School-Home Connections:

The Science of Reading (SoR) refers to decades of research from education, cognitive science, and neuroscience on how the human brain learns to read. This research shows that reading is not a natural skill—it must be taught in a structured, systematic way.

One effective strategy for helping students learn the alphabet in sequence is to sing it using familiar nursery rhymes like 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' and 'Old McDonald Had a Farm'. Singing the alphabet to these rhymes allows for intentional pausing, helping students see and hear each individual letter rather than blending them. When students sing the traditional version of the alphabet song, they often slur the letters L, M, N, O, and P. 

In the video below, you can watch a kindergarten teacher from Lakeville Area Schools guide students through the alphabet by pointing to each letter and incorporating intentional pauses while naming each letter in the alphabet.

View/Download the 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' version of the ABCs.

View/Download the 'Old MacDonald Had a Farm' version of the ABCs.

Watch the video below to learn about letter/sound correspondence. The instructor will go through the sound of each letter in the alphabet, as well as digraphs. Digraphs are two letters that go together to make one sound. 

Foundational reading skills, such as word recognition and phonics, are essential
for reading success. Once those skills are mastered, readers can focus on
language comprehension. Learn more in the flyer below. 

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Read Aloud Book List  Audio Book Information

How Do I Support my Child with Becoming a Skilled Speller?

Lakeville Area Schools is using Sonday Essentials as a core resource for whole group phonics and word study instruction. This resource is aligned to grade level expectations outlined in the MN English Language Arts Academic Standards.

Sonday Essentials curriculum is an evidence-based resource aligned to best practices in foundational reading skills. Sonday Essentials provides multi-sensory, explicit instruction that is systematic and cumulative. This is important to ensure a consistent progression of
learning across the elementary grade levels.

Learn more and find resources to support your child become a skilled speller in the flyer below.

High-frequency words are words that show up often in text, such as "the" "and" and "it". These are different from sight words, which are recognized instantly without needing to sound them out. Most high-frequency words follow common phonics patterns, but some have unusual spellings, making them a bit harder for kids to learn.

Even tricky words have patterns that can help kids understand how they are spelled. For example, learning how to read the word "was" can help with words like "want" and "wash". Many high-frequency words can be taught within phonics lessons. This helps kids use their knowledge of sounds and letters to read more fluently. However, words that don't follow regular spelling rules, like "the" or "of" may need special attention and are often taught as "heart words".

Lakeville Area Schools is utilizing decodable books to help support emerging readers. Decodable books serve as a useful tool to help students solidify and generalize phonics skills to become fluent readers. They contain multiple examples of the words with the target pattern, and words and patterns previously taught. Once students have been taught explicitly what individual letters say, they are able to use that knowledge when reading a decodable book.

The free online decodable books featured in the flyer below serve as a valuable tool to reinforce and apply phonics skills, empowering students to become fluent readers.

Watch the video below to see an example of the Heggerty curriculum in a Lakeville Area Schools kindergarten classroom.

Learn more about the Heggerty curriculum from our teachers here.

Families READ Toolkit

Lakeville Area Schools is introducing a new math curriculum called Bridges in Mathematics, 3rd Edition. Starting in the 2024-25 school year, it will be used in grades 4 and 5, with grades K-3 joining in the 2025-26 school year. 

This curriculum focuses on helping students develop strong math skills by using models to explain their thinking, solve problems and discuss ideas.

Bridges Math Family Update (June 2025): Summer Resources

Bridges Math Family Update (March 2025): Gain a deeper understanding of the Bridges curriculum. 

Bridges Math Family Update (October 2024): Learn more about how Bridges is structured and how your student will learn math this year. 

At-Home Math Activities

Watch the video below to learn more about the benefits of Bridges in Mathematics. 

It's wonderful to partner with you in supporting your child's mathematical journey this summer! To help build on the strong foundation they have developed with Bridges Math this year, we've compiled a collection of engaging online games. These activities are designed to be fun and reinforce key concepts, especially procedural fluency, in a playful way. We hope your child enjoys exploring them!

Each grade level will notice a welcome message when you navigate to the grade level of your choosing, similar to the grade level above

• K Summer Medley
• Grade 1 Summer Medley
• Grade 2 Summer Medley
• Grade 3 Summer Medley
• Grade 4 Summer Medley
• Grade 5 Summer Medley

Below the welcome message students will have choice options to select from.

The Science of Reading (SoR) refers to decades of research from education, cognitive science, and neuroscience on how the human brain learns to read. This research shows that reading is not a natural skill—it must be taught in a structured, systematic way.

• Set aside daily or weekly time for reading at home (even 15–20 minutes makes a difference).
• Create a reading-friendly environment (quiet space, access to books, magazines, graphic novels, etc.).
• Let students choose what they read (fiction, nonfiction, online articles, audiobooks, graphic novels).
• Use reading apps or websites to access free, high-interest texts.
  • MackinVia - Students go through Destiny Discover (in the Portal) and then log in with your SAN to download books.
  • TedEd
  • Khan Academy, Poetry and Newsela - Students download through Self Service
• All students in grades 8-12 have a Dakota County Library Card to access digital content to read and listen to
  • Hoopla and Libby - Students download through Self Service and log in with Dakota County Library Card
• Model reading—let your teen see you read and talk about what you are reading.

• Ask open-ended questions like: "What’s happening in your book?" "Would you recommend it?" "What surprised you?"
• Discuss news articles, blogs, or podcasts together.
• Use discussions to explore themes, vocabulary, and connections to real-world events.
• Watch movies or shows based on books and compare them.

• Use word games like Scrabble, Boggle, or vocabulary apps.
• Help them keep a personal word journal with new words they encounter.
• Encourage summarizing books, articles, or chapters in their own words.
• Support annotating or highlighting key ideas when reading longer texts.

• Review school reading assignments together—help break them into chunks.
• Encourage using sticky notes to mark questions or interesting parts.
• Use guided reading questions (who, what, when, why, how) to deepen comprehension.
• Encourage rereading complex passages.
• Support creating graphic organizers to visualize text structures (cause/effect, problem/solution).

• Explore audiobooks and podcasts as complements to reading.
• Use text-to-speech tools or closed captioning to support comprehension.
• Encourage the use of online dictionaries or apps to explore unfamiliar words.

Families READ Toolkit

• Focus on effort, persistence, and growth, rather than “speed” or always getting the right answer.
• Praise problem-solving strategies and logical thinking.
• Share the message that everyone can improve in math with practice.
• Make learning visible with drawings and manipulatives.
• Ask students to identify patterns and explain what they notice and wonder about the world around them. EX: What patterns do you see about how the leaves of different trees grow? 

• Use free math practice websites or apps
  • Khan Academy and The Fun Way to Learn Algebra - Students download the app through Self Service
  • TedEd
• Practice mental math strategies daily (estimating, rounding, quick calculations).
• Play math games like Sudoku, logic puzzles, or card games (24, Yahtzee).

Click the button below to open in another window: 

Fact Fluency

• Involve your teen in budgeting, shopping, calculating discounts, or taxes.
• Explore sports statistics together (e.g., batting averages, player rankings).
• Engage in cooking and adjust recipes (fractions, ratios, conversions).
• Discuss math in the news (data, graphs, polls, financial literacy).
• Have students help hang pictures, plan a garden, etc, using modeling and pictures.

• Encourage them to explain their math thinking out loud.
• Work through homework together by asking questions rather than giving answers.
• Promote drawing diagrams, models, or graphs to visualize problems.
• Support using checklists to break down multi-step problems.

• Use online calculators or graphing tools (Desmos, GeoGebra).
• Encourage video-based math tutorials (Khan Academy, YouTube Math Channels).
• Explore math apps that support fluency and conceptual understanding.