March 27th - April 3rd

Fourth/Fifth Grade Reading Intervention

Hello my lovely reading students!

We will be apart for a short amount of time, but I think of each one of you every day. I want you to take this opportunity to read, read, and read some more! (Of course, you knew I would say that!) Also, will you email me about your day once in awhile? I can be reached at thildebrand@mtwain.k12.ca.us. I can’t wait to start getting email from you! I promise, I will email you back :)

Ms. Buck, my counterpart at Mark Twain Elementary and I have started our own YouTube channel with lots of great educational videos that we have made ourselves. We add new videos regularly and would love for you to check it out. It’s called the Mark Twain Learning Hub and you can find it by searching Mark Twain Learning Hub on YouTube or clicking the link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2wJqWaOSQO_1YwJTFjMZUg

If you have any specific areas of concern that you would like help with, let me know!

See you soon,

Mrs. Hildebrand

PS: Parents, I’d love to hear from you as well! Let me know if you have any questions or need additional ideas. You can also call me M-F in the mornings at 209-736-7341. If I don’t answer, leave a message and I will call you back promptly.

Reading Assignments

I will be posting pre-recorded lessons for each of the stories that we are working on for my fourth and fifth grade students. Please access the videos on the Mark Twain Learning Hub YouTube channel. I will be working to put these videos up beginning Tuesday, March 31. If you need to contact me directly, you can call me at 209-736-7341 weekday mornings that school is in session or email me anytime at thildebrand@mtwain.k12.ca.us.

I will also be posting a video on SQPRS, a reading comprehension technique, that I would like all middle elementary students to review.

High Frequency Sight Word Practice

High frequency sight words are a very important component of reading instruction. These are the words that your student encounters most frequently. We want students to be able to recognize and produce these words automatically. More practice with high frequency sight words results in more automatic, faster, and more fluent reading and writing.

In addition to the SIPPS stories, you will find your student’s high frequency sight words on your homeroom teacher’s Google Classroom. If you are having a hard time finding them, please let me know and I will be able to help: thildebrand@mtwain.k12.ca.us

Here are some ways for you to practice sight words at home:

FLASH CARDS: Go through the sight words with your child and highlight the words they don’t know. With the highlighted words, make flashcards and practice spelling them out loud and on paper.

MEMORY: Create two sets of sight word cards and play a game of Memory. Lay the cards face down on the floor or the table. Take turns trying to match identical words. The person with the most pairs wins.

GO FISH: Use the same sight word cards to play Go Fish. The goal is to have the most matched word pairs at the end of the game. Each player receives 7 cards and follows the standard rules for playing Go Fish.

UP THE STAIRS: Write the sight words on flashcards. Stand at the bottom of a flight of stairs. Flash the words and if the student reads the word correctly, have them take a step up the stairs. Write “go back a step” or “go forward a step” on several flashcards for some added challenge and excitement! If you don’t have stairs, you can draw lines on your driveway with sidewalk chalk.

SPOTLIGHT: Post sight words on the walls or floor, or around the room. Give students a flashlight and have them hunt for words. As they shine their lights on the words, ask them to read them. This could be a fun activity for the whole family! You could even extend this learning to a (very safe, please!) outdoor activity in the evening.

EGG HUNT: Do you have any old plastic colored eggs at your house? Put sight words inside and hide them. Have students collect the eggs and read the words they find.

TWIRL, HOP, READ: Write down movement activities or exercises on small scraps of paper and put them in a bag or bowl. Some suggestions include: twirl once, hop twice, do 3 jumping jacks, or run in place while counting to 25. Before flashing the sight word card, pick a movement activity from the bag. Show the word and if the student gets it right, they do the movement on the card. If they do not know the word, read the word to the student, ask the student to spell the word, and read the word again. Then, put the card back into the deck and try again.

DICE CHALLENGE: While seated at a table, give your student a pencil and paper and a dice. Flash the sight word card, have them read it, and then have them roll the dice. They will then write the sight word the number of times that the dice shows. For instance, if they roll a five, they will write the sight word five times.