Background knowledge is crucial to a child’s academic success. Young children, especially those from at-risk communities, need broad and deep exposure to informational text and rich vocabulary in order to develop more complex thinking skills.
Phonemic awareness training is essential for students who are at risk for reading difficulties. This article describes the components of phonemic awareness and provides activities that special educators can use to provide this training to at risk students.
Parents are often the best educational advocates for their children, especially children with a learning disability. Discover nine tips to help you be a strong champion for your child.
Good communication development starts in the first year of life and goes far beyond learning how to talk. Communication development has its roots in social interaction with parents and other caregivers during everyday activities. Here are a few tips for supporting your child’s social communication.
Is your school using the Common Core standards? Get to know what the four main areas of the Common Core reading standards mean and simple things you can do at home to help your child build skills in these areas.
Is your school using the Common Core standards? Get to know the four “anchors” of the Common Core writing standards and simple things you can do at home to help your child build skills in all of these areas.
For today’s students, smartphones are essential tools for processing and documenting the world. A field trip offers the perfect platform to show students how phones can offer extra context to their experiences, not distracting but enhancing. This blog post from Common Sense Education shares three ideas to try: scavenger hunt, guided tour, and re-captioning.
Electronic children’s books are becoming more widely available. Here you’ll discover practical tips for sharing e-books with your child, and how to keep the focus on reading and the story.
Many kids love to read about science and nature as well as real people, places, and events. Nonfiction books present information in engaging and interesting ways. Find out how you can help your child learn to navigate all the parts of a nonfiction book — from the table of contents to the diagrams, captions, glossary, and index.
Some kids, especially those having difficulty in school, dread report card time. Here are some suggestions for making report card time a little less scary and a little more productive.
Most beginning readers are inconsistent. Learn more about the characteristics of a beginning reader and simple techniques and tips to nurture your child’s skills and joy in reading.
As parent, you know how important it is to set aside some time everyday to read with your baby or toddler. If you’ve got a squiggler in your house, see if these tips help your reading time go a little more smoothly.
