Dear Mr. & Mrs. Killion,
I really enjoyed working with Gavin the last few months! He has such a sparkling personality. He picked out a variety of books each time we went to the library. We read some that were informational nonfiction, realistic fiction, and fantasy. He enjoyed reading to me and having me read to him.
Gavin has a lot of different strategies that he uses while reading. He has a large amount of sight words that help him increase fluency. If he doesn’t recognize a word, he tries to sound it out. He doesn’t give up easily and keeps trying different ways of sounding out a word. For instance, he will try it using a short vowel and if that doesn’t seem right, then he will try it with a long vowel. He is able to blend sounds together to form words and break words apart into separate sounds. If he sounds out a word that doesn’t make sense in the story, he stops and tries it again until he figures out what it should be. He looks at the pictures to get clues that may help him figure out the unknown word. He understands that stories should make sense and he stops when something doesn’t seem right to him. If he still can’t figure it out on his own, then he will ask for help. He really wants to make sure that he is reading it correctly.
One thing that stood out to me while working with Gavin was his phonemic awareness. He showed this while he was reading and while he was writing. He was able to sound out many words in his writing and included all of the sounds in each word. Everything that he wrote was spelled phonemically correct. In his writing, I was also able to see a lot of the sight words that he knows. Another thing that impressed me in his writing was his understanding that he could find print to use in his writing. He would look back in a story to find a word that he needed to use in his writing so he would know how to spell it. He knows that there are resources to help him with reading and writing and he is learning how to use them to his benefit.
Gavin is very aware of environmental print around him. He was always trying to read the posters in my classroom and ask me about what they said. He has a very high interest in reading and enjoyed all of the writing that we did. He is able to decode words and he independently thinks about what those words mean. I am sure he will continue reading for enjoyment as well as for other purposes such as finding information. Keep offering him a variety of texts and opportunities to write and I’m sure you will see great progress!
Thanks you for letting me work with Gavin. He was a joy to read with!
Sincerely,
Amy Killion
I really enjoyed working with Gavin the last few months! He has such a sparkling personality. He picked out a variety of books each time we went to the library. We read some that were informational nonfiction, realistic fiction, and fantasy. He enjoyed reading to me and having me read to him.
Gavin has a lot of different strategies that he uses while reading. He has a large amount of sight words that help him increase fluency. If he doesn’t recognize a word, he tries to sound it out. He doesn’t give up easily and keeps trying different ways of sounding out a word. For instance, he will try it using a short vowel and if that doesn’t seem right, then he will try it with a long vowel. He is able to blend sounds together to form words and break words apart into separate sounds. If he sounds out a word that doesn’t make sense in the story, he stops and tries it again until he figures out what it should be. He looks at the pictures to get clues that may help him figure out the unknown word. He understands that stories should make sense and he stops when something doesn’t seem right to him. If he still can’t figure it out on his own, then he will ask for help. He really wants to make sure that he is reading it correctly.
One thing that stood out to me while working with Gavin was his phonemic awareness. He showed this while he was reading and while he was writing. He was able to sound out many words in his writing and included all of the sounds in each word. Everything that he wrote was spelled phonemically correct. In his writing, I was also able to see a lot of the sight words that he knows. Another thing that impressed me in his writing was his understanding that he could find print to use in his writing. He would look back in a story to find a word that he needed to use in his writing so he would know how to spell it. He knows that there are resources to help him with reading and writing and he is learning how to use them to his benefit.
Gavin is very aware of environmental print around him. He was always trying to read the posters in my classroom and ask me about what they said. He has a very high interest in reading and enjoyed all of the writing that we did. He is able to decode words and he independently thinks about what those words mean. I am sure he will continue reading for enjoyment as well as for other purposes such as finding information. Keep offering him a variety of texts and opportunities to write and I’m sure you will see great progress!
Thanks you for letting me work with Gavin. He was a joy to read with!
Sincerely,
Amy Killion