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Question 1

Answer 1
Make flashcards of the vocabulary words for each week. Start with words that your child can sound out, such as "can" rather than pure sight words such as "laugh"- this will keep your child from feeling overwhelmed. Keep working with the cards until your child can say them in mixed order without having to sound out the words. If your child pauses over a word, do not allow him/her time to sound it out, rather wait 3 seconds and then say the word. This will help your child learn to memorize words, a skill which is necessary for fluent reading. We do have a strong phonics program in first grade and your child will learn how to decode new words by sounding them out; however, once a word is no longer "new", it is very important to quickly commit it to memory. Make two piles with the words, one "Words I Know", and "Words I Need to Practice." Keep practicing with the latter words until mastered. Each week, review a few of the old words before introducing new words. Some children will know the words as soon as they bring them home, since we spend a significant amount of time on vocabulary each day. However, if your child does not retain the words, or knows them one time, and then forgets them the next, you will need to do some extra activities. I will be doing these extra activities with your child in class also, but extra practice at home will be invaluable. The following are strategies which will help: 1. Have your child trace the words using a variety of tactile experiences: tracing on sandpaper, shaving cream, in a pan of salt, etc. This helps a child who learns best kinesthetically.It is important for your child to say the words as he/she is tracing. 2. Play games with the words, such as Concentration, Go Fish, or Hangman. 3. Once your child has developed a list of words, have him/her create sentences using the flashcards. 4. Use a timer to time how long it takes to go through a list. Then immediately do the list again, striving to beat the time. Most importantly, do not get discouraged. For a variety of reasons, some children have more difficulty than others learning words. Your child needs encouragement, even if it seems some days he/she is going backwards. Patience and practice at both school and home will eventually pay off in a more confident reader.
Question 2

Answer 2
The easiest way to memorize something is to first understand it. For this reason the children receive their math facts in fact families. Rather than studying random flash cards, the children will study the facts as a whole so they can see the connection between the numerals. It is much easier to memorize the fact 9-5=4, if you are also learning that 9-4=5, 5+4=9 and 4+5=9. This builds an understanding of the underlying principles of arithmetic. Frequently I see children who can add or subtract easily because they know how to count forward or backwards, but don't truly understand what they are doing. So my first suggestion is to study a given fact family until a child has memorized it, and then move on to another. Secondly, many children learn better when they have multi-sensory experiences. Thus, give your child opportunities to see the facts, say the facts, write the facts, and physically represent the facts (move a group of 5 blocks into another group of 4 blocks to create a new group of 9 blocks). Writing the facts is not such a chore if your child is permitted to use a special marker, pen, gel pen, paints, etc. If your child is having a "mental block" concerning one particular fact family (for some reason many children have difficulty with the facts in the 7,8,15 fact family), have him/her create a 4 page picture book of the facts around a given theme. Make practice as fun as possible. In class, the children enjoy rolling dice, and having to come up with the fact families for the numbers shown on the dice (i.e. if a 5 and 6 are shown, the children compete to see which group can write the four related facts the fastest. Again, just as in memorizing sight words, it comes much easier to some children than others. If your child is having a difficult time, praise each improvement rather than waiting until the entire list is mastered.
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