Letter to Parent

Dear Parent/ Grandparent/ Guardian, 
 
My name is Ms. Buckner, and I have been working in _________'s classroom as a student teaching intern for the 2012-2013 school year. I have been working closely with your student in reading and language arts to help prepare them for their future first grade classroom. Your student has shown progress in the areas of _________, _________, and ____________. I have also observed your students progress in a variety of social situations and your child is doing excellent. 

One area where I believe your child could use extra supports, based on my observations and assessment,is the area of phonemic awareness. Phonemic awareness is a term used to describe a child's understanding of the sounds a letter in a word makes. This area is extremely important for future reading skills and in preparation for more difficult words. Although your child does an excellent job identifying letter sounds, your child does have difficulty "blending" these sounds together to form words (ex: C-A-T says cat).

I have provided you with some ideas and tools to help you understand this difficulty and some suggestions for helping your child informally by doing everyday tasks. 

• Anytime Tasks: when you are walking/ driving with your student point out a word they see often (such as a stop sign)
•  ask child to say the word.
• ask child what is the last sound you hear? /p/
• what is the first sound you hear? /s/ /t/
• what letters do you think make those sounds?

•  Reading Tasks: when you are reading with your child emphasize letter sounds in simple three letter words. Provide your child with an opportunity to sound these words out. 

If you have questions and concerns about your student's progress or questions about different tools and ideas you can use at home. Feel free to email or call at any time. 


Thank you for your continued support. I will continue to aid in your child's learning  and do the best I can to foster the best learning environment I possibly can! 


Best 
Ms. Buckner