Yesterday I talked about reading in the classroom.... today, will be reading at home. All that hard work we are doing in class needs to be reinforced and practiced at home. I ask my parents to read with their child for twenty minutes per day. My principal shared this visual at a staff meeting last year.... she got it from Perry Lecompton Unified School District {I am not sure if this is the original source}...... It. Is. Fabulous. Click {HERE} to go to the Perry Lecompton site. I also found that the High-Tech Teacher Blog has retyped the same visual I just shared and added a Spanish version too. Click {HERE} to download her English and Spanish PDF explaining WHY a child needs to read for twenty minutes per day. The website Colorin Colorado has some great tip sheets for parents {click here} I have found {this link} by Mrs. Samuelson very useful. She shares the "Handy Reading Strategies" and I have no idea who created this ..was it Mrs. Samuelson? It is one of those little helpers I have seen everywhere online because it is so useful. I retyped it and it is included in the freebie below. One of the first times I meet the parents in my classroom for a formal meeting is Back to School Night. It is a parent only evening where each teacher explains all the basic information about our school and what to expect over the course of the school year. This is also where I give them my PLEASE READ every single day speech. I also hand this out- Click on either image to download your own copy. Get this Freebie now! {The Handy Reading Strategies image is also available on a page with no other text} I hope you can use these, too! I'll be back soon to post about how writing fits into the Balanced Literacy equation.