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Yes!  It is mandatory in my 5^th grade classroom that all kids become comfortable reading aloud, whether it’s to the entire class or to a friend in a quiet moment. Why?  Here are a few reasons:

1.  In most Middle School, High School and Universities classes students are asked to read passages aloud as a means to both share an important point and cite text.  For instance, a teacher might ask, “Who can find the moment when King Lear realizes his mistake?” If kids aren’t comfortable with reading aloud this can be both a pain staking and frightening moment.

2.  Practicing reading out loud helps to build confidence.  Even a struggling reader will improve with practice. Being accepted by their classmates when they read will increase their self-esteem and make them feel better about themselves as a literate person. In the end, reading aloud will make a student a better reader.

3.  Reading aloud is a great way to share. Instead of pointing to a passage and saying, “Read this. It’s cool.” they can share by reading to someone else.

So what can you do in the house?  Here are a few ways to encourage your child to read out loud in your own home:

1.  Have them read their silent reading book to you. If they are reluctant, read every other page or every other paragraph with them. After 5-10 minutes, talk about what happened in the book.

2.  Encourage them to read out loud to a younger sibling or relative, just to get them rolling. The jump to reading their more challenging book out loud will feel a lot easier.

3.  If they are resistant, causally have them read grocery lists, newspaper headings or different “everyday” items. Once they build confidence, ask them to read their book to you. If they are reluctant, remind them of their previous successes reading out loud to you.

As children get older, reading out loud is one thing that goes by the wayside. Considered crucial for a youngster to develop strong literacy skills, it is something that needs to be practiced as they get older.  Ask your kid to read the newspaper to you when you cook dinner or something they found interesting in a book or article. And to act as a model for their kids, parents should get in the habit of reading aloud to the entire family.

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Something I absolutely love about teaching the lower grades in elementary schools is being witness to the process of kids learning that they can write down their own ideas. I would watch a kid struggle making the circles and lines that form our alphabet, then to copy simple, dictated sentences and then something would click, the pieces would fall into place. Suddenly the kid whose manuscript was illegible is writing up a storm. And then I’m teaching a room of budding authors! It’s great!

In the midst of this explosion of creativity, what is your role as a parent? How much should you correct a young child’s writing? How involved should you be? What can you do to support the process?

Let Them Explore: One of the most important things to encourage a young child’s writing is to let them become an explorer with their writing. Encourage them to write about themselves, about the weather, observations from the grocery store to the bus ride home. Write notes, lists, dreams and letters. Create a newspaper, a family magazine and anything else you can think of. Encourage writing.

Inventive Spelling: As your kid is learning to write, you’ll see some very funky spelling. Clouds might look like “calowdz” or car might look like “kre”. At this point they are experimenting with the letter sounds that they have learned. Your job is to be a reader, not an editor. Let them experiment. If you being to correct them all of the time they’ll stop writing. Teach them by asking questions” “What sounds does the word ‘car’ start with? Hmmm. Let’s think about that.” Make it a discussion in which they can participate.

I like to use books to teach spelling. “Here’s a book about cars. Let’s see how they spell it.” Join the adventure. This is a good time to buy a “first” dictionary. You can find them in used bookstores or online because kids outgrow them within a year or two. But this is the time to use one. Ask, “Do you want me to help you with your spelling?”

Paper: Having the right paper is crucial. Requiring a young child who is learning to write to use college ruled lined paper is just not fair. I’d rather give them a blank piece of paper. You can use paper like these or like these.

Or, if you don’t have paper like that, get a ruler or use the side of a book and make some paper with big lines on it and a square at the top for a picture. Just like this: (a picture of writing paper)

or

Learning to write is a very exciting experience. Kids suddenly realize that they can now communicate in a whole new way. Make it easy. Have paper and pencils around. Ask for help. “Hey, would you write carrots on the grocery list? Oh, you want chocolate, too? Write it down!”

Just because it’s summer doesn’t mean that you put math in mothballs. Here are some ideas you might want to use to sneak some math problems in during summer:

Money

Put your kid(s) in-charge of money for an outing. When I was ten-years old, I joined my Mom for a two-week work trip. She put me in charge of some of our spending money. I not only had to keep track of what we had, what we could spend, but I started to understand what “to budget” meant. You can do the same. You can do this when you:

• Go out for dinner
• Shopping at the grocery store or Farmer’s Market
• The movies (what treats can you get after you pay for tickets?)
• The local garden store or nursery
• The corner store for a treat for the family

The list goes on and one. Give it a try.

How Far Have We Gone?

With the advent with so many on-line mapping devices, it is easy to calculate how long a trip will be, in both mileage and time. So, have your kid (who is probably more computer savvy than you) figure out how many miles or long it will take when you are planning to go somewhere. It can be a walk to a friend’s house, a drive to a local museum or a plane flight.

Check these sites to help them map it out:

Google

Map My Ride

Map My Run

A Problem Based Upon The Day

There are very few kids who LIKE to do math word problems, but if you disguise them, they can be seen as fun.

Create a problem that has to do with a real-life challenge, based upon something they want or something you are trying to do. For example, if you’re having a dinner party with ten people, have your child figure out how much food you will need or simply how many chairs. I would do it like this:

“We are having ten people over for dinner tomorrow. I want to cook chicken with asparagus and rice. A two-pound chicken will feed approximately four people. One bunch of asparagus will feed three people. One cup of rice will feed three people. How much do we need to get of each item?”

You can also add in a zinger like, “One of the ten people is a former football player so he will eat as much as two people” or simplify it, by asking, “How many glasses will we need to set the table if we need a wine glass and water glass?”

Go in either direction. It will take you all of two minutes to write it down, but it will take them ten minutes to solve. And most importantly, they will feel that they have had an important role in planning a function and used their brain in a helpful, positive way. It makes them feel more a part of your life.

Try these three tips to keep math a part of your life all year round.