Camp Read A Lot:
Camp Read A Lot is a special club designed to encourage students to read daily at home. Reading daily increases both fluency and comprehension. This program involves a joint commitment between home and school.
Your child will bring home a book each day to read aloud. Each night your child should read the book aloud to you for at least 20 minutes. The books they bring home will be at an independent level. This means your child should be able to read almost all of the words.
Children that read independent level books daily gain fluency and tend to really enjoy reading. Often students want to read a book more than once. Please encourage this. They increase fluency and this is a true indication they really like the book. Embrace this special bonding time with your child. Please do not request harder books. This does not make children better readers. It only gives them the message reading has to be difficult.
You can support your child by having a discussion about the book as adults would. You can have them predict what may happen, talk about what they are thinking about the book and make personal connections to the story whenever possible.
Children will bring home many different types of books. Some will bring home chapter books that will take a few days to a week to read. Others will bring home books they will return on a daily basis. One is not better than the other. Occasionally your child may bring home a book that is beyond their reading level. This means they are excited about this book. Please read it to them. My goal is not only to build readers skills but to ultimately create a true love of reading. We want lifelong readers!
This program encourages the love of reading and the concept that “to be a good reader, you must read a lot!” However, if there is an occasion when it is impossible to read at night, your child can read the next night.
