Quiet Time Talks and Reassurance

What are some quiet easily managed activities you can set up especially during this difficult time?  You can talk together while doing some reading or art for starters. Sit together, do an activity, and model calmness. Listen to what they have to say. Use the 10 second rule before jumping in and help children focus on what they can control like wearing, masks, washing hands, and keeping a distance from others for a while. You can practice how to handle uncomfortable social situations, reassure, and practice routines.  

Reading

 Reading every day helps to quiet children and create normalcy.    Arrange to purchase or check out books and find library programs during this unprecedented time.

Painting with Water

  Use quiet activities to teach expectations and answer questions. Science walking can collect rocks of various colors, sizes, and shapes. At home, set young children up with a waterproof area and provide a small paintbrush and a bowl of water or Mod Podge.  Painting builds strong hand muscles to print letters.  Notice how the color shows up like magic.   A few can be kept in a pocket for holding the first day of school. 

 Pet Rocks  

   Help children use permanent markers to draw a face on the surface of favorite large rocks. Help them glue on a little yarn to make hair with small dots of glue to save glue. Teachers will love you. Can you think of a good name for each rock? Place the friends on your table, bookcase, garden or backpack.

Crayon Resist

  Use a crayon on paper to carefully print your young children’s names in big letters.   Use a capital for the first letter and lower case for the following letters.  Then use water with a little paint color to make a wash over the whole sheet.  The name will stand out and be a perfect door decoration or book cover for a whole series of pictures. You can see dots or dashes to outline names. Show children how to start at the top of each letter to correctly follow the dots to print their names. Praise what they can do. They’ll try their best.

 Favorite Pictures   

  Glue family photograph printouts to a paper decorated with favorite flowers, fruits, animals, vegetables, and toys.  Print a title on each, for example:” My Favorite People and Toys.” Talk with children about choices and use a marker to print the name of each item. This is a good activity to practice letters and beginning sounds of each word.  Staple the pages together to make a little comfort book. 

More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

Grandparents Stepping up to Fill Needs

 

“You don’t really know something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.” -Einstein

 

Having grandkids is a blessing.  Helping to shape their lives is an honor. – Unknown

 

  Grandparents and other relatives are valuable assets to parents coping with and succeeding during this particular time in our history.  The United States has a history of everyone pulling together to keep the family safe and flourishing, especially the children. 

 Here are some suggestions from people in mental health and education.  First of all, keep in contact and stay alert.  Check in by phone, FaceTime, or Zoom weekly. Grandparents can ask parents how they can help.

Together

 Here are other suggestions. Reading and talking with children are soothing. If you are close by stop in, if appropriate, and read to young children with masks on or outside. You can  use FaceTime or Skype. Teens can show you how to set it up if you don’t already use it.  Arrange a time several times a week and read or tell stories.  Read a page and then turn around the book and show the pictures. 

  Once children can read, they can read to you. Grandparents need this soothing attention, too.   Every community library has its own rules for check out or you can purchase a few book gifts at a local store or online. Joke books are especially fun.   Rob Elliot has an excellent series.

  Search for positive hopeful stories from your religious books.  There are many children’s versions with illustrations. Then talk about the story.  What is the message?

Comfort

   Look for happy, loving stories for any age like “The Lion and the Mouse” by Jerry Pinkney, “Stone Soup” by Marcia Brown and “Mama Miti” by Donna Jo Napoli. Give librarians a call to find science, history, fiction, mystery, sports, or biography chapter books about famous people. They may suggest a few. They may even have a service for you where they pick out books that you can pick up like a take- out restaurant or grocery. Each community library has different rules. However, universally librarians are very helpful people and are good friends to have. Give them a call. Children may also have their own suggestions.

Family 

  Grandparents can send some love packages.  Holidays may need to come in spurts and early this year. These packages may include new crayons, markers, coloring books, colored paper, a new version of Monopoly like the one on the National Parks (ages 8+), a game or puzzle and an envelope to send pictures back for your refrigerator.   Mental health people urge us to find a way to stay close with walks, talks, and bike rides in the fresh air and sunshine while still being cautious.  

More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Photos: Fran Darling - fdarling fotos

Enjoying Books Together

Daily Reading Is Extremely Important 

Experts agree that reading to your young children one or more times a day is extremely important.  It is an easy activity that begins soon after birth and continues through the school years.  Children who are read to on a daily basis will be ready to learn to read on their own, and they will develop a rich vocabulary, as well as, love books.  Listening to you read, discussing, and asking questions are the foundation for success in school.

  For the youngest children, read aloud any books with pictures that are cloth, plastic, or sturdy. As they develop they love a variety of colorful magazines and books that are fiction, nonfiction, and books with chapters.

Reading Tips

  During the day, at nap or bedtime, sit close with your children.  When possible, let them choose the books.  Often, children like to hear the same book over and over again.

   Talk about the cover. What is the title?  Who is the author?  Show how to hold the book and turn the pages as you go. Look at the pictures, guess what is going to happen, and talk 

Talk Together About What You Read

about the characters. Sometimes, point to the words as you read along. Encourage questions, and let your preschooler join in to say the fun parts or name things.

  When finished, talk together about the pictures you saw or about what happened in the story.  What is your favorite part?  Which pictures do you like best?  How do pictures and words get into a book?

Preschool Reading

  Teach preschoolers how to take care of books.  Have the books available in a special box for children to look at again on their own. Some children might like to draw or color their own picture from an idea from a book.  You could print a sentence for them at the bottom of their picture or label some of the parts.  Encourage your children to tell someone else about the story or book.

  Relatives who live far away will love 

Read Together via Face Time/Skype

reading a short book to young children on Face Time or Skype while showing them the pictures. Often older children clam up when Face Time is scheduled but enjoy practicing their reading to grandparents and other relatives. Reading out loud also makes a good short movie to show the progress children are making in school. It can be posted on a private family Facebook account.

   Children need to hear the sounds and patterns of our language and build a store of vocabulary words. They need to know that letters and words carry meaning, and that stories have a beginning, middle and end.  All this crucial learning can be obtained in a very natural pleasurable way when you enjoy picture books and stories together. 

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos
For more go to wnmufm.org/LearningThroughtheSeasons podcast Tues & Thurs at 4:30 ET

Teaching Kids Anytime Anywhere

Name the Colors

Many young families are working in a little bit of reading and math teaching with children as they go about daily errands. They have great ideas to share. Here are a few....
Sneak in Reading
   While shopping, practice the alphabet and their sounds.  At the grocery store point out fruits and vegetables and ask for beginning sounds that are one consonant.  Ask children to find letters you name on signs or familiar words like in, out and checkout.
   A little of this goes a long way or you’ll never finish the shopping, but some teaching is a good habit anywhere. Soon young children will expect teaching while doing errands. 
  As soon as possible, teach children to read labels. One parent last week gave each of his three young children a box of cereal. They were expected to find the sugar, salt, and protein content in grams on the nutrition label. Then he skillfully guided the discussion to decide what cereal was best to keep them healthy. He also had the oldest child help write and read the grocery list. Impressive!
  Children can learn many words at the grocery. However, avoid saying, “Sound it out”

Lots to Learn Here!

for every word. Many English words cannot be sounded out. The individual sounds won’t blend together to make the word. “Through” is a good example. If children can sound out one or more syllables correctly and get stumped simply tell them the word and its meaning. They will learn that trying to figure out words is fun.
   Keep a variety of library books, a clipboard, drawing paper and colored pencils in a small plastic bin in your car so children can read and draw pictures. 
Stealth Math
  Family math teaching can also be done anywhere, any time. Back in the grocery store children can pick out fruits and vegetables based on characteristics you list for them. Picking out something based on certain traits and finding likenesses and differences are important math skills. Young children can choose ripe dark ripe purple plums and place six in a plastic bag, for example.
   They can also count out a nice bunch of five bananas based on your criteria. If you have time, place fruits and vegetables on the scale and

Count the Shapes!

have the kids read the numbers.
   Children can read the aisle numbers and simple money signs. They can count out small boxes or bags of goods for the cart.
  Help them understand what a gram looks like.  It weighs as much as a paper clip. If there are nine grams of sugar in a cereal serving show them a pile of nine in a spoon so they can picture and remember when they make food choices.  
photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos ; sketch: Mark Nowicki
More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio, 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Toddlers Are So Fun to Teach

Toddlers seem to grow and change daily

Toddlers ages 12-24 months seem to grow and change daily. They make great strides in every area of development.  It is an exciting time for families to share activities.  What are some of the milestones of this age and how can we encourage our toddlers along the way?
  One of the most noticeable changes is the increase in vocabulary and development.
They are learning new words daily.  They will begin by pointing to objects such as their favorite blanket.  Encourage your children to use words even if you know what they want.

They are learning new words daily

Add additional words of your own such as “You want your blanket. Daddy will get your blue blanket.”
  There’s nothing like reading with your toddlers to help increase vocabulary and understanding.  It’s also a great time to give your toddler some choices.  Do you want to read “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?” or “Good Night, Moon”?  Do not give choices when they don’t exist.  For example, “It’s time for your bath.” rather than “Are you ready for your bath?” They may say,” No.”
  Your toddlers are learning about emotions by reading your face.  They respond to the expression on your face and the tone of your voice.  Feel free to be over expressive.  For example, “You found your teddy bear! Let me give you a big hug!” or  “Stop! We need to stop, look both ways, and listen before we cross the street.”   Toddlers are just beginning to recognize and manage their feelings.  They have a wide range of emotions and may respond with a tantrum when tired or frustrated.  The best way to prevent tantrums is to distract them by suggesting another activity or offering a source of comfort such as a teddy bear.
  Toddlers are beginning to understand imaginative play.  They may imitate what you are doing

Play is important...

in the kitchen or out in the garage.  Play kitchens or tool sets are good toy choices for this stage.  They may also use objects in different ways.  For example, a block might become a truck or a telephone.  Offer opportunities to   play with sand, water, and play dough as well as drawing materials. 
  Provide safe play areas in your home and yard where your toddlers can move around freely.  Take walks outdoors and visit parks and nature centers where you can explore the environment. Seek out

Visit parks and nature centers

playgrounds where your toddlers can interact with other children and adults.
 Enjoy this special time with your toddlers.  They are so open to learning, especially when it’s with the people they love most.  Talk, laugh, and move around together. Share the fun of learning! Take photos of block building, art, and other projects and send them to relatives.
photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos - sketch: Mark Nowicki 


More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Selecting Books for the Very Young

Spur Curiosity with Books

The word is getting out on how important it is to read to young children from birth.  Parents and grandparents can be seen adding books to diaper and toy bags. 

Since the world of children’s books is unlimited, how can we develop an early childhood library that includes a wide range of children’s books?  
Selecting Books
When selecting books for very young children, it is important to keep the child’s developmental level and interests in mind. For infants, choose books with simple, large pictures or designs in bright colors.  Include some cloth, cardboard or washable books with pictures of people or familiar objects.  Add small hand held photo albums with pictures of family and friends in the plastic sleeves. Proceed to books that tell simple stories with few words and colorful illustrations for toddlers.
Rapid Word Growth
  During this period of rapid language development, there is a great interest in words, rhymes, and repetition.  Children will enjoy participating by naming, touching, repeating phrases, and retelling stories. It’s a good time to read nursery rhymes, fairy tales and classics such as “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, alphabet, and number books.  Be sure to choose books that can be read in one setting due to the short attention span. 

Open Young Minds with Reading

Young children are curious about the world around them.  They enjoy stories about everyday experiences, pets, toys, home, and people in their environment.  They like to be part of the story so you may substitute the child’s name for one of the main characters.
Playtime Books
  This is also an age for enjoyment of imaginative play.  Look for books in which animals or machines such as trains have a voice.
  Preschoolers build concepts through experience.  This is a delightful time to learn about colors and shapes, the senses of seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting.

Books Help Introduce New Experiences

Look for books in the areas of science, math and art.
  As children grow, they are learning about the larger world.  Look for titles about people from other countries or cultures. Books can also help with fear of new experiences such as making friends or going to school. Berenstain Bears books are good inexpensive examples.
  Children seek warmth and security in their relationships with adults.  So snuggle up together or have children sit in your lap as you read.  Be sure to allow your children to select books based on their own individual interests.  It is OK to read books suggested for older children.  Your children’s listening level is well above their actual reading level.
  Your children’s librarian and independent bookstore are excellent resources for what is new in the world of children’s literature. Also check out Jim Trelease’s Read Aloud Handbook or go to his website http://www.trelease-on-reading.com
Photos, Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Small Action Delivers Big Results

Parents, Grandparents, and other caregivers often ask how they can help their children be successful in school.  According to medical providers there is one easy but very important activity that can be done to insure that young children will come to school with great background, good language development, curiosity, and a love of learning.  The answer at every age is read aloud every day!
  Local libraries have fliers published by the organization Reach Out and Read.  Below, with permission, is good advice taken from their publication titled  “Reading Tips for Your Family”.  What great information for all who want to give children a head start for a lifetime of success.
 Read Aloud Every Day
  It’s fun. It’s a special time with your child.  Reading helps children learn many new words to prepare them to be excellent readers in first grade. Here is the wise eight list: 1) It’s never too early to start.  Babies love to be held and to hear your voice. 2) A few minutes are OK. Very young children may sit still for only a few minutes.  They will listen longer as they grow. 3) Let children turn the pages.  Give a little help if they need it. 4) Ask children questions about the story.  Be sure to give them lots of time to think and answer. 5) Make the story come alive.  Read with fun and excitement in your voice.  6) Talk about the pictures.  Make up stories to go with the pictures. Let the listeners join in. 7) Read anywhere, anytime.  Read at playtime bedtime and nap time.  Read any place you have to wait. 8) Go to the local library to get more books. Let children choose some books to bring home. When children are read to by people they love, children learn to love books!”
Reach Out and Read
  Medical providers stress that direct, positive verbal interaction between caregivers and children is crucial to the development of language and understanding. Reading aloud, along with meaningful conversations, have a very important place in early learning.  As the first teachers, families and other caregivers have the wonderful opportunity and responsibility to help children build for a future of success.
   Reach Out and Read is a national non-profit organization of medical providers and volunteers who promote early literacy and school readiness by integrating books and advice to parents during actual well child visits.  Since it’s founding in Boston in 1989, Reach Out has distributed over 6 million books to children and their families.  They serve more than 4 million families annually, and the number reflects participation in every state in the country. 
Sketch: Mark Nowicki
More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Reading Aloud to Children from Birth

The American Academy of Pediatrics believes reading aloud is so important they now recommend families read to infants as a daily fun activity. That’s right. Read from birth.

fdarling fotos

The group recognizes that an important part of brain development occurs during the first three years of life and that reading aloud to children enhances vocabulary and other important communication skills. 
Along with talking and singing, reading increases the number of words that young children hear during their growing years.  Research has shown that children who are read to have heard significantly more words than children who do not have this experience.

Gap Begins at 18 Months 
   New research suggests this gap begins as early as 18 months of age! It is critical to develop these pre-literacy skills for success in school. The benefits of a real person reading aloud cannot be duplicated with modern digital media.

 How do we go about establishing a read-aloud program at home?  Hold babies in your lap or snuggle up under the covers.  Read aloud from a variety of children’s books.  As they grow, allow children to help turn the pages.  Read the words together.  Tell the story from pictures.  Ask questions such as: What do you see?  What does it remind you of?  What do you wonder about? For a few years you might be asking and answering your own questions. That’s OK.

   Go to the library and allow very young children to select books that they want to hear from the boxes of durable books with thick pages and bright colorful illustrations. Choose some that you would like to share with them. Plan to read aloud for at least ten minutes twice a day.  Just before a nap or bedtime works well. Also take advantage of bath time and riding in the car to sing songs and repeat nursery rhymes together.

What Else Can We Do?

fdarling fotos

   What have other families done?  Alice Ozma described her childhood experience of being read to by her father in the book, “The Reading Promise.” They had always enjoyed reading time from early on. When she was in 4^th grade, they made a promise to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights.  When they reached this goal, they decided to go on as long as they could.  The streak continued until the day that she left for college.  In addition to her academic success, Ozma says many life lessons were shared and many adolescent pitfalls avoided by the bonding they shared through reading.  

 A list of books they read is included. Ask your children’s librarian for additional book suggestions. Check out “The Read Aloud Handbook” by Jim Trelease or go to http://trealease-on-reading.com/  for more  titles and book reviews.

Photos: Fran Darling, fdarling fotos

More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Kindergarten Feels Like First Grade

There was a time when kindergarteners went to school to learn how to share, stand in line, and sit on a group rug patiently listening to a story. Academic skills were introduced gradually. Now, caregivers are expected to work on reading readiness skills before children begin school. Kindergarten curriculum feels like First Grade used to. It has deeper content and expectations. So, how can we incorporate literacy (listening, speaking, reading, writing) readiness activities that support preschool learning in kid-friendly, everyday ways?

First Speaking, Then Reading

   Much information is available about the importance of reading aloud to children from birth on. It is the number one thing families can do help children learn to read. Daily read aloud time builds lasting relationships and provides story lessons filled with rich vocabulary. Repetition, rhythm and rhyme of familiar words are the next valuable skill builders that support beginning reading and spelling. Readiness skills involving spoken language and phonemic awareness (knowing the sounds letters make) can be worked on any time or place families talk to children. 

Begin With Rhymes

  Recite a nursery rhyme like “Hickory, Dickory Dock” and see if children can echo the lines. With older preschoolers ask how many words they hear in a line. Can they tell you that “Hickory Dickory Dock” has three words and “The mouse ran up the clock” has six words? Help them count by holding up one finger as you say each word in a line. Then, point out that the words “clock” and “dock” rhyme, as do “one” and “run.”

 Recite the poem “Jack and Jill Went up the Hill.” Ask children to tell you words that rhyme in the poem   If they cannot say two rhyming words, supply the words, like “Jill” and “hill” and ask, “Do they rhyme”?

  If this is easy for your youngsters, move on to games where they must provide a word that rhymes with one you say. Try the word “fly”. Can they come up with ”by”, “try, or “cry”? How about “me”, “he”, “we”? Can they make a connection with the sounds? Each time they can provide a rhyming word, tell them that words rhyme when they have the same last sounds so the learner associates the word rhyme with what it means.

 Have children listen for the like sounds at the end of the words and say them. “Fly, by and cry all say “I” at the end.  Keep it playful and short. Use humorous poems. Incorporate a verse or rhyme daily. Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes books are perfect sources. Encouraging children to memorize and recite pieces independently helps increase memory skills and attention span. They are useful for car rides and waiting with children.

Photos: Mark Nowicki

en:Blanche Fisher Wright's cover artwork for the Rand McNally 1916 book The Real Mother Goose

More Ideas and Activities....See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest

Helping Your Child Love to Read

Maya Angelou, writer, poet, and inspiration was born April 4, 1928 and died May 28, 2014.  This thought is one of her best, “I always knew from that moment, from the time I found myself at home in that little segregated library in the South, all the way up until I walked up the steps of the New York City library, I always felt, in any town, if I can get to a library, I'll be OK. It really helped me as a child, and that never left me.” Books and libraries nourish children when they are sad, lonely, and hungry for information.

On the Reading Path

  How do we get children on this path?  We can read to children daily. Cuddle up together to associate comfort with reading. Make a fort with blankets and chairs, climb in with a few snacks, a flashlight, and read.  Read before naps and bedtime or after a scrape.  Give children an LED flashlight to help read under the bed covers. Read together when children are out of sorts. Show children that you find comfort, knowledge, joy, and refreshment while reading a variety of materials.

  Take children to the library at least once a week. Libraries have a wealth of materials and programs. Check out a wagon full of books.

   In Toni Morrison’s new children’s book, “Please, Louise” she writes about a little girl who could be Maya Angelou.

  A little child looks out the window on a sad colorless day. The child dresses up in yellow rain gear and heads out somewhere with a little red wagon and a determined look.  She hurries past a man sitting on a curb, passes a frightening dog, an old rundown house, and an empty yard full of junk. A black crow cowers overhead.

Imagination

  Finally, the child reaches a destination. It’s a colorful room filled with sunshine and books, thousands and thousands of books. Filled with awe while exploring and choosing books, she settles to read on the floor.

  The next few pages show her imagination. Pages are filled with rainbows and pictures of adventures.  

  When she leaves, her wagon and arms are filled with books. Her world is not so scary. The dog is brown now and friendly. Her neighborhood is not as frightening, and the sun is shining while she reads to a dog on her porch.

   Idealistic, perhaps, but it is not if you have seen a child’s face who has discovered reading and has a nose in a book.

Photos: Maya Angelou Visits:York College http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maya_Angelou_visits_YCP!_2413_-_crop.jpg 
Storytime: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Story_Time.jpg daveparker at http://flickr.com/photos/92155448@N00/1299391810

Hall, Donna. ddc599.jpg. May 2008. Pics4Learning. 14 Jan 2013 http://pics.tech4learning.com

  For more information to help children become readers see grandparentsteachtoo.org and listen to pod casts at wnmufm.org “Learning Through the Seasons” and live broadcasts Tuesdays 4:30 pm and Saturdays 8:35 am EST.

& More Ideas and Activities... See the authors’ book “Learning Through the Seasons” at area bookstores and grandparentsteachtoo.org. For more help to prepare young children for success in school see the authors’ web site: www.grandparentsteachtoo.org. Also check our audio Podcasts WNMU Radio 90; Youtube video activities; and join us on Pinterest.