Ways to Help at Home:
1)Encourage Reading at Home:
• Read lots of short, simple books aloud, including alphabet books.
• Reread your child's favorite books often.
• Leave magnetic letters on the refrigerator for your child to play with.
• Talk about the sounds different letters make.
• When reading together, point out how most sentences have the first
letter of the first word capitalized, spaces between each separate word,
and a period at the end.
2)Write Together
• Have your child dictate stories or letters to you. As you read them back,
point to the words as you read.
• Encourage your child to point to words as they "read" a book.
• Help them learn to write and identify upper- and lowercase letters.
• Teach your child how to spell and write familiar words and names.
• Play word-related games (as in: "I'm going to eat something on this table
that begins with the letter B. Can you guess what it is?" or "Let's say all
the words we can think of that start with the letter T").
• Together, come up with a list of short, simple words that rhyme (such as
bat, cat, sat, rat, hat). Write them down in a column, so your child can see
how part of each word is similar.
3) Make math part of everyday Life
• Have your child set the table (counting and sorting the sets of plates,
napkins, cups, and silverware).
• Post a running countdown of the days until their birthday. Let them
change the number each day.
• Challenge them to guess at things, and then find the answers. For
example: How many bowls of cereal do you think we can get out of this
box? How many M&Ms do you think are in your (snack size) bag? How
many minutes do you think it will take to clear off the table? Which of
these cups do you think will hold more juice? Play a copycat game, where one person creates a pattern (pat your head,
touch your knee, clap three times) and the other person has to repeat
the pattern three times in a row.
• Ask your child to measure things in non-traditional units. For example:
Let's see how many footsteps it takes to get from here to the door. Why
do you think it's more for you and fewer for me? How many action
figures (or Barbie dolls) long is this table?
• Have your child compare things: Which do you think is heavier — a cookie
or ten chocolate chips? Who do you think is taller, mom or dad? Which
carrot is longer? Fatter? Crunchier?
• Give your child problems to solve — and let her work them out by
touching and counting actual objects. For example: I have four cookies
here, but two people want to eat them. How many should each person get?
If we invite six kids to your birthday party, and put two candy bars in
each kid's treat bag, how many of these candy bars will we need?
4) Make sure your child is ready for school
• Go to bed at a reasonable hour. Children who regularly go to bed later
on school nights have a hard time keeping up in school. A good night's
sleep is the best guarantee of a pleasant and productive day at school.
• Eat a filling and nutritious breakfast. Children who skip breakfast may
not feel hungry when they first get to school, but according to teachers,
they usually hit a slump around mid-morning and can't keep their minds on
schoolwork, until sometime after lunch. ) Ask your child about their school day
• Ask specific questions. For instance: "Did the teacher read any new
books today? Did you learn any new songs during music class? Who sat
next to you at lunch?" The more specific you can be, the better.
• Read everything the teacher sends home. The notes and newsletters
that come home are really the most reliable sources of information. You
can find out what your child is learning about, what's coming up in terms
of special events or field trips, what kind of help the teacher could use in
the classroom, and what you can do at home to reinforce what your child
is learning in school.
1)Encourage Reading at Home:
• Read lots of short, simple books aloud, including alphabet books.
• Reread your child's favorite books often.
• Leave magnetic letters on the refrigerator for your child to play with.
• Talk about the sounds different letters make.
• When reading together, point out how most sentences have the first
letter of the first word capitalized, spaces between each separate word,
and a period at the end.
2)Write Together
• Have your child dictate stories or letters to you. As you read them back,
point to the words as you read.
• Encourage your child to point to words as they "read" a book.
• Help them learn to write and identify upper- and lowercase letters.
• Teach your child how to spell and write familiar words and names.
• Play word-related games (as in: "I'm going to eat something on this table
that begins with the letter B. Can you guess what it is?" or "Let's say all
the words we can think of that start with the letter T").
• Together, come up with a list of short, simple words that rhyme (such as
bat, cat, sat, rat, hat). Write them down in a column, so your child can see
how part of each word is similar.
3) Make math part of everyday Life
• Have your child set the table (counting and sorting the sets of plates,
napkins, cups, and silverware).
• Post a running countdown of the days until their birthday. Let them
change the number each day.
• Challenge them to guess at things, and then find the answers. For
example: How many bowls of cereal do you think we can get out of this
box? How many M&Ms do you think are in your (snack size) bag? How
many minutes do you think it will take to clear off the table? Which of
these cups do you think will hold more juice? Play a copycat game, where one person creates a pattern (pat your head,
touch your knee, clap three times) and the other person has to repeat
the pattern three times in a row.
• Ask your child to measure things in non-traditional units. For example:
Let's see how many footsteps it takes to get from here to the door. Why
do you think it's more for you and fewer for me? How many action
figures (or Barbie dolls) long is this table?
• Have your child compare things: Which do you think is heavier — a cookie
or ten chocolate chips? Who do you think is taller, mom or dad? Which
carrot is longer? Fatter? Crunchier?
• Give your child problems to solve — and let her work them out by
touching and counting actual objects. For example: I have four cookies
here, but two people want to eat them. How many should each person get?
If we invite six kids to your birthday party, and put two candy bars in
each kid's treat bag, how many of these candy bars will we need?
4) Make sure your child is ready for school
• Go to bed at a reasonable hour. Children who regularly go to bed later
on school nights have a hard time keeping up in school. A good night's
sleep is the best guarantee of a pleasant and productive day at school.
• Eat a filling and nutritious breakfast. Children who skip breakfast may
not feel hungry when they first get to school, but according to teachers,
they usually hit a slump around mid-morning and can't keep their minds on
schoolwork, until sometime after lunch. ) Ask your child about their school day
• Ask specific questions. For instance: "Did the teacher read any new
books today? Did you learn any new songs during music class? Who sat
next to you at lunch?" The more specific you can be, the better.
• Read everything the teacher sends home. The notes and newsletters
that come home are really the most reliable sources of information. You
can find out what your child is learning about, what's coming up in terms
of special events or field trips, what kind of help the teacher could use in
the classroom, and what you can do at home to reinforce what your child
is learning in school.