Dr. Dorothy Rich's Smarter Kids for Harder Times

Dr. Dorothy Wants to Hear From You...

2007-06-01T14:47:00.001-05:00

Dear Friends:

While drafting the oped posted on May 31st (see below), I became curious about the summer academic or morning-to-night activities of other parents.

Now that you have seen a few of my Morning to Night Activities. Let's hear some of your morning to night activities. Please feel welcome to share as little or as much about your family structure as you feel comfortable. I think that we will learn from each other and see that we have more similarities than differences.

(1) Please include your city or region especially if some of the activities are location specific.

(2) Have your children introduced daily activities that you have included into your daily schedule?

We look forward to reading them all!!

Dr. Dorothy OPED: Educational Improvement Starts at Home...NOW!

2007-05-31T11:34:00.000-05:00

Once again, we come to the end of the school year. Once again, the air is filled with headlines and recriminations about the quality of our schools and whether our students can compete in the world.

Taking into conisderation the hard work of teachers, the truth remains that: The family, regardless of income and educational background, can use opportunities, now, this summer, to make a truly positive impact on children’s attitudes and behaviors that determine school success. This is true for families on the tightest time schedules.

National, state and local school assessments are helpful, but all parents focus on the report card.
How did my child do?
What does my child know and need to know?

The longest journeys, so say the sages, begin with a single step. Here are a few of the steps that can make the biggest difference for your children.

STEP 1
Look and talk together about the report card. Are the grades fair? What do they reveal? What are the development areas? How can we make this summer a time for pleasurable learning? Focus on your child’s strengths rather than weaknesses. Use strengths to overcome weaker areas. The child who likes gardening but is a poor speller can read and spell words from gardening books. The child in love with airplanes and robots but bored by textbooks can read books on planes and robots.

Remember that teachers can see only one part of your child. That’s why it’s important to do what I call your own “home report card.” The signs you look for are less obvious than scores on tests.

STEP 2
Take time to look at your children when you are not angry or adoring. Look at them working alone and also playing with friends. What do you see? How is your child enjoying life? What are the differences between this year and last year? What do your children like now that they didn’t like before? How well does your child use school skills? Some children receive A’s in writing in school and never write at home. Others do poorly in school math but do math games and sports averages like crazy at home. Build on these strengths.

STEP 3
Recognize that, like all people, children pass through periods in which they achieve more, periods in which they do less. Guard against jumping in too quickly to label a child who may be in a slower period as an underachiever. The child who gets labeled can get caught in a cycle of failure.

STEP 4
Children need to feel needed. Different families do this in different ways. Underlying successful families is a framework, not just of the essential standby of love, but also respect for the child’s individuality and acceptance of the youngster into the responsibilities of the home. Children, whether two or sixteen. have to feel that it matters that they are around and that they have a vital role to play in the work of the family, even in summer.

In the light of what we are learning about how many children today are feeling lonely, it is more important than ever for families to use time off from school to help children feel loved and be able to do better when schools come back into session again.

Morning to Night "It's Learning Time" Basic Skills and MegaSkills ® -> Part 2

2007-05-25T09:33:00.000-05:00

Welcome back to my Morning to Night activities blog. If this is your first visit, I encourage you to read the Morning to Night introduction on the May 22, 2007 blog entry.

Now, let's introduce this week's activities!

MORNING ACTIVITIES
Part I: Let’em Eat Shapes… Focus.

Teach your children to recognize basic shapes (used for reading). All you need is bread and jam and a dull-edged knife.
Cut the bread into different shapes.

Ask your child to choose a pair of similar shapes. For instance, two triangles or two rectangles.
After finding a pair, ask your youngster to spread jam on one piece. Then match the second shape on top to make a
sandwich. Can your child find other sets of shapes and match them? Let children cut their own shapes on days when time permits.
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PART II:
AFTERNOON and EVENING ACTIVITIES

WRITING in the P.M

Children can gain ease and confidence in their early writing. Here are some ways to give them practice at home.

Logical Order… Effort.
Take newspaper and magazine paragraphs
and cut up the sentences. Put them into jumbled order and ask children to rearrange them into order. This helps give children the feel of orderly progression for thoughts – beginning, middle, end – and conveys the “sense” of paragraphing.
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Part III: BEDTIME

Draw a Silhouette…Caring.
For preschoolers, draw their silhouettes on a large sheet of brown paper. Put this up on the bedroom wall. (Masking tape does not leave marks.) Label it with the parts of the body. It’s comforting for children going to bed to “see” themselves.

Keep activities before bedtime as quiet and relaxing as possible. Avoid football games or loud music.
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REMEMBER:
· Children’s abilities can be built and children are eager to learn:
· Parents (and caregivers) are great teachers. And every home is a learning place!
· You don’t need a lot of time to do a lot of good!
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For learning "recipes" you and your child will love-- check http://dr.dorothy.blogspot.com

Morning to Night "It's Learning Time" Basic Skills and MegaSkills ®

2007-05-22T12:55:00.000-05:00

These activities help busy parents and children make their moments together more entertaining and more educational. These activities are presented in LEARNING TIMES. This is done in order to make clear how easy it is to integrate learning with everyday routines. The activities emphasize the academic readiness – reading, writing, mathematics, science – and more for children ages 3 to 8.

Morning activities are meant to be done fast. There isn’t much time in the A.M. Activities in the P.M. are done at less break-neck speed. This activity period includes time for supper and time for bed.

More time is available on the weekends, vacation days, and even on sick days. No matter what the activity and how long it takes, all of them meet the criteria for being do-able (using resources right around home) and for being effective in building young children’s character and academic abilities.

There are eight activity segments, covering AM, PM and Bedtime

Part I: Morning Activities
Thinking
Reading
Math

Part II: Afternoon and Evening Activities
Reading
Writing
Math
Thinking
End of the Day Slump

Part III: Bedtime: Time to Rest for Everyone
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MORNING ACTIVITIES

Part I: THINKING in the A.M.

Morning Treasures….Responsibility.
You need a place for what you need when you need it fast. Bookbag, Mom’s glasses – where are they when you need them? Put them in one agreed-upon morning place. Pick a central spot. Use a cardboard box, a bookcase, whatever you have that will do the job. Assign a spot to each family member. Whatever is needed in the morning should be parked there. This saves a lot of morning wear and tear.
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PART II:
AFTERNOON and EVENING ACTIVITIES

These activities can help fill children’s afternoon time constructively. A problem faced by a growing number of employed parents is how to keep children occupied and safe in the time after they leave school and often before parents come home from work.

Use these activities as reminders for babysitters or for older children who are on their own at home. Of course, all of these can be done in family-together times at supper and before bedtime.
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READING in the P.M.

Picture Puzzling… Problem Solving.
Use those luscious, color magazine pictures for your family’s own picture puzzles.

Children paste bold pictures on thin cardboard. Trace cut-out lines – a few
for young children, more for older children. Let children cut out the pieces.

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Part III: BEDTIME
Time to Rest for Everyone

In some homes, disruption starts when you announce, “Okay, it’s time for bed.” Most children, to do well at school and at home if they’re not yet in school, need 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night. This has the added benefit of giving parents a needed break. For best results, set a regular time for bed and make every effort to stick to it:

If you have more than one child, see that younger children go to bed earlier, even if it’s only 15 minutes. This satisfies the older child’s sense of fairness.
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REMEMBER:
· Children’s abilities can be built and children are eager to learn:
· Parents (and caregivers) are great teachers. And every home is a learning place!
· You don’t need a lot of time to do a lot of good!
------------------------------------
For learning "recipes" you and your child will love-- check http://dr.dorothy.blogspot.com