The Calendar

Just like the world map and the number grid, which you could  display in your child’s room or the classroom for meaningful and contextual learning, you could put up a small calendar somewhere too. There are many printable templates available online or better yet you could take a blank sheet of A4 or A3 sized paper (depending on your child’s age) and make a grid on it. In fact it’s better you make it yourself as you can have your child practice drawing out the columns and rows and a lot of thinking goes into it in terms of how many lines will be needed and how you will organize the space on the paper. For the first few turns, display how you make straight lines and as the child understands and is ready to give it a try, allow her to draw it out herself.

Once you have the grid, mark the year, month, the days of the week and the dates. Do it in front of your child, say out the words clearly and keep giving her information like ‘There are 7 days in a week’, ‘We are in the month of October now’, ‘This year is 2014’, ‘Daddy’s birthday is in this month’, ‘This month has 31 days’, etc. As your child learns how to write the numbers and a few words, have her draw/write down important events of the days, mark the weather for each day, her feelings etc.

The calendar not only serves as a good record of happenings and upcoming events of the month but is also packed with literacy and numeracy skills. For example, when you write down ‘dad’s birthday’ and draw a little picture of a cake next to it, your child will develop picture-word association and in turn will be learning some important decoding skills of reading. Similarly, when she attempts to ‘write’ words like ‘sunny’, ‘rainy’, ‘happy’, ‘sad’ she will be learning/ practicing encoding skills.

The child exercises her Math skills by counting the days up to an event, keeping a track of yesterday, today and tomorrow, writing numbers, estimating how many lines she will need to make the grid, etc.

Motivation will be high for this activity as it is real and personal to the child. It also puts her in the habit of keeping a track of her routine and remembering important events.

A kick-start to Vocabulary Development

When children are young, their mind is like a sponge that soaks in different things from the environment. It is very important for them to hear the words for the things that are all around them. Right from the beginning, talk as much as you can to your children. Take them with you to the grocery store, marketplace, bank, garden, library, and all the other places you can think of! Talk to them about what you are seeing and what is happening even if you feel it’s not their time to learn about these things or it would be too hard or irrelevant for them. For example, when you are walking through a garden, talk to them about different flowers, parts of a plant, what a plant needs, insects you might spot, the gardener and his tools and so on and so forth. By doing so you can be assured that you have made a good start towards your child’s vocabulary development.

Reflection from the Classroom: A simple strategy for motivating students to write

Today when I was working with 8 to 9 years olds, I realized that a simple variation of your lesson plan could go a long way in keeping the interest and motivation high of your children/students.

I was planning on giving a topic for an essay to ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) students. These students have not mastered English as a language and often struggle and shut themselves up from writing assignments. I started out by saying let’s come up with a topic that you want to write about. There were several suggestions. Then I realized that everyone had her/his own interest and choosing one topic was not going to make everyone happy. So I let them all choose their own topic. It was such a delight to see them entirely engaged and motivated- each student was doing her/his best!

I am not saying that children should be allowed to pick their own topic every time but I think we can balance it out. It will go a long way in maintaining their interest in writing. When the children are engaged they pick up skills much faster.

S/he Doesn't Pay Attention!

You may have heard from your child’s teachers- ‘she doesn’t pay attention’, ‘she can’t finish her work’ or you may have heard your child say- ‘I am bored in class’. Attention is something that should naturally come about as the child grows older. However, many a time due to various reasons a child develops ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). This causes academic failure and social incompetence in classroom setting. Nowadays we come across many cases of children that have developed or are developing this disorder, one of the reasons being overuse of electronic gadgets.

The good news is that you can do several things from your end to ward off the possibility of AD/HD. Here are a few simple strategies to help keep your child’s attention levels appropriate:

1.     Curb the use of electronics like tablets (I-pad etc.), smartphones and games (X-Box etc.)

2.     Reduce television time especially cartoons

3.     Balance the day out between physical activities and sitting down activities

4.     Play board games like Pictureka, Pictionary, Monopoly, Taboo, Cards, Uno, Memory game and Battleship

5.     Play physical games and sports like Twister, Simon Says, badminton, tennis, soccer and cricket

6.     Give them activity books which have spot the differences, mazes, word searches, Sudoku, crossword puzzles, match the pictures, odd one out, hidden pictures, etc. You can also print them out from the internet; find them using the above keywords

7.     Give them puzzles- increase the number of pieces as her attention span and ability increase

8.     Read to/with them- it is good for everything!

9.     Make time for art and craft (refer to my post on creativity kit)

10.  All the activities that enhance fine motor skills also enhance attention as the child needs to focus when he manipulates objects (refer to my post on poor handwriting)

11.  Yoga and meditation

12.  Provide emotional support and empathize with your child- it will work wonders

If you have any more ideas please post on this page. When you share, you care! 

Poor Handwriting?

If you see your child struggling with handwriting- her handwriting is sloppy, illegible and the letter formation is not up to the mark, please don’t give her handwriting books to practice writing. Instead give her activities to enhance her fine motor skills. If you see no improvement in handwriting in a month or so, you could go to an occupational therapist to get her evaluated and started on therapy. Please do not ignore this problem, as it doesn’t get resolved on its own. Also, it makes academic success more difficult to achieve as your child goes up grade levels and writing becomes more and more of a task.

Below is the list of a few activities that support fine motor development:

1. Art activities like drawing, colouring, cutting, pasting, crumpling, twisting, tracing, painting and printing (creativity kit will take care of all these)
2. Play dough
3. Beading
4. Weaving
5. Construction toys like lego and blocks
6. Sand play and water play
7. Dressing up- buttoning and lacing
8. Crochet and sewing for older children
9. Cooking and baking- shelling peas, cutting vegetables, peeling, kneading, pouring, rolling, pressing, mixing
10. Pegging (for e.g. clipping clothes on the line)
11. Sharpening pencils
12. Folding clothes

Involve your child in household chores and make her independent in terms of dressing, organizing her clothes and toys, eating etc. Many activities have inbuilt opportunities to enhance fine motor skills. Get creative and for more ideas simply search the internet.

I Wonder...

When you make conversations with your child, you can ask her several wonder questions, for example, when you see the sunset, ask her ‘I wonder where the sun goes’, or when you are walking up a slope, ask her ‘I wonder why it is harder to go up the slope and easier to go down’, or when it rains, ask her ‘I wonder where the rain comes from’. Ask her these questions when you see it in the environment with her and not out of context.

Of course you know the answers to most of the workings of the world, but don’t start to explain it to your child or provide readymade answers. The wonder questions here have a very important role to play. They draw your child’s attention to things, arouse and develop her curiosity and make it the habit of her mind to give everything a thought which later on helps her get the answers herself.

When you ask a question like ‘I wonder where the sun goes’, just wait for a few minutes and hear the explanation your child has to give. Of course your very young child won’t have the right explanation but enjoy the logic of her young and developing mind! She might say and she will say it confidently ‘It goes down in the sea’,  ‘It mixes with the sky and disappears’, etc. At this point please don’t say ‘It doesn’t make sense’, ‘How can it be’ and other statements of this kind. Simply say, ‘Hmm, interesting’ and please leave it at that. I know it’s hard to leave it at that, but do so as you don’t want to spoil the joy of learning and discovery when your child comes across this information while reading a book, learning in school, etc. She will then connect back to the wonder question she had thought about in the past.

Refrain from making your child a storehouse of information. Focus more on inquiry-based learning, which is by far superior as it develops inquisitiveness, research skills, thinking skills and joyful and lifelong independent learning.

If your child is interested in finding out facts, refer to books and Internet alongside her and help her find answers. You can also tell her what you know and support it with videos and books. Don’t forget to be excited about it- you will pass on your enthusiasm to her which will stay with her in years to come.