Teaching kids to read and helping those who struggle

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Order the Reading Rockets Launching Young Readers PBS Series

Reading Rockets offers a wealth of reading strategies, lessons, and activities designed to help young children learn how to read and read better. Our reading resources assist parents, teachers, and other educators in working with struggling readers who require additional help in reading fundamentals and comprehension skills development.

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The Parent-Teacher Conference

Parents often find themselves at school for parent-teacher conferences around this time of year. For many families, this is your first opportunity to sit down one-on-one with your child's teacher to talk about school progress. It's important to use this time to share your impressions of the school year, and to ask any questions you might have.

Here are some questions that might help set the tone for a productive and positive conference:

• At what level my child is currently reading? What type of growth have you seen so far this year?
• Can you describe my child's reading? Is it fluent and expressive? Does my child read at an appropriate pace?
• At home my child enjoys reading ___________. Can you make any other recommendations for reading material?
• At home we try to talk about what our child has read. What other things can we do at home to help with comprehension?
• The homework you assign typically takes about ____ minutes to complete. We feel the homework load is (too challenging, not challenging enough, just right, etc). What strategies can you recommend to make homework as effective as it can be?
• What sorts of things can we do at home to keep our child motivated about his/her schoolwork?

Did you run out of time? It's often hard to fit it all in during one conference. If you still have unanswered questions, follow up with a written note, or schedule a second face-to-face meeting. Develop a solid relationship with your child's teacher — consider it your homework for the year!