No Sliders

Summer break is here which means a change of pace and routine for everyone. For children it means a chance to get outside- get lots of physical exercise, lots of practice interacting with peers (formally and informally), and a chance to explore nature. And no sliders!!!
These are great activities and should be encouraged along with the activities to maintain and strengthen what was learned during the formal school year. It is a natural and great time to incorporate academic learning in daily activities.
Reading a variety of materials with your child opens the practice of oral communication. Children of all ages have lots of ideas and love to be heard. Include poems, magazines, newspapers, comics, menus, advertisements, labels, signs and the posted pool rules or even something found on line. Discussions may include the sequence, main idea, problem and resolutions, predicting, character study, the setting and the illustrations. On a more casual side, discussions can go to family rules, safety ideas, opinions, comparisons, implications, logical thinking and problem solving, reflections, and creating your own game or story.
Visit the library with regularity. For a change get a selection with no or few words. Have your child write or dictate to a tape the text s/he has created to go with the story. I’m sure the children’s librarian knows more. Don’t forget that the library has a great summer reading program. Perhaps during the summer the entire family can have “BEAR” time- Be Excited About Reading. Even though your child will choose books, you might add one or two. When you come across a book that was a favorite of yours when you were little, revisit it. That’s special for your child to know and its fun to share. Most importantly have your child read daily.
Encourage your child to write: write letters to friends and relatives, take notes or messages, help write the grocery list, write notes to you, write a story, and keep a summer diary or journal and make one for a special trip with pictures of course. Please have your child edit and revise. I also understand the many libraries have passes to get into local museums free or with a reduced charge.
Have your child use measurement, tell time, count money, make change, read a calendar, read recipes, read prices as well as to continue practicing facts to mastery, counting objects by 2’s, 3’s, 5’s, 10’s, read large numbers , start at a random number and count on or back, and make up story problems. For example how many centimeters are there across the bed or kitchen table? Work on constructive responses which are having your student explain how s/he arrived at the answer. The other option is to do have your child do a think aloud. The answer of “I just thought about it” is no longer enough- have your child think about how he/she thinks (learns). Point out all the math around them (including making change, reading amounts, and estimating). I’m talking about all ages here. For those older have them help prepare for new floor covering (finding the area) or check your work etc.
While watching TV together, ask your child about what is happening. At the end ask what happened, or who the characters were and what a character did. It is also fun to have your child predict the out come and discuss if this could really happen (great for sports). Decide if a program is fiction or nonfiction. Have your student support their opinions with some reasons. Have your child make a summary or do a retell (write or tell). A fun thing to do is to rate the TV program by making up a rubric- for value, of use of time, expectations etc.
Don’t forget that board games, card games, and jigsaw puzzles are all good exercises for the brain. Play dough, bread dough, cookie dough, and garden dirt help strengthen the wrist and finger muscles when kneaded, formed, and rolled. Cutting coupons or pictures are good practice with scissors. Your child can help sort coupons and laundry. If you hang clothes, spring clothespins use the same fingers as are used in writing. Let your child help. Insist on neat, legible, well spaced handwriting.
Outside your child might enjoy drawing pictures on the driveway with chalk (it washes away nicely) or use water and clean paintbrushes to make disappearing pictures.
Remember that your child should have regular responsibilities no matter what age. Summer is always a good time to add one or two more. It gives your child a chance to learn the task correctly and have it become routine before school starts again. Since telling time is something to work on it is often a good idea to say such and such needs to be done by a certain time. This helps develop a sense of ownership and independence. This should not be you having to remind continually- being independent and responsible is what we, as parents want for our child. What are some strategies we use to remember things? That’s a great discussion to have with your child. Teach everyone to wash the car and help in the yard and in the house.
Have a great summer. Above all relax and enjoy this time with your child. Talk with your child; listen to his/her dreams and concerns. Remember your child needs relax time and alone time too. Encourage some self-direction and use of independent skills.

Nutrition

The other day I was half listening to the national news and one line caught my attention. “...the recommendations for nutritional school lunches are being turned down due to cost.” I wanted a rewind which did not happen but my mind kicked into gear with thoughts, questions, and argument.
My first thought was the idea that we are a nation of unhealthy eaters. This led to many more thoughts including the amount of people who are encouraging healthy living and that this nation is looking for ways to reduce health costs. One of our First Lady’s initiatives has been the idea of healthy eating, healthy body- reducing and preventing childhood obesity. There are currently medical shows and reality shows that encourage developing positive eating habits or work at exposing the difficulties in health, mental health, and the fight/struggle to reduce obesity. Daily we are inundated with weight loss programs. And last week we were all introduced to a very user friendly plate that is a guide to balanced eating.
Lots of implications relating to education came into my mind concerning nutrition. For many children the school lunch is the only or largest meal of the day. With the current economy there are many children on free or reduced lunch programs in public schools. Shouldn’t it be a tasty nutritiously balanced meal? The lunch program in elementary schools is where some children develop their food tastes as well as seeing a variety and what portions are appropriate. I see school lunch programs as an opportunity for paying forward and developing healthy eating habits and attitudes. For the child that brings a packed lunch it is the same situation. What is in that lunch is important to that child. A question running through my head was how much of a money maker is the lunch program for school districts?
Just an aside, there are many and a variety of lessons and educational experiences that could be part of the many areas of curriculum involved with what a child is eating and health.
We as educators see how food choices affect our children during the school day. Elementary educators will tell you a healthy breakfast gives students the advantage. We notice that students with a healthy breakfast start the school day being more alert, more focused, more positive, and more ready to work than the child who didn’t start with a nutritional breakfast (and a good night’s sleep). Many educators could share stories of children whose days were affected by what they ate not just whether a breakfast was eaten.
After lunch there are days when the children are not as focused; downright cranky, or lethargic and not ready to go forward with a continuation of their academic day. I wonder how often that is directly related to the nutrition in the lunch?
Medically we need to be looking at the fact that many of our children are overweight, or suffer from malnutrition, and some are dealing with medical situations so well balanced meals are a must. As my dentist reminds me- the body is a closed system so what you feed it affects the entire system. Many of us have heard- “you are what you eat’’.
As a country we are looking for ways to reduce medical and insurance costs. We all know that our habits affect our bodies. This includes our nutrition. How often are the media sharing with us that eating this or that can affect the chances of various diseases?
It would seem to me a nutritious lunch at school and daycare might be an excellent way to start healthy eating habits, introduce a variety of foods, and affect long term mental and physical health. Obviously it would give many children that competitive edge everyone is looking for. Perhaps the overall health of the next generation could be better because we begin young to help each child to gain knowledge and take ownership and responsibility of food choices. Healthy living choices could become the norm for the majority. Let’s pay forward-that could lead to …………..