Excerpt from Title 1 Family Home and School Connection Spring 2012
By 2012 Resources for Educators, a division of CCH Incorporated
Staying Focused
If your youngster is like most children, she probably pays attention to things that interest her, but her mind wanders during activities she finds less enjoyable. You can improve her focus with ideas like these:
· Capture her interest before you give instructions. If she loves football, you might call a "family huddle" to announce what needs to be accomplished today.
· If music is her thing, try prefacing instructions with a drum roll or by humming one of her favorite tunes.
· Encourage your youngster to recognize when she's struggling to pay attention. Perhaps she fidgets at her desk or starts thinking about another assignment. Suggest that she come up with a "fix" for each (looking directly at her teacher, clearing her desk of everything except the assignment she's working on)."
Calendar fun
Calendars are full of learning opportunities. Here are three suggestions:
I. Encourage your youngster to observe the changing weather. Share the saying: "March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb." Then, have him draw a lamb on the calendar on spring-like days and a lion on wintry ones. At the end of the month, are there more "lion" or "lamb" days?
2. Suggest that your child choose a theme every month. Have family members take turns writing something to go with it on each day's calendar square. For example, for a March theme of foods, you would write the name of a food on each day. Other ideas: animals, hobbies.
3. Ask your youngster to mark a field trip or friend's birthday on the calendar and count the days until the event. Or if it's far enough away, let him tell you how many weeks it is. (Divide the number of days by 7.)
