Books As Presents? Absolutely!

Post 46

If you celebrate Christmas or Kwanzaa, you already know…….one week to go! (If you celebrate Hanukkah, you’ve gone through all this already this year so you can relax 🙂 ) In school, it’s hard to keep the students focused on learning but we do try. Think of how excited your child is at home and then multiply that by 22 or 23! Can you imagine the chaos if we didn’t stick to a routine? (Please read Post 17.) And so much teaching can be done around a holiday or winter theme. As I’ve said before, this is one of the most magical times in Kindergarten. As educators, it’s a privilege to be able see it through the class’s eyes. (And, believe me, we are told a LOT! I’ve sent home many a note letting parents know what their child has whispered to me that he/she hopes Santa is bringing….just in case! )

That brings me to the reason for this post. As Kindergarten parents, you are probably constantly being advised to read, read, read with your child. So I’m sure you are putting some books under the tree. And why not? That’s such a good idea on so many levels. If books are placed side by side with toys, you are sending the message that they are fun! So many children in the higher grades look on reading of any kind, even novels, as a chore. If reading is presented to be as pleasurable as playing with a toy, Kindergarteners will think of it in that way. Hopefully, they will continue to look at reading that way as they get older. And, besides, it is really special, after all the craziness of Christmas morning, to cozy up with your child and together look at the new books Santa has brought.

In that spirit. I have been talking to some educators and parents to find out some books that their Kindergarteners especially like. I have also added some that are annually popular with my students. Obviously, this is not a definitive list. It’s just a suggestion. You know your child best and what will appeal to him/her. Please feel free to post any titles you and your child especially like in the comments. That would be so great! If your boy/girl enjoys them, others will, too.

 

Pete the Cat Saves Christmas                        Hungry Caterpillar’s Christmas 123

The Gingerbread Man                                    Llama Llama Jingle Bells

The Polar Express                                           Olive the Other Reindeer

Merry Christmas Big Hungry Bear              It’s Christmas, David!

Countdown to Christmas                                Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins

The Nutcracker Ballet                                     Llama Llama Holiday Drama

Bear Stays Up for Christmas                          The Animals’ Christmas

Twas the Night Before Christmas                 Li’l Rabbit’s Kwanzaa

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bell 

 

These are just a starting point. Have fun! I hope you enjoy many, many happy moments with your wonderful children this holiday season. Happy Holidays and see you next year!

Take Care.  🙂

Giving and Receiving in Kindergarten

Post 45

So, here we are, right in the middle of the holiday season. Whether you are finishing up Hannuka or getting ready for Christmas and/or Kwanzaa, we are in  the midst of one of the busiest, most exciting, most exhausting times of year. And you and your child are supposed to enjoy it?! Right!! You can’t help but be stressed and so is your child. I can remember thinking that my own kids were lucky I loved them so much because otherwise Santa would skip our house for sure! Lol. And then, on Christmas morning, it was all so worth it. 🙂

Now, think of a Kindergarten classroom with, say, 24 children all at varying levels of excitement and you’ll get a picture of what school is like these next two weeks. Not that any K teacher would trade his/her grade level for anything. The wonder and excitement are a couple of the reasons we choose to teach 5 year olds. It’s magical! But it’s also, shall we say, extremely “busy”! (Please check out earlier posts #15 & #16 where I go into easy ways to tie in academics with your holiday prep and how to handle your child’s holiday moods. I don’t want to repeat myself here.) What I’d like to go into today is the thought of giving vs receiving.

Most children have been making lists of what they’d like to receive for the holidays. And that’s great! And lots of parents/caretakers go out of their way to help a child come up with ideas for gifts for the special people in his/her life. And that’s wonderful! Another aspect of giving that I try to emphasize in school is how good it feels to give someone something. We talk about that “feeling you get inside” when someone opens up a gift you have made or bought just for them. I tell the class it’s as good, or even better, than the feeling you get opening your own gifts. And my students love it! We try to make at least one simple gift a week during theme time so that each child has at least 3 – 4 gifts to bring home and give to the special people in his/her life. They are thrilled to have made something and they really look forward to giving it to a loved one. It’s awesome to see the children take them home and even better to hear the stories of what was said and how surprised their families were when they received their gifts.

So, the point of this is to remind ourselves of the joy that comes with giving and that Kindergarteners can experience that, too……in the truest sense. As one child told me, “My heart felt so good!”

Take Care.  🙂

 

Supporting Learning at Home

Post 44

By now most Kindergarten  conferences are either over or will be by the end of this week. We’ve talked a lot about adjustment and social concerns but I realized I haven’t really gotten into academic concerns. Years ago, academics in Kindergarten meant letter and color recognition, number counting, and maybe reading at a Level A by the end of the year. Boy, has that ever changed! Now Kindergarteners are expected to be reading at a C or D level (more on leveled reading in later posts), doing basic addition and subtraction, writing in sentences, etc, etc.,etc. (Don’t panic! It’s only December. Most academic growth occurs from Feb. – May.) That’s why K teachers get so annoyed when someone says,”Oh, it’s only Kindergarten. What can they possibly learn?” A lot…that’s what!

So what can you do to foster learning at home? First of all, read, read, read to your child. Even if you can only set aside 5 – 10 minutes a night, that’s great. Reading readiness is the main focus of Kindergarten right now and nothing says it’s important (and fun) to a five year old than spending time with a parent who values reading. Letter and sound recognition are important prereading skills that you can easily help with in fun ways. Some are:

* When riding in the car with your son/daughter, point out the first letter of store signs (ex. K….Kohls, S….Stop and Shop, etc.) . Ask your child the letter sound and then take turns listing other words that begin with that sound.

* When reading with your child, ask him/her to find and point out a specific letter (“all the s’s, m’s, f’s, etc.). This can progress to all the letters that make a specific sound, and then to high frequency words if your child knows them. Another way to do this is to ask the same questions but in a book or magazine you are reading. Nothing makes a child feel more important than to be able to “read” grown up material!  🙂  (As a quick note…I did this with one of my sons at 5 years old years ago when we were out for a snack after school using the NY Times. A couple of people in the diner thought he was reading it. Lol. He was finding the word “the”. )

* Rhyming is another prereading skill. Again, when you are driving or out for a walk, make up lists of rhyming words together (ex. cat, bat, sat…..boy, ploy, soy, etc.) In academic terms these are “word families”……another thing your child will learn this year.

* When you are making a list to go food shopping, ask your child to “write” something down for you so you don’t forget it. Even if it’s not perfect, you are validating prewriting skills. Help him/her to “stretch out” the first sound….for example, mmmmmmmilk. (Quick note here…..writers become writers by writing so don’t be too quick to insist on perfect spelling right now. That will come later on in the year. Just get your child to write something even if it’s “f” for milk. That’s ok.)

* Help your child to sign holiday cards or pictures he/she draws for relatives, etc. (Grandparents are great recipients!) Try to make sure he/she starts with an upper case letter and then uses lower case letters for the rest of his/her name. You can dot the letters in for your child to trace over if needed. Again, right now don’t worry too much about neatness. That will come as your child writes letters more and more this year.

Some ways to help with Math skills are:

* To reinforce patterning, when your child is playing with cars, have him/her make a blue car, red car, blue, car, red car pattern with them. Switch it around to a big car, big car, small car pattern. Keep making the patterns progressively more complicated. This can be done with anything….M&M’s, Dolls, dinosaurs, etc. Let your child come up with his/her patterns, too.

* Help counting skills by having your child touch each toy and count them to see how many he/she has. This can be with blocks, action figures, toy dishes, etc.

* If your child writes to Santa, show him/her how to number each request. (Santa has to keep count, doesn’t he?)

Cutting is another Kindergarten skill. An idea to help with that is:

* If your child has trouble cutting, give him/her paper that you have drawn  straight lines on. Help your child follow them by putting you thumb and pointer/middle finger on either side the place where the scissors are held together. That way your child can cut but you can help guide if needed. Try to help your child to understand how to cut smoothly and not keep stopping. Progress from straight to wavy lines. You can also just give your child paper to cut randomly. Put those cut pieces into baggies for him/her to keep.

The point of all of this is to reinforce academic skills in a quick, fun way. You don’t have to sit down with your child every day for an hour to do so. We all lead busy lives and these are ways to help your child while doing everyday activities. (If you have any other good ideas, and I’m sure you will, please post them in the comments any time this year. If they work for you, someone else in our group will want to try them.)

As I’ve said before, you are your child’s first teacher and his/her best cheerleader. Remember to let him/her know how proud you are of how he/she is progressing in school. Maybe some of these suggestions will help you to do so.

Take Care.  🙂