September 16th, 2009 by El Ed Mom

Introduction

This report summarizes the most dependable evidence on the effect of parental involvement intervention programs for improving the academic performance of elementary school-age children. The authors show that parent involvement has a positive and significant effect on children’s overall academic performance.¹

Research Background

Parent involvement programs have been assumed to be important contributors to elementary school children’s educational success. These programs include direct parent involvement outside school hours, parent volunteer programs in the classroom, parent attendance, and participation in nonacademic activities (e.g., PTO, fund raising, etc.). For many years, researchers, educators, parent groups, and policymakers have debated whether or not parent involvement has a beneficial effect on the academic achievement of children.

Research Objective

The purpose of this review was to summarize the most dependable evidence on the effect of parental involvement for improving the academic performance of elementary school-age children in grades K–6. The most dependable evidence was defined as studies that include at least two groups and use random assignment to form a fair comparison between groups.

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September 15th, 2009 by El Ed Mom

The quality of early childhood programs can be assessed in many ways. Most of the literature on the subject examines quality by identifying selected characteristics of the setting, equipment, and program as seen by adults. Such an approach can be called ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY FROM A TOP-DOWN PERSPECTIVE. Another way to assess the quality of a program is to take what we might call A BOTTOM-UP PERSPECTIVE by attempting to determine how the program is experienced by the children. A third strategy, which we could call AN OUTSIDE-INSIDE PERSPECTIVE, is to assess how the program is experienced by the families it serves. A fourth perspective is one from the inside, which considers how the program is experienced by the staff responsible for it.

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September 14th, 2009 by El Ed Mom

Live by the Motto, “Earth Day is Every Day” With These Easy Environmenal Tips

As the teacher in your classroom, you are a leader on all types of issues, including environmental concerns when you choose to run a visibly Green Classroom. If your students watch you, day in and day out, recycling paper products and turning off lights when you leave the classroom, you are sending them a positive, proactive message about conserving the earth’s resources and helping the environment in ways big and small.

It’s easier than you might think to set up and run a Green Classroom.

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September 11th, 2009 by El Ed Mom

What is School Readiness?

You should allow your child to have the kinds of experiences that will help them do well in school at an early age. “School readiness” means making sure your child has the academic, social, independence, and communication skills require to successful start school. Reading, talking, and playing with others will help your child prepare for their school career.

Academic Readiness

Before starting kindergarten, children need to know about themselves, their families, and the world. Children can come to school with many skills that teachers can build upon, if they have already had good learning experiences at home and with their Parents.

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September 10th, 2009 by El Ed Mom

September 9th, 2009 by El Ed Mom

Mothers and fathers play different roles and make different contributions to a child’s upbringing, but a father’s influence upon a child’s academic success later in life is felt the most when he’s involved from the very beginning, says a University of Illinois expert in early childhood education. While a mother’s involvement in school was found to be positively related to a child’s academic achievement, a father’s involvement was found to be negatively related to later student achievement, according to Brent McBride, a professor of human development at Illinois.

When it comes to schooling, fathers are typically only summoned late in the game when the light is blinking red – “when the child is going to flunk, is going to get expelled, is getting held back or is exhibiting a behavior problem, which would account for the negative relationship,” McBride said.

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September 8th, 2009 by El Ed Mom

The next several blogs are dedicated to answering the question, “How do I attain goals in an early childhood classroom?”   To begin, let’s all agree what goals we are referring to.  I will include socio-emotional, cognitive, physical and language as the highlighted objectives for the children.  As for the parent’s goals, I will include maintaining open communication and making certain that parents are cognizant of what is age appropriate for their particular children.

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September 7th, 2009 by El Ed Mom

At the end of the day, many of the three-year-olds in my class face a daily challenge: putting on their shoes. Throughout the day, the children take off their shoes for naptime, to play dress-up, or to simply enjoy their bare feet. As I watch them put on their shoes, I learn a great deal about each child and his parents. Although the children are approximately the same age, there is a big difference in the way individual children handle difficult tasks. Some children are focused and determined to finish the job, and some are easily distracted and spend a long time dawdling. Still others are easily frustrated and break down in tears.        

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September 4th, 2009 by El Ed Mom

One difficulty parents and teachers face in teaching basic skill areas is making the learning real. While school is ideally a preparation for adult life, children soon begin to question the reasons for learning certain skills if they can see no relationship between those skills and their everyday lives. In many instances, learning a useful skill becomes, for the child, nothing more than practicing many similar exercises in a book or for homework. Therefore, the real applications of “school subjects” are very helpful in showing the child that there are reasons to learn many things in school, and that there are real uses for those skills.

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September 3rd, 2009 by El Ed Mom

Looking for a great way to engage and stimulate students in even the most tedious subjects? There are many online tools, games, activities, learning aids, and even web apps designed to make learning fun. Here is a list of 20 sites to try when the new school year begins:

Games and Activities

History Detective Kids – Based on PBS’ History Detective television show, this site encourages children between the ages of 8 and 12 to use critical thinking, problem solving, and dramatic play while digging through the past.

Funbrain – Funbrain hosts dozens of interactive educational games for children. This site covers most subjects and features web books, comics, and movies.

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