End of the Year Message

It’s hard to believe that another school year is coming to an end soon. It seems like yesterday we just got started! This does not mean the academic year has to end, however. You, as parents, are your child’s most influential teacher. Use the summer months to explore, talk, play, tell stories, keep a family journal, and enjoy each other. Use this time to explore local (or distant) museums, nature preserves, the local library, history centers, and theater.




There is such a thing called a summer slump; many students can fall a half or even full year behind over the summer months and then have to work so very hard the next fall to catch up. I urge you to encourage your child to keep reading, writing, and practicing real world math during the summer. Kids that do tend to enter the next school year well prepared and confident. Your local library is a good source of fabulous children’s books. Your local retail store has journals and notebooks to keep your child writing, and real world math is all around us. Let your child count money when paying for items; help them make change, estimate whenever possible, etc.



Most of all have a great summer and enjoy your children!



Kathy Heim

Literacy Coach

Reading Fluency

Students at all grade levels are working on fluency as well as comprehension. Fluency is the ability to read with appropriate speed and accuracy. It also means using proper expression and phrasing – paying attention to punctuation. The importance of fluency cannot be underestimated. Students who struggle with fluency tend to also struggle with comprehension - Both the student who struggles with decoding and the student who races through text. “Racing readers” often pay little or no attention to the author’s message, recall important information, or think about the text.




Here are some ways readers can develop fluency…

• Repeated reading of the same text

• Oral reading - giving time for student to notice and correct errors

• Writing – and reading their own work

• Model fluent reading with your child

o You read, and then the child reads same sentence or paragraph trying to model your reading

• Turn on the closed captioning on your TV set during educational or children’s programming! Children will try to match words and spoken language as they watch programs.

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have questions or need suggestions. Kathleen.heim@oldham.kyschools.us

Building Memories

December is such a busy month – at home and at school! Events, shopping, cooking, and planning take up so much of our time during December and sometimes it’s hard to slow down and enjoy the season. I hope you are able to stop every now and then to take a breath and enjoy time with friends and family.




One of the ways you can help your children during this holiday season is to enjoy family moments together. Developing oral language – story telling, retelling an event, telling jokes, and singing songs together help children build writing skills and boost reading comprehension. Visiting museums, sledding, cooking, going hiking or fishing together, participating in holiday activities, etc. all build memories to talk and write about as well as build background knowledge for reading. So enjoy this busy time of year and while making memories with your kiddos.



Also, don’t forget to check out the public library or one of the local bookstores for great titles and authors. Cold days are perfect for cuddling up with a good read! Booklists can be found on this blog.


Happy Holidays!

Writing at Centerfield

Nathaniel Hawthorne once said that “Easy reading is ‘darn’ hard writing.”  And believe me, no one knows this more than a student trying to get his or her thoughts on paper!  Writing is hard, it’s messy, and it can be intimidating. Once the pencil is put to paper, a writer’s inner thoughts immediately become public.  This can be scary for many kids (and adults, too!).  As I visit classrooms, it is amazing to see the many ways teachers and students are using writing throughout the day.  Our youngest students are developing oral language skills that will support their ideas for writing. They quickly move to drawing pictures, writing letters, words, and finally sentences.  All students are working on different genre pieces (short story, poetry, persuasive letters, etc.), and they are also using writing to explore their thinking about math, science, related arts, social studies, and reading.  Studies have shown that when students use writing as a tool for learning, they tend to internalize concepts, facts and ideas at a much higher rate.  From time to time, ask to see your child’s learning journals, and then talk about what he or she learning.  You should see diagrams, labels, facts, examples, ideas, questions, and reflection.   In essence, writing is an important tool not only for exploring thoughts, but for supporting learning - and our students are deeply exploring the world of writing.  That’s something to celebrate!

The Importance of "Just Right Books"

Students seem to be adjusting to the routine of school. Classrooms are busy and there's the familiar hum of learning swirling throughout the building. Teachers have begun the job of teaching. One of the first lessons each year is teaching kids how to pick books that are "just right". Easy books don't challenge enough. Difficult books are frustrating and kids can't learn how to "think their way through text" if all their time is spent decoding words. Just right books offer a balance of easy reading and challenging vocabulary and ideas. As adults, we rarely choose a book that is too difficult or in a subject that we have no background knowledge. These books are simply too hard to understand. For instance I would not be successful trying to read my daughter's organic chemistry book! As adults we tend to read material that entertains us, that we have strong interest in, or books that challenge us without frustration. The same holds true for kids. Here is one simple way to see if a book is in the ballpark for your child.

• Ask why the child has chosen a book. Check the true interest in the book (re-reading favorite text is encouraged as long as they're also choosing new text as well)
• Ask your child to pick a page out of the middle of the book and begin reading.

• If they do not come across any unknown words or difficult words, the book is typically too easy
• If they come across 4-5 unknown or difficult words, the book is typically too difficult
• If they come across 1-3 words that are unknown or difficult, the book is typically "just right"

As always, use your best judgment when helping your child choose reading material. Feel free to post any questions or contact me through email. (kathleen.heim@oldham.kyschools.us)

Happy Reading!
Kathy Heim
Literacy Coach

Welcome to a new school year!

Families and Students,

Welcome to a new school year! I enjoyed meeting new families and reconnecting with returning families during orientation today. Several kids stopped me to tell me what the have been reading over the summer. Now that's music to a literacy coach's ears! In addition, the school is looking so much better - shiny new floors, cleaned up classrooms - Mr. Mike and his crew deserve a huge thank you for all their hard work! It looks like everyone is ready to start the year.

I will be posting literacy related articles, links, and information throughout the year. Stop by often to check out our blog. In addition, please post questions and/or comments as needed.

l look forward to working with you and your children this year!

“School’s Out for Summer” These lyrics shout a feeling of freedom each summer as the school year comes to a close. Visions of days at the pool, playing outside all day long, and riding bikes endlessly become a reality as soon as the school doors close on that last day. There’s also a sense of melancholy, too. The structure we’ve become used to is suddenly missing, and learning new things about our world with our friends is no longer an every-day experience.

Yes, kids need the downtime that summer brings, but they also need to keep current with the skills they’ve learned during the year. Studies show that children who do not read during the summer tend to fall behind and spend time each fall catching up. One way to prevent this slip is to encourage reading over the summer. The public library, local bookstores and numerous web sites have extensive reading lists of great summer fiction and non-fiction texts. The important thing to remember is to consider the interests and reading ability of your child. Enlist the help of your child in selecting reading material…don’t forget to include magazines and news articles, too. Have fun exploring different genres and learning about our world with your child.
Check out the sites listed on this blog, too - there's lots of resources available! Feel free to post questions, email, or call me if you have comments or questions!

Have a wonderful summer!

Kathy Heim
Literacy Coach
kathleen.heim@oldham.kyschools.us