Strong firm character does not develop automatically! It must be taught and learned. Character must be cultivated and nourished in order to bloom and flourish. Building Great Character starts at home and is reinforced in the school in numerous ways by all adults that encounter your kiddo. Children learn their character and social behavior from the adults in their lives. What they see is what they do. How they are treated is how they treat their peers. Teach the GOLDEN RULE!
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Some children with learning and thinking differences have trouble seeing other viewpoints and alternative ways of doing things. Use these tips to help your child practice flexible thinking, which is essential for learning and everyday life. 1. Play the Fannee Doolee game. Fannee Doolee only likes words with double letters. Keeping this rule in mind, you and your child can come up with things Fannee likes and dislikes. For example, she likes bees, but she doesn’t like bugs. She likes jelly but not jam. Thinking about the sense of the words and the spellings can help your child learn to shift gears more comfortably. 2. Tell silly jokes and make puns. Show your child how to use different meanings of words to make people laugh. For example, you can tell him a joke: “Why are fish so smart? Because they live in schools.” Then you can talk together about how the punch line uses two meanings of the word “school.” Encourage your child to come up with funny wordplay, too. 3. Play “What’s this?” Take an ordinary object like a funnel and see how many different things you and your child can pretend it is: a party hat, a trumpet, a unicorn horn. This activity encourages your child to see things in more creative ways. 4. Read “Amelia Bedelia” and other books that play with words. Kids who have trouble with flexible thinking may find it hard to understand that words can have more than one meaning. Riddles and jokes that play with words’ meanings or sounds can also be confusing. You can work on these skills together by reading books like Amelia Bedelia, whose heroine takes everything very literally. When she’s asked to “draw the curtains,” she uses a marker to draw spots on them. You and your child can talk about what she should have done instead. 5. Make up new rules for games. Kids who have difficulty with flexible thinking can have trouble seeing that there’s more than one way to do things. Practice seeing alternatives by helping your child make up new rules for games. Have players slide down ladders and walk up slides in Chutes and Ladders. Run the bases in reverse order in kickball. Once your child gets comfortable with simple switches like this, try combining the rules of two games to make a new game. 6. Find more than one way to do everyday things. Your child may be used to doing things in a certain order, so making small tweaks to an everyday process can show him that there are different options. For example, try making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich by spreading the jelly before the peanut butter. If your child is old enough, ask him to help you map a new route from school to home. This can help your child work on problem-solving skills, which involve coming up with different approaches to solving a problem. 7. Teach self-talk skills. Teach your child to talk his way through solving a problem. As he gets older, self-talk skills will become more important. Encourage him to think out loud as he solves logic puzzles and other problems. Help him learn to ask questions like: Is this similar to another problem I’ve solved before? Is there something different here that I haven’t come across in other problems? Use the 5 Finger Rule to be sure you choose a just right book for you. Don't worry if friends or classmates read faster than you, or if they carry around a book that is a big chapter book. What matters most is that you understand what you read and your purpose for reading has been fulfilled. Reading is all about you, so don't compare yourself to others. We read for many reasons. Sometimes I read to learn something new, like last week, when I wanted to know how to make home-made pot pies They were YUMMY! Sometimes I read to be entertained. My favorite books always include a little history. As you read, try to make a movie in your mind and be sure to question the text to clarify meaning. I love catching students TALKING TO THEIR TEXT! They really do talk out loud while reading. This is awesome and usually tells me that they understand exactly what they read. If you feel like you read and read, but you just can't remember what you read~don't be discouraged. You may need to find a more quiet area to read so you are not distracted. I have a hard time reading if the television is on, so when my family turns on the tv, I take my book to a quiet place in the house. For me, noise when I'm reading is just ANNOYING! Ask mom to help you create a reading nook in your home or bedroom. If a quiet place doesn't help you to remember what you've read, try reading out-loud to yourself. Better yet, record your voice using a phone or an iPad, and then play it back. Try to draw a picture of the character(s), setting, character's goal, problems in getting the goal, and solutions by using the five figure questioning rule. Put the pictures in order of what happened in the beginning, middle and end of the story. Make reading fun! Balancing Homework: Kids are more successful in school when parents take an active interest in their homework. It shows kids that what they do is important. As young children begin school, the focus should be on cultivating a love of learning. The most effective activity may be nightly reading, especially if parents are involved. The benefits of reading are clear: If students aren’t proficient readers by the end of third grade, they’re less likely to succeed academically. Homework should be 10-20 minutes per night in the first grade. National PTA and the National Education Association support the “10-minute homework guideline”—a nightly 10 minutes of homework per grade level. But I like many teachers and parents are quick to remind that what matters is the quality of the homework assigned and how well it meets students’ needs, not the quantity of time spent on it. Parents need to decide if 10-15 minutes is enough for their kiddo or if they need more or less. The research doesn’t account for students who may need to spend more—or less—time on assignments. In class, teachers can make adjustments to support struggling students, but at home, an assignment that takes one student 30 minutes to complete may take another twice as much time—often for reasons beyond their control. Adjust Homework to meet the needs of the child and don't base it on what another child in another household is doing!! Of course, helping with homework shouldn't mean spending hours hunched over a desk struggling with a child. Parents can be supportive by demonstrating study and organization skills, explaining a tricky problem, or just encouraging kids to take a break. And who knows? Parents might even learn a thing or two! Here are some tips to guide the way: Know the teachers — and what they're looking for. Attend school events, such as parent-teacher conferences, to meet your child's teachers. Ask about their homework policies and how you should be involved. Communicate concerns with them regularly! Set up a homework-friendly area. Make sure kids have a well-lit place to complete homework. Keep supplies — paper, pencils, glue, scissors — within reach. Schedule a regular study time. Some kids work best in the afternoon, following a snack and play period; others may prefer to wait until after dinner. Help them make a plan. On heavy homework nights or when there's an especially hefty assignment to tackle, encourage your child break up the work into manageable chunks. Create a work schedule for the night if necessary — and take time for a 15-minute break every hour, if possible. Keep distractions to a minimum. This means no TV, loud music, or phone calls. (Occasionally, though, a phone call to a classmate about an assignment can be helpful.) Make sure kids do their own work. They won't learn if they don't think for themselves and make their own mistakes. Parents can make suggestions and help with directions. But it's a kid's job to do the learning. Be a motivator and monitor. Ask about assignments, quizzes, and tests. Give encouragement, check completed homework, and make yourself available for questions and concerns. Set a good example. Do your kids ever see you diligently balancing your budget or reading a book? Kids are more likely to follow their parents' examples than their advice. Praise their work and efforts. Post an aced test or art project on the refrigerator. Mention academic achievements to relatives. If there are continuing problems with homework, get help. Talk about it with your child's teacher. Some kids have trouble seeing the board and may need glasses; others might need an evaluation for a learning problem or attention disorder. We recommend and assign it. We give you as many options as possible to meet the needs of all students. We give written and online practice. You as a parent get to decide what you want your child to accomplish and do based on his/her abilities and needs. What motivates your child to learn? What excites him/her about learning? What does your child need to be successful |
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