My son reads a lot. Erm… well, he used to. It appears that I’ve been resting on some laurels that have deserted me while I was looking the other way. (To use an overly complicated metaphor.) Over the summer, I started to notice that my son has been playing more […]
Tag: tips
Set up summer reading rewards
Stats show that kids who read throughout the summer have a great kick-start to school in September. And kids who don’t, typically start the school year a bit behind. With the school year ending, now’s the time to plan your child’s summer reading and writing projects. Does your library have […]
Numeracy activities
A few posts ago, I listed some great literacy activities from our school board. Here are some numeracy activities to get kids doing math (same source, TDSB). Again, I’ve put in bold the ones I think are particularly interesting. Estimate speed/distance/time relationships while travelling with your family. What was the […]
Offering a healthy choice
My son doesn’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. And I think that one reason is that I often take the easy route instead of the healthy one. Let’s say he has 10 minutes before his baseball game – he’s starving, but he’s late. “Mom! I’m hungry!” I will usually make […]
Get involved in your child’s school
Enrich your child’s learning, help your teacher, get involved. I despair when parents complain that their kids aren’t getting what they need from their school. I despair, not because the children aren’t getting what they need from their school, but because we parents have been conditioned to accept those terms […]
Literacy Lava – excellent (free) resource
Literacy Lava 5 I’ve got an article in the latest edition of Susan Stephenson’s (The Book Chook) great e-newsletter, “Literacy Lava.” “Literacy Lava” is a free .pdf for parents and educators, and is basically a collection of great articles on helping kids to read. This is the 5th edition of […]
Current events
I’ve been doing current events at my son’s school. I approached my son’s teacher a few weeks ago, and proposed a weekly, half-hour current events discussion for the grade 3 / 4 class. My son’s teacher is very cool, and progressive and totally supported the idea. He also helped to […]
Quick and easy literacy activities
Our school board issued a list of great literacy activities. They’re simple and fun, and are great examples of what I like to call “guerilla literacy” – using tons of little tactics here and there that add up to… a kid who likes to read. You may want to print […]
A good teacher – the most important thing
Sometimes, the research catches up with what mothers already know. “Everything the world has learned about education shows that the quality of the teacher is the most important factor in a student’s success.” –The Toronto Star, reporting on a speech given by Malcolm Gladwell, author of the bestselling Blink and […]
Reading is a language
My son called me over. “Mom,” he said,”remember when I used to look at a word like ‘fox’ and I’d sit there, trying to sound it out? And it would take forever?!” “Yes,” I said. “Well, isn’t it funny,” he said, “that now I just blast through sentences and pages […]