There are many developmental benefits from sharing books with your child. When done regularly, reading helps young children develop the obvious – good listening and language skills and it prepares them for recognizing written words. And then, of course, there are many emotionally satisfying benefits from spending quality time with your child and her favourite book – the feelings she’ll have of being loved, comforted, nurtured, and valued.  
Karen Sibal, a researcher and communications consultants shares valuable tips and strategies for parents reading to their babies, toddlers, preschoolers or early school age readers. 

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Developing Reading Comprehension

By Sharon Oberne

I was working with the maximum number of elementary students my job description allowed and I did not have any room to include a student named, ‘Chrissy.’  Chrissy was placed on awaiting list.  However, I did assess Chrissy to determine her current reading comprehension level.  Her tests indicated a year below grade level in reading comprehension.  Her assessment certainly caused a problem with Chrissy’s mother and the classroom teacher.  Chrissy’s weakness in reading comprehension affected her performance in reading her social studies and science books.  She was consistently failing her tests in both of these two subjects.....

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 on how to foster a childrens reading comprehension
 

Make a big Splash this Summer!

 By Michelle Donaghey

Summertime..ahh. After a long winter, it's a great to finally be able take the kids and head out for a relaxing hot day at the beach, pool or a water park with big slides- the bigger the better!
While it may be tempting to just grab the kids, stuff bathing suits and towels and head off for a day full of aquatic fun, taking time to plan ahead can make the difference
between a happy, joyous and free or a horrible summer memory................

Summertime Splash

 

    You have survived the first day of school and all the rest there after.  Hopefully, it has gotten easier as you have gotten to know your students and their parents.  You have a daily routine and developed some systems to make things work more smoothly in your classroom.  As the school year wears on, you will find that you will need to fine tune your systems.

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The Best Gift of All…

by Brenda Rollins, Ed.D.

 It is never too early or too late to begin reading books to your children. There is evidence that babies waiting to be born respond vigorously to the rhythmical tones of nursery rhymes as they are read aloud. Newborns may even stop crying when their moms or dads be-gin-to-speak-in-light-heart-ed-rhymes. Toddlers are fascinated (but not for too long) with repetition and silly, made-up words; and young school children will listen to favorite tales over and over again..... Personalized childrens books are educationally sound because the writers and publishers understand the stages of childhood. When reading a personalized book about a five-year-old boy, we see that he may be a little scared in an unfamiliar situation such as the three pigs moving to another house, but he finds that with his own friends and with the pigs’ support, being happy while going through a change can be fun. Personalization found in personalized music and books, also reinforces a positive self-image and helps to build self-esteem.

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Home Preparedness

 By Michelle Donaghey

While we most people think of emergencies as something which happen to other people, the fact is at some time a great percentage of us will experience one. All emergencies require immediate action. The most important thing you can do is to make sure every member of the family understands the importance of following the correct emergency procedures.

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