When it comes to literacy, we want our students to acquire a genuine love and interest of reading and writing. In order to do that we need to provide opportunities for students to engage in tasks connected to texts that are meaningful and purposeful.
Choosing a Good Book: The first step in developing good reading habits is to choose texts that appeal to your child's interests. It is worth the time to find books that draw your children in. Adrianne Gear has a great list of recommended reads on her blog below.
Diving Deeper: In class, I like to teach my students that in addition to being entertained (fiction) or reading for information (non-fiction), all books provide an opportunity to learn about ourselves, others and the world around us! This happens when we think deeply about what we are reading.
Skills Required to Meaningfully Engage with Text: When reading, we want our children thinking and interacting with the text so that they can construct meaning. Making predictions, connections, inferences, and asking deep thinking questions while we read helps us develop into thoughtful readers.
Endless Opportunities of Writing! Writing is a way to express our ideas, share our stories, share information about a topic, and help make sense of our own thoughts and ideas. We can help children become proficient writers by nurturing their interests and giving them the time to write about things that they care about. As well, it is important to teach them strategies around "how to" write so they can confidently express themselves through words.