Online Reading
This report card time, it's more important than ever to make sure students' reading skills are strong.
This is a special time of year for many students and teachers - report card time! This year’s report card time is different from any other, because school has been much different for most kids. Whether students are now studying virtually at home or in school, there are likely gaps in most students’ education. Last school year at least a third of the scheduled in-person class time was missed for most students. For some students, this was a pivotal moment in their education to miss out on; as Dr. Heidi Beverine-Curry points out, kids at this sensitive stage (now in Grade 1) have missed key points in their journey to learning to read.
Keeping in mind this missed class time, should teachers and administrators should change their expectations for student progress? According to reading expert Timothy Shanahan, students’ future employers and educators will not lower their expectations, so we shouldn’t either.
If your child’s report card is coming home soon, how can you best use your conversation with your child’s teacher?
- Keep your expectations in check, because it has been an unusual year.
- Get a clear idea of your child’s skills.
- Understand how to help them get to where they need to be, educationally.
We should expect our kids to keep learning even when times are hard; one really important way we can do so is to make sure their reading skills are strong. When kids can read well independently, they can learn about anything in the world. Families who invest time now making sure their kids can read independently are giving them a skill that no one can take away, and that will continue to help them learn as they grow.
There absolutely should be a sense of urgency in making sure students are getting the education they need, and it’s more important than ever that kids learn to read the right way. Halifax Learning can help - we can assess your child’s current reading skills quickly and easily online, and our online SpellRead classes are a safe and reliable way for students to strengthen their reading skills.
