August 17th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
Music Makers for young children
- Sing a lullaby to calm your child.
- Let your child bang a spoon on pots, pans, or plastic bowls; shake a large rattle or plastic container filled with beans, buttons, or other noisy items; and blow through empty toilet paper or paper towel rolls.
- Have your children take part in nursery rhymes. They can copy your hand movements, clap, or hum along.
- Encourage your child to sway and dance to music.
- Encourage your child to sing. Pick a simple melody such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
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August 14th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
Your child’s been invited to a get-together within walking distance of home—but in unfamiliar territory. Here are your choices: Tell him how to get there; jot down the all the lefts and rights to be taken, noting a landmark or two; draw a map to accompany him along the way. What works offers clues as to how he best takes in information, responds to it, and learns–by listening, seeing, or feeling his way. Now for a closer look.
Is your child rather chatty, distractible, and outgoing? Is she often heard humming away, talking, maybe even debating? Do names make a deeper impression than faces, and are oral instructions more helpful than written directions? If so, she may well be an auditory learner where hearing is more effective than looking, and oral reading, books-on-tape, and being read to are big hits. And, when arranging information, lists and outlines are usually preferred over graphic organizers.
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August 13th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
Do you remember when your child was little and the “I wanna be a “ would change from week to week, and sometimes daily? Some of their ideas were way out there, like Superhero or Princess. Other times it was something more achievable, like fireman or teacher. And being the good parent you would always say “Of course, you can be anything you want to be!”
Now that they are teens, have you asked them lately what they want to be? It’s important for kids to have goals, both little and big. Due to experiences the goals may change, and that’s ok. It’s also important for them to realize they may not reach every goal. Maybe their passions have changed, the goals were too large, or life intervened. It happens, and they need to learn how to handle the goals not achieved, as well as to celebrate those they do achieve.
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August 12th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
Like many other parents I’m sure, I’m a little nervous as the start of the school year approaches, what with H1N1 flu cases expected to rise as kids return en masse to classrooms where they’ll sit an arm’s length away from other kids.
Sure, I know what to do if my kids start hacking or get a fever — keep ‘em home for seven days — but what happens if there’s a confirmed case of swine flu at the school? Will they close the school? And what do I do with sick kids at home — will teachers give us the homework for the seven days or more that they’re out? And what if they get the flu two or more times? That’ll put them way beyond the number of days they’re allowed to miss school.
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August 11th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
Every parent I met and had the pleasure speaking with during a Baby Expo even seemed truly interested in raising their new baby to be bilingual. I want to share with you the top five ways to raise a bilingual baby. They are fun, easy and affordable.
Thank goodness the English only mentality is disappearing, slowly but surely, from the heart of the United States of America. For years we have proudly called ourselves a melting pot, one that welcomes immigrants, cultures and languages from around the world. Yet all of us realize the hypocrisy with which our system has executed the embracing of the melting pot.
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August 10th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
One of the ongoing battles in raising a child with Down Syndrome is the fight to continue to present academic content to an older child. It has long been the custom of school districts to largely abandon inputting new information to children with DS as they reach the middle school and high school years in favor of providing “life skills.
Districts across the United States move students with DS from traditional educational pursuits to life skills as if this were a reasonable course of action. In studies done as far back as 1995-1996, researchers such as Carr, Bochner, Pieterse as well as Fowler, Doherty and Boynton found that there was a wide range of reading abilities among young adults with DS. Dunn and Dunn in 1981 found that reading abilities in a group of individuals with DS ranging in ages from 17 to 25 varied greatly.
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August 7th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
People are naturally curious, so why is school such a chore for so many kids? University of Virginia cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham set out to learn why in his new book, Why Don’t Students Like School? Part of the answer, he finds, is that thinking can be just plain hard. Unless conditions are right, we’ll actually try to avoid the process of thinking. A teacher’s challenge, the author says, is to “maximize the likelihood that students will get the pleasurable rush that comes from successful thought.” The author chats about the learning process.
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August 6th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
As an author and publisher, I am shocked by the number of books that say they are for “early reading” and yet are not using the appropriate “early reading” vocabulary or any of the Dolch site words by age group. I love Dr. Seuss books!! They are fun and engaging and full of repetition and rhyming patterns, but they are hard to use as an early reading book. WHY? Because word association doesn’t work with Dr. Seuss; he uses silly off-the-wall rhymes that don’t add up in a child’s head. They would not automatically put together green eggs and ham, unless they already knew the book and the rhyme.
Top tips for helping kids learn to read:
- Empower kids into the process with simple “early reading” books that use word picture association and stress word/picture connections.
- Practice getting kids to draw one page word picture association, such as draw: Tom has apples.
- Getting them to make the connection and guess what the next word is – Tom has…they can see the apples so they can say, apples.
- Play games to get children to guess word association: if I say peanut butter, you say: __________.
- Practice, practice, practice with the early learning books that specialize in word picture association and seeing words in the early learning vocabulary.
- Make it fun with lots of picture books about repetition and rhyming patterns that are geared to “early reading”.
Smiles – Stacey
Stacey Kannenberg
“Ready To Learn Mom”
August 5th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
Pool and water safety:
Everyone wants to have fun and frolic in a refreshing pool this summer, yet we all need to be very careful around pools as drownings can be prevented.
As a pediatric ICU nurse, Nurse Barbara Dehn has seen the tragic consequences.
If you have children who are not water safe, you need a locked fence that’s at least 4 ½ feet high. Keep chairs and other objects away from the fence so curious children don’t climb over. Be sure the latch is child proof.
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August 4th, 2009 by El Ed Mom
TV for preschoolers can be both educational and entertaining. Parents can use TV time to supplement what kids are learning at home or at school, and glean ideas from games and activities on the shows to make learning fun for kids at home. Here are some of the top shows for preschoolers organized by subject. Some shows overlap, covering different curriculum elements, but I have listed them under the main educational focus of the show. Click on the “read review” links to find out more about the educational focus of individual shows.
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