Lakeview Families,

Did you get the gist of that story? Besides encouraging students to read independently at least twenty minutes a night, another way parents can help support their children is by exposing them to more non-fiction texts and videos. My fourth grader loves reading nonfiction texts. Her recent favorite topics have ranged from Helen Keller to iron lungs to turtles. She loves to watch short videos online about her interests, too.

We talked a lot about the history of Thanksgiving over the holiday weekend.   This is a great site with interesting videos about Thanksgiving. I know the topic isn't as timely now but the message is still the same.

http://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving 

These videos lend themselves to a great "gist" activity. I recommend watching one of the short videos (3-5 minutes each) and then having your child writing down ten words that come to mind related to the video. If they can't think of ten words, then play the video again until they can remember more information. For younger students, you could write down the words for them, or have them use inventive spelling. Next, try to have them write a two-three sentence summary of what they have seen using as many of the ten words they have identified. Good teachers (you are your child's first teacher!) try to model for their students, so try doing this activity with them until both of you get the hang of it, as you compare your results.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Rebekah