It is that time of year that parents and children are starting to think about school. Children will be returning to school shortly, but for some children – our youngest students – it will be a brand new experience – KINDERGARTEN!
Is your child ready to start kindergarten? Here are some considerations to help you decide.
Instructions
Step 1
THINK ABOUT YOUR CHILD’S SOCIAL NEEDS: Does your child play nicely with other children? When you set up play dates, can your child play without hitting or biting? Does your child follow adult oral directions or your rules? Can your child sit for short periods of time (10-15 minutes)? When school starts, your child will be in a classroom with many other children. They will need to have these basic skills in place to successfully function within a classroom setting. Settling into a new setting is important.
Step 2
THINK ABOUT YOUR CHILD’S PERSONAL NEEDS: There are basic self-care skills that each child should be fairly independent at. Can your child blow their nose? Tie their shoes? Put on and zip their coat? Put away toys? Use the bathroom and wash their hands?
Step 3
THINK ABOUT YOUR CHILD’S INTELLECTUAL OR ACADEMIC NEEDS: Children entering kindergarten should be able to perform some basic tasks and have some pre-literacy skills. There are many checklists available online, but as a former kindergarten teacher I would be thrilled if my beginning kindergarteners had the following skills:
a. Listens to and enjoys stories
b. Can recognize and names 10-15 letters, and knows their sounds
c. Speaks in complete sentences
d. Can print their first name
e. Counts to 20 (1,2,3…)
f. Can count 5 objects correctly
g. Knows their colors and shapes
h. Can sort by color, shape and size
i. Understands basic concepts like more, less, same
j. Understands positional words like above, below
Step 4
IF YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT YOUR CHILD’S READINESS: If you are worried about your child and whether they are ready for kindergarten, the first step you should take is to talk with your child’s preschool teacher. They have been with your child in a school setting, and can shed a great deal of light into your child’s strengths and weaknesses.
Step 5
If your child is not in preschool, make an appointment with the local elementary school principal. Tell them your concerns. They are absolutely there to help you sort through the situation, and assist you in next steps. It may be a kindergarten screening that is needed; it may be talking with a kindergarten teacher; it may be just spending time with the principal and talking through the problem.
Tips & Warnings
As you can see, kindergarten readiness is a complex issue. You cannot simply look at what your child can do academically – you must look at the whole child – social needs, personal needs as well as their intellectual or academic needs. Gather information, talk to education professionals, and then make the decision about school readiness. You, after all, are your child's first and most important teacher!
plannerpatty | ehow
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
How to Teach Children Socially Acceptable Behavior
Children that are new to a daycare environment are just learning which behaviors are socially acceptable and how to manage their natural impulse to react physically to events that frustrate or anger them. Here are a few tips to help children learn which behaviors are socially acceptable.
Instructions
Step 1
It's important to model positive conflict resolution and non-physical problem solving. When searching for a daycare, it's helpful to see if gentle interactions are used to redirect children to good choices. Pay attention to whether teachers speak to children at their eye level and use children's names when addressing them.
Step 2
Encourage and praise children's attempts to use good conflict resolution and problem solving.
Step 3
Help children develop vocabulary necessary to describe feelings, needs and frustrations. Try not to ask yes or no questions. Ask questions that require an explanation and help the child verbalize what he or she is feeling.
Step 4
Redirect children away from inappropriate choices and toward appropriate choices. Remember to praise children and recognize their accomplishments.
Step 5
Offer opportunities in the program to practice social skills such as problem solving, cooperation, turn taking, and sharing. In addition, many accidents, child behavior challenges and inappropriate guidance issues can be avoided by providing a program that is rich in interesting and engaging activities. Spend some time in each childcare center looking for the following:
KinderCare |ehow
Instructions
Step 1
It's important to model positive conflict resolution and non-physical problem solving. When searching for a daycare, it's helpful to see if gentle interactions are used to redirect children to good choices. Pay attention to whether teachers speak to children at their eye level and use children's names when addressing them.
Step 2
Encourage and praise children's attempts to use good conflict resolution and problem solving.
Step 3
Help children develop vocabulary necessary to describe feelings, needs and frustrations. Try not to ask yes or no questions. Ask questions that require an explanation and help the child verbalize what he or she is feeling.
Step 4
Redirect children away from inappropriate choices and toward appropriate choices. Remember to praise children and recognize their accomplishments.
Step 5
Offer opportunities in the program to practice social skills such as problem solving, cooperation, turn taking, and sharing. In addition, many accidents, child behavior challenges and inappropriate guidance issues can be avoided by providing a program that is rich in interesting and engaging activities. Spend some time in each childcare center looking for the following:
KinderCare |ehow
Friday, July 17, 2009
How to Start Writing Children's Books
Children's books are extremely popular and sell in huge numbers even when traditional adult fiction seems to be dropping in sales. Books for children range from educational nonfiction to fictional stories that are both entertaining and educational. Classics such as "Alice in Wonderland," "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" and the Mother Goose Classics continue to enchant children decades after they were written. Writing books for children can be a profitable and satisfying career for a writer who has the skill to reach a young audience. Learn what it takes to get started writing books for children and how you can turn your ideas into something that will be read for generations to come.
Instructions
Step 1
Create a short outline for your book, and keep it age appropriate. Books written for children 5 and under should have plenty of room for an artist to interpret the material and illustrate it. Children older than 5 years old are more capable of understanding a story with little or no illustrative assistance.
Step 2
Create stories and characters that children can relate to. Try to stick with universal issues. Use your stories as a means of teaching without preaching. Be aware of how you write. You don't want to talk down to your readers because they're young. In fact, keep the writing level slightly above the reading level to challenge children to expand their reading and comprehension abilities.
Step 3
Illustrate your books if you have the ability to do it. If not, children's book publishers have artists on staff that can illustrate for you. Feel free to suggest ideas you may have for illustrations.
Step 4
Study the markets before you pitch your children's book. The Writer's Digest Children's Book Market is a good place to start (see Resources below). You can also consult an online market database for children's books (see Resources below). Target the markets that accept the type of material you've written, and follow their submission guidelines when sending your manuscript for review.
Step 5
Don't wait for a response from your first submission before you begin another project. Start writing your next book while you wait. If you feel the first book deserves a sequel, this may be a good time to start it. Series books are popular in children's fiction, and a solid central theme and likable characters could very well lead to a contract to do several children's books with the same publisher.
Carl Hose via ehow
Instructions
Step 1
Create a short outline for your book, and keep it age appropriate. Books written for children 5 and under should have plenty of room for an artist to interpret the material and illustrate it. Children older than 5 years old are more capable of understanding a story with little or no illustrative assistance.
Step 2
Create stories and characters that children can relate to. Try to stick with universal issues. Use your stories as a means of teaching without preaching. Be aware of how you write. You don't want to talk down to your readers because they're young. In fact, keep the writing level slightly above the reading level to challenge children to expand their reading and comprehension abilities.
Step 3
Illustrate your books if you have the ability to do it. If not, children's book publishers have artists on staff that can illustrate for you. Feel free to suggest ideas you may have for illustrations.
Step 4
Study the markets before you pitch your children's book. The Writer's Digest Children's Book Market is a good place to start (see Resources below). You can also consult an online market database for children's books (see Resources below). Target the markets that accept the type of material you've written, and follow their submission guidelines when sending your manuscript for review.
Step 5
Don't wait for a response from your first submission before you begin another project. Start writing your next book while you wait. If you feel the first book deserves a sequel, this may be a good time to start it. Series books are popular in children's fiction, and a solid central theme and likable characters could very well lead to a contract to do several children's books with the same publisher.
Carl Hose via ehow
Saturday, May 9, 2009
How to Help Your Child with Math
The best way to teach your children to appreciate Math more is to make sure that they don’t fear it. Avoid doing countless drills and memorization, especially if they are still young. Make everything fun and practical.
You may start with including short Math lessons when you do daily chores like grocery shopping. You can do simple additions by counting how many pieces of apples you will put in the basket. You can teach fractions while they help you in the kitchen when baking. As they grow older, you may also progress to simple additions and subtractions. By making it more practical, your children will learn that number skills are important as they are used in everyday life.
There are videos available in the market that help make Math fun. You may purchase those as supplementary materials. Instead of letting them watch pointless TV shows, they can watch something that will make them learn.
You may also use flashcards which your children can use to pre-occupy themselves during a long drive or while waiting.
As your children grow older, you may start giving them short tests once a week to prepare them for school. Just simple arithmetic will do.
Once your children start schooling, you may want to look at their subject syllabus so you can help them with their home works, or if you need to buy supplementary materials to make learning more complicated topics easier.
source : tipz.com
You may start with including short Math lessons when you do daily chores like grocery shopping. You can do simple additions by counting how many pieces of apples you will put in the basket. You can teach fractions while they help you in the kitchen when baking. As they grow older, you may also progress to simple additions and subtractions. By making it more practical, your children will learn that number skills are important as they are used in everyday life.
There are videos available in the market that help make Math fun. You may purchase those as supplementary materials. Instead of letting them watch pointless TV shows, they can watch something that will make them learn.
You may also use flashcards which your children can use to pre-occupy themselves during a long drive or while waiting.
As your children grow older, you may start giving them short tests once a week to prepare them for school. Just simple arithmetic will do.
Once your children start schooling, you may want to look at their subject syllabus so you can help them with their home works, or if you need to buy supplementary materials to make learning more complicated topics easier.
source : tipz.com
