Welcome to our Home Support page!
This page is where you will find tips and ideas of ways to support your child's learning at home.
This page is where you will find tips and ideas of ways to support your child's learning at home.
When reading with your child, ask him/her questions about the story. After reading the story, ask your child to retell the story in his/her own words. Can your child retell the story in the proper sequential order? Is he/she using the words first, next, then? Asking questions about the characters, setting, problem and solution of the story help to further develop your child's reading comprehension skills, as well as their oral communication skills.
Here is a great website that offers free educational games that are age-appropriate for your little one. We have been playing the adding dice game on our SMARTboard this week! http://www.tesiboardus.com/
Check out the information below out for ideas and tips for supporting your child's fine motor development at home.
Figures are everywhere! We have been working on identifying two and three dimensional figures around our classroom. A fun home activity would be to do go on a "shape hunt" to find the following figures: square, rectangle, triangle, circle, oval, cube, cone, cyclinder, and sphere.
Understanding numbers is more that just visual recognition and rote counting. An important part of our number sense is the ability to compose and decompose numbers. For example, seven (7) can be broken down into a group of four (4) and a group of three (3). So we know that four (4) + three (3) = seven (7). At home, have your child practise "building" numbers using found materials (e.g. pasta, paper clips, magnets) and writing an equation. Ask "what two groups will make ____" or "how can we make _____ with two groups?"
Environmental print is important to your child's language development. When your child recognizes "McDonald's" or "Tim Horton's", they are reading! Environmental print includes signs on buildings, packaging (e.g. cereal boxes), and other forms of advertising. As your child is "reading" these signs ask them what letters do they see, what sounds the letters make, and if the letters are upper case or lower case. As well, ask "how do you know that says __________?" to begin your conversation.
We have been practising patterning in the classroom using the natural materials in our exploration centre and the materials at our math centre. We have even been using the SMARTBoard to create patterns with fall pictures! At home, have your child practise patterning with found materials, such as coins, pasta noodles, stickers, and other craft supplies. As Will said, "a pattern goes over and over" and Carmin said, "a pattern starts over again", so make sure you are reviewing with your child the core of the his/her pattern, which is the part that repeats itself.
At home, have your child practise printing his/her name beginning with an upper case letter with the rest being lower case letters. Remember that we always start our letters at the top! Using tools, such as highlighters and markers, can make writing fun! Another idea is to have your child make the letters in his/her name with play-dough. The actions rolling and patting helps develop the smaller muscles in your child's hand. Always review the name and (short) sound of the letters as your child makes them!
At home, have your child practise putting his/her coat on independently, including taking the sleeves from inside-out back the right away and the zipper. Also, help your child pack his/her backpack and zip it up. These skills are important to master in order to avoid frustration in our classroom cubby.
