One Little Way to Enlarge Your Child's World

"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all."

— Jacqueline Kennedy

Research has shown that one of the most important things a parent can do to help instill a love of learning in their child is to read to them every day.   When children are immersed in a great story with rich language their vocabulary is enriched, speaking and listening skills expand, and they develop a desire to become readers.  Reading exposes your child to correct speech patterns, creates awareness of how print works, and demonstrates the excitement that reading can bring.  Books should be an integral part of our children's daily lives. 

Here are a few tips for reading with your child:

 

·        Before you read, check out the cover. - Read the title, look at the pictures, and make some predictions together.

·        Read aloud from easy predictable books and point to each word.  Next ask your child to read and point to the words.  This gives practice matching the spoken word with the print on the page.

·        Use expression as you read and make the story come alive!

·        Ask questions like, “What do you think is going to happen?”  “How do you think that character feels right now?”

·        Encourage your child to use the pictures to gain clues about the text.

·        When you listen to your child read make sure they are reading a “good fit” book.  If your child is making more than 2 mistakes in every 10 words, the text is too hard.  Choose an easier one.

·        Praise your child’s efforts!   Reading is difficult and language can be confusing.  Encourage your child to try to figure out a tricky word by using the letter sounds, picture clues, and by asking what would make sense. 

·        After reading, talk about the book.  Make connections about the text and real world experiences. This helps children learn to draw on their background knowledge.

·        Re-read the books your child enjoys.  Encourage your emergent reader to read the pictures, read words they have mastered, and “pretend” read the text. You are setting them up for success as a developing reader.  

Children's author Emilie Buchwald said, "Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."   

What a great gift to give a child!

Poetry and Literacy Development

Children love language and are always eager to learn and use interesting words.  Listening to stories and poems read aloud provide children with good modeling and the motivation to become readers.  Poems are great tools to build vocabulary and excite the imagination.  A child's literacy development is sparked by a literature rich environment.  As our young emergent readers examine print and have fun working with words they begin to match the sounds that go with letters and see patterns in words.  Poems provide a predictable form of literature that offers fun vocabulary and success from the rhyming word patterns.  I would like to encourage you to read predictable books and poems with your child to help build their reading decoding skills and fluency.  Here is a fun one to try:

Five little monkeys jumping on the bed.
One fell off and bumped his head.
Mama called the doctor and the doctor said,
"No more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

You can make the poem more fun by adding movements and by changing the tone of your voice to capture your child's interest.  Look for rhyming words together and search for familiar words.  Have fun exploring words together.

Words of wisdom from Dr. Seuss:
" Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!"

Responsible Behavior

  " The time is always right to do what it right."

                                          Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In our kindergarten class we are striving to understand that we are responsible for the choices we make.  Our Downtown School Responsibility Plan gives us four simple words to remember:

• Show
• Remind
• Ignore
• Report

We work to show we are responsible by the things we do and say.  We make good choices about creating quality work, about listening and following directions, and about choosing kind words and actions with others.  

We remind friends that forget in a kind way.  (All of us need a reminder at times to help us get back on track.)

We try hard to ignore the little things that do not impact our learning or hurt others.

We do report when something or someone does interfere with our learning or is hurtful to someone or school property.  No one has the right to stop another friend from learning or feeling safe here at school.  

If someone does make a mistake (as we all do), our goal is to find a way to solve the problem.  Our kindergartners are learning to be problem solvers.  When there is a problem I ask them, "What do think we should do?" or "How do you think we can solve this?"  I am always amazed at how insightful our young friends are and how empowered they seem to feel when they are the ones who can fix the situation at hand.   

Math Exploration

Our children are working to develop strong math problem solving skills.  Are kindergartners are being introduced to the Standards for Math Practice and these strategies will follow them throughout their educational journey.  There are 8 standards on which we are building our foundation.  They are:

1. Make sense and persevere in solving problems.  We are striving to show our students that there are many strategies we can use to solve a problem.  We are also learning that it is important to keep trying and not give up when a problem might be difficult.  The process is as important as finding the answer as we grow as learners.
2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.  Good math students in kindergarten begin to use numerals to represent specific amounts (quantity).  We learn to use symbols to represent numbers and mathematical ideas and discuss how and why things work.
3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.  In kindergarten we are working to clearly express, explain, and organize our thinking.  We use words and symbols to explain our work and we talk about our strategies.
4. Model with mathematics.  In our kindergarten class we begin to experiment with representing real-life math problems in a variety of ways.  We draw, act out, use manipulatives, and develop number sentences (equations) to show our work.  
5. Use appropriate tools strategically.  Proficient kindergarten math students begin to explore a variety of tools to use to solve problems.  
6. Attend to precision.  I love to hear a kindergartner say, "I will be precise."  They know it is important to work carefully, strategically, and to produce their best quality work to be successful.
7. Look for and make use of structure.  Our young mathematicians  begin to look for patterns and structure in our number system and other areas of math.  We use our previous knowledge ("what we know about numbers") to help us solve problems.  
8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.  In kindergarten we begin to examine repetitive actions in geometry, counting, and in comparing numbers and shapes.  For example when counting we will explore how the pattern 1-9 is repeated for each decade set (twenty-ONE, twenty-TWO - thirty-ONE, thirty-TWO etc...).