Return To Section Contents
<<<Previous Page | Next Page>>>
Page1 |Page2 |Page3 |Page4 |Page5 |Page6 |Page7 |Page8 |Page9 |Page10 |Page11 |
ir own.
2. Use a chalkboard or a family message board as an exciting
way to involve children in writing with a purpose.
3. Keep supplies of paper, pencils, markers, and the like
within easy reach.
4. Encourage beginning and developing writers to keep
journals and write stories. Ask questions that will help
children organize the stories, and respond to their
questions about letters and spelling. Suggest they share
the activity with a smaller brother, sister, or friend.
5. Respond to the content of children's writing, and don't be
overly concerned with misspellings. Over time you can help
your child concentrate on learning to spell correctly.
When the children begin to write, they run the risk
criticism, and it takes courage to continue. Our job as parents
is to help children find the courage. This we can do by
expressing our appreciation of their efforts.
TV
Television can be a great tool for education too. The keys
are setting limits, making good choices, taking time to watch
together, discussing what you view, and encouraging follow-up
reading.
What to do
1. Limit your child's television viewing time and make your
rules and reasons clear. Involve your child in choosing
which programs to watch. Read the TV schedule together to
choose.
2. Monitor what your child is watching, and whenever
possible, watch the programs with your child.
3. When you watch shows with your child, discuss what you
have seen so your child can better understand the
programs.
4. Look for programs that will stimulate your child's
interests and encourage reading (such as dramatizations of
children's literature and programs on wildlife, natural
history, and science).
Many experts recommend that children watch no more than 10
hours of television each week. Limiting television viewing
frees up time for reading and writing activities.
It is worth noting that captioned television shows can be
especially helpful with children who are deaf or
hard-of-hearing, studying English as a second language, or
having difficulty learning to read.
Make a Book
Turn your child's writing into a homemade book. The effect
will be powerful. Suddenly books become a lot more human and
understandable.
What you'll need
Construction paper
Yarn or ribbon
Heavy paper or cardboard
Colorful cloth or wrapping paper
Paste
Safety scissors
What to do
1. Paste pages of your child's writings onto pieces of
construction paper.
2. Discuss the order the writings should go in. Should all
the writings about animals go in one section and the
writings about holidays in another? Which writings are the
most important and where should they be placed in the
book?
3. Number the pages.
4. Make a table of contents.
5. Make covers for the book with heavy paper or cardboard.
You might want to paste colorful cloth or wrapping paper
onto the covers.
6. Punch holes in the pages and the covers.
7. Bind the book together by lacing the yarn or ribbon
through the holes. Make knots in the loose ends or tie
them in a bow, so that the yarn or ribbon won't slip out.
8. Add pages to this book as more writings are completed or
start a new book.
Making a book is a multi-step process from planning to
writing to producing a final product.
Make Your Own Dictionary
A letter dictionary is a long-term project.
What you'll need
Notebook
Pencil, pen, crayons, or markers
Old magazines
Safety scissors
Paste
What to do
1. Help your child head every page or two with a letter of
the alphabet.
2. Cut out pictures of things from old magazines that start
with the letters and paste them on the appropriate pages.
3. Help your child label the pictures.
If it stops being fun, you can come back to the project at
a later time. When you come back to it, don't worry if your
child forgets something. That's the nature of young children.
Parents and the Schools
Success in school depends, in large part, on your child's
ability to read, and your role in helping your child become a
reader extends into the classroom. The kind of support y
<<<Previous Page | Next Page>>>
Page1 |Page2 |Page3 |Page4 |Page5 |Page6 |Page7 |Page8 |Page9 |Page10 |Page11 |
|
|