Reading Activities
Read All About It--Introduce your child to the many kinds of information
in the daily newspaper. Ask your child to find the pages containing news
about government leaders, editor's opinions, weather reports, car sales,
house and apartment rentals, and want ads. Discuss how to use this information.
Follow the News--As a family, choose an important
news event to follow for a day or two. Ask each person to find as much
information on the topic as possible--read newspapers, listen to the radio,
watch TV news. Then talk about what everyone learned.Reading Activities
Writing Activities
Nice Words--Make someone happy. Write each family member's name
on separate sheets of paper. Add a note or a drawing--for example, "I like
the way you make breakfast," or "You make me happy when you do the dishes."
Fold the paper and put them in a bag. Ask each person to choose a paper
from the bag. Place the notes where they can be found by family members.
And watch for the smiles!
Looking at Advertisements--Take a closer look. Help your
children improve their thinking and writing skills by looking carefully
at newspaper, magazine, and TV advertisements. What is the main point of
the ad? What details does it use to communicate its message? For example,
a strong, handsome man holding a soft drink in an expensive car with a
beautiful woman at his side is telling us something about the soft drink.
Pro and Con: What Do You Think?--Make a family game of
discussing a special issue--for example, "Teenagers should be allowed to
vote," or "There should never be any homework." Ask your youngsters to
think of all the reasons they can to support their views. Then, ask them
to think of reasons against their views. Which views are most convincing?
For variety, assign family members to teams and have teams prepare their
arguments pro and con.
Math Activities
How Much Does It Costs?--Put math skills to work. Help your children
understand living costs by discussing household expenses with them. For
example, make a list of monthly bills--heat, electricity, telephone, mortgage
or rent. Fold the paper to hide the costs and ask your youngsters to guess
the cost of each item. Unfold the paper. How do the estimates compare with
the actual costs? Were they close?
Math Marks--Are they really necessary? Ask your children
to look through the newspaper to find and list as many percentages and
decimal numbers as possible--sale prices, sports scores, bank rates. Ask
what would happen without those marks?
Living Within Our Means--Teach children who have
allowances or regular spending money how to budget. Ask them to make a
two-column list of expenses and income. Under expenses, they list what
they expect to spend for movies, bus tokens, lunches, etc. Then, have your
youngsters add all the expenses and subtract the total from the income.
Ask them to think of ways to reduce their spending. If their income is
more than their expenses, talk about a savings plan.
Social Studies Activities
Expanding Horizons--Help your child learn about people from different
countries. Suggest talking to neighbors from foreign countries, reading
library books about other cultures, reading newspapers, and watching TV
specials. Let Your Voice Be Heard--Promote good citizenship. Help
your child write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper about an
issue affecting children. For example, suggest that a bike path be built
near the school or that a city event be planned for youngsters. Children
are citizens and their ideas are worth hearing.
Health Activity
Stretch, Run, Bike--Ask your child to do at least one kind of exercise
every day. For example, run or walk briskly for 10 minutes. Walk, when
possible, instead of riding, for any distance less than a mile. Have your
youngster make a week-long exercise plan. Try to think of a modest reward
for sticking to the plan and exercise right along with your child.
Remember--keep the talk flowing. It's the stuff high test scores
are made of and it's the basis for parent/child closeness.Think of these
as starter activities to get your ideas going. There are opportunities
everywhere for teaching and learning.
Take a little time to do a lot of good!
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