Parent Involvement
Curriculum Information and Ideas:
How Parents Can Help at Home
SPELLING:
Basic words used in writing are expected to be spelled correctly at various grade levels.
Careful proofreading by your child is important. It is beneficial to help older children correct misspellings. Keeping a list of frequently used words that your child misspells and posting it where your child sees and studies it, may help him or her learn the words. Students should learn frequently used words for long-term use.
READING:
Have your child read out loud and/or silently each evening for at least 20-30 minutes.
Finding books and magazines of interest to your child that are at his/her reading level will help spark an enjoyment for reading. Studies have shown the more independent reading students do the better readers they become, and they achieve higher success.
Reading before bedtime each evening provides a consistent reading time. Students at all ages can enjoy being read to, which is great for fluency, expression, vocabulary building, and prior knowledge. Ask your child questions about the story: What do you think will happen next? What is the story about? How are characters alike and different? Who’s your favorite character? Why? ...
MATH:
Memorizing math facts is important for automatic recognition. This enables your child to complete complex problems more quickly and accurately. Students should review/learn their addition, subtraction, multiplication facts and division facts by 3rd and 4th grade. Consistent practice and review is necessary. If the multiplication facts are known well, division facts are much easier to learn.
It is helpful for parents to look over math papers at home. Noting the problems and having students do more practice on similar types of problems will help them prepare for future math work. Giving your child practical real life problems to work out with you is also very beneficial.
LANGUAGE:
Have your child write grocery lists, notes, and letters to friends and family. Remind children to use proper writing skills: capitalization, punctuation, and spelling. Writing stories, songs, "how to" instructions, and poems spark creative thinking. Buying a special notebook for home can make this more fun. Having your child speak using proper grammar helps make learning proper sentence-form easier. Helping your child proofread and make corrections improves students' writing ability.
SOCIAL STUDIES:
Encourage the use of books, the internet, and maps to find information on cities, states, and countries that are being discussed at home, school, or that are of some interest to your child. Study the United States and find other parts of the world that have something in common with different states. Study your heritage and where your ancestors are from. Have your child research areas of interest or past and future vacations.
HEALTH:
Learning about positive self-concepts and attitudes, being responsible and respectful, and the importance of hygiene, nutrition, and exercise are all parts of the curriculum that can be stressed at home. Healthful snack and lunch choices are encouraged.
SCIENCE:
Encourage students to do lots of exploring and investigating inside and outside the house. Talk about what your child is studying. Encourage further investigation at home.