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| Didax "Class Ideas" Newsletter Archive |
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Welcome to another issue of Class Ideas. It's still cold here in New England, but we're staying warm by keeping busy at Didax. We're working hard to bring you lots of innovative and exciting new products. This month celebrates Emergent Reading, again, as we release one of those new products, the ELF Readers series.
I hope you've enjoyed our two issues of Emergent Reading activities. Please email me if you have any ideas for future issues. We've got some great plans for the next few months, and keep a lookout for the next issue that will give you new ideas for teaching reading and math with Unifix.
Thanks for reading.
Anna Mullen, Editor |
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| Choosing Books for New Readers |
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 So, the kids in your classroom are starting to read. What should you give them to inspire their confidence and keep them interested in reading? A trip to the bookstore or a visit to an online bookseller will tell you that the choices are practically endless. How do you narrow down the options to the best books for new readers?
To a new reader, simply reading a book is a challenge in itself. By providing books about familiar people, events and things, you can avoid adding more challenge. Familiar subjects reassure young readers, helping to build their reading confidence. New subjects can be exciting for children, but be sure that the subject matter does not distract the reader.
To further build that confidence, look for books with repeating sentence structure. These ?predictable? books, with lines such as, ?I like to eat apples? and ?I like to eat bread,? etc., give comfort to new readers. After learning the pattern, they simply need to figure out the new word to read the text. This builds their confidence and teaches them to use clues and illustrations to figure out unknown words.
Illustrations are important to young readers. They can help tell a story and hold the reader?s interest. Busy colorful artwork excites readers, encouraging them to read on. They can get absorbed in studying the pictures, seeing new things with every read. Soothing, soft illustrations offer a quiet, relaxing reading experience. Just be sure that overall, the artwork is interesting and stimulating to children and that it draws them into the story.
Introduce children to a variety of books. Give them poetry, storybooks and nonfiction books. Fairytales and nursery rhymes are very popular with youngsters. They tell stories that they are familiar with and finally, they can read them themselves! By introducing different types of books, you are opening the children?s eyes to the broad world of books.
Parents often ask how they can help their child learn to read. Some very specific suggestions that you can give them as their child's teacher are:
1. Read to your child, even if you only have a few minutes, each day.
2. Make sure your children see you reading.
3. Don't turn reading into a chore.
Even as children learn to read to themselves, reading aloud to them continues to be important. It is a special time for them. They have your attention and most children just love hearing stories. This will encourage their love of books and reading?and isn?t that what it?s all about? |
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| Emergent Reading Internet Resources |
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 The Internet is a wonderful resource for Emergent Reading instruction ideas. From learning about what Emergent Reading is and theories about it to practical classroom activity ideas, we are sure you'll find these sites packed with useful information. |
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| ELF Readers Have Arrived! |
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 We are so excited to announce that our new ELF Readers have arrived! Based on current research and the vast experience of Dr. Peter Sloan, author of many reading series, ELF Readers feature:
? Carefully graded texts
? Controlled syntactic structures
? Subjects interesting to young students
? Dramatic and vivid pictorial content
? Strong picture-word correlation
The ELF Readers Collection consists of 40 Readers, 5 color-coded levels of 8 Readers each, 5 Big Books (shared reading books), and a comprehensive Teacher's Guide.
The Big Books for each level of Readers enrich concept themes and language or can be used as a set of progressive stand-alone books. Language patterns are matched to the related ELF Readers. The Big Books are 16 full-color pages each.
The comprehensive Teacher's Guide includes:
? Teaching notes for each Reader
? Blackline masters for each Reader
? Assessment forms and strategies
? Big Book notes
? Suggestions for post-reading activities
? Program rationale and research
It offers a step-by-step approach to help you get the most out of each book including pre-reading activities, introducing the text, what to do when reading, and post-reading activities. |
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| Emergent Reading Activity Pages |
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 Are you looking for some quick and easy to prepare activities for your emergent readers? Check out these pages from our Foundations of Reading series. Foundations of Reading takes an emergent reader from the readiness stage through early reading. Just download, photocopy and watch your students learn. |
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| March Newsletter Theme: What's New with Unifix |
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 Next month, Class Ideas will bring you with great new ideas and tips for using Unifix Cubes in your classroom. From reading to math, sentence building to attribute activities, Unifix can do so much for your students. |
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