Bright Ideas: Teaching Kids to Count Money

This week, we begin our math chapter on money.  Working with money is a real-life math skill that your kids need to know. We will be doing some activities in school to strengthen the students' money counting skills (giving paper "money" for rewards and having a second grade store for our Fun Fridays . . . more information to come!).  But students can benefit from practicing with money at home, as well.  Here are a some ideas to help your child become familiar with counting money:

• Asking your child to count how many pennies are needed to equal one nickel, dime, or quarter
• Letting your child count the change that is left in your pockets (or found in the dryer) at the end of each day
• Teaching addition by adding pennies, nickels, dimes, or quarters together (or by adding allowances or gift money to savings for older kids) and asking, “How much money do you have now?”
• Working on subtraction skills when your child wants to buy something: “If you spend $5.00 on that book, how much will you have left?”
• Introducing division concepts by discussing how to split up your child’s money—how much to save, spend, share, or donate

See more at http://www.howmoneywalks.com/teaching-kids-about-money-5-simple-tips-for-parents/

Bright Ideas: 4 Tips to Make Homework Time More Successful

Here are some tips on how to make homework time easier.  These are found at http://mrsbeers.com/homework-made-easier-tips-for-parents-and-teachers/.

Tip #1:Establish a Routine

Kids are creatures of habit.  Do the same thing at the same time every day.  That way, kids know what the expectation is, and they will be more successful.

Tip #2:Proximity

Work closely by your children as they are completing their homework.  Your presence gives them comfort and confidence.

Tip #3:Expectations

Understand what is expected of your child on assignments (effort level needed, time required, and goal of assignment).

Tip #4:Contact

Keep in contact with your child's teacher if you have questions, concerns, or challenges.

Bright Ideas: Why Should My Child Read 20 Minutes a Day at Home?

Last month, only half of our class met our homework goal of reading 400 or more minutes at home (20 minutes a day).  Let's face it . . . life is busy!  There are so many things to fit into our schedules each day!  So why is it so critical for children to spend 20 minutes every day reading at home?  Here are a few of the ways that research has shown that this daily reading benefits children.

Reading is “brain food” Our brains develop as we “feed” them with experiences. You integrate new information learned through reading further strengthening and growing your network of knowledge. Reading provides one of the most enriching and complex brain activities available in life.

Practice makes perfect  Generally, the more time you are exposed to something and the more time you spend practicing it, the better you’ll become at performing it. This is absolutely true for reading. Research shows that children who have repeatedly been exposed to books from birth generally exhibit strong reading abilities.

Reading improves academic performance  There is a strong correlation between a child’s ability to read and her academic performance. Because so much of our schooling relies on our abilities to read, children must have strong reading skills to succeed and thrive in school.

Reading just makes “cents”  For every year that a person spends reading, his/her lifetime earning potential goes up considerably. For a time investment of 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week, you can increase your child’s ability to support him or herself in the future considerably.

Reading improves relationships  Because we are busy it is difficult to have “quality” one-on-one time with our children without distractions. Building 20 minutes into each day for reading together provides this important bonding time.  Spending 20 minutes reading independently provides you with quiet, uninterrupted time together engaged in the same activity.

Go to http://www.k12reader.com/why-read-20-minutes-a-day/ to learn more.

Bright Ideas: Repeated Readings to Build Fluency

During the first part of January, our students will be tested again on their reading skills using the DIBELS test.  One of the main things that will be tested is reading fluency.  Fluency includes reading smoothly and at a natural pace -- "like speaking".  "The primary technique for building fluency is repeated readings, where the student reads the same passage aloud with an adult or a student partner who can provide guidance. A substantial amount of research supports that rereading the same passage helps build fluency not only in that passage, but other passages as well." (see website below)
 Parents can encourage their children to reread to build fluency by doing one of the following:
-Choral read a book or passage together the first time, then have the child read it himself.
-Have children find a favorite passage and practice reading it with feeling and expression.
-Get the whole family involved by asking the child to read a favorite part to several different family members.
-Challenge the child to see how many different voices she can use to read the passage (high, low, soft, loud, mouse voice, monster voice, etc.)
-Record your child reading.  Ask him to practice several times first, so he is ready.  Let him listen and re-record if he wishes to make improvements.
Learn more on pages 247 - 256 of the document found at
http://www.ousd.org/cms/lib07/ca01001176/centricity/domain/133/ive_dibeld_now_what_exerpt.pdf