Dear Readers,
Are you trying to find ways to get your child interested in chores as well as learning math?
Try this technique called Laundry Math.
Laundry Math--Sharpen skills by doing a necessary household job. Ask your youngster to sort laundry--before or after washing. How many socks? How many sheets?
Note: These home learning "recipes" have been tested and developed by Dr. Dorothy Rich, author of MEGASKILLS
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Home Learning Recipes: Weigh Me
Dear Readers,
Here is another recipe for learning at home called Weigh Me:
This is a good skill to teach estimating.
Ask your children to guess the weight of several household objects--a wastebasket, a coat, a full glass of water. Then show children how to use a scale to weigh the objects. Next, have them estimate their own weight, as well as that of other family members, and use the scale to check their guesses.
Note: These home learning "recipes" have been tested and developed by Dr. Dorothy Rich, author of MEGASKILLS.
Here is another recipe for learning at home called Weigh Me:
This is a good skill to teach estimating.
Ask your children to guess the weight of several household objects--a wastebasket, a coat, a full glass of water. Then show children how to use a scale to weigh the objects. Next, have them estimate their own weight, as well as that of other family members, and use the scale to check their guesses.
Note: These home learning "recipes" have been tested and developed by Dr. Dorothy Rich, author of MEGASKILLS.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Quote of the Day
Dear Readers,
“Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting.”
- Edmund Burke
“Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting.”
- Edmund Burke
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Home Learning Recipes: Hidden Letters
Dear Readers,
It is time for another recipe for learning at home called Hidden Letters: This is a reading observation skill.
Hidden Letters--Build reading observation skills with this activity. Ask your child to look for letters of the alphabet on boxes and cans of food and household supplies. For example, find five A's or three C's, or any number of letters or combinations on cereal boxes, soup cans, bars of soap. Start with easy-to-find letters and build up to harder-to-find ones. Then have your children write the letters on paper or point out the letters on the boxes and cans.
As an added activity while you are in the car, have your child find letters in a newspaper or magizne.
Note: These home learning "recipes" have been tested and developed by Dr. Dorothy Rich, author of MEGASKILLS.
It is time for another recipe for learning at home called Hidden Letters: This is a reading observation skill.
Hidden Letters--Build reading observation skills with this activity. Ask your child to look for letters of the alphabet on boxes and cans of food and household supplies. For example, find five A's or three C's, or any number of letters or combinations on cereal boxes, soup cans, bars of soap. Start with easy-to-find letters and build up to harder-to-find ones. Then have your children write the letters on paper or point out the letters on the boxes and cans.
As an added activity while you are in the car, have your child find letters in a newspaper or magizne.
Note: These home learning "recipes" have been tested and developed by Dr. Dorothy Rich, author of MEGASKILLS.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Kindergarten Readiness Checklist
Dear Readers,
How can you tell your child is ready for Kindergarten through 12th grade?
The perfect formula has not been developed to determine if your child is ready for Kindergarten. B4 Literacy has found a Kindergarten Checklist for you to use as a guide.
This list will help you determine the skills your child has before starting Kindergarten. Use this list throughout your child's Kindergarten year to see what skills he/she has gained.
• Listen to stories without interrupting
• Recognize rhyming sounds
• Pay attention for short periods of time to adult-directed tasks
• Understand actions have both causes and effects
• Show understanding of general times of day
• Cut with scissors
• Trace basic shapes
• Begin to share with others
• Start to follow rules
• Be able to recognize authority
• Manage bathroom needs
• Button shirts, pants, coats, and zip up zippers
• Begin to control oneself
• Separate from parents without being upset
• Speak understandably
• Talk in complete sentences of five to six words
• Look at pictures and then tell stories
• Identify rhyming words
• Identify the beginning sound of some words
• Identify some alphabet letters
• Recognize some common sight words like "stop"
• Sort similar objects by color, size, and shape
• Recognize groups of one, two, three, four, and five objects
• Count to ten
• Bounce a ball
If all of these skills are not mastered by your child send them to Kindergarten anyway. The Kindergarten teacher will thank you if you send a child that is healthy, mature and eager to learn on the first day of school.
Source:Peggy Gisler, Ed.S. and Marge Eberts, Ed.S.
How can you tell your child is ready for Kindergarten through 12th grade?
The perfect formula has not been developed to determine if your child is ready for Kindergarten. B4 Literacy has found a Kindergarten Checklist for you to use as a guide.
This list will help you determine the skills your child has before starting Kindergarten. Use this list throughout your child's Kindergarten year to see what skills he/she has gained.
• Listen to stories without interrupting
• Recognize rhyming sounds
• Pay attention for short periods of time to adult-directed tasks
• Understand actions have both causes and effects
• Show understanding of general times of day
• Cut with scissors
• Trace basic shapes
• Begin to share with others
• Start to follow rules
• Be able to recognize authority
• Manage bathroom needs
• Button shirts, pants, coats, and zip up zippers
• Begin to control oneself
• Separate from parents without being upset
• Speak understandably
• Talk in complete sentences of five to six words
• Look at pictures and then tell stories
• Identify rhyming words
• Identify the beginning sound of some words
• Identify some alphabet letters
• Recognize some common sight words like "stop"
• Sort similar objects by color, size, and shape
• Recognize groups of one, two, three, four, and five objects
• Count to ten
• Bounce a ball
If all of these skills are not mastered by your child send them to Kindergarten anyway. The Kindergarten teacher will thank you if you send a child that is healthy, mature and eager to learn on the first day of school.
Source:Peggy Gisler, Ed.S. and Marge Eberts, Ed.S.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Home Learning Recipes: Telephonitis
Dear Readers,
Telephonitis --Give your child practice in reading numbers left to right by dialing a telephone. Make a list of telephone numbers your child can read--for relatives, friends, the weather bureau--and have your child make a call or two.
This is also a good time for your child to learn their telephone number and practice how to answer the phone.
Note: These home learning "recipes" have been tested and developed by Dr. Dorothy Rich, author of MEGASKILLS.
Telephonitis --Give your child practice in reading numbers left to right by dialing a telephone. Make a list of telephone numbers your child can read--for relatives, friends, the weather bureau--and have your child make a call or two.
This is also a good time for your child to learn their telephone number and practice how to answer the phone.
Note: These home learning "recipes" have been tested and developed by Dr. Dorothy Rich, author of MEGASKILLS.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Book donations
Dear Readers,
If you are a book lover like me, then you have accumulated lots and lots of books for yourself and your child/children. I have saved books that my first child's library and passed them on to my my second child to read and enjoy. Books do not date themselves, like clothing or furniture, that is why I love them so much. I love reading the Charlotte's Web by E.B. White just as much as I did when my teacher read it to my 4th grade class. I realize that was what got hooked on books.
As my second child gets older she has read or I have read to her all of the books in her library and I realize that many of them are from when she was an infant and toddler.
In order to encourage my child to read books on her reading level or above I have decided to donate the books to a local daycare center. If the books are donated to a daycare they will continue to be used in an academic setting and children can benefit from them.
Since the books belong to my daughter I am going to let her decide which books she will keep and which books she will give away to the daycare center. It has to be her choice, because only she knows which ones are her favorite.
Before we donate the books, I am going to have her make personalized book plates for each book. The book plate will show who donated the books, date of the donation and the name of the daycare center they are for.
If you are a book lover like me, then you have accumulated lots and lots of books for yourself and your child/children. I have saved books that my first child's library and passed them on to my my second child to read and enjoy. Books do not date themselves, like clothing or furniture, that is why I love them so much. I love reading the Charlotte's Web by E.B. White just as much as I did when my teacher read it to my 4th grade class. I realize that was what got hooked on books.
As my second child gets older she has read or I have read to her all of the books in her library and I realize that many of them are from when she was an infant and toddler.
In order to encourage my child to read books on her reading level or above I have decided to donate the books to a local daycare center. If the books are donated to a daycare they will continue to be used in an academic setting and children can benefit from them.
Since the books belong to my daughter I am going to let her decide which books she will keep and which books she will give away to the daycare center. It has to be her choice, because only she knows which ones are her favorite.
Before we donate the books, I am going to have her make personalized book plates for each book. The book plate will show who donated the books, date of the donation and the name of the daycare center they are for.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Quote of the Day
Dear Readers,
“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”
- Dr. Seuss, "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!"
“The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”
- Dr. Seuss, "I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!"
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Word Bank
Dear Readers,
There are many ways to encourage your child to read.
Supplies needed: shoe box,index card (these can be white or you can choose the pastel color ones for fun), wooden or plastic letters
Have your child decorate the box to look like a bank or their favorite design.
First write down the words your child knows on the index cards
Put the alphabets in a line on the table
Start by helping your child read simple words like c-a-t
Source: 101 ways to get your child to read, Thomson
There are many ways to encourage your child to read.
Supplies needed: shoe box,index card (these can be white or you can choose the pastel color ones for fun), wooden or plastic letters
Have your child decorate the box to look like a bank or their favorite design.
First write down the words your child knows on the index cards
Put the alphabets in a line on the table
Start by helping your child read simple words like c-a-t
Source: 101 ways to get your child to read, Thomson
Sunday, July 5, 2009
My First Teacher: My family
Dear Readers,
"Parents and families are the first and most important teachers. If families teach a love of learning, it can make all the difference in the world to our children."
Richard W. Riley U.S. Secretary of Education
A parent who helps their child learn at home is preparing their child to be a more successful learner in and out of school according to educational research. Adult guidance is important at all times but especially important in the early years.
Since learning begins at home there are all sorts of activities the child can do at home to learn reading, writing, math and science.
B4 Literacy believes that if the child is having fun then the child is learning.
Look for posts entitled Home Learning Recipes for skills to use at home for Prekindergarten through 3rd grade students. These activities are designed to help build skills in reading, writing, math and science. This is a great way to use those leftover school supplies that your child brought home during the summer.
These activities were developed by the Home and School Institute.
"Parents and families are the first and most important teachers. If families teach a love of learning, it can make all the difference in the world to our children."
Richard W. Riley U.S. Secretary of Education
A parent who helps their child learn at home is preparing their child to be a more successful learner in and out of school according to educational research. Adult guidance is important at all times but especially important in the early years.
Since learning begins at home there are all sorts of activities the child can do at home to learn reading, writing, math and science.
B4 Literacy believes that if the child is having fun then the child is learning.
Look for posts entitled Home Learning Recipes for skills to use at home for Prekindergarten through 3rd grade students. These activities are designed to help build skills in reading, writing, math and science. This is a great way to use those leftover school supplies that your child brought home during the summer.
These activities were developed by the Home and School Institute.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)