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At-home coaching plan
Families, looking for a coaching plan for the next two weeks? Scroll through for week 1 and week 2 or download the guide below.
Week 1: Take a book walk
For this week you’re going to be previewing the book with your child. Watch the video to see how it’s done.
Day 1
Now that you’ve watched the video, take a book walk with your child! After taking the book walk, read the book with your child. Enjoy!
When your child is doing their alone time reading, remind them to “take a book walk” before they begin.
No book at home?
Here is an e-book for your child
K: It’s spring
1st: Big sister
2nd: Paleontology with penelope
3rd: Various
Activity (optional)
Have your child finish with 10 minutes of word game here
Day 2
Today when you take a book walk, try to “plant” one of the words from the book–that is talk about the word and what it means before you start reading.
When your child is doing their alone time reading, remind them to “take a book walk” before they begin.
E-books
Here is an e-book for your child
2nd: Katie takes a trip to the wild canyon
3rd: Ode to a donut oasis
Activity (optional)
Have your child finish with 10 minutes of word game here
Day 3
Today when you take a book walk, pretend to be the characters you see in each picture. Practice talking in silly character voices. See who can come up with the most interesting idea of what the characters are thinking.
When your child is doing their alone time reading, remind them to “take a book walk” before they begin.
E-books
Here is an e-book for your child
2nd: The four friends
3rd: Draw dragon dot eyes
Activity (optional)
Have your child finish with 10 minutes of word game here
Day 4
Today when you take a book walk, concentrate on asking your child about the events in the story. Ask things like:
How has the picture changed from the previous page?
What do you think may happen next? Why do you think that?
When your child is doing their alone time reading, remind them to “take a book walk” before they begin.
E-books
Here is an e-book for your child
K: I can do it
1st: The turnip
2nd: The woman runner
Are you taking a book walk?
Are you taking a book walk with your child? Post a video and tag us!
Day 5
Today, instead of doing a book walk, play “Walk me through your favorite day.” Ask your child to close their eyes, and picture what happened on their favorite day. Then they can describe each part to you.
They could also picture what will happen tomorrow (or next week or a typical weekend day).
Then read a story aloud to your child.
When your child is doing their alone time reading, remind them to “take a book walk” before they begin.
Read a story aloud
Need an e-book? Find one here.
Are you taking a book walk?
Are you taking a book walk with your child? Post a video and tag us!
Week 2: I have another question
This week you’re going to ask your child questions that lead to a conversation after you’re done reading a book together.
Day 1
Now that you’ve watched the video, Let’s try it! Read and ask your child:
“What happened in this book?
Was that surprising? Why or why not?”
Remind your child to ask themselves two questions as they read on their own:
1) “What happened in this book?”
and
2) “What does it remind me of?”
No book at home?
Here is an e-book for your child
1st: Fair for Everyone
3rd: The Win-Win Club
Activity (optional)
Have your child finish with 10 minutes of word game here
Day 2
Today, you’re going to talk about predictions. First, look at the title (or take a book walk!) and take turns saying what you think the book will be about.
Then read the book. Talk about whether or not your prediction came true and why. Remember, it doesn’t really matter if your predictions were right—it’s just fun to make a prediction and have a conversation.
Remind your child to ask themselves two questions as they read on their own:
1) What do I think is going to happen?”
and
2) “What actually happened in this book?”
E-books
Here is an e-book for your child
1st: Maria makes a snake (Create a free account)
2nd: Finding grandpa’s house (Create a free account)
3rd: Amy’s halloween secret (Create a free account)
Activity (optional)
Have your child finish with 10 minutes of word game here
Day 3
Today, take a moment to retell the story after you’re done reading. Read a short book and then ask your child to tell you what happened first, middle, and last. Then ask them:
“How do you think the character felt in the end and why?”
Remember, you want to have a conversation.
Remind your child to ask themselves two questions as they read on their own:
1) “What happened in this book?”
and
2) “What might the character be thinking?”
E-books
Here is an e-book for your child
1st: The no tail cat
2nd: Sophie’s rescue
3rd: Sophie’s rescue
Activity (optional)
Invite your child to listen (and follow along, if they are old enough) to a story on https://www.storynory.com/ and then retell it to you!
Day 4
Today, you’re going to focus on helping your child make a connection to the story. After you read a story together, ask:
Did this remind you of anything in your life? How so?
This reminds me of________. How does this story connect to that?
Remind your child to ask themselves two questions as they read on their own:
1) “What happened in this book?”
and
2) “What does it remind me of?”
E-books
Here is an e-book for your child
1st: The little rooster
3rd: A sea turtle named yertle
Activity (optional)
Have your child finish with 10 minutes of word game here
Day 5
Play charades! Instead of retelling the story you read today, take turns silently acting out different events in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Try to act out the events in the order they appeared in the story.
If you’re doing this with a nonfiction text, act out interesting things you learned. Here is a great place to find nonfiction texts.
Remind your child to ask themselves questions as they read today.
Activity (optional)
Invite your child to watch a clip from Planet Earth! Then they can tell you three
Week 3: Feeling frustrated? That’s okay!
This week you’re going to help your child enjoy reading even when it’s a little bit hard.
Day 1
Now that you’ve watched the video, let’s try it! Choose a book and start reading!
When your child is doing their alone-time reading, remind them to choose a book that they are able to read on their own.
No book at home?
Here is an e-book for your child
2nd: Cell phone games
3rd: Tablecloth pull challenge
Activity (optional)
Have your child finish with 10 minutes of word game here
Day 2
Today you can help your child choose the right book by asking if the words look hard or easy. Pick a book and help them discover if they can read the book alone or need your help!
When your child is doing their alone-time reading, remind them to slow down to figure out the words.
E-books
Here is an e-book for your child
2nd: Would you step out into space?
3rd: Time for turtles
Activity (optional)
Have your child finish with 10 minutes of word game here
Day 3
Today ask your child to color three circles: one red, one green, and one yellow. When they begin to read, hold up each circle like it’s a stoplight. Hold up green until your child comes to a place in the book where they need to slow down, then hold up the yellow circle. To pick up the pace, hold up the green circle again. Use the red circle to signal when you need to stop and work on something together.
When your child is doing their alone-time reading, remind them to reread sentences that are hard for them.
E-books
Here is an e-book for your child
2nd: Everyone Counts in the 2020 Census
3rd: 17 Most Intelligent Animals in the World
Activity (optional)
Help your child connect with their mind and body by following along with a musical yoga class!
Day 4
Today when you focus on helping your child minimize frustration, ask things like:
This story is a little confusing. Can you tell me what’s going on in the story? What do we need to do to understand it better?
There are a lot of words on this page. Can you read again, and this time make your voice match the characters better? Let me show you what I mean (then demonstrate with a read aloud).
When your child is doing their alone-time reading, remind them to think about what is going on in the story.
E-books
Here is an e-book for your child
1st: Make Your Bed
2nd: Make Believe Box
3rd: How the Tiger Got His Stripes
Are you using this week’s reading tip?
Are you using this week’s reading tip? Post a video to Facebook and tag @Springboard Collaborative and the hashtag #ReadFor15!
Day 5
Today, help your child practice an activity (dance, sports, music, etc.)! Acknowledge that learning something new is hard, use questions to help them get past their frustration, show them how to do it (if you can), and encourage them to keep going!
When your child is doing their alone-time reading, watch for a few minutes and see if they can work through frustrating moments using the skills that they have learned.
Read a story aloud
Read a story aloud to your child and focus on reading being joyful! For a change of pace, sit down and listen to read aloud with your child. Find one here read by a professional actor!
Week 4: Scoop
This week you’re going to help your child to sound like a storyteller by “scooping up” words into phrases and sentences.
Day 1
Now that you’ve watched the video, let’s try it! Choose a book and start reading!
When your child is doing their alone-time reading, remind them to try scooping the words rather than reading them one by one.
No book at home?
Here is an e-book for your child
K: Happy
1st: We the children
2nd: The busy bee
3rd: Bake cool cakes in the microwave
Activity (optional)
Have your child finish with 10 minutes of word game here
Day 2
Today you can help your child warm-up, pause, and do a practice read-through to figure out any new words.
Then encourage them to re-read and scoop up the words into fluid phrases and sentences. Want to hear other kids reading fluently? Find a video of kindergarten, first grade, second grade, and third grade.
When your child is doing their alone-time reading, remind them to warm up and then re-read.
E-books
Here is an e-book for your child
1st:Lost and found
2nd:How to draw funny spaghetti and meatballs
3rd: The wild parrots of San Francisco
Activity (optional)
Have your child finish with 10 minutes of word game here
Day 3
Today try to play “Save the Robot!”
Take turns being the robot that gets “saved” and turned into a human.
First, whoever is the “robot” reads aloud a sentence (or page) in their best robot (choppy, word-by-word) voice.
Then their partner looks for the magic button on the robot. Is it on their back? On the bottom of their shoe? When they push the button, the robot turns into a human!
As a new human, the robot can’t wait to read the sentence in their new human (smooth) voice.
Switch roles and play again with a new page.
When your child is doing their alone-time reading, you can invite them to try switching from “robot voice” to scooping.
E-books
Here is an e-book for your child
K: Play ball!
1st: Play dough fun
2nd: Why do you like being a kid?
Activity (optional)
Create a Robot
Build a robot out of household materials (empty cardboard boxes, cans, paper towel rolls) or draw a robot on a piece of paper. Don’t forget to name your robot and decide what it’s special skills are.
Day 4
Today when you practice scooping, concentrate on helping your child sound like a storyteller. Ask things like:
Can you read those words in a phrase?
Did that scooping sound like talking?
Can you try putting it all together?
Don’t forget to give positive feedback and celebrate small successes!
When your child is doing their alone-time reading, remind them to slow down, figure out the words, and then re-read like a storyteller.
E-books
Here is an e-book for your child
2nd: Space
3rd: Awesome animal jokes
Using this week’s reading tip?
Are you using this week’s reading tip? Post a video to Facebook and tag @Springboard Collaborative and the hashtag #ReadFor15!
Day 5
Today, in addition to scooping while reading, try inviting your child to talk like you. You may be surprised how you sound to them! Then you can take turns trying to talk like another adult you both know. If you want, you could both try to talk like someone famous. Your child may really enjoy doing celebrity impressions!
When your child is doing their alone-time reading, watch for a few minutes and then ask them to pause and read aloud while scooping the words. See if they can do it with just a little help from you.
Read a story aloud
Then read a story aloud to your child, pausing to talk about how you scoop up all the words together. Want to listen to a story with silly voices? Find one here.
Video resources
Join us on YouTube for workshops & reading tips