Reading Fluency Brochure - a Parent Handout Great for Parent/Teacher Conferences

 With parent/teacher conferences right around the corner I thought I would share one important handout I give to a lot of my parents during Spring conferences.

It seems like this is the time of year where first graders who are fluent readers really start taking off with their reading and children who are struggling with reading fluency really start to lag behind.

Since reading fluency is such an important skill to build, I talk a lot about reading fluency with those parents who have a child struggling in that area during Spring conferences.

I like to give out this brochure because it really helps me discuss what reading fluency is and why it’s important for their child to have.

This reading fluency brochure is a simple, print-and-go resource to give parents to provide them with information and tips on how to foster reading fluency at home. 

The inside of the brochure describes what reading fluency is, why it's important, and lists ways parents can help improve their child's reading fluency at home.

The back of the brochure gives parents fun sight word activities to do at home with their child to help build reading fluency.

Simply print these two pages front to back then fold the paper to create a tri-fold brochure. 

Not only is this brochure helpful to handout and discuss during Parent/Teacher conferences, it’s also great at IEP meetings, RTI meetings, etc.

I like to attach some sight word flash cards with this handout for a great fluency building homework packet. 

You can read more about my printable sight word flash cards HERE!

Parents walk away from conferences feeling like they have an easy plan in place to help their child practice and build their reading fluency at home.

Click HERE to download my Reading Fluency Brochure from my TpT Store!

Click HERE to download my Dolch flash card set!

Click HERE to download my Fry flash card set!

Sight Word Flash Cards, Sight Word Parent Notes, & Sight Word Homework Log for Parent/Teacher Conferences

With parent/teacher conferences right around the corner I thought I would share something I always do at my conferences.

I always send home practice pages with parents when I talk to them about their child struggling in a certain area.

If that area is handwriting then I send home handwriting practice pages, if it’s in the area of math facts then I send home flash cards, etc.

Since my students are in first grade one of the most common things some of them struggle with is reading fluency.  That is why I send parents home with these sight word practice pages.  They can use these to practice building their child’s sight word recognition at home.

Parents are always so appreciative when they leave conferences knowing they have a game plan in place to help their child improve in the area they are struggling with.

Here’s a look at my sight word flash card bundle that I send home with my parents.

I include a parent note explaining what sight words are and why they are important.

I also include a whole page of ideas on how they can practice sight words with their child at home AND in FUN ways!

You can also begin to send home this weekly checklist to remind parents to have their child practice their sight words as homework each night.

Grab the Sight Word Bundle Links Below!

Click HERE to download my black and white sight word flash cards (Fry word lists) from my TpT store.

Click HERE to download my black and white sight word flash cards (Dolch word lists) from my TpT store.

Check out these other great handouts and practice pages I send home with parents during Parent/Teacher conferences.

Addition Flash Cards

Subtraction Flash Cards

Handwriting Practice Pages

Reading Fluency Brochure

Student Behavior Checklist - Great to use at Parent/Teacher Conferences

Getting things prepared for Parent/Teacher conferences can be overwhelming.  I always like to include a packet of paperwork that shows parents what the benchmarks are at this time of the year in first grade and how their child is doing compared to those benchmarks. Reading level, reading fluency, comprehension, and fact fluency are just some of the benchmarks I include in my packet of paperwork.  My parents find this information that I give them to be very beneficial in knowing how their child is performing in first grade.

However, one of the top questions that parents have is: "How is my child's behavior?"  That's when I decided to come up with a work habits and behavior checklist.  The checklist includes 21 specific work habit/behavior topics that I could evaluate their child on.  I rated the students on each topic as either: "Does this well," "Does this okay," and "Needs to do better."

This checklist really helped me breakdown each child's behavior and make it easier to explain to their parents what they do well in and areas they can improve in.

I like to give these checklists out at each parent/teacher conference (one in the fall and the other in the spring).  You can compare the two checklists during the spring conference to see if the child's behavior has improved or declined.

I copy all the paperwork I give out to parents during conferences and keep a copy for me and allow the parents to take home the additional copies.

I store and organize all the paperwork I give out at conferences in these plastic parent-teacher conference folders I made.  Each folder has a student number on it so I can reuse them year after year.

This checklist is so easy to fill out that you could not only use it for conferences but for end of the week student behavior evaluations, end of the month student behavior evaluations, etc.

Grab a copy of my Evaluation of Work Habits and Behavior Checklist from my TpT store by clicking HERE!  It's now editable!

Parent-Teacher Conferences

I tried something new this year for parent-teacher conferences.  It ended up working so well that I thought I would share!

In the past I would always have tons of information to show the parents how their child was doing academically at parent-teacher conferences.  BUT it never failed that year after year the parents I needed to meet with to discuss their child’s academics would never set up a parent-teacher conference.  Also, those parents that their child was doing great would always be the ones that filled my designated conference times.

So this year instead of preparing all the information and holding onto it for parent-teacher conferences - I decided to send the information home BEFORE conferences.  This allowed all my parents to see beforehand if it was necessary or not to meet during parent-teacher conferences.

This year I had every parent that I wanted/needed to meet with sign up for a conference!  I also had many of those parents that I did not need to meet with decline a conference.  Usually our designated conference times are in 15 minute blocks to be able to fit everyone in.  Since I did not have everyone sign up for a conference this allowed me more time (sometimes up to 30 minutes) to be able to talk with those parents that I really needed to meet with.  By sending out all the information beforehand all my parents felt well informed on how their child was doing in 1^st grade – even if they did not set up a conference.

Here is a look into the packet of information that I sent home before conferences. 

This was the cover page in the packet.  This form explains the packet of information that I sent home.  It also has an area where parents can write down their questions or concerns.  This form gets sent back to me before conferences.  This form really helps me make sure I am not caught off guard by any questions the parents might have and make sure I have all the resources available to answer their questions during their conference time.  

Next was the various 1st grade benchmark pages.  The benchmark pages explained to the parents the different tests and data we use to measure how a child is performing academically in 1st grade.  It explained where a first grader should be at this point in the school year.  It also listed how their child is performing compared to those benchmarks. 

Not only did I include academic information on their child.  BUT I also gave an evaluation of how their child’s work habits and behaviors are at school.

Finally, the last page of the packet had the parent-teacher conference request form.

When the parents returned this form requesting a parent/teacher conference I marked them down on my conference schedule.

 

 I also sent home an appointment notice letting them know the day and time their conference was set for.  

Finally, to prepare for each parent's conference I put together a folder for each child that had all the information, paperwork, etc. that I was going to discuss during conferences with the parents. 

As you can tell each folder has the student's number instead of their name.  This lets me reuse these folders year after year.

  

During conferences I always like to give the parents handouts, practice pages, ideas, etc. on how they can help their child - especially in those areas that their child is struggling with.  Here are some of the items I pass out.  It includes sight word practice pages, handwriting practice pages, math fact practice, reading fluency pamphlet, writing prompts, non-sense word practice, syllable count practice, etc.

During conferences I also sit this bulletin board outside my classroom door.  This bulletin board has helpful information for parents to read while they are waiting for their conference.  The bulletin board includes handouts and practice pages they can take home to help their child at home.  Many parents want to help their child at home, but just don’t know how.  These handouts and practice pages give the parents easy ways to help at home.

 Click HERE to download my Parent/Teacher conference folder, forms, bulletin board, and practice pages on my TpT store!