Literacy Resources

Parent Tool Kit: What parents can do to help their child succeed in school: This tool kit from The Council of Directions of Education (CODE) was designed to share helpful strategies and ideas for families to consider to support their children’s learning. 

​Parent Tool Kit​​

tvoLearn: Impactful resources for students in Grades 1-8: This site provides resources, ideas, and tools that are aligned to the Ontario curriculum. Families can support their children in using the content to review, consolidate and extend learning. 

TVO Resources for Grades 1-8​

What is curriculum? Explore what your child is learning by accessing the Ontario Curriculum. Through this page, you can search by subject or grade. 

What is Curriculum?​

Assessment and Evaluation and How is my child being assessed?: These sites from the Ministry of Education provide information on assessment, evaluation and reporting for parents.

Assessment and Evaluation Information​​​

• understand that letters represent spoken sounds and match sounds to the letter(s) that represent them
• read by matching one spoken word with one printed word
• read simple words by saying each sound and blending the sounds together
• notice when they have made an error when reading and fix up the error
• write simple or familiar words by saying the sounds slowly and matching those sounds to the letter(s) that represent them
• automatically recognize a growing number of words when reading, and write an increasing number of simple or familiar words easily
• use and understand a growing number or words when speaking and listening

• Play games with sounds and letters. Here some ideas:
• Take turns coming up with words that rhyme. For example, say “What is a word that ends in the same way as came?”. Take turns thinking of words (e.g., fame, flame, tame). When you run out of actual words, get silly and make up words that follow the same rhyming pattern, (e.g., trame, grame, pame). 
• How many claps? Practice counting and language skills at the same time by counting and clapping words or parts of words. For example, clap out how many words in a sentence, how many syllables in a word (e.g. but-ter-fly, three syllables/claps, kit-ty (two syllables/claps), or how many sounds in a word (e.g., c-a-t, three sounds/claps, th-a-t, 3 sounds/claps). Stick to only one task at a time (i.e., clapping out either words, syllables or sounds).
• Play Sound I Spy. To play, think of a sound and look around the room to find an object that begins with that sound. For example, say, “I spy something that begins with /f/ (say the sound, not the letter name). Your child can then guess which object you chose. Take turns playing so your child also has the opportunity to pick the object for you to guess. 
• Find small opportunities to have your child practice reading every day. This may happen when children bring home early reading books from school, or through inviting your child to read words in the environment around them (e.g., short words on signs, in flyers, on menus). Some things you can say to support your child as they read are:
• “Slide through each sound.”
• “Put your finger under each letter as you say the sounds.”
• “Try a different sound” (e.g., c, g, vowels)
• “Break the word into parts.”
• Read to your child as often as you can, striving to make it an every day routine. This provides a way to connect with your child, helps them make connections between their life and the outside world, and dramatically improves their language skills. Keeping in mind that it is easier for children to read and understand words that they have heard before, reading picture books which are full of rich vocabulary is a great way to introduce words to your child even before they can read those words themselves. Rereading favourite books on several occasions also supports your child in reading words independently and understanding what happened in the books. Find more tips here to Raise a Reader.  
• Find reasons to write together. Writing birthday card messages, thank you notes, and lists (e.g., grocery lists, things to do on a school break) provide children a real purpose for writing and give them practice thinking about the message they want to communicate, the sounds in words, matching those sounds to letters, and writing letters to spell whole words. Younger children can write the first letter of each word by listening carefully for the first sound in the word and matching that sound to a letter. When that is easy, writing the first and letter of each word is a good goal. Over time, children can work towards writing whole words. Find out more about list writing and fun ideas for lists to write together here. 
• Honour beginning writers' attempts, or their use of approximate spellings (also known as “temporary spelling”), when composing messages. For example, they may write “ad” for the word “and”. This is an important step in their spelling development. Consider giving them positive feedback while at the same time extending their spelling development. This might sound like, “I noticed you sounded out “and” and wrote the letters that make the /a/ and /d/ sounds. Let’s say “and” slowly together and think of the other sound in the middle of the word - /a/ - /n/ - /d/.” ​
  
• Continue to use other languages or dialects spoken in your home to support your child’s literacy development (e.g., reading or telling a story in your primary language, discussing and/or writing about an English text in your primary language).
• Find more ideas for keeping literacy skills strong over the summer in the HDSB 2022 Kindergarten (Yr 2) to Grade 1 Summer Learning Package or HDSB 2022 Grade 1 to Grade 2 Summer Learning Package. In these packages you will find:

• an introductory letter for families

• July and August calendars of fun activities to do with children
  
• additional activities and games
• suggestions for “Before, During and After Reading”
• reference pages including word lists, alphabet linking charts, game directions