AF Read Talk Play

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Press Release Courtesy of Power County PressPrinted February 27, 2019

"Read - Talk - Play" formed by American Falls School District School District.

The American Falls School District will be kicking off an initiative called “Read Talk Play" every day during the month of March.

Read Talk Play Every Day is a research-based, community supported initiative to champion early childhood literacy. Through volunteer, business and family partnerships, parents and relatives are being encouraged to read, talk and play with their children from birth. “With the help of parents and in partnership with our community our goal is to have every student ready to start kindergarten,” Superintendent Randy Jensen said. “We want every student reading on grade level by the end of third grade and on the path to a happy and successful life. ”Thirty-five percent of students come from poverty households in the American Falls district.Almost 70 percent of elementary students are on free lunch. Research shows students from poverty enter kindergarten, on average, two years behind peers who are not from poverty, due limited exposure to vocabulary. “Less than 20 percent of our kindergarten students come prepared for kindergarten,” Jensen said. The district is aggressively tackling this challenge through a multifaceted approach involving teacher-designed strategies to address needs in prekindergarten through third grade. During the 2019-2020 school year the school district will be moving to a full-day every day kindergarten program. “There are many benefits to reading, talking and playing with children,” Jensen wrote in a press release. “Children who have been read to are confident communicators, understand emotions better and form stronger relationships. They have a large and diverse vocabulary: a crucial building block to reading. Children who have been read to have stronger relationships with their parents and feel more connected to their family. “Playing with your children fosters imagination and lays a foundation to discovery and a large, descriptive vocabulary. Playing helps your children develop motor skills which improves brain processing skills needed to do math, science and reading. Playing with your children pushes them to invent story lines, characters and places all fundamentals of reading and writing.

"Kindergarten Ready"

What does it mean to be "Kindergarten Ready?

  • Recognize, spell and write their name (name should be written with an uppercase letter at the beginning and the rest lowercase)

  • Count 10 objects using 1 to 1 correspondence (assigning one number to one object)

  • Correctly form letters beginning with pencil starting at the top

  • Identify most of the letters - both uppercase and lowercase

  • Know at least 10 letter sounds

  • Count to 20 orally

Simple Self-help Skills:

  • Zip their own zipper (coat, pants, shoes,)

  • Use the bathroom independently

Social Skills:

  • Take turns

  • Share

  • Wait their turn

Fine Motor Skills:

  • Color outside the lines

  • Cut with the scissors

  • Hold their pencil correctly

Kindergarten sign up

English Flyer

Spanish Flyer

Read.

  • Look at pictures in books. Talk about what you both see.

  • Ask “What might happen next?”

  • Make up stories of your own.

  • Visit your local library – Activities for all ages.

Talk.

  • Encourage them. Use positive words . . . “You can do it.”

  • Talk about daily activities as you do them.

  • Listen & respond to your child.

  • Sing silly songs. Make up a rhyme.

Play.

  • Roll a ball, build with blocks, go for a walk.

  • Use common objects – pots and pans

  • Play simple games like “I Spy” and “Peek-A-Boo”.

  • Make believe. Sit in the sandbox. Create a blanket tent.