Weekly Tip- Make Learning a Game

Do you have to fight with your child to study, read, or write? You may need to ask yourself, would I run kicking and screaming if I had to do this task? If the answer's Absolutely, maybe, or possibly... it's time to rethink the approach. The solution... Make it fun! You can study the same material but in a more interesting way. Here are some examples.

1. Clean the Plate- This is a technique for teaching sight words. You'll need cheap paper plates and a marker. Write a different sight word largely on each plate (do about 20). Spread time out across the table face down. Set a timer for 30 secs (more or less depending on the child). When you say go, the child must flip a plate and read the word on the front. If they know the word they keep the plate and move on to the next word. If they don't know the word. They skip it and move on to the next word. When the time is up, the can count the plates they've earned. When they play the game again, their goal should be to bet their old score. They can also play by competing against someone near their age and skill level.
2. Multiplication match- This game will help with multiplication fact fluency. You'll need 2 colors of index cards and a pen. Simply write one fact on each of 12 card (the first color). Then write each solution to those facts on a separate index card (the second color). Then turn them all face down and organize them neatly into rows. Then your child is to flip one card of each color. If the fact matches the solution, he or she gets to keep the cards. If they are not a match, your child must put them back and try again. The game ends when all the cards are matched up.

If you have other ideas for games that have worked for you, please post them as a comment below.

Weekly Tip- Experience IS the Best Teacher

Whether you take your child on a simply outing to the grocery store or on an exotic vacation, you are providing your child with experiences that will shape their learning forever. Children learn best by doing and then by seeing. They have interactions with physical science when they see pushes and pulls happening naturally around them. They can see the changes in the seasons and how they relate to temperature as it relates to earth science. They discover the principles of mathematics while watching financial transactions. The more real life experiences your child has, the better prepared they are when they see the concepts that relate to them in the classroom.

Advice Column Coming Soon

One of the great features to be added to this blog is an educationally driven advice column. Simply posted your question or problem as a comment to this post or email your question to pjohns15@aug.edu. We will do our best to provide informed advice using both research and our personal experiences to assist you in dealing with your educational concerns. Also please provide your name and address when submitting your question. We'll send you a special thank you gift if your question is chosen.

Weekly Tip- Read, Read, Read

I know we are all in full swing vacation mode enjoying activies on the water, sports in the park, new and interesting camps, and maybe even a little relaxing indoors. It's a time for fun, sun, and family. It's also a time for reading. Nightly reading is important to your child at every stage of their development. Reading aloud to your child is as equally important as having your child read to you. For infants and toddlers, it's important time for bonding and language aquisition. They are able to be close to you in their own personal quiet time. Your child is also hearing words spoken in the correct tone and pace, which is something they are learning to do. For preschoolers it's a time to how to track words in a book (knowing that we read from left to right) and figuring out that words have meaning. And for school aged children, we are teaching them more vocabulary through context and modeling how to read with expression. The benefits are reading to your child are far reach and once you make it a part of your daily routine, your child will look forward to this special time.