Mrs. Deleon - First Grade

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                                   Welcome!
 Welcome to Room 2's webpage! My name is Alisha Deleon-Guerrero, but the kids call me Mrs. D.  I am thrilled to be teaching your students!  Please email or call me with any questions.  Thanks!
                                           Mrs. Deleon
                                           deleona@edmonds.wednet.edu
                                           425.431.3615

COMMON QUESTIONS: (More questions will be added periodically.)

What are reading strategies?

Reading Strategies:  
    The ways readers figure out words and understand the story.  There are 2 kinds of reading strategies: decoding strategies and comprehension strategies.

Decoding Strategies: There are many different decoding strategies.  The following strategies are the ones I teach my students.  (You can download a document in the Documents section that describes all of the following strategies in more detail.)
   1. Get Your Mouth Ready: Students say the sound at the beginning of the word.
    2. Check the Illustrations:  Is there any picture in the illustration that will give you a clue?
   3.  Chunk it:  What groups of letters can you read inside the word such as 'sh', 'ch', 'ow', 'mb', 'wr' ?
   4.  Sound it out:  Sound out each letter in the word while blending them together.
   5.  Skip the Word and Come Back to it:  Skip the word, read to the end of the sentence and then go back.  What would make sense?
   6.  Find little words inside of the big word:  Are there any little words inside the word you are trying to figure out?  
   7.  Is the word important?: Decide if that word is truly important to figure out in order to understand the text.  If not, skip it and don't worry about it.  If it is important, however, go find someone to help or look it up in the dictionary. 

 Comprehension Strategies:  
    The ways readers figure out what the words mean and what the story is all about. These are the following strategies that I teach in sequence over the course of the year:
   1. Metacognition: 
   2.  Schema:  
   3.  Visualize:     
   4.  Question: 
   5.  Infer:     
   6.  Determine Importance:   
   7.  Synthesize:

How can I help my child in reading?
  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ READ  READ  READ READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ  READ      
       
When reading a book that is "just-right" for your child:       
    1.  Encourage your child - tell them that they ARE a reader - no matter what level they are.      
    2.  Don't tell your child what a word is - say "What are your strategies?" and then help them figure it out.     
    3.  When your child says, "Is this word _______?"  Say, "Does that make sense?  What do you think?"  This way we are encouraging children to rely on themselves and not adults.     
    4.  WAIT WAIT WAIT.  Kids need time to figure out words.  When they look at you - wanting you to just tell them what that word is - just stare back at them until they try to figure it out.  Then WAIT, and give them the time to figure it out.     
       
When reading a book that is "just-right"  OR when reading aloud to your child - talk about the book you are reading:      
   1.  Schema - What do you already know about this topic?      
   2.  Question - What do you think the book will be about?  Why did the author write about it?  Why did the author use funny-looking writing?     
   3.   Infer - What do you think will happen next?  Why?  Why does the character feel that way?      
   4.   Visualize - Can you feel how cold that penguin must feel?  What does the sandwich he's eating taste like?     
       
Enjoy reading!  Reading should be fun!  Not drudgery.  Get excited about books!   Go to the library together to find books that interest him/her.      
       

How Can I Help My Child in Writing?       
       
 Don't worry about perfect spelling!!!!  Just like toddlers approximate talking ("milk" means "Mom, can I have some milk?"), first graders are approximating writing ("i lk mi mom" spells "I like my mom!").  At this vitally important writing stage, we are working on boosting our students' confidence and independence.  We want them to identify themselves as writers.  Writing is hard work!  First graders have to figure out what they want to write,  which sound to start with, remember what that sound looks like, and then figure out how to write that on the page!  Wow!!!      
       
              
 When your child asks you how to spell a word, tell them:      
 1. Sound it out     
 2.  Is it written anywhere that you know?     
 3. Can you find it in a book?     
 4. Are there any words you know how to spell that sound like that word?     
 5. Sound it out!     
 6. Sound it out!!!     
 7. Sound it out!!!     
       
 What if s/he's sounding out a word, but they come to a sound they haven't learned yet?  (Like /oo/, //oy/, /ow/)      
  Tell them the 2 or 3 letters that make that sound.     
       
WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE  WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE  WRITE WRITE WRITE WRITE     
     
 Let you child help you write the grocery list.      
 Write letters to friends and family.      
 When your child draws you a picture, ask them to write about it for you.      
 When they ask you to do something ("Can we go to Chuck E. Cheese tomorrow?") - tell them to write you a note so you won't forget.     
       
How Can I Help My Child in Math?       
       
Play board games (they have all sorts of math skills).         
Let your child count up the change in your purse.       
Ask your child what time it is.       
Practice addition and subtraction while driving in the car. ("What's 3 + 2?")       
Use flashcards to get faster with addition and subtraction.
Play the handgame (ask your child how).       

   Send me your questions and I'll answer them as soon as I can.  Thanks!