date: dear parent or guardian

Fountas & Pinnell Leveled Literacy Intervention Blue System, Second Edition

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BLUE Introductory Parent Letter

Date: ___________________

Dear Parent or Guardian:

Your child has been selected to participate in Leveled Literacy Intervention, or LLI. He will have daily thirty-minute lessons during which he will read, write, and learn about phonics. The LLI lessons are given in addition to the regular reading instruction your child receives in the classroom.

Each night, your child will bring home a Take-Home Book, which is a copy of a book he has already read in school. Your child can read Take-Home Book to you, an older brother or sister, or other caregiver. You can even have your child read to his stuffed animal! The idea is to have him read every night to give him time to practice what he has learned about reading.

In addition to Take-Home Book, your child will often bring home a fold sheet that he worked on in the classroom after the LLI lesson or that he wants to complete at home. Most likely, he will be excited to show you what he has done on the fold sheet and will want to share it with you.

He will also bring home a Parent Letter each day that contains some simple ideas for reading and writing activities you can do together. They include things to talk about with your child, simple games, and other things that will help your child grow as a reader and writer. You can do all three activities or as many as you have time to do. They are not homework but are suggestions that will make learning fun!

Some of the games can be played with small paper letter cards that your child’s teacher will be sending home. If possible, we recommend that you purchase a set of uppercase and lowercase colored magnetic letters, which are available at large discount and toy stores or even online. Magnetic letters can make a fun and worthwhile birthday gift.

We hope that you will find time to do some of the phonics and word activities from LLI with your child. If you have to make a choice, it is most important that your child read Take-Home Book. Most important, enjoy your time together reading, writing, and talking!

Sincerely yours,

BLUE LESSON 1 Parent Letter

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Date: ___________________

Dear Parent or Guardian,

Your child had his first Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) lesson today. Here are three things that you can do together to help him with reading and writing.

1. Listen to your child read the poem he brought home on the fold sheet called “Purple Cow.” (LLI fold sheets contain activities to be completed in the classroom or at home.) If your child has difficulty, try reading the poem together by pointing at the words. Ask him to tell you about what he wrote and/or drew on the fold sheet.

2. Ask your child some questions about his first LLI lesson. You may want to ask who else is in his LLI group, what he read in LLI today, and what he liked best about it.

3. If your child brought home the Alphabet Linking Chart today, ask him to read it. Ask him to say the name of the letters first, then the name of the picture that corresponds to the letter. For example, “A, a, apple: B, b, bear, C, c, cat . . . “

Remember to keep the activities quick and fun. Most important, enjoy your time together reading, writing, and talking!

Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________


Your child had an LLI lesson today. Here are three things that you can do together to help her with reading and writing.

1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Little Red Hen. Talk about the story. Ask her if she thinks the hen should have shared the bread or not. You may also want to talk about lessons the dog, cat, and pig might have learned in the story.

2. Read the play version of The Little Red Hen at the back of Take-Home Book. Invite other family members or friends to read a part, or double up on parts between you and your child. Encourage your child to make her voice sound like the characters.

3. Read the sentences on the fold sheet with your child. Ask her about the pictures she drew to go along with the sentences. Then, ask her if she can name ten different kinds of farm animals.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________


Your child had an LLI lesson today. Here are three things that you can do together to help him with reading and writing.

1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Things That Fly. Talk about how the different things in the book fly. Look back at the pictures to remind your child, if needed. Ask him which of the things in the book are living things and which are not.

2. Ask to see today’s fold sheet. Invite your child to tell you about what he wrote and drew about flying things. Challenge him to think of five more flying things that are not in the book and add those to the fold sheet.

3. Your child is learning words that appear frequently in the books he reads. In this lesson, he learned to make and read the words the, see and we. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make the words the, see, and we. After he makes each word, have him write it on the back of the fold sheet.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Sea. Talk about the things the children painted in the book. Ask your child about other sea creatures or animals that live in ponds, lakes, and rivers that she’s familiar with.

2. Ask your child to share her drawing from today’s fold sheet. She may have also labeled her pictures with the letter sounds that she can hear in the words.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, make rhyming pairs. Make a simple three-letter word like get. Say the word, and then say a second word that rhymes with it, such as let. Ask your child to make the rhyming word below the first one. Continue, taking turns until you can’t think of any more words that rhyme.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Tide Pool. Talk about tide pools and the animals that live there. If your child has ever seen a tide pool, talk about the experience.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child sorted pictures by the letter that stands for the sound at the beginning of the picture names. Have your child tell you the name of each picture to make sure they’re in the right column.

3. Your child is learning words that appear frequently in the books he reads. In this lesson, he learned to make and read the words look, at, up, and so. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make these words. After he makes each word, have him write it on the back of the fold sheet.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Down the River. Talk about why the family went up the river at the end of the story. Ask your child to find the page where the family decided to turn around to go back up the river.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child finished some sentences and drew pictures about the family’s trip on the river. Have her read the sentences to you and tell you about her pictures. If she didn’t have time to draw pictures at school, have her do so now.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child sort letters into two groups: uppercase and lowercase. Then have them match letters that look the same in both upper and lowercase, such as: Cc, Vv, Zz, Xx, Ww, Ss, and Oo.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Down the Path. Talk about why the animals were running down the path. Ask your child what he thinks made the bees so upset.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child sorted pictures by the letter that stands for the sound at the beginning of the picture names. Have your child tell you the name of each picture to make sure they’re in the right column.

3. Play Guess My Word. To play, you will need magnetic letters or letter cards. Think of a word your child knows how to spell. Show him the first letter of the word, and have him guess what the word is. If he doesn’t guess it correctly, show him the second letter and let him guess again. Continue until he guesses the word correctly, and then trade places in the game.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book All About Penguins. Talk about any new things your child learned about penguins. If she has ever seen a penguin at a zoo or aquarium, talk about that experience.

2. Ask your child to name five other animals that live in cold places. If that is easy, then have her name five animals that live in hot places.

3. On today’s fold sheet, your child remade a cut-up sentence. Ask your child to read the sentence to you and tell you about the picture she drew to go with it. If she didn’t finish her picture, she can do that at home.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Police Car. At this point he should be reading without using his finger to point to words. If he continues to use his finger, encourage him to try not to. Ask him what he learned about police cars and police dogs from reading the book.

2. Ask your child to read the sentence and labels he wrote for the police car on today’s fold sheet. If he didn’t finish labeling it, have him do so now. Encourage him to look back at the book as a resource if he needs to.

3. Using a group of ten to twenty magnetic letters or letter cards (including some vowels), have your child make as many different words as he can. When he’s done, challenge him to write each of the words in a list on a piece of paper.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Big Lizard, Little Lizard. Talk about what happened in the story. Ask her how Little Lizard finally caught a bug at the end.

2. Ask your child to read what she wrote about Big Lizard and Little Lizards on today’s fold sheet. Ask her about the pictures she drew, too. Encourage her to add more to the fold sheet if she’d like.

3. Play the Alphabet Naming Game. Start by naming different foods. You think of a food that begins with the letter a, such as apples. Then your child thinks of a food that begins with the letter b, such as bread. Continue taking turns, helping each other if someone gets stuck on a letter. Try to make it all the way to z! Repeat with another category, such as people’s names or animals.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Going to School. Talk about the different ways the children go to school. Ask your child if he could change the way he goes to school, how he would like to do it.

2. Ask your child to read what he wrote on today’s fold sheet about different ways to go to school. Talk about the pictures he drew, too.

3. Play Magazine Match. Look through a magazine or newspaper with your child, and cut out some large, simple words, such as man, box, big. Glue the words on a piece of paper with space below each one. Challenge your child to make each word below the cut-out word using magnetic letters or letter cards.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Drip. Talk about the drip that was bothering Nana and how she tried to fix it. Ask your child if she was surprised or not by the ending. Ask her to show you the fold sheet she did about the book today.

2. Play I’m Going On a Trip. The first player thinks of a place to go and says, “I’m going on a trip to (Pennsylvania).” The second player has to think of something to take that starts with the same letter as the place and says, “I’m going on a trip to (Pennsylvania), and I’m taking (pizza).” Players take turns thinking of places and things.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make the names of friends or family members. Have her make the name, mix the letters up, and make each name several times.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book At the Fair. Talk about what the girls saw at the fair and how they felt about being there. If your child has ever been to a fair, talk about his experience and how that fair was alike or different from the one in the book.

2. Ask your child to read what he wrote on today’s fold sheet about things you can see at a fair. Challenge him to think of five more things you might see at a fair, and add those to the fold sheet.

3. Play Crossword Letters. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, make a three-letter word, such as cat. Ask your child to add a word that begins with one of the letters in cat. For example, she could make cup off the c in cat. Then you add a word off her word, such as pig off the p in cup. Words can go across or down. Continue taking turns adding as many words as you can to the crossword.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Mitten. Talk about what happened to the mitten. Ask your child to describe how the animals crowded in the mitten and then popped out or how the boy found the mitten all stretched out.

2. Read the play version of The Mitten found at the back of the Take-Home Book. Invite friends or family members to read parts with you since there are eight characters in the play. Try to make your voices sound like the characters. This helps your child practice reading with expression.

3. On today’s fold sheet, your child drew and labeled the animals that went into the mitten. Have her read what she wrote to you. Challenge her to think of other animals that might be found in the woods. Help her if she gets stuck.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Ants. Talk about all the things the ants climbed up. Talk about real ants—what they look like and what they do. Ask your child to read what he wrote on today’s fold sheet about the ants in the story and show you the pictures he drew.

2. Play a listening game with your child. Say a pair of words, and ask him to tell you if the two words start the same, end the same, or rhyme. Try some of these word pairs, or make up your own: hit/fat (end the same), dad/dog (start the same), dry/tie (rhyme), fill/pail (end the same), take/rake (rhyme), light/leg (start the same).

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child sort letters into two groups. First have him sort the vowels (a, e, i, o, and u) from the consonants (the rest of the letters). Then have him sort the letters by those with straight lines (b, d, h, i, k, l, p, q, t) and those with slanted lines (v, k, w, x, y, z).


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book A Picnic in the Rain. Talk about how the animals tried to solve their problem with the rain and whether your child was surprised by the ending. Ask her to share the drawings she did of the mouse, rabbit, and skunk on today’s fold sheet.

2. Play a Rhyming Word Game. Say a word such as hop, and ask your child to say a word that rhymes, such as top. Continue taking turns until you run out of rhyming words.

3. Play the Switch a Letter Game. Use magnetic letters or letter cards to make a simple three-letter word such as can, and place it on the table. Ask your child to read the word. Next, ask her to switch one of the letters to make a new word. For example, she could switch the n in can to a t to make cat. Ask her to read the new word to make sure it is a real word. Repeat the process, switching the letters as many times as possible. If time allows, play again with another three-letter word.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Tug-of-War. Talk about the “Tug-of-War” game the animals played and about the ending of the story. Ask your child to share the sentences he completed and the pictures he drew on today’s fold sheet.

2. Play a Sound Syllable Clapping Game. You say the name of an animal. Your child claps how many “parts” or syllables there are in the word. For example: You say tiger. Your child says the word and claps on each syllable: ti (claps once) ger (claps again). Then your child tells you how many parts or syllables are in the word (2). Repeat with other animal names such as monkey (2), gorilla (3), lion (2), bear (1).

3. Give your child a pile of magnetic letters or letter cards, including some vowels. Challenge him to make as many words as he can and read them back to you.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book A Surprise for Roxy. Talk about the characters in the story. Ask your child if she thought Father Fox knew Roxy would like the pizza. Ask her when she figured out that Father Fox was making a pizza.

2. Ask to see today’s fold sheet. Your child wrote and drew a picture about the ingredients Father Fox put on the pizza. Talk about the ingredients the two of you like on pizza, and think of some things that would taste terrible on pizza!

3. Make some food words using magnetic letters or letter cards. Make a group of food words such as pizza, milk, hot dog, rice, and corn. Have your child say a word, mix the letters up, and then make the word again.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Pinky the Pig. Talk about the ways the Fixit Family tried to make Pinky happy.

2. Ask your child to share the sentences he completed and the pictures he drew on today’s fold sheet. Talk about other animals the Fixit Family might have on their farm. Challenge your child to name ten other kinds of animals that might live on a farm.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, play Changing Vowels. Make a simple three-letter word such as cat. Ask your child to change the vowel to make a new word, such as cut. Start the game with these words, too: hop, sat, dog, and big.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Night Workers. Talk about the different nighttime jobs listed in the book. If you know someone who works at night, talk about the job he or she has.

2. Ask your child to share what she wrote and drew about night workers on today’s fold sheet. Talk about whether these are jobs that people do both at night and during the day.

3. Play the guessing game Twenty Questions. You think of something that is an animal, vegetable, or mineral (something that has never been alive is considered a mineral). Prompt your child to ask, “Is it an animal, vegetable, or mineral?” Once you’ve answered him, he gets to ask you twenty “yes” or “no” questions to figure out the answer. If he guesses it correctly by the twentieth question, he wins. If not, you win. Trade places and play again!


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book In My Room. Talk about the things the boy had in his room and what you both noticed. Your child may enjoy talking about the things that he has in his room that are the same as the boy’s in the story. Or, he may want to talk about how his room is different.

2. Ask your child to share what he wrote about the things the boy had in his room on today’s fold sheet. If he drew any pictures to go with his sentences, talk about those, too. Ask him to name ten more things you might find in a child’s bedroom.

3. Play the Echo Game. Say a word with two or three sounds (such as go or man). Ask your child to say the word and break it into its sound parts (go/g-o; man/m-a-n). If this is too easy for him, try using words with four sounds, such as jump or wind.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Chicken Little. Talk about what happened to make Chicken Little think that the sky was falling. Encourage your child to look at page 3 if she is not sure. Talk about the ending of the story and whether or not she thought it was a good ending. She may be familiar with another version of this story. If so, ask her about how it is different.

2. Read the play version of Chicken Little found at the back of the Take-Home Book. Invite family members or friends to join you or double up on parts. Encourage your child to read with expression to make her voice sound like the characters.

3. Your child brought home three cut-up sentences from the story of Chicken Little. They are: An acorn fell on Chicken Little. She said the sky is falling. She went to tell the king. Have your child put the sentences back together. Then have her put the sentences on the fold sheet below the picture that goes with each sentence, if she drew them yet, and glue or tape them in place.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Fishing. Talk about how the little girl and her father got ready for their fishing trip and how the story ended. Talk about why the author might have chosen to end the story that way.

2. Ask your child to share his fold sheet with you. Your child wrote words that have the -all, -ill, and -ell spelling patterns. Ask him to read the words he added to the fold sheet. Add more words that the two of you think of together.

3. Play the Opposites Game. Tell your child a word, and ask him to say a word that is the opposite. For instance, you say hot and he says cold. Try these words or think of your own: under (over), up (down), first (last), tall (short). Trade places, let your child think of words, and you come up with the opposites.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Meli at the Pet Shop. Talk about the things Meli likes at the pet shop. If your child has a dog or is familiar with one, ask her if this story reminds her of that dog in any way.

2. On today’s fold sheet your child illustrated sentences about Meli’s trip to the pet shop. Have her read the sentences to you, and talk together about the pictures she drew. She may enjoy cutting the fold sheet into the four squares and stapling them together to make a little book.

3. While you are making dinner or driving in the car, make up some animal riddles. Tell your child to think of an animal and three clues about, it such as: It is black and white. It has fur. It makes a terrible smell to keep enemies away. He should then ask, “What is it?” Then you try to guess the answer. Trade places, and play again.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Fish Tank. Talk about the things the girls got for the fish tank. Talk about why these things belong in a fish tank. You may also want to talk about the things you have to do to take care of a pet.

2. Your child is learning about short and long vowel sounds. Ask him to read the words on today’s fold sheet to you and show you the pictures he drew. If he didn’t finish drawing the pictures, he can do that now.

3. Your child is learning words that appear frequently in the books he reads. In this lesson, he learned to make and read the words with, that, and good. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make the words with, that, and good. After he makes each word, have him write it on the back of the fold sheet.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Meli at the Vet. Talk about what happened when Ron and Meli went to the vet. If your child has ever visited a vet’s office with an animal, talk about that experience. Ask her how visiting the vet is similar to visiting her own doctor’s office.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child completed sentences about Meli’s visit to the vet. Have your child read the sentences to you and tell you about the pictures she drew. She can add to her pictures at home.

3. Play the Sound Dropping Game. Ask your child, “If I drop the first letter in meat, what word is left?” Her answer should be “eat.” Repeat with these words: near (ear), bold (old), page (age), cloud (loud), pant (ant), and rice (ice).


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Kittens. Talk about the things the kittens did in the book. If you have a kitten or cat at home, talk about the similarities to the kittens in the story. If not, talk about why a kitten might make a nice pet.

2. Discuss the fact that many animals have special names for their babies, like cats and kittens. Ask your child for the baby names of these animals: dog (puppy), sheep (lamb), cow (calf), horse (colt), duck (duckling), pig (piglet), and chicken (chick).

3. On today’s fold sheet, your child drew pictures of rhyming words. Have him read the words to you and share his pictures. You can challenge him to add another rhyming word and picture to each row.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________


Your child had an LLI lesson today. Here are three things that you can do together to help her with reading and writing

1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Little Bat. Talk about what happened when Little Bat tried to fly to the moon. Ask her what she learned about bats from reading the book.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child remade two cut-up sentences. The sentences should read: Little Bat flew up, up, up in the sky. He wanted to fly to the moon. Ask your child to read the sentences to you and tell you about the pictures she drew to go with them. If the sentences are not already glued on the fold sheet, she can do that at home.

3. Play Concentration with some of the word cards your child has brought home. Choose up to fifteen cards, and make a second set of them. To play, place the cards face down on the table in rows. The first player turns two cards over to show the words. If they match, the player reads the word, takes the pair, and takes another turn. If the cards don’t match, he turns the cards back over and the next player takes a turn. The player who has the most pairs at the end of the game is the winner.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Big City. Talk about the trip to the city and the photos the boy took. Your child might also enjoy talking about how the book was made with a combination of drawings and photographs.

2. Your child illustrated sentences about the story The Big City on today’s fold sheet. Have him read the sentences to you and talk about the pictures he drew. Encourage him to add more sentences or pictures about things you see in a big city.

3. Play sorting games with your child’s word cards. Ask him to sort the cards by those with the same first letters, same ending letters, or by the number of letters in the words. Challenge him to think of other ways to sort the cards.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Trip. Talk about what happened when Froggy helped Duck pack for her trip and how Duck felt at the end when Froggy was in her suitcase.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child completed and illustrated a sentence about Froggy. Have her read the sentence to you and tell you about her illustration. She can add more details to her picture at home.

3. Play Guess My Word. To play, you will need magnetic letters or letter cards. Think of a word your child knows how to spell. Show her the first letter of the word, and have her guess what the word is. If she doesn’t guess it correctly, show her the second letter of the word, and let her guess again. Continue until she guesses the word correctly, and then trade places in the game.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book All About Snakes. Talk about the different things that snakes can do. You may want to look back at the pictures in the book together. If your child knows other things about snakes, he may enjoy telling you about them.

2. Your child wrote about one thing that snakes can do on today’s fold sheet. Have him read the sentence to you and talk about the picture he drew. If he enjoyed this book, you may want to look for more books about snakes in the library or search the Internet together for more information.

3. Your child is learning words that appear frequently in the books he reads. In this lesson, he learned to make and read the words new and as. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make the words new and as. After he makes each word, have him write it on the back of the fold sheet.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book All About Sharks. Talk about some of the interesting shark facts from the book. On today’s fold sheet, your child labeled a diagram of a shark. Talk about the diagram, and have her read the sentence she completed about it.

2. While you are in the car or making dinner, ask your child to think of ten other creatures that live in the ocean.

3. Go on a treasure hunt for words with consonant clusters like bl, tr, st, dr, fl, and cr. Using old magazines or newspapers, look for five words that begin with different consonant blends. Cut out the words, and glue or tape them to a sheet of paper. Together, think of other words that begin with the same consonant clusters, and write them on the paper.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Tails. Talk about the different ways animals use their tails. Ask your child if he can think of other ways tails are used. Remind him that there are other kinds of tails besides animal tails, like those on kites or airplanes.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote about different things with tails. Ask him to read his sentences and tell about his drawings. He may enjoy cutting the fold sheet into the four squares and stapling them together to make a little book.

3. Your child is learning words that appear frequently in the books he reads. In this lesson, he learned to make and read the words them and yes. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make the words them and yes. After he makes each word, have him use it in a sentence.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book A Fast Fox. Talk about Andy Fox and the things he wanted to do. Ask your child how Andy was feeling at different points in the story. Talk about things that you both would like to do that you don’t know how to do.

2. Your child began making a special kind of book about Andy Fox called an accordion book. Ask her to read what she has written so far, and have her finish it if she didn’t get to do so at school. Encourage her to draw pictures to illustrate her book as well.

3. Play the Switch a Letter Game. Use magnetic letters or letter cards to make a simple three-letter word such as can, and place it on the table. Ask your child to read the word. Next, ask her to switch one of the letters to make a new word. For example, she could switch the n in can to a t to make cat. Ask her to read the new word to make sure it is a real word. Invite her to repeat the process, switching the letters as many times as possible. If time allows, play again with another three-letter word.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Billy’s Pen. Talk about Billy and why he didn’t like his pen and how Matt and Rose felt about Billy getting out of his pen. Your child might also enjoy talking about other Fixit Family series books he has read.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote contractions for the words they match. Ask him to read the words and the matching contractions to check that they are matched correctly.

3. Make a Word Ladder. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make a simple three-letter word he knows such as bag. Tell him to make a new word below it by changing one letter such as g for d to make bad or by adding one letter such as s to make bags. Encourage him to keep going until he runs out of words to make with the letters he has.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Muddy Mess. Talk about how Jake and Dad made a muddy mess. Has there been a time when the two of you have made a mess together?

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child illustrated sentences about The Muddy Mess. Have her read the sentences to you and share her drawings. She can add more details to her illustrations at home.

3. Have your child reread several of the Take-Home Books that have been sent home before. Discuss which books are her favorites and why.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Red Pajamas. Talk about how Froggy had to search for his pajamas and the places he looked for them. Talk about whether your child is messy like Froggy or if he keeps his things neat and organized.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child is sorting pictures and words under the consonant clusters st, sp, fr, and gr. Have him name the pictures, read the words, and, if he hasn’t already done so, sort them into the appropriate columns. After you’ve checked his work together, have him glue or tape the words to the fold sheet if he hasn’t already done this.



Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Taking Care of Meli. Talk about Meli and the things Ron does to take care of her. If you have a pet at home, talk about the things you do to take care of it. If not, talk about the kind of pet your child might like to have some day.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote and drew a picture about Meli. Have her share her work with you. Encourage her to write more about the things that Meli needs.

3. Play Go Fish with your child using the word cards he has at home. Be sure there are two matching sets of cards. To play Go Fish, shuffle the cards and give each player three cards. The remaining cards are left for the draw pile. The first player asks, “Do you have a _____?” The second player hands over the card or says “Go Fish” if he does not have the word. When a player gets a matching pair, he places it on the table and gets another turn. If he does not make a match, it is the next player’s turn. The game goes on until a player matches all of his cards.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Cold. Talk about Kim and Lizzy and what your child thinks Lizzy will do after she finds out Kim caught her cold. Talk about a time when he caught a cold or might have passed one along to someone.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child is sorting pictures and words under the consonant digraphs sh and th. Have him name the pictures, read the words, and, if he hasn’t already done so, sort them into the appropriate columns. After you’ve checked his work together, have him glue or tape the words to the fold sheet if he hasn’t already done this.

3. Play the Switch a Letter Game. Use magnetic letters or letter cards to make a simple three-letter word, such as can, and place it on the table. Ask your child to read the word. Next, ask him to switch one of the letters or add new letters to make a new word. For example, he could switch the n in can to a t to make cat or add s to make cans. Ask him to read the new word to make sure it is a real word. Repeat with other three-letter words.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Mother Sea Turtle. Talk about the order of the events that take place in the story. Talk about how the baby sea turtle’s flippers help him.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote about the mother sea turtle. Have your child read the sentence to you and talk about the picture she drew. Encourage her to write something else about sea turtles that she learned from the book. Feel free to help her if she gets stuck.

3. Review your child’s word cards with her, and then play a game like Concentration, Go Fish, or Snap! with them.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Birthday Song. Talk about Willy’s trip to the farm and the birthday concert that the animals gave. Ask your child if he thinks the animals were really singing or if Willy was using his imagination. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote about singing the birthday song. Have him read the sentence to you and talk about the picture that he drew.

2. Make up some riddles for each other. Start by picking a category such as food items or types of vehicles. Choose one item from the category, give some clues, and let the other person answer the question, “What Am I?” For example, if the category is food, you might say these clues: “I am brown on the outside and white and yellow on the inside. I am eaten for breakfast. I break very easily.” (an egg) Take turns making up the riddle and guessing the answer.

3. Use the word cards your child has brought home to do a word sort. Some possible ways to sort the cards are by two-letter, three-letter, or four-letter words, the same beginning sounds, words with the same vowels, etc. Encourage your child to think of a new way to sort the words.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Meli at School. Talk about the things Meli learns at dog school and how she thinks Meli likes going to school. Ask her to point to places in the book that show how Meli feels.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child completed and illustrated a sentence about Meli. After your child reads the sentence and shows you her picture, she can add more details to her writing or picture.

3. Play the Changing Vowels Game using magnetic letters or letter cards. Make a simple three-letter or four-letter word such as bed. Ask your child to change the vowel (e) to make as many new words as she can, such as bad, bid, or bud. Repeat with other words like dig, hat, and like.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Pig’s New House. Talk about how Pig’s friends helped him build the house and what Pig was thinking at the end of the story. Did he plan for the house to be for all of them all along, or did he decide that after they did all the work? Your child may not be sure about the answer to this question. Explain that people sometimes will have different opinions about the meaning of a story.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child read a list of how the animals built the house. Have him read the list to you and talk about the pictures he drew to illustrate it. Talk about things one must to do to build a house that are not included on this list.

3. Play Guess My Word. To play, you will need magnetic letters or letter cards. Think of a word your child knows how to spell. Show him the first letter of the word, and have him guess what the word is. If he doesn’t guess it correctly, show him the second letter of the word and let him guess again. Continue until he guesses the word correctly, then trade places in the game.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Super Fox. Talk about how Father Fox solved the problem of Roxy playing in the house. Discuss how Roxy and Father Fox felt at the end of the story.

2. Today your child brought home this cut-up sentence: Now you can run, jump, and twirl as fast as you want. Have her mix up the words of the sentence, remake it, then glue it to the fold sheet. If your child already did this at school, have her read the sentence and talk about the picture that she drew.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, play The Letter Game. Start with six letters per player, making sure there’s at least one vowel in each group. Put the rest of the letters in a bag or bowl. Players make words with the letters they have, and then take turns picking one new letter at a time from the bag or bowl without looking. The first player to use all his or her letters wins the game.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Andy Fox at School. Talk about Andy’s feeling towards school at the beginning and the end of the book. Talk about a time your child didn’t want to go somewhere, but then liked it once he got there. Share a similar experience from your life.

2. Your child is learning that consonants can stand for different sounds at the beginning of words. On today’s fold sheet, he sorted words with the different beginning sounds of c (can, city) and g (go, gym). Have him check his work by reading the words in each column and then gluing or taping them onto the fold sheet, if he didn’t complete it at school. Challenge him to think of other words to add to each column.

3. Play Guess My Word. To play, you will need magnetic letters or letter cards. Think of a word your child knows how to spell. Show him the first letter of the word, and have him guess what the word is. If he doesn’t guess it correctly, show him the second letter of the word and let him guess again. Continue until he guesses the word correctly, and then trade places in the game.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Moosling the Babysitter. Talk about Moosling and what kind of babysitter he was. Compare him to babysitters your child has had. Ask her why the animals still liked Moosling, even after the baby skunks sprayed him and he smelled.

2. Your child brought home a fold sheet and a cut-up sentence that says: I forgot to tell Moosling one very important thing. Have her mix up the words and remake the sentence, read it to make sure it makes sense, and then glue or tape it onto the fold sheet. If she did this already at school, have her read the sentence to you and talk about the picture that she drew.

3. Play the Switch a Letter Game. Use magnetic letters or letter cards to make a simple three-letter word such as can, and place it on the table. Ask your child to read the word. Next, ask her to switch one of the letters to make a new word. For example, she could switch the n in can to a t to make cat. Ask her to read the new word to make sure it is a real word. Invite your child to repeat the process, switching the letters as many times as possible. If time allows, play again with another three-letter word.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Hug. Talk about how Moosling helped his friend and how the other animals tried to make Pins feel better. Ask your child why he thinks the author chose the name Pins for the porcupine.

2. Your child brought home a fold sheet with a cut-up sentence that says: Will you give me a hug? Have him remake the sentence, check it by reading it aloud, and then glue or tape it onto the fold sheet. Talk about the picture he drew to go with the sentence. If he did this already at school, have him read the sentence to you and talk about the picture that he drew.

3. Your child is learning words that appear frequently in the books he reads. In this lesson, he learned to make and read the word there. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make the word there. Then have him write it on the back of his fold sheet and use the word in a sentence.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book At the Beach. Talk about how Sam tricked Jesse and why Jesse was scared to go in the water. If your child has ever been to the beach, talk about what she likes about it or if she was scared the first time she went in the water.

2. Encourage your child to reread some of the Take-Home Books that have been sent home before. After today’s book, she may enjoy rereading some of the books from the Sam and Jesse series. Discuss which books are her favorites and why.

3. Your child has a fold sheet to read to you about the beach. Ask her about the picture she drew and encourage her to add more sentences or details to what she wrote.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Ants on a Log. Talk about the twins and the snack they made with their dad. Ask your child what their sister thought when she heard the name of the snack. If either of you have ever eaten Ants on a Log, talk about whether you liked it or not.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child completed and illustrated a sentence about making Ants on a Log. After your child reads the sentence and shows you her picture, she can add more details to her writing or picture.

3. Play Crossword Letters. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, make a three-letter word such as cat. Ask your child to add a word that begins with one of the letters in cat. For example, she could make cup off the c in cat. Then you add a word off her word, such as pig off the p in cup. Words can go across or down. Continue taking turns adding as many words as you can to the crossword.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Fighting Fires. Talk about what your child learned about fighting fires that she didn’t know before. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote about four vehicles that fight fires and drew pictures of them. Have her read what she wrote and talk about the pictures she drew.

2. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, make pairs of homophones, or words that are pronounced the same but have different spellings and meanings. Some examples are blue/blew, sea/see, and write/right. After you make the words together, have your child use each pair in sentences.

3. Play the guessing game called Twenty Questions. To play, think of something that is an animal, vegetable, or mineral (something that has never been alive is considered a mineral). Prompt your child to ask, “Is it an animal, vegetable, or mineral?” Once you’ve answered her, she gets to ask you twenty “yes” or “no” questions to figure out the answer. If she guesses it correctly by the twentieth question, she wins. If not, you win. Trade places and play again!


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Broken Clock. Talk about how Nana and Rose fixed the clock and why the ending was funny.

2. Your child brought home a fold sheet with this cut- up sentence: I see how to fix the clock. If he has not already done so, have him make the sentence and glue or tape it on the fold sheet. Then have him read the sentence and tell you about the picture he drew.



Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Great Big Enormous Turnip. Notice if your child is reading with expression and at a good pace. Talk about how the farmer pulled the turnip from the ground. If your child has heard another version of this story, talk about how it is alike or different. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote about today’s story. Ask her to read what she wrote.

2. Read the play version at the back of the Take-Home Book. Invite family members or friends to join you, or double up on character parts. Have fun making your voices sound like the characters.

3. Challenge your child to name ten other vegetables besides turnips. Challenge her even more by asking her to name only vegetables that grow in the ground like turnips, such as carrots, potatoes, and onions.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Down by the Pond. Talk about the things the animals in the book do by the pond. If your child has ever seen a pond, lake, or river, talk about the animals he saw there.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child has read and illustrated words with different vowel combinations for the sounds of a and e. Have him read the words aloud and share his pictures with you.

3. Use your child’s word cards to play a game of Snap! Divide the pile of cards in half, and put the piles face down in front of both players. To begin, both players turn over their first card and read the word on it. The player who reads their word first gets to keep both cards. In case of a tie, the cards stay in the center until the next player wins a round and collects those cards. The winner is the player with the most cards after you’ve been through both piles.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book All About Sled Dogs. Talk about some new things your child learned about sled dogs. If she has a dog for a pet or is familiar with another dog, talk about how it is alike or different from a sled dog.

2. Your child wrote about what sled dogs can do on today’s fold sheet. Have her read what she wrote and talk about her pictures. Invite her to add more writing or pictures based on the discussion you’ve had about the book.

3. Play the Sound Dropping Game. Ask your child, “If I drop the first letter in meat, what word is left?” Her answer should be “eat.” Repeat with these words: near (ear), bold (old), page (age), cloud (loud), pant (ant), and rice (ice).


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Pop, Pop, Popcorn! Talk about what happened to the popcorn when Gramps put it on the stove. If you make popcorn at home, compare it to the way Gramps made it in the story.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child put together three sentences from Pop, Pop, Popcorn! Ask him to share his work, and then have him write or draw on the back of the paper what happened next in the story.

3. Make a Word Ladder. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make a simple three-letter word he knows, such as bag. Tell him to make a new word below it by changing one letter such as g for d to make bad or by adding one letter such as s to make bags. Encourage him to keep going until he runs out of words to make with the letters he has.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Fun Club Goes to a Dairy Farm. Discuss the interesting things your child learned about dairy farms. Talk about how the book was made with a combination of drawings and photographs.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote about the dairy farm. Have her read what she wrote and discuss the picture. Ask her if there’s anything else from the story that she wants to add and encourage her to do so.

3. Have your child write as many words as she can in five minutes. After the five minutes is up, count the number of words together, and have your child read them to you. Congratulate her on the progress she’s making with her reading and writing!


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Going Camping. Talk about the family’s camping trip and the surprise ending. Ask your child if he thinks it would be fun to go camping in his backyard.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child labeled camping supplies. Have him read the labels he wrote to you. Together, think of five more things to take on a camping trip, and have him draw and label them.

3. Play an ending sounds game. Say to your child, “I am going to say two words. If the words end with the same sound, clap two times. If they do not end with the same sound, put your hands together and do not clap.” Try some of these word pairs or make up some of your own: hat/bet, then/them, kick/pack, tried/played.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Coyote and the Rabbit. Talk about how Rabbit tricked Coyote and the lesson Coyote might have learned. You may want to talk about what it means to brag as Coyote did at the beginning of the story.

2. Read the play version at the back of the Take-Home Book. There are four parts in the play. Invite family members or friends to join you, or double up on parts. Have fun making your voices sound like the different characters.

3. On today’s fold sheet your child read and illustrated sentences about the story. Have her read the sentences to you and tell you about her pictures.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Little Wolf’s New Home. Talk about why Little Wolf went looking for a new home and what he discovered. Your child can also talk about the different kinds of homes the animals made.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote about why the homes that Little Wolf saw were not good for him. Read and discuss what he wrote together.

3. Your child is learning words that appear frequently in the books he reads. In this lesson, he learned to make and read the word out. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make the word out several times. Then have him use it in a sentence and write the sentence on the back of the fold sheet.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Plants That Eat Bugs. Talk about the different ways plants can trap bugs. Discuss how these plants are different from plants that use sunshine and water to make their food.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote about and drew pictures of plants that eat bugs. Ask her to share her work with you.

3. Have your child put word cards she brought home into ABC order by putting the words that begin with a in one pile, with b in the next pile, etc. Once she’s done, see how quickly she can read all the words in order by timing her.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book All About Bugs. Talk about what you both learned about bugs. Ask your child if he knows any other bug facts that were not mentioned in the book.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child solved a riddle about a bug. After reading and talking about the fold sheet, make up bug riddles by thinking of two clues about a certain kind of bug and asking “What am I?” You may choose to write the riddles down to share with others.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, make an action word such as run, jump, play, or push. Invite your child to add as many different endings as possible, such as -s, -ed, -er, and -ing. Remind him that not all endings work with all action words and sometimes the spelling is changed when an ending is added. For example: run, runs, running, and runner are words, but runned is not a word.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Road Builders. Talk about how roads are built and the machines that are used to build them. You may want to go back and read the labels on the pictures in the book.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child was given six sentences that told how to build a road. Your child cut out the sentences and put them in the order that they happened. Have her read the sentences to you to make sure that they are in the correct order. Invite her to draw a picture to go with the sentences.

3. Have your child sort her word cards by the vowel sounds that she hears in them. Remind her that some vowel sounds can be written in more than one way, such as the long e sound in meet and meat. Have her read the words aloud to make sure she has sorted them correctly.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Perfect Picnic. Talk about the Fox Family picnic and why Andy Fox thought the picnic was too much work. If you’ve ever gone on a picnic, talk about what it was like. If not, talk about what you would pack if you were to go on one.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child listed the things the Fox Family needed for their picnic. Have him read what he wrote to you. Encourage him to add more details to his picture.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, make the names of foods you would take on a picnic. Mix the letters in the words, and have your child remake them several times.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book All About Dinosaurs. Talk about what you both learned about dinosaurs. Look back in the book for the facts that you found most interesting.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child answered a riddle about a dinosaur. Have her read the clues to you, and see if you can guess the answer. Then look at the Take-Home Book together, and make up more riddles about dinosaurs.

3. Help your child review all of the sight words she knows by using the word cards she has at home. Play some of the games that you have played before, such as Concentration, Go Fish, or Lotto. Your child may also enjoy timing how quickly she can read all of the words.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book A Party for Panda. Talk about what you both learned about pandas. If your child has been to a zoo, talk about that experience.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote and drew about the panda when he was born and when he was one year old. Have him read the fold sheet to you, and talk together about his pictures. Invite him to add more if he has other ideas.

3. Your child is learning words that appear frequently in the books he reads. In this lesson, he learned to make and read the words our, other, your, and over. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make each word. Then have him write the words on the back of the fold sheet.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Fun Club Goes to the Post Office. Talk about what you both learned about how a letter is mailed. Talk about zip codes, and, if she doesn’t know hers already, write it down for her to learn.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child read sentences about the Fun Club’s trip to the post office and put them in the order they happened. Have her read the sentences, checking that they are in the correct order. If she’s not already done so, have her glue or tape them in place onto a sheet of paper and add a drawing.

3. Encourage your child to write a letter or postcard to someone she knows. When she finishes, help her address the letter and attach a stamp. If possible, bring her to the post office to mail it!


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The New Roof. Talk about how Rose and the family tried to fix the roof and how the story ended. Your child might enjoy rereading or talking about some of the other Fixit Family books he has brought home.

2. Your child completed some sentences on today’s fold sheet. Have him read the sentences to you and talk about the pictures he drew. Encourage him to write more about what Rose can do to help.

3. Use your child’s word cards to play a game of Snap! Divide the pile of cards in half, and put the piles face down in front of both players. To begin, both players turn over their first card and read the word on it. The player who reads their word first gets to keep both cards. In case of a tie, the cards stay in the center until the next player wins a round and collects those cards. The winner is the player with the most cards after you’ve been through both piles.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Fun Club Goes to the Vet Clinic. Talk about the things the children saw at the vet clinic. Ask your child why the vet said Meatball should eat more food. Talk about how a vet clinic is similar to a doctor’s office.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child illustrated sentences about the Fun Club’s trip to the vet clinic. Have her read the sentences to you and explain the pictures that she drew. Your child might enjoy rereading some of the Take-Home Books in The Fun Club series that she has already brought home.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, make categories of words. Choose a category such as wild animals, colors, clothing, or furniture. Make a word from the category, such as tiger. Then have your child make one, like bear. Continue to take turns, making as many words in the category as you can.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Kim’s New Shoes. Talk about the problem Kim had in the story and how Lizzy helped her solve the problem. Ask your child if he agrees with the solution.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child sorted words by the patterns -aid, -ain, -eak, and -ear. Have him read the words to you. If he didn’t finish it at school, have him sort the words and then glue or tape them to the fold sheet.

3. Play Guess My Word. To play, you will need magnetic letters or letter cards. Think of a word your child knows how to spell. Show him the first letter of the word, and have him guess what the word is. If he doesn’t guess it correctly, show him the second letter of the word, and let him guess again. Continue until he guesses the word correctly, and then trade places in the game.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Wind and the Sun. Talk about the story, and ask your child how Sun won the contest. Ask her if she agrees that the sun is the strongest. If so, why? If not, why not?

2. Read the play version of The Wind and the Sun at the back of the Take-Home Book. Invite family members or friends to join you, or double up on parts. Have fun making your voices sound like the different characters. This is a good way to teach your child how to read with expression.

3. Have your child read the sentences that are on today’s fold sheet and tell you about the pictures she drew. Invite her to make a speech bubble for both the Sun and the Wind and write something else that they might say.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Play Date. Talk about Kim and Lizzy’s play date and their friendship. Talk about why they never got to go skating. If your child has a special friendship, talk about how it is alike or different from Kim and Lizzy’s.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child made a list of the things that Kim and Lizzy played with while they were cleaning up. Ask him to read the list to you and add anything he might have forgotten. Next have him make a list of ten things he needs to clean up at home.

3. Play Crossword Letters. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, make a three-letter word such as cat. Ask your child to add a word that begins with one of the letters in cat. For example, she could make come off the c in cat. Then you add a word off her word, such as eat off the e in come. Words can go across or down. Continue taking turns adding as many words as you can to the crossword.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Problem with Meli. Talk with her about the problem Ron is having with Meli and how he solves it. Talk about the reason Meli barked at the end of the story and why that was okay. Do the two of you know a dog who barks too much?

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child put together and illustrated some sentences about Meli. Have her read the sentences to you and talk about the pictures she drew. Encourage her to write and draw more about Meli.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, make some rhyming pairs. Make a word like bark. Have your child say a rhyming word such as dark and make it below your word. Keep going if you can think of other rhyming words, or start over with a new one, such as rope, lake, and jump.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Footprints. Talk about the story and how the animals felt about Moosling following them. Talk about the ending of the story.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child read sentences about the footprints the animals made and drew pictures of them. Have him read the sentences to you and talk about his pictures.

3. Have your child reread several of the Take-Home Books that have been sent home before. If he enjoyed today’s book, he may want to reread some of the books in the Moosling series. Discuss which books are his favorites and why.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book All About Bats. Talk about some new things she learned about bats that she didn’t know before. Ask her if she’d like to see a bat up close or not.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child ordered and illustrated sentences about how bats find food. Have her read the sentences to you and explain the pictures she drew. Encourage her to add more things she has learned about bats.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, give your child a pile of letters (including some vowels) and challenge her to make as many words as she can with them.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book All About Spiders. Talk about some of the interesting things your child learned about spiders. Talk about the things that all spiders have in common as well as the things that make them different.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child drew one type of spider web and completed a sentence about it. Have him read the sentence to you and talk about the picture he drew. He may want to refer to the Take-Home Book to tell you more about his idea.

3. Your child is learning words that appear frequently in the books he reads. In this lesson, he learned to make and read the word want. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make the word want several times. Then have him use it in a sentence and write the sentence on the back of the fold sheet.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Hare and the Tortoise. Talk about what happened during the race between the tortoise and the hare. Discuss the lesson that the hare learned and how that relates to your child’s life.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child put together, ordered, and illustrated sentences about the story. Have her read the sentences to you and talk about the pictures she drew.

3. Read the play version of The Hare and the Tortoise at the back of the Take-Home Book. Since there are six parts in the play, invite friends or family members to join you. Otherwise, you can each choose three parts to read. Try to make your voices sound like the characters and read with lots of expression.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Wide Awake! Talk about the different things Roxy tried to do to help her fall asleep. Has your child ever had a hard time falling asleep? Talk about what he did to get sleepy. You might also want to talk about the ending of the story and how Mom, Dad, and Andy Fox must have felt.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child matched the things that happened in the story with the time they happened on the clocks. Have your child read the sentences and check the times the things happened with the clocks in the story. If he did not get to finish drawing his pictures in the classroom, he can do so now.

3. Make a Word Ladder. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make a simple three-letter word he knows such as hat. Tell him to make a new word below it by changing one letter such as h to b to make bat or by adding one letter such as s to make hats. Encourage him to keep going until he runs out of words to make with the letters he has.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book All About the Sonoran Desert. Talk about what your child learned about the desert. Many of the plants and animals in the book have adapted to the heat in the desert. Discuss the ways that people, like plants, adapt to the climate where they live. For example, if you live where it snows, you must dress warmly.

2. Your child wrote about the Sonoran Desert on today’s fold sheet. Have her read the sentence to you and talk about her picture. Then encourage her to write another sentence or two about the plants and animals in the book.

3. Play Choose a Season using the magnetic letters or letter cards. Have your child choose a season, make a word that goes with it, and use it in a sentence. For example, if she chose summer, she might make the word swim and say, “We swim in the summer to keep cool.” Repeat with other seasons.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Bird Feeders. Talk about what happened whenever Rose and Matt fixed one problem. (Another problem came along!) Discuss the ending. Why might they have an even bigger problem now?

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote sentences about the bird feeders Matt and Rose made. Have your child share what he wrote and drew with you.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, make the word near. Have your child take away the first letter and add one or two letters at the beginning to make new words such as dear, fear, and clear.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Ugly Duckling. Talk about what happened to the duckling and what your child can learn from this story. Talk about the ending and how the Mother Duck loved the swan all along. Ask your child to read the sentences about the story on today’s fold sheet and share her pictures with you.

2. Read the play version of the story at the back of the Take- Home Book. There are five parts in the play, so invite family members or friends to help you read the parts or divide the parts between the two of you. Remind your child to use expression when she reads.

3. Challenge your child to write as many words as she can in five minutes. When the time is up, count the number of words and have your child read them to you. Congratulate her on a job well done!


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Boss. Talk about how the children took turns being the boss and how they made their mom feel better even though she was still sick. Talk about a time when you were sick and your child did something nice for you.

2. Today your child brought home a fold sheet with sentences he completed with the correct verb. Have him read the sentences to you and finish any incomplete ones at home. Ask him to check if his sentences sound right.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, give your child a pile of letters (including some vowels) and challenge him to make as many words as he can with them.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book All About Robots. Talk about what she learned about robots. Try to think of other types of robots that were not mentioned in the book.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote about two different jobs that robots do. Have her read what she wrote to you and talk about her drawings. Encourage her to add another sentence or picture to her fold sheet.

3. Have your child sort her word cards by different categories. Some possibilities are: by first letter or consonant cluster, last letter or last consonant cluster, the number of letters, same vowel sounds, words that are opposites (antonyms), or words that mean the same thing (synonyms).


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Singing Duck. Talk about the story and the things the duck wanted to learn. Talk about the lesson this book teaches.

2. While you’re making dinner or driving in the car, ask your child to name five kinds of birds besides ducks. If that’s easy, challenge him to name ten.

3. On today’s fold sheet, your child used parts of two words to make a new word. Have your child complete the fold sheet and read all the words to you.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book How Bear Lost His Tail. Talk about what happened to Bear’s tail and how Fox tricked him. Ask your child to describe Fox and what kind of character he is.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child read sentences and drew pictures about Fox and Bear. Ask her to share her work with you. If she used speech bubbles in her pictures, ask her to read them. If she hasn’t added speech bubbles to her pictures, encourage her to do so.

3. Using letter cards or magnetic letters, make pairs of words that sound the same but have different meanings. Start by making a pair of words like bear and bare. Talk about what the different words mean and how they are spelled differently. Repeat with another pair of words like red/read or pear/pair. Challenge your child to think of some pairs, and help her with spelling them if needed.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Wise Blackbird. Talk about the lesson the Blackbird taught the Bluebird, that everyone is beautiful in their own way. Ask your child if this story reminds him of any other story he has heard before and, if so, how.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child used parts of two words to make a new word. Have your child complete the fold sheet and read all the words to you.

3. Play the guessing game called Twenty Questions. To play, you think of something that is an animal, vegetable, or mineral (something that has never been alive is considered a mineral). Prompt your child to ask, “Is it an animal, vegetable, or mineral?” Once you’ve answered him, he gets to ask you twenty “yes” or “no” questions to figure out the answer. If he guesses it correctly by the twentieth question, he wins. If not, you win. Trade places and play again!


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book All About African Elephants. Talk about the elephant facts that were included in the book. Did your child learn anything new that she didn’t know before? If your child has seen a live elephant at a zoo or elsewhere, talk about that experience. Ask her to share what she wrote and drew on today’s fold sheet.

2. Ask your child to name five animals other than elephants that live in Africa. If she gets stuck, help her think of some. If it was easy for her, challenge her to name five more!

3. Play a Sound Syllable Clapping Game. Say the name of an animal. Your child claps how many “parts” or syllables there are in the word. For example: You say tiger. Your child says the word and claps on each syllable: ti (claps once) ger (claps again). Then she tells you how many parts or syllables were in the word (2). Repeat with other animal names such as monkey (2), gorilla (3), lion (2), and bear (1).


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book All About Redwood Trees. Talk about what he learned. Ask your child what he found most interesting about the book, and have him locate the page where he read about it.

2. Your child wrote interesting facts about redwood trees on today’s fold sheet. Have him read the facts to you and then think of some other things he learned about redwood trees. Encourage him to add these to his fold sheet.

3. Make describing words (adjectives) together. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, take turns making words that describe redwood trees, for example, tall, red, or huge. Keep a written list of the words you make, and read the list together when you’re done.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The City Mouse and the Country Mouse. Talk about what happened when the two mice visited each other and how their lives were different. Look back at the book if needed. Ask your child which place she’d rather live and why. Have her share the work she did on today’s fold sheet and add to it if she’d like.

2. Read the play version of The City Mouse and the Country Mouse at the back of the Take-Home Book. There are four parts in the play, so invite family members or friends to join you or double up on the parts. Encourage your child to make her voice sound like the characters and to read with expression.

3. Challenge your child to find words with more than one syllable in the Take-Home Book. As she finds a word, remind her to “clap it” to figure out how many syllables it has. For example, if she finds the word city, she would say “ci” (claps once) “ty” (claps again). Make a list of all the words she finds and the number of syllables in each. If time allows, have her make the words with her magnetic letters or letter cards.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Cranes. Talk about what he learned about cranes and what they help people do. If he has ever seen a crane, talk about that experience.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child labeled the parts of a crane. Look at it together, and check his picture and labels with the diagram on page 4 of the book to make sure he labeled the picture correctly. Make corrections or additions to the picture, if needed.

3. Play Crossword Letters. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, make a three-letter word such as cat. Ask your child to add a word that begins with one of the letters in cat. For example, she could make cup off the c in cat. Then you add a word off her word, such as pig off the p in cup. Words can go across or down. Continue taking turns adding as many words as you can to the crossword.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Fun Club Goes to the Aquarium. Talk about what the Fun Club learned at the aquarium. If your child has ever visited an aquarium, have her talk about the experience. If not, talk about whether or not that’s something she’d enjoy.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote the names and drew pictures of four of the animals the Fun Club saw at the aquarium. Talk about the pictures she drew, and encourage her to write something about each of the animals.

3. Challenge your child to name ten types of sea creatures she might see at an aquarium.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Old Jacket, New Jacket. Talk about how Iris felt at the beginning of the book and how her feelings changed. Talk about a time that your child discovered something old, like a toy he used to play with, and came up with a new use for it.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child drew pictures and wrote about the problem and solution in the story. Have him read the sentences to you and talk about the pictures he drew.

3. Invite your child to use magnetic letters or letter cards to make the names of the days of the week. Talk about the number of syllables he hears in each word. Repeat with the months of the year.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book From Milk to Ice Cream. Talk about the way ice cream is made by looking at the diagram at the back of the book. Point out the words in the glossary, and explain that glossaries are often found in nonfiction books.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child drew pictures to illustrate the steps for making ice cream. Have her read each sentence to you and talk about the pictures she drew. Ask her to draw a picture of herself eating her favorite kind of ice cream.

3. Make a Word Ladder. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make a simple three-letter word he knows such as him. Tell him to make a new word below it by changing one letter such as i to u to make hum. Encourage him to keep going until he runs out of words to make with the letters he has.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Frog Songs. Talk about how Froggy and his friends formed a band and why the birds didn’t like Froggy’s singing. Ask your child what he thinks about Froggy and what he liked best about this book or one of the other Froggy books he’s read before.

2. Your child wrote about Froggy and his friends on today’s fold sheet. Ask him to share his work with you. Encourage him to add more if he has other ideas.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, play the Missing Letters Game. Make the last part of a word with the consonant cluster -ft. Have your child add two or three letters at the beginning to make a words such as left or craft. Repeat with the consonant clusters -ld, -lt, and -mp. Your child might make hold, melt, or bump.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Good Friends. Talk about what Froggy did to make Duck feel better and what Duck did to make Froggy feel better. Discuss how your child can tell they are good friends.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote about Froggy and Duck’s friendship. Read what she has written, and talk about the picture that she drew. If she enjoyed this story, your child may want to reread other books from the Froggy series that she brought home before.

3. Review the word cards your child has brought home from school. Time her to see how quickly she can read through all of them. Encourage her to try a second and third time to see if she can improve her time.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Elephant and Tiger. Talk about the friendship between Elephant and Tiger and why Elephant didn’t say anything when Tiger bragged. Talk about how this book is similar to Good Friends, which your child just read.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child listed the things that Tiger and Elephant are best at. Have him read the lists to you. Ask him to draw a picture of Tiger and Elephant to go with the lists.

3. Make a Word Ladder. Invite your child to use magnetic letters or letter cards to make a word he knows, such as night. Tell him to make a new word below it by adding one letter such as s to make nights or by changing one letter such as n to l to make light. Encourage him to keep going until he runs out of words to make with the letters he has.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Jack and the Beanstalk. Talk about the tale, and ask your child what part she liked the best. If she is familiar with another version of this story, talk about the ways in which this version is different.

2. Read the play version of the story at the back of the Take-Home Book. Since there are five character parts, invite family members or friends to join you or divide up the parts between the two of you. Your child may especially enjoy reading the part of the giant. Remind her to make her voice sound loud and scary!

3. On today’s fold sheet, your child drew a picture and wrote about the story. Have her read what she wrote to you. If she didn’t include a speech bubble, encourage her to add one now.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Hide and Seek. Talk about why Moosling thought he would not win the game of hide and seek. Then talk about the ending of the story. Ask your child if Moosling planned to hide under the snow.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote a list of contractions. Ask him to read the contractions to you, and check to see that they are spelled correctly. If he has made any errors, help him correct them.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, play the Make a Word Game. Give each player six letters, and put the remaining letters in a box or bowl. The players take turns trying to make as many words as they can with the letters they have. When they’re finished making words, they discard those letters and take a new letter from the box. Continue until all the letters are used and the first player can no longer make any words.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Little Cat, Big Cat. Talk about what she learned about lions and house cats. How are they alike? How are they different?

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child compared lions and house cats using a Venn diagram. Look at the diagram together, and ask your child to explain it to you.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, play Compound Finish. Remind your child that a compound word is a word made up of two whole words, such as mailbox or starfish. To play, make the first part of a compound word such as sun, and have your child finish it with another word to make a compound word, like sunshine. Take turns starting and finishing words. Keep a list of the compound words you make together.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Into the Sea. Talk about Emma Hickerson and the kind of work she does as a scientist. Ask your child if he would like to be a scientist like her when he grows up.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child drew and labeled some of Emma Hickerson’s diving equipment. Ask him to explain his work to you, and challenge him to add other information he learned about her equipment from the book.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, take turns making words related to the sea or underwater adventure. For example, make words like dive, swim, ocean, sharks, or sunken treasure. Help your child with spelling as needed.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book A Surprise for the Big Bad Wolf. Talk about how the wolf was trying to trick Pete and Percy and how Petunia and the brothers outsmarted the wolf. Talk about how this version of the story is different from others your child has heard before.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote and drew pictures about what happened when the wolf ate the hot, spicy stew. Ask her to share her work with you. Review her writing together for any spelling or punctuation errors. Help her with corrections, if needed.

3. Have your child sort her word cards into categories. There are many ways to sort them: by beginning letter or sound, ending letter or sound, words with the same vowel sound, words with endings, words that are opposites, etc. Challenge your child to think of her own ways to sort the cards!


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Ladybug and the Cricket. Talk about the friendship between the two characters. Discuss what each insect did to make the other one happy. Ask your child if this book reminds him of any other books he has read about friends.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote about how the ladybug and cricket were feeling at different points in the story. Ask him to share his work with you. Together, review his writing for any spelling or punctuation errors. Help him make corrections, if needed.

3. Use your child’s word cards to play a game of Snap! Divide the pile of cards in half, and put the piles face down in front of both players. To begin, both players turn over their first card and read the word on it. The player who reads his or her word first gets to keep both cards. In case of a tie, the cards stay in the center until the next player wins a round and collects those cards. The winner is the player with the most cards after you’ve been through both piles.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Costume Party. Talk about the party the animals had and the costumes they wore. Ask your child if she likes to dress up in costume. Talk about a time she played dress-up or wore a costume to a party.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child read and illustrated sentences about the story. Have her read the sentences to you and show you her drawing. Encourage her to add more details to her drawing.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, make some rhyming pairs. Make a word like moose. Have your child say a rhyming word, like goose, and make it below your word. Challenge her to keep going until she runs out of rhyming words. Point out that some rhyming words have different spellings such as hope/soap or new/blue/two.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Moosling in Winter. Talk about what the different animals do in winter. You may want to discuss the fact that some animals migrate (move to warmer climates) or hibernate (sleep) in the winter.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote sentences for words with the sound of aw as in saw. Have him read the words and the sentences to you. Together, review his writing for any spelling or punctuation errors. Help him make corrections, if needed.

3. Play Guess My Word. To play, you will need magnetic letters or letter cards. Think of a word your child knows how to spell. Show him the first letter of the word, and have him guess what the word is. If he doesn’t guess it correctly, show him the second letter of the word and let him guess again. Continue until he guesses the word correctly; then trade places in the game.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Roadrunners. Talk about what you both learned about roadrunners. Ask your child to point to the page in the book that she found the most interesting.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child read, wrote, and drew about the roadrunners. Ask her to share her work with you. Together, review her writing for any spelling or punctuation errors. Help her make corrections, if needed.

3. Challenge your child to write as many words as she can in five minutes. When the time is up, count and then read the words together. Praise your child for the progress she’s made since she started in LLI.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book March to the Park. Talk about Rudy the Ant and why teamwork is so important. Read what your child wrote on today’s fold sheet about Rudy and how he changed in the story.

2. Challenge your child to name five kinds of insects besides ants. If this is easy, see if he can name five more!

3. Have your child sort his word cards by the number of syllables in each word. Many of his words will have just one syllable, but some will have two or three.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Venus: The Flytrap Who Wouldn’t Eat Flies. Talk about Venus and how she was different from other flytraps. Discuss the ending. Ask your child what made it funny.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote about the problem in this story and how it was solved. Have her read what she wrote to you and talk about the pictures she drew. Encourage her to add more if she has other ideas.

3. Play Magazine Match. Look through a magazine or newspaper with your child, and cut out some large, simple words such as man, box, and big. Tape or glue the words on a piece of paper with space below each one. Challenge your child to make each word below it using magnetic letters or letter cards.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Pen Pals. Talk about Katie and her pen pal and where the word pen pal comes from. If your child has ever had a pen pal, talk about that experience.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote a letter that he could send to a new pen pal. Have him read it to you, and then review it together for any spelling or punctuation errors. Help him make corrections, if needed.

3. Have your child put his word cards in alphabetical order. Since by now he has many word cards, you might want to break them into two groups.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Fox and the Gulls. Talk about the tale and what Mother Gull did to trick Fox. Talk about the ending. Did it remind your child of any other classic tales she’s read before?

2. Read the play version of the tale at the back of the Take-Home Book. There are five parts so you may want to ask family members or friends to join you or divide up the roles between the two of you. Remind your child to use expression as she reads the characters’ words.

3. On today’s fold sheet, your child read and drew about the sequence of events in the story. If she wrote more details, have her read what she wrote. If not, encourage her to write more and draw some pictures to go with her writing.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Puddle Play. Talk about what happened to the fox family. Ask your child if he was surprised when Mother Fox jumped into the puddle. If he liked this book, encourage him to reread some of the other Take-Home Books from the Fox Family series that he brought home before.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child added punctuation marks to a sentence. Look at the sentence together, and talk about where he placed the punctuation marks. Then have him draw a picture to go along with the sentence.

3. Make a Word Ladder. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make a simple three-letter word he knows, such as bag. Tell him to make a new word below it by changing one letter such as g for d to make bad or by adding one letter such as s to make bags. Encourage him to keep going until he runs out of words to make with the letters he has.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book A Dragon’s Lullaby. Talk about Dario and what the mayor and the townspeople did to show him that they cared about him. Talk about any lullabies you may have sung to your child when she was a baby.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child read, wrote, and drew about Dario. Read what she has written, and encourage her to add more. Review her writing for any spelling or punctuation errors. Help her make corrections, if needed.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, play Changing Vowels. To play, make a word like bike. Ask your child to change the vowel to make a new word, such as bake. Repeat with other words like boat (beat), ride (rode), and pale (pile).


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Scream. Talk about the story. Ask your child why Lizzy screamed when she got the shot. Talk about a time he got a shot at the doctor’s office and what that was like.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote sentences for words with the different middle sounds of the letters c and g. Have him read the words and the sentences to you.

3. Your child is learning words that appear frequently in the books he reads. In this lesson, he learned to make and read the word done. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make the word done several times. Then have him write it in a sentence on the back of the fold sheet.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Hot Day. Talk about the things Sam and Jesse did and the reason they said, “Uh-oh!” at the end of the book.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote about a funny part of this story. Have her share what she wrote, and encourage her to draw a picture to go along with it. Review her writing together to check for spelling or punctuation errors. Help her with corrections, if needed.

3. Have your child write as many words as she can in five minutes. After the five minutes is up, count the number of words together, and have your child read them to you. Don’t forget to congratulate her on the great progress she’s making with her reading and writing!


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Moosling the Hero. Talk with him about the things Moosling had to give up in order to be a hero. Ask your child which part of the book he thought was the funniest.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child chose words that describe Moosling. Have him read the words to you and talk about what kind of character Moosling is. If your child thinks of other words to describe him, add those to the fold sheet.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, make a describing word such as red. Then have your child make another describing word, like thin. Continue taking turns, making as many words as you can. Keep a list, and read the list together at the end.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book All About Astronauts. Talk about what she learned about astronauts. Ask her if she thinks it would be fun to go to space camp or to become an astronaut.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote three things she learned about being an astronaut. Have her read her sentences to you and add a drawing if she’d like. Review her sentences together for any spelling or punctuation errors. Help her make corrections, if needed.

3. Using the word cards your child has brought home, play Concentration, Go Fish, Snap, or Bingo. She may also enjoy timing how quickly she can read the words.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Too Many Teeth. Talk about Annie’s visit to the dentist and your child’s own experiences going to the dentist. Ask him why he thinks the author didn’t show that the dentist was an alligator until the last page.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child wrote about a problem and its solution from the story Too Many Teeth. Have him read what he wrote to you. Encourage him to draw pictures to go with it. Review his writing together for any spelling or punctuation errors. Help make corrections, if needed.

3. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, make some comparison words. Start with a describing word such as tall. To make comparison words, add the ending -er to make taller and -est to make tallest. Invite your child to repeat with other describing words like high, dark, fast, and big. Remind him that he may need to add or change a letter at the end of the word before adding a word ending.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book All About Volcanoes. Talk about any new things she learned about volcanoes. Ask your child to point to the page she found the most interesting.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child labeled a diagram of a volcano. Look at it together to make sure she labeled all parts of the volcano. Ask her to tell you about the different parts of the volcano.

3. Play the guessing game called Twenty Questions. Think of something that is an animal, vegetable, or mineral (something that has never been alive is considered a mineral), but don’t say it out loud. Prompt your child to ask, “Is it an animal, vegetable, or mineral?” Once you’ve answered her, she gets to ask you twenty “yes” or “no” questions to figure out the answer. If she guesses it correctly by the twentieth question, she wins. If not, you win. Trade places and play again!


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Libby’s New Friend. Talk about the story and what Libby did to help T. Rex understand he didn’t need to be scary. On today’s fold sheet, your child made a list of the ways that T. Rex can make friends.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child made a list of the ways that T. Rex can make friends. Have your child share the list with you and add any other new ideas he has. If he hasn’t illustrated his list yet, he can do that now.

3. While you are making dinner or driving in the car, challenge your child to name five kinds of dinosaurs.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book Eugenie Clark, Shark Lady. Talk about what your child learned about Eugenie Clark and about sharks. Ask your child if she would like to be a scientist like Eugenie Clark.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child used Chapter 6 in the book to write about how Eugenie Clark shares what she knows about sharks with others. Review what your child has written, and look back at the chapter together to make sure she didn’t miss anything. If she did, encourage her to write more and to add drawings to go with her writing.

3. Play the Ending Sounds Game. Say to your child, “I am going to say two words. If the words end with the same sound, clap two times. If they do not end with the same sound, put your hands together and do not clap.” Try some of these word pairs, or make up some of your own: hat/bet, then/them, kick/pack, tried/played.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________



1. Listen to your child read Take-Home Book The Pirates. Talk about Sam and Jesse playing pirates and how their grandpa tricked them. Ask your child why he thinks they were all happy at the end of the story.

2. On today’s fold sheet, your child made character webs about Sam and Jesse. Have him share the fold sheet with you. Together, think of other words that describe the two boys, and add these to the character webs. Ask your child if Sam and Jesse remind him of any children he knows.

3. Your child is learning words that appear frequently in the books he reads. In this lesson, he learned to make and read the word animal. Using magnetic letters or letter cards, have your child make the word animal. Then have him write a few sentences about his favorite animal on the back of the fold sheet.


Sincerely yours,


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Date: ___________________


Your child had her final LLI lesson today. Although her LLI lessons are done, continue to listen to her read on a regular basis. In order to help her maintain all that she has learned during the LLI lessons, you may want to revisit the games and activities that were suggested on these parent letters. Here are three things you can do today to help support her reading and writing.

1. Listen to your child read two Take-Home Books: Chester Greenwood’s Big Idea and Animals with Wings. Talk together about what happened in both books and what you both learned from reading them. Try to keep your book discussions more like a conversation, rather than a series of questions. On today’s fold sheet, your child listed three of Chester Greenwood’s inventions. Have her share what she wrote.

2. Your child recently brought home her copy of My Poetry Book that she used during LLI. Look through it together, and ask her to read some of her favorite poems. Talk about what they mean and why she likes them.

3. Review the word cards your child has brought home from school. Time her to see how quickly she can read through all of them. Encourage her to try a second and third time to see if she can improve her time.

Remember to always keep reading and writing activities fun. Don’t ever forget to enjoy your time together reading, writing, and talking!

Sincerely yours,

date: dear parent or guardian

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