Brittany Berndt berndtb@fitchburg.k12.ma.us
TO PARENT (MARCH 28)
Good Morning Rob,
I'm sorry I missed your call this morning. I'm Blake's Title I teacher.
Let me just start off by saying, he is an absolute pleasure to work with! He is extremely bright and has a wonderful sense of humor. He
has been very well rested and focused - I'm really starting to see some great progress.
I know in your initial message, you were looking for ways to help Blake with his reading at home.
A few ideas:
• Every week, I send home a new set of super star words, reading this list together every night would be helpful. I try to get the kids
excited about practicing, by giving them a super star certificate at the end of each week for learning their words. If it would be easier, I
wouldn't mind putting these words on flashcards for Blake each week. I could send home a list of different word games to play with
them if you would like.
• Reading with Blake each night would also be really great. I can send a few quick reads home in his reading bag as well. A strategy
Blake and I have been focusing on in our meetings is using the pictures to help figure out words.
• Asking Blake a few questions both during his reading and after would be great practice for checking his understanding. I'll send
home a reading bookmark with some general questions on Monday.
I hope these suggestions have been helpful. If you would like, we could plan on doing a weekly email or phone check in about Blake's
progress?
I look forward to talking with you soon,
Brittany Berndt
From Parent: (March 29)
Hello Brittany, You are right, both Blake and Brauk are really good kids, and they are willing to do the work. Currently we have
Blake read some simple books that have repetitious words in them. I also have some sight word flashcards that I have him read. I
notice he tends to see the first few letters and then guesses what the word is , so I have been trying to get him to cover the word and
read it in small pieces. This can be confusing though because of all the silent letters...
So, I wanted to make sure that I am working parallel to what you are teaching him. I am certainly willing to use any props or games
that you think may help him.
Thanks for your time and effort.
Brittany Berndt berndtb@fitchburg.k12.ma.us (March 29)
Rob,
That is wonderful! It is very clear that he has been reading a lot more. He is really beginning to take off.
Sight word flash cards are wonderful! Those are always very tricky for the kids.
Yes, Blake does often guess words based on the first couple of letters. When he does this, I stop him and ask him to look closely at the
letters on the page. A question he probably gets very sick of me asking is - does the word you’re saying match the letters on the page?
He always looks up with a big smirk, knowing they do not!
We are going to be working on the silent e rule this week.
You're very welcome. I want to help in any way that I can.
Brittany