Literacy Kindergarten - Grade 6
If you have a student in Grades K–6, your child participated in Middle of the Year benchmark assessments during the month of January. These assessments help you, your child(ren), and their teacher better understand how students are progressing in reading, writing, and mathematics. The reading portion was completed using our online program, Amplify, and a Home Connect report has been sent to families. This report contains great suggestions on some specific literacy activities that you can do with your student(s) to help them grow in their literacy skills. If you have not received this report, please feel free to contact your child’s classroom teacher. The report contains activities tailored to your child’s specific needs that you can do at home with them to support their reading.
Amplify also offers a Home Connect website that families can access anytime free of charge and with no sign-in required. We have also produced a video called “How to Use the mCLASS Home Connect Website” to guide families through this valuable resource. The website includes many engaging activities to support your child’s reading development with ideas you can use at home or on the go, such as in a vehicle while you are chauffeuring. The activities are divided into different skill areas, such as phonics, fluency, and comprehension, and they include lots of games to make learning fun! The suggestions on this website can turn everyday activities like taking a walk or shopping into rich conversations about literacy and learning!
How families can support literacy at home:
Support your child’s regular attendance at all small group sessions offered by their teacher
Make use of Amplify BOOST Reading Program, and ensure your child is reaching their weekly targets for minutes spent on the program
Read together daily (15-20 minutes) - Shared Reading at Home for Parents | Resource Bank
When you are short on time, here are some stories that students can listen to - Audio & Video Books, Stories & Podcasts Collection Resources | Resource Bank
"Just Snow Already!" by Howard McWilliam - Read Aloud & Activities | Resource Bank
Literacy Grade 7-9 Coming Soon....
All students in Grades 7-9 have been placed into a small-group writing instruction cohort based on The Writing Revolution (Web Site) | Resource Bank. These lessons focus on building strong sentences, organizing ideas, and using clear, precise language to support learning across subjects. The Writing Revolution teaches students that strong writing starts with strong sentences and builds from there. Strong sentences become strong paragraphs, which become strong essays! Groups are meeting from 10:00-10:20 each school day. Your classroom teacher will have more information on these groups soon!
As one parent states, "The Writing Revolution intervention sessions my child participated in last year made an incredible difference in her writing skills. The experience was truly transformative - her confidence and abilities grew remarkably thanks to the supportive, targeted instruction she received. She now sees herself as a capable writer, her marks have improved, and she has even started writing for fun in her own time." - parent of Sask DLC student in Grade 8
How families can support writing and literacy
In addition to school-based instruction, families play an important role in supporting literacy development:
Support regular attendance at writing sessions. Ensuring your child attends these daily small-group sessions helps them build skills consistently and benefit fully from the instruction.
Talk often with your child. Everyday conversations help build vocabulary, strengthen sentence structure, and support clear thinking, all essential for strong writing. Asking your child to explain their ideas or talk about what they are learning is especially powerful. (Conversation starters.)
Encourage daily reading. Reading for 20–30 minutes each day exposes students to strong language models, builds comprehension, and supports writing development. This can include novels, nonfiction, articles, or topics of personal interest.
Help your student access the following free digital libraries to help foster a love of reading:
