Ways to Help Your Child at Home
Homework
First grade students should complete at least one writing prompt each week using a leveled book from their take-home Reading Bag. Please help your child write the book title, level, and chosen prompt on his or her paper.
- Students should read every night for 15-20 minutes.
- Be an active listener as your child reads. Allow him or her to use strategies to solve unfamiliar words and praise him or her for success. Have a conversation about the book to monitor and build comprehension.
- Encourage your child to reread books multiple times. He or she may enjoy reading to several friends or family members (even over the phone or via Skype!). Praise your child for maintaining fluency (accuracy, rate and expression) while reading aloud.
First grade students should complete at least one writing prompt each week using a leveled book from their take-home Reading Bag. Please help your child write the book title, level, and chosen prompt on his or her paper.
Help With Reading
Be patient: When your child is trying to solve an unfamiliar word, give him or her time to do so. Remind to child to look closely at the first letter or letters of the word.
Oral Counting: Practice counting forward to and backward from 120, and forward or backward between any two numbers under 120. Practice anytime (such as in a grocery store line or during a long car ride). Lots of praise encourages repeat performances. Count by twos, fives, and tens as well. You can begin this by using Lego-type blocks: hook multiple sets of two or five together, then count by these increments.
Lastly, be creative and patient in helping your child succeed at math. These can be difficult skills, and it takes time for most children to perform them proficiently.
Be patient: When your child is trying to solve an unfamiliar word, give him or her time to do so. Remind to child to look closely at the first letter or letters of the word.
- Don't leave home without it: Bring along a book or magazine any time your child has to wait, such as at a doctor's office or during a trip in the car. Always try to fit in reading!
- Once is not enough: Encourage your child to re-read favorite books and poems. Re-reading helps kids read more quickly and accurately.
- I read to you, you read to me: Take turns reading aloud at bedtime. Kids enjoy this special time with their parents.
- Gently correct your young reader: When your child makes a mistake, gently point out the letters he or she overlooked or read incorrectly. Many beginning readers will guess wildly at a word based on its first letter.
- Talk, talk, talk: Talk with your child every day about school and things going on around the house. Sprinkle some interesting words into the conversation, and build on words you've talked about in the past.
- Dig deeper into the story: Ask your child questions about the books that he or she reads. For example, "Why do you think...?" or "What did you learn...?"
- Pick books that are at the right level: Help your child pick books that are not too difficult. The aim is to give your child lots of successful reading experiences.
- Play word games: Have your child sound out the word as you change it from mat to fat to sat; from sat to sag to sap; and from sap to sip.
- Write, write, write: Ask your child to help you write out the grocery list, a thank you note to a family member, or to keep a journal of special things that happen at home. When writing, encourage your child to use the letter and sound patterns he is learning at school. Also, remind your child to check for capital letters at the beginnings of sentences, names, days, and months, as well as appropriate punctuation at the end of every sentence.
Oral Counting: Practice counting forward to and backward from 120, and forward or backward between any two numbers under 120. Practice anytime (such as in a grocery store line or during a long car ride). Lots of praise encourages repeat performances. Count by twos, fives, and tens as well. You can begin this by using Lego-type blocks: hook multiple sets of two or five together, then count by these increments.
- Identifying Numbers: Flip through a magazine or catalog with your child, pointing out numbers and asking him or her to read them. Or, reverse the exercise by naming a number and asking her to find it.
- Representing Numbers: Part of understanding numbers is being able to represent them in multiple ways, using words, models, and number expressions (for example, a child might describe the number four as one more than three, 2+2, or one less than five). To practice this, play "Guess the Number" using index cards with numbers written on one side. Your child chooses a number and then tries to make you guess it by giving descriptions without actually saying the number.
- Partitioning: Cook using printed recipes to teach fractions. Your child can help read the ingredient amounts and then measure. Demonstrate fractions by showing how 1/4 cup of water, poured into a 1 cup container four times, fills it up.
- Numbers in context: Create word problems. "If I want to eat two cookies, and you want three, how many do we need?" Use number magnets or pencil and paper to turn these word problems into number sentences. Verbalize the operation of, "Two plus three equals five."
- Time to the half hour: Use a clock to time favorite activities. "You may watch TV from 6:00 (point at the numbers on the clock) until 6:30." Then, show your child when it's 6:30. Practice reading and writing time from an analog clock (to the hour and half hour).
- Ordinal numbers: When playing games, take the opportunity to model the use of ordinal numbers. List who will take turns first, second, third, fourth, etc.
Lastly, be creative and patient in helping your child succeed at math. These can be difficult skills, and it takes time for most children to perform them proficiently.