Article - Parental Strategies For Successful Learning In Language, Reading and Cooperative Behavior

PARENTAL STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESSFUL LEARNING IN LANGUAGE, READING AND COOPERATIVE BEHAVIOR

LEARNING LANGUAGE

Talk to your children in full sentences. Bathe them in language as you would bathe them in water!

Ask them questions. Ask them for their ideas and to tell you what they are thinking. Give them reasonable choices such as do you want to wear the red sweat shirt or the blue one?

Read, Read, Read to your children. Ask them questions such as, "What do you think to going to happen? Is this like our house? How is this different than at our house?" Don't ask too many questions because that will interrupt the flow of the story.

HOW READING TO YOUR CHILDREN HELPS THEM

Your children will understand the similarities and differences between the spoken and written
language and learn that marks on paper have meaning.
Your children will learn some of the components of a story, character, plot, complication, resolution, setting, etc.
Your children will learn the parts of a book [cover, title, page, illustrations, print.]
Your children will lean how words can create imaginative worlds and how to use their own imaginations.
Your children will learn how to pay attention to words and expand their knowledge about the world.
Your children will learn the meaning of words and expand their knowledge about the world.
Your children will practice the skills they are learning at school.
Your children will learn how to listen and how to treat books.
Your relationship with your child improves as you do something fun together.
More important, your child will come to like books and reading and will learn that reading is fun.

from: Young Children Magazine, May 1990

Listen to music, move to the rhythm, clap your hands, dance!

When giving one or two stage instructions, ask your child to repeat what you want done.

Receptive Language is the basis of the language pyramid!

READING

Read to your children at least 15 minutes a day, even when they are school age!

Encourage older children to read to the younger children.

Play rhyming games, use silly sentences, teach them the alphabet. Teach clean sounds for the letters in the child's name, as well as in siblings' names.

Read road signs, store signs, and follow with your finger, hymns, stories and comics.

Leave lots of books around the house.

Visit the library and participate in "story hour" when available.

Read recipes together and have children gather the ingredients. Share the extra pie crust!!

SPELLING

Practice spelling words by tracing them on the table top with the fleshy part of the fingers of the writing hand. Trace each word three to five times and then shift to writing with a pencil and paper. Do five words a night, and review the words each evening before your add five new words.

Encourage your child to write notes and take phone messages even if words are not spelled correctly.

Proof read your child's work, if asked, correct spelling and/or punctuation with out comment!!!

ARITHMETIC

Counting things is very important for eye-hand coordination. Children need to manipulate things as they count, buttons, paper clips, silverware and dishes. Ask "counting questions" such as "How many people will be sitting down for supper"? "How many forks will we need"?

When dealing with fractions, use egg cartons, pizza circles and pie plates. Ask questions about "How do I cut the pie into 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 equal pieces"?

When doing homework, many times children should trace the sign before they do the problem.

Bring out the family calendar and review each week's events.

HOMEWORK

How much time is expected for homework from the school?

What is the best time to do homework in your house?

Try the kitchen table for your children with you doing "grown-up" homework at the same time.

If you run into a problem, write a not to the teacher.

Never, do you child's homework! If there are problems seek help from the teacher first!

COOPERATIVE BEHAVIOR

Use the ideas on the next pages for teaching your children appropriate social skills. It is easy to tell them than they did something wrong, this way we can teach them how to do what we want.