Practice Reading with Newspaper "Highlights"

What You Need:

• Daily newspaper
• Highlighter
• Calendar
• Pencil

What You Do:

1. Introduce the newspaper and a highlighter to your first grader and you’ve got daily literacy practice at your fingertips! First show your child how to use a highlighter. Explain that you need to swipe, rather than color, with this special tool, and it makes words appear brighter than the other words around them.
2. Now explain that even though the newspaper is full of teeny print, a first grader has still learned words that are all over the page. Pretty grownup stuff, if you think about it!
3. Next, pick a literacy skill of focus for the day. Perhaps your child is working on a sight word this week, such as “they.” Have him search through the newspaper and highlight the word “they” as often as he can find it.
4. The next day, choose a different skill or focus. Maybe today he’ll look for all the words he can find that start with the same letter as “Wednesday.” You could also have your kid highlight a few of the words he doesn't recognize, and then look up the definitions as a way to improve his vocabulary.
5. You’ll want to set a weekly goal for your child and write it on the calendar beside the week. At the end of the week, if he has reached his goal, reward him for his efforts. Take him out for ice cream or a movie. It will be the “highlight” of his day!