Ideas for Parents
Children go through predictable and progressive stages of moral and ethical growth which affect the way they think about rules and make decisions. The typical behavior of children in 1st and 2nd grade is motivated by thinking only of their own needs and wanting immediate satisfaction of their desires.
Rules are easily ignored when they really want something. “I want to—, I need to—, I just had to—" may begin the explanation for a lie, a grab, a push, a pocketful of objects belonging to others, or other misdeeds. The child may righteously cheat his or her way through a game, explaining “It wasn’t fair. He was winning and I didn’t want him to.”
They want to test limits at this age, but even at the height of testing limits, they want to be seen as “good” in the eyes of adults, so they often deny their actions—even if they were witnessed by adults—and may even steadfastly blame someone else. They sometimes get so involved in their “story” of what happened that they begin to believe it themselves!
You may have noticed some of these behaviors at home occasionally. And some of them will even say things like “my Mom told me to” always go where I want to in line or I don’t have to take this home because “My Dad said so”, as an excuse for some of their unacceptable behavior at school! The stories change when I offer to call Mom or Dad to ask them more about it.
Please keep all this in mind throughout the year, as stories of your child’s experiences at school come home. Remember that these stories are being filtered through the mind of a child. Important details might be left out and the story may not be accurate. So please, if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s behavior or their interaction with someone else (including me), write me a note or call me, or stop in after school, so we can discuss the situation as soon as possible. I love all my students and want only the best for each and every one.
Reading Suggestions:
I have listed below some general suggestions for things that parents can do to help support the reading growth of their children. These are general suggestions, meant to be useful for almost any child, and there may be other things I will ask you to do that are focused on the specific needs of your child.
All of these suggestions come from current research on the way children learn to read. If you do them regularly in a motivating and supportive way, they will help your child make faster progress in learning to read. Many of these activities, such as those that build vocabulary and teach children to think while they read, will also help your child ultimately be a much better reader than he or she might otherwise become.
1. Create a special workspace and schedule daily quiet time for your child to do his/her homework from school. Be sure this is a time you are available, because you will need to explain the directions, help if needed, and check the homework for accuracy.
2. Schedule 15 minutes of special time every day to read with your child at their reading level. For our Reading homework, we do read the stories in class first and introduce the new words. You might need to read a page and then have your child reread that same page until you read through the whole story. If your child seems to know the vocabulary well, take turns reading a page at a time, and then have your child try to reread the same story to you independently. Smoothness (NOT jerky word-at-a-time reading) and expression are important.
3. Read picture books and stories above their reading level to your child. After each story is read, ask your child to retell the story to you. Go back to the story to reread sections if he/she needs help retelling the story in sequence.
4. Play the “rubberband” game. Say a word at normal rate and then have your child say that same word slowly, one sound at a time. For example, say the word, “mat.” Then your child will say that same word slowly, one sound (not saying letter names) at a time with no breath between them, “/m/ /a/ /t/.” We call this “stretching the word like a rubberband”. Play this game using about five to ten short words each day. This helps with both sounding out new words and spelling.
5. Take turns thinking of two words that end with the same sound. Examples: mom, some; dog, rug; paper, feather. As their skills increase, next work on listening for the same middle sounds, hunks and chunks, and then concentrate on vowel sounds.
6. Take every opportunity you can to help increase your child’s vocabulary. You can do this by pointing to things and asking the child to tell you what they are. Also stop and explain the meaning of any words in your reading that the child may not understand. The more you talk to your child, the faster their vocabulary will grow.
Rules are easily ignored when they really want something. “I want to—, I need to—, I just had to—" may begin the explanation for a lie, a grab, a push, a pocketful of objects belonging to others, or other misdeeds. The child may righteously cheat his or her way through a game, explaining “It wasn’t fair. He was winning and I didn’t want him to.”
They want to test limits at this age, but even at the height of testing limits, they want to be seen as “good” in the eyes of adults, so they often deny their actions—even if they were witnessed by adults—and may even steadfastly blame someone else. They sometimes get so involved in their “story” of what happened that they begin to believe it themselves!
You may have noticed some of these behaviors at home occasionally. And some of them will even say things like “my Mom told me to” always go where I want to in line or I don’t have to take this home because “My Dad said so”, as an excuse for some of their unacceptable behavior at school! The stories change when I offer to call Mom or Dad to ask them more about it.
Please keep all this in mind throughout the year, as stories of your child’s experiences at school come home. Remember that these stories are being filtered through the mind of a child. Important details might be left out and the story may not be accurate. So please, if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s behavior or their interaction with someone else (including me), write me a note or call me, or stop in after school, so we can discuss the situation as soon as possible. I love all my students and want only the best for each and every one.
Reading Suggestions:
I have listed below some general suggestions for things that parents can do to help support the reading growth of their children. These are general suggestions, meant to be useful for almost any child, and there may be other things I will ask you to do that are focused on the specific needs of your child.
All of these suggestions come from current research on the way children learn to read. If you do them regularly in a motivating and supportive way, they will help your child make faster progress in learning to read. Many of these activities, such as those that build vocabulary and teach children to think while they read, will also help your child ultimately be a much better reader than he or she might otherwise become.
1. Create a special workspace and schedule daily quiet time for your child to do his/her homework from school. Be sure this is a time you are available, because you will need to explain the directions, help if needed, and check the homework for accuracy.
2. Schedule 15 minutes of special time every day to read with your child at their reading level. For our Reading homework, we do read the stories in class first and introduce the new words. You might need to read a page and then have your child reread that same page until you read through the whole story. If your child seems to know the vocabulary well, take turns reading a page at a time, and then have your child try to reread the same story to you independently. Smoothness (NOT jerky word-at-a-time reading) and expression are important.
3. Read picture books and stories above their reading level to your child. After each story is read, ask your child to retell the story to you. Go back to the story to reread sections if he/she needs help retelling the story in sequence.
4. Play the “rubberband” game. Say a word at normal rate and then have your child say that same word slowly, one sound at a time. For example, say the word, “mat.” Then your child will say that same word slowly, one sound (not saying letter names) at a time with no breath between them, “/m/ /a/ /t/.” We call this “stretching the word like a rubberband”. Play this game using about five to ten short words each day. This helps with both sounding out new words and spelling.
5. Take turns thinking of two words that end with the same sound. Examples: mom, some; dog, rug; paper, feather. As their skills increase, next work on listening for the same middle sounds, hunks and chunks, and then concentrate on vowel sounds.
6. Take every opportunity you can to help increase your child’s vocabulary. You can do this by pointing to things and asking the child to tell you what they are. Also stop and explain the meaning of any words in your reading that the child may not understand. The more you talk to your child, the faster their vocabulary will grow.
