Set Routines: a consistent bedtime, routine home practice time, routine of how to get ready independently in the morning.
TALK LITERACY:
- Ask questions about their school day. This one can be a little hard sometimes. Here are a few questions that your child should be able to answer everyday. “What center did you play in today? What songs did you sing? What did you eat for lunch? What special did you go to today? Who was the line leader? What story did you hear in class?”
- Talk to your child about their homework.
- Limit T.V. viewing. Along with WII, DS, PlayStation
- Practice strategies that are NOT based on sounding out the words. For example: when reading stories in rhyme, stop before the final rhyming word and allow the child to finish or read books with lots of repetition so that your child can join in. If your child initiates sounding out, help them to relate the letters to their sounds, but don't allow them to be stuck and frustrated.
- Read aloud to/with your child often. Read things you both enjoy! If your child stops being attentive, it's time to stop reading. Choose something else or another time to read. If your child wants to stop and discuss, stop! Discussion is an important part of reading.
- Point out the printed words in your home and other places you take your child such as the grocery store. Spend as much time listening to your child as you do talking to him/her.
- Offer your child opportunities to read and write. Let them "fill in" the applications in your junk mail, "read" you their own stories, and offer to script their stories for them. Provide reading and writing materials and a special place for them to maintain an "office" of their own even if it is just a portable tote of supplies.
- Don't be afraid to ham it up when reading. Use different voices for characters.
- Write/draw daily; draw your favorite….,(character, movie, food, season, game, etc) write a word to label your picture, draw a picture for……(grandma, uncle Tom, Mrs. Stroud, etc,) write a note to……(babysitter, sister/brother, your stuffed animal, etc)
- Fun Activities for Kindergarten students to play with Magnetic Letters:
- sort the letters based on if they have a curve, line, or curve and line
- spell your name, friend or family members name
- Feely Bag- put letters in a bag, put your hand in the bag and feel the letter, name the letter or make the letter sound, pull out the letter to see if you are correct.
- match lowercase to uppercase
- put in ABC order
- rhyming words- make a word (cat), change the beginning letter to make a rhyming word (bat)
- change a letter to change the word- make a word (can), change the ending letter to change the word (cat), change the middle sound to change the word (cut)
There are a ton of websites out there with helpful information on Kindergarten. There are lots of games that are designed to help a child with reading, math and most curriculum areas. Here are some helpful websites that you may want to use at home.
www.starfall.com
A website with fun reading and writing activities.
www.abcya.com
A website with fun math and literacy games.
www.hwtears.com
A website that will give parents information on the handwriting that I will be teaching in Kindergarten.
http://pbskids.org/lions
A website with games and stories for children. It also has a parent and teacher information section.
http://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/?scrollerId=games
A website for parents and children. There are many games to choose from.
http://www.eatright.org
A website that has family exercises and healthy snacks.
- Count everything; cans of soup in the cabinet, number of steps to the car, windows on a building, pictures in a book, words on a page
- Practice finding Shapes; door frame is a rectangle, clock is a circle, cushion is a square, bricks are rectangles, hat is a cone, paper towel holder is a cylinder, T.V is a rectangle
- Math Games: play math games that are fun for your child. EX: memory, UNO, tic-tac-toe, number bingo, guess who, candyland, I Have….Who has…. (on an index card write... I Have__ Who has__, pass out the cards ( everyone may have 5 cards, 7 cards, 2 cards, just depends on how many people want to play, after you call out your card lay it down on the ground. “I have 7 who has 3, I have 3 who has 10, I have 10 who has 2, I have 2 who has 0, I have 0 the end”) The start card has a smile face and Who Has…. End card has I Have… and The End.
I took a Brain Compatibility Class years ago. Here are some interesting things I learned from that class.
Brain Friendly Snacks:
References:
Conyers, Marcus. Ten Ways to Turn on your Brain. Toolbox for the Mind
Conyers, Marcus/Wilson, Donna. Brainsmart Nutrition: 10 Foods That May Support A Healthy Brain-Body
http://www.sdu.uwo.ca/learning/memory.html
http://www.palgrave.com/skills4study/html/memory.memory.htm
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/4/t040400.asp#t040405