Parents often ask, “How can I help my child?” Usually the answer is simple…read to and with your child. It is vital that kindergartners read and have good reading modeled on a continuous basis. As a working mom I understand all too well, how valuable time is, especially in the evening. However nothing is more precious than our children and so we might as well take advantage of the simplest and probably most enjoyable way of nurturing our children…by spending just a few minutes each day sharing a good story or two! Rosemary Well’s short story, Read to Your Bunny, captures the idea in a charming manner. The author has written a wonderful letter that I would like to share with you for your own reflection.
All of us love our children more than anything in the world. In their first years we feed them so they grow. We bring them to the doctor so they are healthy. We strap them in car seats so they are safe.But the most important thing in the first years of life is the growth of the mind and spirit. This is when a child learns to love and to trust, to speak and listen.After a child turns two years old, these things are very difficult to learn or teach ever again. Trusting, singing, laughing, and language are the most important things in a young child’s life.And so they must come first for mothers and fathers, too. Because we can never have those years over again.Every day make a quiet, restful place for twenty minutes. Put your child in your lap and read a book aloud. In the pages of the book you will find a tiny vacation of privacy and intense love. It costs nothing but twenty minutes and a library card.Reading to your little one is just like putting gold coins in the bank. It will pay you back tenfold. Your daughter will learn, and imagine, and be strong in herself. Your son will thrive, and give your love back forever.
Rosemary Wells
We have officially begun learning our reading sight words or popcorn words. These are the small words that pop up all over the place in books. These words are also often referred to as high frequency words. By the end of the month children should be familiar with the following words: I, a, to, the. Please practice these words as the children learn them, by pointing them out in books, having them read them during read alouds and/or using magnetic refrigerator letters to spell them out. It is also helpful to practice writing them.
Here are 10 ways to help your child learn the sight words…
1.Make an extra set of cards and play “MEMORY”.
2. Hang up two sight words and race your child across the room to read the sight word in “your lane”.
3. Go on a sight word scavenger hunt by hiding the flashcards around the house.
4. Play sight word war-each player turns over a sight word and whoever reads the sight word first wins both cards.
5. Make a “bingo” board with the sight words and play BINGO.
6. Create a word search puzzle on www.puzzlemaker.com.
7. Make an extra set of cards and play “GO FISH”.
8. Make a TIC TAC TOE board with the sight words and play tic tac toe.
9. Flashlight words-tape the words up on the ceiling and turn off the lights. Use the flashlight to read the words.
10. Make the words using play-dough.
All of us love our children more than anything in the world. In their first years we feed them so they grow. We bring them to the doctor so they are healthy. We strap them in car seats so they are safe.But the most important thing in the first years of life is the growth of the mind and spirit. This is when a child learns to love and to trust, to speak and listen.After a child turns two years old, these things are very difficult to learn or teach ever again. Trusting, singing, laughing, and language are the most important things in a young child’s life.And so they must come first for mothers and fathers, too. Because we can never have those years over again.Every day make a quiet, restful place for twenty minutes. Put your child in your lap and read a book aloud. In the pages of the book you will find a tiny vacation of privacy and intense love. It costs nothing but twenty minutes and a library card.Reading to your little one is just like putting gold coins in the bank. It will pay you back tenfold. Your daughter will learn, and imagine, and be strong in herself. Your son will thrive, and give your love back forever.
Rosemary Wells
We have officially begun learning our reading sight words or popcorn words. These are the small words that pop up all over the place in books. These words are also often referred to as high frequency words. By the end of the month children should be familiar with the following words: I, a, to, the. Please practice these words as the children learn them, by pointing them out in books, having them read them during read alouds and/or using magnetic refrigerator letters to spell them out. It is also helpful to practice writing them.
Here are 10 ways to help your child learn the sight words…
1.Make an extra set of cards and play “MEMORY”.
2. Hang up two sight words and race your child across the room to read the sight word in “your lane”.
3. Go on a sight word scavenger hunt by hiding the flashcards around the house.
4. Play sight word war-each player turns over a sight word and whoever reads the sight word first wins both cards.
5. Make a “bingo” board with the sight words and play BINGO.
6. Create a word search puzzle on www.puzzlemaker.com.
7. Make an extra set of cards and play “GO FISH”.
8. Make a TIC TAC TOE board with the sight words and play tic tac toe.
9. Flashlight words-tape the words up on the ceiling and turn off the lights. Use the flashlight to read the words.
10. Make the words using play-dough.