Machado Elementary School
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Reading is the most important academic skill your student will be learning this school year. There are many components that go into learning to read, which is why we need your help at home to build strong readers!
Sight Words
Your student is expected to come into first grade knowing how to read 100 sight words. By the end of 1st grade, your child should be reading 250 sight words, or more. You can find a list of sight words in your child's homework folder. This is the folder students bring to and from school every day. We will be working with these words throughout the day here at school. You can help your child learn to read these words by writing them on small pieces of paper or flashcards and reviewing them each night. Another way to practice these words is to tape them up around the house and have your child read a word or two before they brush their teeth, eat dinner, take a bath/shower, etc.
Here are Lake Elsinore Unified's list of sight words:
Reading Levels
Students are expected to come into first grade reading at a DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) level 6, or higher. By the end of the 1st trimester they should be reading at a level 8 or 10+, by the end of the 2nd trimester, a level 12+, and by the end of the 3rd trimester, a level 16+. If your child is mastering each phonics lesson and rule taught throughout the school year and practicing their reading as recommended, they will have no problem meeting these minimums.
| Trimester | DRA level minimum |
| Incoming Kindergartener | 6 |
| End of 1st Trimester | 8-10 |
| End of 2nd Trimester | 12 |
| End of 3rd Trimester | 16 |
Accelerated Reader
AR is a program that encourages student reading comprehension through a fun, points-based system. Students can read books and take short, grade level appropriate quizzes on them. I request that students read a book two times before they take a quiz so that they are best able to recall information from the story. At the beginning of the year, students will take an assessment which will give them an "AR level". This is the level they can use to help them choose appropriate books when we go to the library. If your child finishes a book at home, they can log on to their AR account to take their quiz. Their login is their student ID number and their password is "abc".
