English/Reading Tips

Writing Book Reports and Essays

This is something I wish I had learned when I was very young, instead of in high school. This will help your elementary students learn a solid plan for writing a book report or essay. -Karen
1. Write all the ideas you want in your report down on Post It Notes, or little scraps of paper.
2. Divide the Post It Notes into three piles (for a short report) by putting similar, or connecting ideas together.
3. Write the ideas down from each pile into a paragraph.
4. Write an introduction paragraph for the beginning, and a closing paragraph for the end.

This 5 Paragraph model will help your elementary students conquer their book reports with confidence and ease.

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Using The Newspaper

Have students use pictures, comics and headlines from the newspaper to make a collage of activities and hobbies that their families do together. This works as a great activity to get to know your students at the beginning of the year and gets parents involved in homework right away!

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Newspaper Activities - Adjectives

Read aloud a movie review. What are the positive comments? What are the negative comments? What kind of words did the reviewer use to describe it? Have students write a review of a movie they have seen using some of the reviewer's adjectives.

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Overcoming Reversals in Reading

Make flash cards with your child using the words that confuse them most often. Use a broad tip marker and write the beginning and the ending letter in a different color. You can review the cards daily for about ten minutes. Have your child look at the word, say it, close his/her eyes as if taking a picture in color and then write the word on another piece of paper.

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Seven Steps To Guided Oral Reading

Guided practice in reading aloud is an important part of learning to read well.

1. Look through the story and its illustrations together. Point out different characters and objects pictured. Ask questions, such as "What is happening here?" "Why do you think the woman is doing that?" Encourage talk about the things in the pictures and what the story might be about.
2. Return to the beginning of the story. Have your child read the title and begin reading out loud.
3. Let your child read independently as much as possible.
4. If your child has very little self-confidence, try reading alternately with her. For example, you read one sentence, and your child reads the next one. You read a paragraph, then your child reads. As your child gains experience and confidence, read alternate pages.
5. Encourage your child to relate the illustrations to the text. Sometimes pictures will help your child to identify an unknown word.
6. After reading a story, ask your child to retell it in her own words.
7. Make reading together a pleasant social experience. Smile, talk, and laugh. Enjoy the story along with your child. 8. Compliment your child. After every session let your child know that she did something well. ("This story had some hard words, but you read it well"; "When you read the wolf's words, you sounded like a scary wolf yourself," etc.)

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Oral Reports

One concern I had about homeschooling is that my sons would not have a chance to practice public speaking, such as they would while giving oral reports in a classroom setting. So we go ahead and do oral reports at home! Sometimes we invite another family or two to join us for one of our unit studies. This usually provides a large enough crowd for the student to gain some experience and confidence speaking before others. Almost anything can become the subject of an oral report. We have heard and given oral reports on horse breeds, famous cowboys, flag etiquette, the ideal insect and much more.

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Newspaper Activities

Have students take turns being reporters. They should ask each other the important questions of "who," "what," "when," "where," and "why" about a subject of interest at your school.

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Newspaper Activities

Have students take turns being reporters. They should ask each other the important questions of "who," "what," "when," "where," and "why."

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Help With Phonics

Give your child specific, concrete guidance. Have them model the way you read and talk.

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Newspaper Activities

After looking at some newspaper and magazine ads, have students draw advertisements for their favorite food, book, movie or toy. Emphasize expressing what is good about the item in just a few words and pictures.

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Word Trips...

When your child stumbles on a word, give quick cues to help him or her remember the word, how it's pronounced, and what it means. Build on your child's existing knowledge and don't try to make the word into a complex lesson. Simply attend to the immediate need and move ahead with the reading.

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Listen to Learn

Your school-age child will soon discover that more and more of her day is spent listening to others. Becoming a good listener takes time and practice. Try a few of these ideas with your youngster each day.

•As you read stories, ask your child to respond whenever you say a particular word. For example, "I want you to cluck like a chicken each time I say 'hen.' " After watching a TV program together, see how many details he can remember. "What did the firefighter say you should never play with?" "Why was the fish laughing so hard?"
•Give your child increasingly complex directions to complete a task. Start with "Take the cans out of the grocery bag and put them on the shelf." Over time, work up to "Take the cans of corn and put them on the top shelf, the cans of tomatoes and put them on the middle shelf, and the cans of peas and put them on the bottom shelf."

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Newspaper Activities - Journals

Find articles about a person who lives in a different part of the country or world. Use the article as a springboard for a journal entry. Students can answer questions or complete sentences like these:
•If I lived in...
•When I change my name to...
•How is life different here than in (substitute name of place)?

Tie-in with geography and with social studies by having students do a mini-research project on that place.

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Newspaper Activities

Carefully cut apart a different comic strips. Have students try to put the frames back in order.

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Literature - Tragedy

The term "tragedy" derives from the Greek, literally means "goat-song," perhaps from goatskin costumes worn by early tragedians in imitation of satyrs.

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Unfamiliar Words

Encourage your child to follow the following line of questioning when stumped by an unfamiliar word:

1. What word makes sense in the particular context?
2. How does the word begin? Can you figure out the word?
3. Are there spelling patterns that can help you sound out the word? Now do you know the word?
4. I still can't figure it out. Who will help me?

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ESL: Improving Your Speaking Skills

Want to improve your spoken English skills? Try practicing on a friend. Find someone who has good English-speaking skills and practice with them. Don't be afraid to call people on the phone, ask for help at businesses or even to ask questions of people on the street. Every opportunity you have to speak English is an opportunity to improve your speaking skills.

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