A Checklist to Help You Support What Your Children Learn in School
A new school year finds all of us with best intentions of helping children
succeed in School. A simplified list of reminders on the refrigerator door
can help us keep our resolutions in mind.
1. To be alert and ready to learn, your child needs plenty of
rest, nutritious meals, and a good deal of physical activity. These seem
obvious, but they take discipline on the part of the entire family.
2. Find time to talk regularly to your child about what is important to him
or her.
3. Monitor television viewing.
4. Provide a place for your child to study and offer to help
with homework if necessary.
5. Read to or with your child as often as you possibly can - even if it�s
just a few minutes. Encourage your child to read for fun, too, and take time
to talk about what he or she is reading.
6. Let your child see you reading newspapers, magazines, and books to show
how you incorporate reading into your daily activities.
7. Send your child notes and encourage him or her to wrote in practical ways
every day - making lists, notes, or keeping a notebook of thoughts and ideas
for example.
8. Take your child to the library regularly, and watch for opportunities to
purchase books at yard sales or flea markets.
9. Don�t underestimate the importance of encouragement. Praise efforts, give
support when limits are stretched., and remind your child that mistakes are
learning opportunities.
10 Things You Can Do at Home With Your Child
1.Read a book to your child each night.Your child is never too old for
listening to stories. You are an excellent role model for tone
and inflection. Ask questions about the story which begin with �Why�
and �How�, since they require higher level thinking skills.
2. Ask about themes studied each week and reinforce main ideas
at home.
+ See if anything in your home (ex: books, magazines, newspapers,
objects) relate to the theme.
+ Generate discussion about those objects.
3. Encourage your child to write often. (ex: shopping lists,
friendly letters, creative stories, puppet show scripts, thank you notes,
etc.)
4. Show him/her the ways you use skills, such as reading,writing, and math
in your daily life. (ex: reading menus, recipes,directions, & signs;
balancing checkbook)
5.Explore the outdoors closely with your child. Many wonders can be found
right in your own backyard! Identify sights and sounds you encounter along
the way. Use the encyclopedia, newspapers, Internet, or CD-ROM�s to answer
any questions and learn more about what you have discovered.
6. Use �throwaways� for learning. Empty cans and food boxes can
be used for measuring quantities, estimating amounts, reading and comparing
nutritional information, writing letters to manufacturers, and creating
sculptures and other masterpieces. Even your Sunday coupons and sale folders
can be used to teach math skills, which in turn, will make your child a
smart shopper!
7.If your child is having difficulty calculating sums or differences,
provide real objects (ex: crayons, pasta, buttons, beans, etc.)
for counting and problem solving. Verbalize your thought processes, trials,
and errors as you solve problems with your child. It is important for
children to be able to explain how they solve problems orally and in writing.
8.Demonstrate how to draw pictures to help solve problems.
9.Supply your child with old magazines and newspapers
for �detective work�.
+ Have your child look for as many words or pictures which contain a
certain vowel sound, consonant blend, rhyming word, or compound word.
+ Have your child create a collage of theme-related objects and words.
+ Send your child on a mission of your own.
10. Play listening games in which your child must follow specific directions.
+ Helping your child cook or perform an art project at home involves
following exact directions in sequence to create a desired result.
+ Make up silly directions for children to follow in order. (ex: Stand
up. Count to 50 by 5�s. Turn around. Then, hop on one foot to the bedroom
while saying words that begin with �b�.)
Ways to Help Your Child with Reading at Home
Setting the Atmosphere
Help your child find a quiet, comfortable place to read.
Have your child see you as a reading model.
Read aloud to your child.
Discuss the stories you read together.
Recognize the value of silent reading.
Keep reading time enjoyable and relaxed.
Responding to Errors in Reading
Based on the way most of us were taught to read, we have told the child
to �sound it out� when he comes to an unknown word. While phonics is an
important part of reading, reading for meaning is the primary goal. To
produce independent readers who monitor and correct themselves as they read,
the following prompts are recommended before saying �sound it out�.
Give your child wait time of 5 to 10 seconds. See what he attempts to do to
help himself.
�What would make sense there?�
�What do you think that word could be?�
�Use the picture to help you figure our what it could be.�
�Go back to the beginning and try again.�
�Skip over it and read to the end of the sentence (or paragraph.)�
�Put in a word that would make sense there.�
�Look at how the word begins. Start it out and keep reading.�
Tell your child the word.
Most important, focus on what your child is doing well and attempting to do.
Remain loving and supportive. When your child is having difficulty and
trying to work out the trouble spots, comments such as the following are
suggested:
�Good for you. I like the way you tried to work that out.�
�That was a good try. Yes, that word would make sense there.�
�I like the way you looked at the picture to help yourself.�
�I like the way you went back to the beginning of the sentence and tried
that again. That�s what good readers do.�
�You are becoming a good reader. I�m proud of you.�
-Regie Routman, Language Arts Teacher & Author
