child learn to express himself/herself, and of course, it fosters a love of writing.
As always, I welcome your opinions and comments. See my contact information below. Until next month … keep smiling!
Teacher: “Why have you got cotton balls in your ears? Do you have an infection?”
Pupil: “Well, you keep saying that things go in one ear and out the other, so I’m trying to keep them all in!”
Mrs. M. (Fran Mullen) is an educator in the Waterbury School District. She welcomes your opinions and comments. You may email her at fmull04@gmail.com.
