Ed Extras

Grocery Store Literacy

A simple trip to the grocery store can turn into a real learning experience for your child. Below are some easy ways to build literacy and math skills while getting your shopping done at the same time!

Focus on reading skills

Lots of grocery items come in different flavors. Ask your child to help you find a particular flavor by reading the labels. For example, can she find the low fat milk? The tuna fish packed in water? She’ll be using her reading skills to find the right item.

Put your child in charge of the grocery list. As you put items into the cart, ask your child to cross it off the list. If you buy an item that wasn’t on your list, ask him to add it. This provides an opportunity to practice writing skills.

Focus on vocabulary skills

Take a trip down the pasta isle to see the different boxes. Ask your child to compare and contrast the various noodle in terms of length, width, shape, and size. Choose one box and challenge your child to come up with descriptive words for that type of pasta.

The produce section is a great place to hear new interesting words.  Words like rhubarb, asparagus, artichoke, and kiwi are fun to say, and fun to eat.  As you introduce each one, use descriptive words to help your child learn. “A kiwi has a fuzzy outside, but the inside is bright green with black seeds!”

Focus on math skills

Look for geometric shapes (e.g., spheres, cubes, cones) as you go through the store. Play a game with your child. Find a shape, such as the cube shaped box of tissues, and then look for other items with the same shape.

Show your child the unit pricing labels on various items. Help them learn to compare prices using these tags.  Ask your child, “Which size container is the better deal? Why?”  Discuss the sale items too. What does “Buy one, get one free” mean? If frozen peas are 10 for $10, how much would four bags cost?

You don’t have to do all of these things each time you’re at the store, but while you’re there, find creative ways to turn your grocery store into a fun place of learning.

For more ideas, visit Reading Rockets’ Reading Together section:
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/c442/

Preparing your child for testing

Types of tests
Testing is used in schools for two main purposes. One is to find out how well an individual student is learning in the classroom. For instance, teachers can test how well a child is responding to reading instruction by using assessments that measure specific skills necessary for fluent reading.

The other purpose is to find out how well the school is meeting local and national benchmarks for student achievement. For this purpose schools use standardized tests, usually administered in the spring.

How to help
Take a deep breath. Step away from the flashcards. As a parent, the most important way you can help your child do well on tests is to read with your child regularly, talk with her about her experiences, and provide a quiet work space at home.

When well-meaning parents focus too much on test results, they put undue pressure on young children. For kids who struggle with attention or memorization tasks, testing can be extremely stressful because it requires students to draw entirely on these skills.

To help prepare for routine classroom assessments:

• Provide a variety of books, children’s magazines, and enriching experiences to spark your child’s curiosity and build vocabulary

• Make sure your child gets time and space for homework

• Make sure your child gets enough rest and a well-balanced diet

• Consult with your child’s teacher to find out if there are specific skills you can practice at home

To help prepare for standardized tests:

• Ask the teacher for the testing schedule and a practice test so that you can familiarize your child with the format ahead of time so he knows what to expect

• Respond to any concerns your child has with encouragement and support. Emphasize that there are lots of ways to express what you know, and that these tests are just one measure

Interpreting test scores
Ask the teacher to share the results of standardized testing to see if your child’s performance on the test is consistent with his or her performance in the classroom. Meet with the teacher about any concerns you have.

If you are interested, you can also ask how the school compares to other schools in the district, state, and across the country.

For more information about testing, visit:
www.ReadingRockets.org/article/c68

The Importance of Family Mealtime

What is dinnertime like in your home? Is it convenient for family members to heat up their own meal in the microwave at different times and retreat to their own corners of the house?

For many families, eating dinner together has become a lost art—but it proves to be a simple, effective way to reduce the risk of youth substance abuse and to raise healthier children.  Before family dinners go the way of the dinosaur, let’s make the effort to preserve family mealtime.

The facts are on the table: eating dinner together every night keeps the doors of communication open. It’s the perfect time and place to reconnect and to show your kids that they are your priority. Sitting across the table is where and when you can find out more about your children’s likes, dislikes, and daily life. Having this information can help you direct your children toward positive activities and behavior, reducing the likelihood that they will get involved with alcohol, tobacco, and/or illegal drugs.

Why Are Family Mealtimes Important?

• Compared to teens that have frequent family dinners, those who rarely have family dinners are three-and-a-half times more likely to have abused prescription drugs or an illegal drug other than marijuana.2
• Girls who have five or more meals a week with their families are one-third less likely to develop unhealthy eating habits, which can range from skipping meals to full-fledged anorexia or abusing diet pills.3
• Parental influence and involvement is an important tool in preventing substance abuse. Regularly sitting down for a meal with your children is one way to connect with them and be involved with what is happening in their lives.

What Should We Talk About?

• Ask everyone to share their favorite part or biggest challenge of the day.
• Plan and then let the kids pick tasks for the next day's menu, preparation, and cleanup.
• Exchange memories about your favorite family pastimes.
• Discuss an activity the family can do together and then put it on the calendar.
• Talk with your children about a book they are reading or a movie they have seen. It might turn into a family book club or a regular movie and popcorn night!
• Ask the kids about their classes, homework, teachers, and upcoming assignments. Find out if they would like your help or want to brainstorm on an assignment.

The importance of regular family activities to share ideas and find out "what's happening" is a great way for a parent to be involved, discuss rules, monitor activities and friends, and be a good role model. The benefits of eating together will last long after your meal ends, especially if you make family mealtimes a regular activity. Take the family meal off the endangered species list and move it back to the VIP list!

Reading Aloud to Build Comprehension

Children learn when they make connections between what they read and what they know.
One method parents can use to help make these connections during shared reading time is
called a think aloud. In other words, you talk through your thoughts as you read to them.
Here are three ways to use think alouds, with examples from some of our favorite kids’ books:

Think Alouds

1. Connect the book to your child’s own life experience.
Example: A River Dream by Allen Say
“This book reminds me of the time my father took me fishing. Do you remember the time we went fishing?”

2. Connect the book to other books your child has read.
Example: Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters by John Steptoe
“This story reminds me of Cinderella. Both stories are about sisters. Do you know any other stories about sisters? Let's keep reading to find out other ways the stories are similar.”

3. Connect the book to big ideas/lessons.
Example: Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
“This story helps me understand that we are all the same in many ways, but it's our differences that make us special.”

In these examples, you are “thinking aloud” many of the connections that good readers make naturally as they read. Modeling these types of connections will help young readers know how to do it when they read alone.

Adapted from Reading Aloud to Build Comprehension by Judith Gold and Akimi Gibson (2001).

Check out Reading Rockets’ Books and Authors section for great read-aloud books:
www.ReadingRockets.org/books

Visit our sister sites, ColorinColorado.org and LDOnLine.org, for more information about learning.

Ed Extras

Building Your Child’s Vocabulary

All parents want their child to do well in school. One way to help your child is to help them build their vocabulary. Beginning readers use knowledge about words to help them make sense of what they’re reading. The more words a reader knows, the more they are able to comprehend what they’re reading or listening to.

Talking to and reading with your child are two terrific ways to help them hear and read new words. Conversations and questions about interesting words (“The book says, ‘The boy tumbled down the hill,’ and look at the picture! How do you think he went down the hill?”) are easy, non-threatening ways to get new words into everyday talk.

Sharing a new word with your child doesn’t have to take a long time: just a few minutes to talk about the word and then focus back on the book or conversation. Choose which words to talk about carefully – choosing every new word might make reading seem like a chore. The best words to explore with your child are ones that are common among adult speakers but are less common to see in the books your child might read.  

When introducing new words to your young learner, keep the following four helpful hints in mind:

1. First, provide a simple, kid-friendly definition for the new word:
   Enormous means that something is really, really big.
2. Second, provide a simple, kid-friendly example that makes sense within their daily life:
   Remember that really big watermelon we got at the grocery store? That was an enormous watermelon!
3. Third, encourage your child to develop their own example:
   What enormous thing can you think of? Can you think of something really big that you saw today? That’s right! The bulldozer near the park was enormous! Those tires were huge.
4. Last, keep your new words active within your house. Over the next few days and weeks, take advantage of opportunities to use each new vocabulary word in conversation.

Take the time to share new words and build your child’s vocabulary. You’ll be enormously glad you did!

For more resources, visit the vocabulary section on Reading Rockets:
www.ReadingRockets.org/atoz/vocabulary