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My earliest memory of reading is singing from the Baptist hymnal. I remember being four-and-a-half, standing next to my mother, moving my finger under each hyphenated syllable as we sang. This was a new honor, as my mother had always done that job. Now I could do it! I know that singing with the hymnal […]
Kitchen Scene: Mom and Dad are getting dinner ready after a busy day. Soccer practice is in 45 minutes. Enter six-year-old with book. “Mom! Dad! I have to read ten pages out loud to you tonight for homework!” Mom and Dad look at each other and sigh. Perhaps you have sat painfully listening to your […]
Six-year-old Michael had his head down on his writing paper, shoulders heaving with sobs. “I can’t do it. It’s too hard.” I knew he was right. It was too hard for him. As a teacher, I know and believe the more children write, the higher their reading level becomes. What would help him start to […]
“What’s this word?” my students ask. “Oh, you know it.” I reply. “No, I don’t.” Then I give them the secret. “What if I told you it started with a capital letter?” For the beginning reader, we add an unnecessary difficulty to learning the letters and their sounds by introducing fifty-two letters when twenty-six is […]
How can we cultivate gratitude in ourselves and others? A few years ago a friend of mine with young children asked my advice about how to help her children appreciate the good life they had, a life full of love and comfort. She told me that when she looked at the ads of children in […]
“My child is 7 years old and is not reading.”“Help! My child is ten years old and is reading on a second grade level”.“My 7th grader is making D’s and F’s. What can I do?” Over the years, many parents have asked for my help with their children’s academic progress. Time after time, the children […]
“It’s just a miracle!” parents exclaim. “Our son is five years old and he’s reading.” When children begin to read, it does seem miraculous. Remember when your child began to talk? It seemed as if one day she couldn’t say a word and the next day she could, then you could never get her to […]
Don’t teach your children their abc’s,” I tell surprised parents of three-year-olds. “They’ll learn their abc’s later, but to be wonderful readers they need to learn something else first.” Most of us learned the letter names, as we sang our “abc’s” (aye-bee-sees). To learn to read faster and more efficiently, help your children learn the […]
Avoid the trap of thinking that the road to reading for your child will begin in kindergarten. Parents tell me, “Oh, I’m too busy. I’ll just let my child learn to read in first grade.” For many children important skills for reading are not developed at the time of their lives when it is the […]
Want some tips for having a productive parent/teacher conference? For many of us, the most dreaded event during our school years was…being sent to the principal’s office. Unfortunately, some of those childhood memories make it difficult for us to be enthusiastic about going to meet with our child’s teacher. I’ll share a few tips on […]
