Title I
by Kathy Birkel
April 27, 2007
Bloom’in Readers
Just as in springtime, all kinds of plants and shrubs and trees begin to bloom, so in our reading groups in Title 1 many of our young children have bloomed and blossomed into some fine readers. It has taken a lot of hard work and almost constant practice for many of these children to become more fluent and to learn to spell lots of new vocabulary words each week. Teachers have spent much time and effort instructing these words, and in the reading room we have done lots of vocabulary review, reinforcement of phonograms and their sounds, practicing high frequency words and doing multiple readings to improve fluency.
It has taken repeated practice sessions on a daily basis for the children to reach this improved level with their reading and with learning phonograms and sight words. Summer will soon be here and that means that these sessions of reading practice will come to an end until August. I do hope that all parents will take the time during the summer months to encourage at-home reading and even weekly trips to the library if it is possible. Just as with any skill that we learn, it takes practice to retain that skill, the same can be said for the skill of reading.
Thank you all for the privilege of allowing me to work with your children this year. Yes, we have had discouraging days and have often gotten bogged down in the process of learning. But we have also shared laughter and enjoyable days together as we have worked to learn how to read. Enjoy the days of summer.
Kathy Birkel, Title 1 reading
