Experts in the classroom offer back-to-school tips


For families throughout most of the Northern Hemisphere, a new school year will soon begin. Following are some tips that parents can use to help make the year go smoothly for their children. To gather these tips, Reading Today contacted members of the International Reading Association’s new Teacher Advisory Panel (TAP) and received a wealth of ideas. Some are presented here; others will appear in future issues of the newspaper.

Be a real reading buddy
By Maurna Rome
  • Be your child’s reading buddy. Parents should set aside time to sit next to their child and read together.
  • Read aloud to your child. This should continue well beyond the point when children can read independently.
  • Find a series. Children who like one book in a series will probably enjoy the others as well.
  • Move beyond fiction. Often, struggling readers like informational books about topics that interest them.
  • Make reading purposeful. Link reading to activities you are doing, such as going to the zoo.
  • Sneak in the writing. Writing reinforces reading, and vice versa.
  • Use junk mail. Have your children read your junk mail and find 10 words they like. They can cut out those words and glue them to a piece of paper.
  • Keep books everywhere. This makes it easy for children to find reading material.
  • Read books on the go. Place books in the car, which makes it easy for children to read as you are traveling or running errands.
  • Start a book club. Parent–child book clubs support readers of all levels, and the discussions can be enlightening.
Maurna Rome is a first-grade teacher at Hawthorne Elementary School in Albert Lea, Minnesota. These tips are adapted from an interview by Molly Millett in the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

Ask a new question
By Ruth Larson

“What did you do in school today?” If your children answer “nothing,” maybe you should try a new question.

Beginning your after-school conversation with “What was the best part of your school day?” will yield totally different and more productive responses. Children may answer “recess” or “being with my friends,” while others might say “gym” “lunch,” art,” or “music.” Some may even answer “reading.” Any of these answers tell you more than “nothing.”

Each answer is valid for a school-age child and represents an important part of his or her day. More important, these responses are gateways to the conversations that you should want to have. For instance, if one day your child says the best part of the day was lunch, it opens the door to discussions about friendships or nutrition.

In the end, the goal is having time each day to talk with your child about what is significant during the hours at school. An open-ended question asked with genuine, nonjudgmental interest in the answer will start the school year off brilliantly.

Ruth Larson is a fifth-grade teacher at Colorado Academy in Denver.

Slow down
By Carol Jupiter

We are always in a rush to get there, wherever “there” is. We rush to work, the gym, school, ballet class, ski club, baseball practice, hockey tournaments, and dinner. All this rushing may leave us exhausted, grumpy, impatient, tense, and anxious. Our children are, too.

We complain about not having time to ourselves—down time, me time. We need to ensure that we also give our children opportunities to wind down and relax.

We need to evaluate the way we spend time together as a family. We need to consider our children’s real needs: to be active, to learn, to relax, to have free time, and to dream, imagine, create, and absorb.

So, put your credit card away, free up time on your calendar, park the car, and spend family time together. The school year will look a whole lot better.

Carol Jupiter is a second-grade teacher at Whitney Public School in Ontario, Canada.

Organize
By Michelle Best

This is the number one skill that will make children of all ages successful: Prepare for the next school day the night before by laying out clothes, packing lunches, and organizing book bags. This also gives you the chance to go through your child’s daily papers and monitor any problems that may be present as your child learns new concepts.

Michelle Best is an eighth-grade integrated language arts teacher at Austintown Middle School in Ohio.

Communicate
By Sara Jennings

Parent involvement is extremely important for ensuring student success, and one way to get involved right from the start is by clearing a space on the refrigerator or message board for the classroom newsletter. These newsletters contain valuable information about activities, lessons, and daily school routines. They are a good record of what is happening in your child’s class and a useful resource to refer back to later for information. They could also be saved as part of a scrapbook of the year.

Along with newsletters, many teachers are using electronic forms of communication such as blogs or a social networking site. Get involved by making comments about the posts and letting the teacher know how you are using the communication and what you do or don’t like. This feedback lets teachers know that you value their communication. Active parents feel more informed about their child’s school year, which will lead to a positive experience for your child.

Sara Jennings teaches second grade at Morgantown Elementary School in Kentucky.

Editor’s Note: IRA created the Teacher Advisory Panel as a way to more fully represent the needs of classroom teachers, who constitute the largest segment of the Association‘s membership.

 


Experts in the classroom offer back-to-school tips (August 2010). Reading Today 28(1), 38.