ReadWriteThink and Thinkfinity for Parents

Our Parent University next week is going to focus on a discipline management technique used best with younger children, especially those in grades K-5. The technique is called "Conscious Discipline" and Leanne and Shelby in Level 1 have been having great success with it! Thetwo of them are presenting the basics of this program, how we use it at daVinci and how parents could use it at home on Jan. 20th. To go along with that, I thought I would offer these 2 web resources as an additional "at-home" activity.

From ReadWriteThink, "Let's Go on a Reading Hunt!" is based on the Dr. Seuss book Green Eggs and Ham. (This happens to be one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books, so it caught my eye!) After parent and child read the book together several times, they begin listing - in creative ways - places where you could read. After all are collected, you put the places together in rhyming pairs, like: "I can read in the hall. I can read at the mall." You should end up with at least 5 different rhyming pairs. You can then make a book of your ideas, have the child illustrate those places or even take pictures of those places and make a scrapbook! You can continue adding to your "book" over the years!

Another literacy activity comes from the Thinkfinity Literacy Network. Podcasts are available for parents to listen to that each last about 4 minutes. Popular children's books are suggested for parents of Preschoolers and for parents of elementary school-age children. Podcasts explain interactive resources to support children's language and literacy. Currently there are podcasts regarding "Talking about Stories", Helping your Child build Fluency" and "Helping your Child build Vocabulary" using books like The Little Engine That Could, I Wanna Iguana and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Hopefully, those parents with an internet connection and a willingness to learn some new skills will be checking these out on a regular basis! It's all about all of us working as a team and doing whatever we can to ensure the success of our kids!