Creating a library of your child’s books is a great way to show her how important reading is. It will also give her a special place to keep her books and will motivate her to keep pulling books from her own library to read. Here are some ideas for getting started!
Establishing daily and weekly routines provides a helpful structure for learning at home. In this article, you’ll find a sample schedule for a typical day and suggestions for how to integrate a learning theme into the activities.
This checklist helps parents find out how well they are doing in creating a literacy-rich environment in their home, and what more they can do to enrich their child’s exposure to books and reading.
How do you choose books to read aloud with your child? There are many things to think about: how interesting the topic or characters might be for your child; an intriguing setting, time period, or plot; the liveliness or beauty of the language; or how engaging the illustrations are. Some books are more appropriate based on social and emotional development at each stage of a young child’s life. Find guidance here in choosing great read alouds.
Find out how you can support your child before and after taking a standardized test, as well as ways you can support your child’s learning habits on a daily basis so that test day is not so stressful.
Parents are often the best educational advocates for their children, especially children with a learning disability. Discover nine tips to help you be a strong champion for your child.
Is your school using the Common Core standards? Get to know what the four main areas of the Common Core reading standards mean and simple things you can do at home to help your child build skills in these areas.
Some kids, especially those having difficulty in school, dread report card time. Here are some suggestions for making report card time a little less scary and a little more productive.
Learn how families can support their children’s social-emotional health and find support resources in their home languages. This tip sheet is available in 16 languages.
Letter writing can be fun, help children learn to compose written text, and provide handwriting practice — and letters are valuable keepsakes. This article contains activities to help children ages 5–9 put pen to paper and make someone’s day with a handwritten letter.
Writing is a new way for young children to tell their stories and express themselves, but they are also learning valuable lessons about print concepts and letter-sound relationships when they put pen to paper.
Is your child enrolled in kindergarten in a school that is implementing the Common Core State Standards (CCSS)? In this overview for parents, learn more about what Common Core is and how to know whether a teacher is providing developmentally appropriate instruction to address the CCSS for your child. Here are some of the questions you might ask yourself.
Long before your child enters school, you can do many things to help him or her develop language. When young children are provided with opportunities to listen to and use language constantly, they can begin to acquire the essential building blocks for learning how to read.
The Lead for Literacy initiative is a series of one-page memos for policymakers and early literacy leaders on how to improve young children’s literacy, birth to age 9. Using evidence from research, these briefs are designed to help leaders avoid common mistakes and present solutions and strategies for scalability and impact.
Learning to speak two languages is like learning any other skill. To do it well, children need lots of practice, which parents can help provide. This American Speech-Language-Hearing Association brief gives information and tips for parents.
Back-to-School Night is a great opportunity for families to learn more about their child’s school and teacher. Here are some signs to look for that indicate your child is in a place where good reading instruction can take place.
Many kids lose ground during the summer months, especially those from low income families. Part of the problem is that many students don’t have easy access to books. This article presents some suggestions for what schools can do.
Music is a great way to introduce children to sounds and words! Research indicates that exposure to music has numerous benefits for a child’s development.
Motivation is key to school success. Just as the actor asks a director, “What is my motivation, for this scene?,” the child turns to teachers, parents, and peers to discover the “why” of learning. Motivation is often defined as a need or drive that energizes behavior toward a goal.
It is a new year according to the calendar, but in most schools, we’ve just reached the half-way point. Resolve to be involved in your children’s education in new ways this year. Studies show that kids whose parents are involved in their education have better grades, a better attitude toward school, and more appropriate school behavior than those with less involved parents.
