Jasztalville Weblog

What can you do at home to reinforce reading skills covered in class? Since we read twenty minutes a day in class, it is important to promote reading at home. Your child’s homework requires at least twenty minutes of reading a night, but you can vary the way your child reads. Reading does not necessarily need to be with chapter books. It can also be with non-fiction books filled with science experiments, magazines and newspapers.

-Visit bookstores. I know we do not have one in our county, and the closest one is the Books A Million store in Port Richey. Yet if you are out of town for the day and see a bookstore, it can be an exciting visit. Sunshine State Reader books are on display in all Borders bookstores in Florida, and the variety in the stores can help your child to branch out in his or her reading. Additionally, there is a used bookstore in Brooksville called the Bide a Wee bookstore (http://www.brooksvillebusiness.com/bide_a_wee_bookstore.html).

-Ask your child what he or she is reading, and encourage discussion.

Reads for boys- There are many humorous books out there and books that revolve around sports. Mysteries also intrigue boy readers at this age.

• Magazines- Boys Life, National Geographic for Kids, OWL
• Excellent Authors- Dan Gutman (sports and humor related books), Andrew Clements, Mike Lupica (Heat), Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid), Gary Paulsen (Hatchet), Jean Craighead George (My Side of the Mountain), Gordon Korman (Kidnapped), Thomas Rockwell (How to Eat Fried Worms), Louis Sachar (Holes, Sideways Stories from Wayside School), Cornelia Funke (Dragon Rider),

Reads for Girls-

• Magazines- Girls Life, New Moon Girls, National Geographic for Kids, OWL
• Book Recommendations- Any books recommended for the boys are awesome, especially Dragon Rider. I have had a number of students read that book! I am going to suggest ones just for girls, though- the Vet Volunteers series by Laurie Halse Anderson, Princess Academy by Shannon Hale, Kate DiCamillo (The Mysterious Journey of Edward Tulane, Because of Winn-Dixie), Pam Munoz Ryan (Paint the Wind, Esperanza Ryan, Becoming Naomi Leon), Emma-Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree by Lauren Tarshis, Ramona books by Beverly Cleary, books by Sharon Creech

Reads that are favorites of boys and girls-

• C.S. Lewis (Narnia series)
• The Ghost’s Grave by Peg Kehret
• The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
• Most mysteries and fantasy stories

Boys and girls, back up what we cover in class-

• Science topics we cover in class- Environmental science, geology, matter, electricity, force and motion, simple machines, space, human body
• Math topics we cover- Measurement, multiplication and division, geometry, graphs and probability, real-life connections (sports, filmmaking, budgeting, camping)
• History topics we cover- Florida geography, St. Augustine, explorers and native Americans in Florida, the American Revolution, the Civil War, World War I/II, the Industrial Revolution, Thomas Alva Edison, government, presidents, United States geography/knowledge, This Day in History