Before they are writing There are lots of ways to encourage the skills that support writing from long before they are writing letters and words. Fine motor activities – Starting in the first year, you can give activities that practice the pincer grasp and exercize the fingers. This is picking up small food like Cheerios or … Continue reading Ways to Encourage Early Writing
The Department of Education cites reading aloud with children as the number one way to build successful readers. The goal is reading aloud to children for a minimum of 20 minutes a day in order to build a love of stories and books. Reading aloud with very young children can be a challenge. Here are … Continue reading Ideas for Reading Aloud with Young Children
The Common Core State Standards, which help to guide what education is provided by our public school system, has left teaching cursive off the list. There are SO MANY REASONS to teach children cursive, and each is as compelling as the next. Cursive…. Helps children with spelling – Because the letters are connected, cursive helps children … Continue reading Reasons to Teach Your Children Cursive
Many studies site that children have an average of a two month academic loss over the summer months. With a little effort, you save their hard gained knowledge and may even help them make gains! Here are some ideas to support them while still having fun: Practice school skills in real life – If your second grader … Continue reading Ways to Avoid Summer Academic Loss
As a follow-up to my Kindergarten Readiness workshop today, I wanted to post a few notes: Kindergarten teachers are not often as stressed as parents about an individual child’s readiness for Kindergarten. From the teacher’s standpoint, there are two main categories, academic readiness and social readiness. Across studies, social readiness ranks higher on teachers’ scales … Continue reading Kindergarten Readiness
So, I’ve been asked many times in the last year for my thoughts about young children playing on iPads or reading on Kindles. My answers always lean towards it being better to play with toys or each other and read books rather than screens. Even when it’s just to occupy them because you need a minute, I … Continue reading Exactly! Downside of E-Readers for Young Children
>Dear Dr. Hackney, My four year old son recognizes all of his upper and lower case letters. What is the next step? Sincerely,KarenMother of two, ages four and three years Dear Karen, That is great he recognizes his letters. The next step, if he is interested, is to pair the letter shapes with their sounds. … Continue reading >Recognizes Letters
Parenting by Dr. Rene 