Spotlight on Literacy

Explore the world of reading and writing with Spotlight on Literacy—a collection of convenient, on-demand mini workshops designed to empower families. Dive into each issue, where we focus on a particular area of literacy, offering you valuable insights, strategies, and resources to enrich your support for learners at home. Learn about essential skills, understand their significance in reading, and watch as our Neshaminy SD reading specialists demonstrate a skill-related activity for you to engage in with your reader.

In this issue, Ferderbar ES Reading Specialists, Pam Haggerty and Jennifer Pinson share their expertise in vocabulary and how it supports reading comprehension..

Warm regards,

Kimberley Maurizi

Federal Programs, Titles I, II, & III

Neshaminy SD

Research has shown that vocabulary growth is directly linked to overall school achievement. The size of a child’s vocabulary in kindergarten predicts his/her ability to learn to read (The Hanen Centre). A large vocabulary improves all areas of communication including reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

Reading and having conversations with your child are two important ways to help build vocabulary. For example, when reading a picture book with your child and the book says, “The boy tumbled down the hill.” Ask your child to look at the picture and then ask them how they think the boy fell down the hill (Reading Rockets).

Sharing a new word doesn’t have to take a long time, just a few minutes to discuss the word and then back to the book or conversation.

When defining a new word, use simple, kid-friendly definitions. For example, if you are defining the word minuscule, say it is something very small or tiny. Give basic examples from their lives to help them understand. For the word minuscule, try explaining that when they eat a Teddy Graham, it’s minuscule compared to a whole graham cracker (Great Speech).

Encourage your child to use context clues to figure out the meaning of new words. When your child comes across an unknown word, encourage them to look at words around it to see if they can figure out the meaning.

Make it fun! Playing word games such as Scrabble, Boggle, Scattergories, and crossword puzzles are fun ways to enlarge their vocabulary. You can also play games such as “I Spy” or “20 Questions” to help your child practice describing objects and using descriptive words.

Sources: Reading Rockets, Florida Center for Reading Research, NWEA, Hansen Centre & Cognitive.com

Great Speech

Spend time talking about synonyms, words with the same meaning, and antonyms, words that are opposites. Attached is a game from Florida Center for Reading Research called Synonym-Antonym Connections. There is a list of word cards and synonym and antonym cards. Your child will choose a synonym or antonym card and match it to the word card. This game is geared towards children in 2nd-3rd grade. It could be made easier for younger children or more challenging for older students by changing the level of the vocabulary on the notecards.

Pennsylvania’s Core Standards in English Language Arts and Mathematics are robust and relevant to the real world and reflect the knowledge and skills our young people need to succeed in life after high school, in both post-secondary education and a globally competitive workforce.

Click here to view the PA Core Standards at the Pennsylvania Department of Education SAS website.

• Title I Spring Meeting (April-May)
  
• Title I Schoolwide Plan Steering Committee (May- June)
• Title I Reading Specialist Conferences (June)
• Parent & Family Engagement News (May)

Neshaminy School District has 5 Title I schools (Joseph Ferderbar ES, Herbert Hoover ES, Walter S. Miller ES, Albert Schweitzer ES and Twanks ES). We have a Title I Reading Specialist available at each Title I school to assist parents with monitoring and supporting their child’s academic progress between home and school.

• Joseph Ferderbar ES - Pam Haggerty
• Herbert Hoover ES - Jennifer McAndrew
• Walter Miller ES - Genevieve Peto
• Albert Schweitzer ES - Kristen Casile
• Tawanka ES - Andrea Gansor
• Tawanka ES - Beth Smith

Please feel free to contact Dr. Robert Boffa, Federal Programs Coordinator, at any time with questions, concerns or suggestions regarding Neshaminy School District Title I.

Email: rboffa@neshaminy.org
Website: https://www.neshaminy.org/Page/43697
Location: 2250 Langhorne-Yardley Road, Langhorne, PA 19047
Phone: 215-809-6551