School's out for summer - after today in Kanawha County - but local parents have some easy ways over the long summer to help their kids remember what they learned this year.
School's out for summer - after today in Kanawha County - but local parents have some easy ways over the long summer to help their kids remember what they learned this year.
Trips to the grocery store offer great learning experiences for younger children.
Parents can share what groceries they buy or how much they buy at the store, to help their children's vocabulary, said Mary Kay Bond, chairwoman of Read Aloud West Virginia.
Fifth-grader Tyler Jarrell leans under the limbo bar as Joe Lankas waits his turn during the limbo dance held during Beach Day Thursday at Shoals Elementary.
As a math refresher, Diane Hughes suggests parents let children in grades two through five use a calculator to add up items bought at the grocery store. Hughes, the coordinator for Upper Kanawha Valley Starting Points, said parents might allow children to open a checking or savings account with their allowance or let them help balance the family's checkbook.
On trips, it helps to estimate how long a drive will take, Hughes said. Young children in the car might search for letters that match their names on license plates or road signs, she said.
Hughes said it even helps to match M&M candies by color. That can help young children learn how to categorize and count.
Children's behavior often reflects those special adults in their life, Bond said. When parents talk to their children, read to them or let their children see them read, it helps leave a positive influence, she said.
Parents should encourage interest-driven books and magazines, regardless of whether they focus on history, geography, science or sports, she said. For older students, it helps to discuss what they read in a newspaper or magazine.
Exercise also is an important key to improving brain function, Bond said.
"Limiting television time is really important. Limiting video-game time is very important," she said. "It does not expand your vocabulary and it does not require you to do the thinking."
Bond said it's helpful to share family stories or experiences together. For instance, a talk about a frightening thunderstorm might spur an old story.
"Children cherish family stories," Bond said.
School's out for summer - after today in Kanawha County - but local parents have some easy ways over the long summer to help their kids remember what they learned this year.
Trips to the grocery store offer great learning experiences for younger children.
Parents can share what groceries they buy or how much they buy at the store, to help their children's vocabulary, said Mary Kay Bond, chairwoman of Read Aloud West Virginia.
As a math refresher, Diane Hughes suggests parents let children in grades two through five use a calculator to add up items bought at the grocery store. Hughes, the coordinator for Upper Kanawha Valley Starting Points, said parents might allow children to open a checking or savings account with their allowance or let them help balance the family's checkbook.
On trips, it helps to estimate how long a drive will take, Hughes said. Young children in the car might search for letters that match their names on license plates or road signs, she said.
Hughes said it even helps to match M&M candies by color. That can help young children learn how to categorize and count.
Children's behavior often reflects those special adults in their life, Bond said. When parents talk to their children, read to them or let their children see them read, it helps leave a positive influence, she said.
Parents should encourage interest-driven books and magazines, regardless of whether they focus on history, geography, science or sports, she said. For older students, it helps to discuss what they read in a newspaper or magazine.
Exercise also is an important key to improving brain function, Bond said.
"Limiting television time is really important. Limiting video-game time is very important," she said. "It does not expand your vocabulary and it does not require you to do the thinking."
Bond said it's helpful to share family stories or experiences together. For instance, a talk about a frightening thunderstorm might spur an old story.
"Children cherish family stories," Bond said.
She also encourages eye contact. Human interaction in the car or at the grocery store is much more important than the artificial worlds of television or video games, she said.
"And it doesn't need to be complicated or expensive," she said.
For parents with the time, board games are fun and help with learning, Hughes said. She also suggests reading the comics or signing a child up for the summer reading program at the local library. "And read, read, read," she said.
Jean Hawks, the owner of Fort Hill Child Development Center, believes every child should have a world map at home to help her geography skills.
This summer, Hawks plans to cover one country a week at the Fort Hill center. First, it's Mexico. The children will help Hawks make guacamole, salsa and nonalcoholic margaritas.
They'll also craft homemade maracas, speak a bit of Spanish and learn about Mexican art.
"Art enhances all domains of child development," Hughes said. "There's a lot of math in art. There's planning, spatial concepts. A lot of science, mixing colors."
Students will also learn about France, a country that Hawks has always wanted to visit. During 1960s week, children will make tie-dyed T-shirts and paint an old bus, she said.
"Themes just work because you don't hit something just one day," Hawks said.
Hawks encourages parents to introduce their children to local artists, take a trolley trip and show them parts of downtown Charleston or just take walks.
"Parents really are not only the first, but also the most important teachers because they're there every year," Bond said. "Parents, by their own behavior, really determine how children perceive education, how they perceive lifelong learning."
To contact staff writer Davin White, use e-mail or call 348-1254.
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Posted By: Beth(9:48am 06-06-2008)
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I agree with "a parent" that we need year round school. This would better prepare our kids for what the real life is like when they graduate.
Posted By: a parent(9:11am 06-06-2008)
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Year-round school would make all this unnecessary. Instead of 3 months off in summer, let them have a month off at different times of the year. Kids aren't going out and working in the fields now. The oldest ones might be working summer jobs, but year-round school is an answer for elementary and middle schools.
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