Purpose of Reading Counts

There are many purposes of Reading Counts. The foremost being, working on listening comprehension skills. The majority of the books are too hard for first graders to sit down and read in an evening, but, the books are the right length to be read to your child in an evening. By you reading, you are being a model to your child of what readers do. Readers sound out new words, ask themselves questions, read with fluency and expression.
Another goal of RC is vocabulary development. Most RC books have a rich vocabulary. If you come across a word you think your child doesn't know, ask him/her about it: What could it mean in this sentence? Is it a naming word or an action word? Can you use it in a sentence? Remember, you are still your child's first teacher.
Please make time to read at least 2 RC books each week. You will be helping them learn in more ways than you know; as well as getting a little snuggle time in too!

If you are unfamiliar with RC, Reading Counts is a reading comprehension program that lets your child earn points for passing the Reading Counts test. Mrs. Ricard has prizes for the kids to earn tied to the number of points they have. A prize list will be sent home soon. Our first grade goal is 60 points, but our child should easily earn 150 points this year. I encourage your student to pick a prize to work towards and get busy reading!

RC Info

*Most books are worth 1 or 2 points.
*I am the one doing most of the testing with them. Please be patient if it takes a couple of days to get a new book.
*The first grade goal is 60 points. With that goal, your child will qualify for Movie Day in the spring.
*There are many other prizes to work towards. Party Day is 225 points. Reading Counts for prizes from the library ends on the last day of the 5th six weeks.
*If your student does not pass the test on the first try, he/she has two more opportunites to do so.
*The student must get 3 out of 5 questions right to get credit for the book.
*The "Mrs. Mayfield books" are reading counts test books too. Each story is worth 1 point.
*A list of prizes will come home in late September. This way, your child can set his/her goal and you will know what he/she is working towards. About once a month we will send home points totals.

Show and Tell

Our Show and Tell time will be Thursday afternoons. In order to participate in Show and Tell, your child must have a written riddle to read to the class. I will not send reminders about Show and Tell. There will be occasional "crazy" Thursdays that will not allow us to have Show and Tell. I will tell the kids on Wednesday, if we are having one of those Thursdays. Live animals are welcome, but please make prior arrangements with me.

Planners and Homework

We will use a daily planner to record weekly spelling words, homework assignments and other reminders. This will also be where we record daily behavior. You are welcome to jot a quick note in there as a way to communicate with me.

There is a pocket in the back of the planner where we will put our homework, notes and Mrs. Mayfield book. Please help your child learn to check it everyday.

We will normally send home planners on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday and Friday.

Homework will NORMALLY be as follows:

M - Monday Folders and new Spelling words, Mayfield book

T - planner, Mayfield book, Math practice

W - just Mayfield book

Th - planner, study for spelling test and Mayfield book

F - Planner and Mayfield book

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