Learning in the Car

In early childhood, every moment counts! Providing opportunities for children to be exposed to oral language, especially in the forms of high quality songs, stories, and fingerplays will help them in their future reading and writing success. Since young children spend so much time in the car, consider investing in CDs that emphasize these language strategies.

-play rhyming, quality children's music (e.g., Raffi) that use rhyme, play on words, and rhythm in songs

-expose children to nursery rhymes by playing them in the car (knowledge of nursery rhymes has been proven to be an indicator of reading success later on in life)

-encourage children to learn the names of letters and their corresponding sounds by playing CDs that emphasize these

-simple recorded stories can be borrowed from the library and played. By not seeing a corresponding picture, children are free to use their imaginations to illustrate the text

-play sound games with children. Stretch out words by emphasizing their individual sounds and encourage children to guess what the word it (e.g., c-a-t is cat)

-play I spy but use sounds (e.g., I spy something that begins with an 'a' sound)

-engage your children in conversation in the car. Encourage them to describe their day by prompting them with higher-level questioning such as who, what, why, where, when, and how questions. Avoid yes/no responses that limit children's explanation

The Benefits of Board Games

Want to engage your child in meaningful explorations in math and socialization while spending quality time with him or her? Play a board game together! An interesting read from the Washington Post discusses the benefits of playing simple board games (e.g., Candy Land, Snakes and Ladders) with children including:

-children learn self-regulation as they wait their turn

-children learn good sportsmanship - how to be a gracious winner and a graceful loser

-one-to-one correspondence in math is reinforced as children count out the number of moves their player makes

-children practice using simple probability tools like dice and spinners

-children learn to instantly recognize the numeral that corresponds with the number of dots on the face of a dice

-playing face-to-face games with children provides an authentic opportunity for families to engage in conversations about the game and other important events as the conversation gradually steers from the game to other things

-other important ideas like shape and colour recognition often are reinforced through simple childhood games

10 Tips to Help Your Child with Reading

10 Tips to Help Your Child with Reading (Tips for Kindergarten to Grade Three)

(from the Government of Ontario's ABC123 Tips to Help Parents website http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/abc123/eng/)

This resource describes ten cost-effective, easy to implement ideas for how parents can support and encourage their child’s reading at home. Each idea or activity can be repeated multiple times and suggestions are made for how parents can cheaply buy, make, or borrow the materials needed. Many of the tips presented also encourage the adult to be a reading role-model. The tips include:

1. Cuddle up and read.
2. Public libraries today are worlds to explore so try to go regularly.
3. Make your kitchen part of your “reading zone”.
4. Words are everywhere – take everyday opportunities to read with your child.
5. Games can be great learning tools.
6. Computers are reader friendly too!
7. Books make great gifts.
8. Subscribe to a magazine.
9. Be a reading role model.
10. Keep books, magazines, and newspapers handy.

Parental Use of the Resource

There are a number of ways parents can utilize this resource:

• These tips encourage parents to reflect upon some of the choices they are making in terms of how they spend their time with their children. Reading together or reading alongside one another is a great alternative to t.v. watching and videogame playing during family time.
• In today’s times of economic uncertainty, the suggestions offered to parents are easy and effective without much cost. Borrowing literacy materials from the library and requesting books and magazines as gifts do not cost parents much money but the literacy gain for children is monumental.
• Adults today are busy and this resource may encourage them to unwind at the end of the day with a book instead of the internet or t.v.
• These ideas are active and hands-on, hopefully helping to dispel the idea that language (specifically reading) needs to be taught and practiced by children with rote-learning, pencil and paper tasks such as printing worksheets.

Teacher Support of the Resource

There are a number of ways teachers can support parents with using this website:

• These tips could be a great addition to a classroom or school newsletter in order to support student reading at home and introduce families to the Ministry of Education ABC123 website.
• These tips could also be specifically provided to families of students who are in need of extra support (e.g., identified or flagged on early literacy classroom tools such as DIBELS or Marie Clay).
• Families who ask a teacher for ‘homework’ or extra worksheets in order to help children practice language skills at home could also be referred to this website as it encourages developmentally appropriate reading activities that can be repeated as desired.
• Families can be introduced to this website during kindergarten registration, kindergarten open houses, and family literacy nights as a way of encouraging families to actively engage children in a variety of reading activities in preparation for the start of school.