Links of Interest to Parents and Students
Reading Skills
Reading is a skill that must be practiced like any sport is practiced. Help your student spend time reading everyday and model the skill yourself. In today’s busy world, sports often get a lot of practice time and academics do not. For younger children who can’t read yet, simple puzzles and board games can help develop skills needed later for reading and, of course, there should be a bedtime story. Try not to let the TV be on during the school week. Learn about studies that have been conducted regarding TV’s in children’s rooms.
TV and Grades
http://www.utdanacenter.org/k12mathbenchmarks/tasks/29_tvtestgrades.php
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2006-10-02-gaming-grades_x.htm
Should TV’s be in a child’s bedroom?
http://parentstv.org/PTC/publications/rgcolumns/2007/1015.asp
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/04/health/04well.html?em
Accelerated Reader Program
St. Brigid School utilizes the Accelerated Reader Program in 3rd through the 8th grade. This program promotes reading skills through the use of books the students choose to read from the library. After reading the book of their choice, the student can take a comprehension test on the computers in the library or the classroom and see how closely they read the book. Teachers set point levels the students need to achieve on an individual basis. Strong readers are able to read longer and more challenging books during the same reading time as other students are reading books geared to their level instead of all reading the same thing. St. Brigid owns over 2,000 books with tests on our computers, and we add more every year. We always try to add the popular books students enjoy reading such as: The Harry Potter Series, Magic Tree House books, Junie B. Jones, Series of Unfortunate Events, Chronicles of Narnia and many, many more. A list of quizzes that St. Brigid owns are at this link. If you and your student want to find a book at another library to use with our program, just check the list, which is in alphabetical order by title.
Math Skills
For the very young child, math skills can be developed by playing simple board games like Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, and the like. Counting and one to one correspondence are learned in these games. Games that utilize number cards as the way to move ahead also help a child recognize the numbers. For children in school who need to practice the math facts, two great sites for this practice are: