Made Me Laugh...

Do it!

Seriously, this makes me giggle!  Even in kinder we should be working at home.  Here are some things you can do with your kinder babes:

Show him/her school matters - praise your childs efforts. Show him/her how wonderful his/her schoolwork is by posting artwork and school papers on the refrigerator for everyone to see. Communicate the idea, in both words and actions, that school is important.

Read it and experience it.  Connect what your child reads with what happens in life. If you have read a book about animals, relate it to your last trip to the zoo.

Trace and say letters.  Have your child use a finger to trace a letter while saying the letter's sound. Do this on paper, in sand, or on a plate of sugar or jello - kids love to get messy!

Write it down.  Have paper and pencils available for your kiddo to use for writing. Working together, write a sentence or two about something special. Encourage him/her to use the letters and sounds he/she's learning about in school.

Play sound games.  Practice blending sounds into words. Ask "Can you guess what this word is? m - o - p." Hold each sound longer than you normally would and have your child put the word back together.

Read it again and again.  Go ahead and read your child's favorite book for the 100th time!  As you read, pause and ask your child about what is going on in the book, about the characters and about what he/she thinks will happen next.

Talk about letters and sounds.  Help your child learn the names of the letters and the sounds the letters make. Turn it into a game! "I'm thinking of a letter and it makes the sound mmmmmm."  "I'm thinking of the letter ____, what sound does it make?" (**Remember, some of our phonograms have more than one sound**)

Find it at home.  This can be an extension of the activities above.  After your kiddo sames the letter or sound, ask him/her to find something around the house that has that letter/sound in it.  You can also show him/her a magazine and have him/her circle all the letters that make that sound.

Count it out.  Have your kiddos count objects around the house.

Count:

-TVs

-dolls

-toys

-books

-people

-shoes

-chairs

-ANYTHING!

Talk with your kiddo about school. When he/she comes home from school, ask specific questions. Instead of saying, "How was your day?" ask, "What was the best thing that happened today at school?" or "Tell me one new thing that you learned today in kindergarten."

These are just a FEW of the activities families can do to connect school and home.  Get creative and have fun - they are only this little for a while!