Friday, April 30, 2010

Friday Fun!

My Songbook
[25 Minutes]

You don't need a professional singing voice to share music with your child, just have FUN! Make a book with your child to preserve your favorite family songs.

You'll need:
• hole-punched plain white paper • pen • plastic rings or binder • markers

What to do:
As your child learns new songs, write the words (and the melody in notes if you wish) onto sheets of paper.
Encourage him to make pictures to go with each song.
Bind the pages together with plastic rings.
Invite him to share the book with the rest of the family.

Let's Talk: Ideas to Explore Together.
What is your favorite song in the book?
Are there any songs that you want to add to the book? Let's name the songs.
Let's make up new words to your favorite tune.

Useful information:
While you are having fun together, this activity will help your child develop language skills and social skills.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Children's Fair Book Drive Success!

Thanks to the incredible support of our communities, every child who stopped at the Project READ booth last Saturday during the Children's Fair was able to go home with two new (to them) books. Once again Project READ volunteers came through with an estimated 3000 books donated to our book drive.

A big thanks goes to our business partners: Brewed Awakenings, Reed Drug, the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce, Edward Jones financial and the Itasca County Courthouse for hosting sites. Thanks also to the families of Southwest Elementary, RJEMS, St. Josephs School, and Greenway Schools for their generous support.

Tiffany Madsen's Girl Scouts troupe came through by placing Project READ stickers on close to 1500 books & the Kiwanis Daybreakers supported the drive at RJEMS.

Finally, the support of the Minnesota Reading Corp members at the Children's Fair ensured that everyone found a book they could enjoy.

Monday, April 26, 2010

Parent Tip

Increasing Responsibilities

To give kids a chance to earn extra money, and increase their responsibilities around the home, try posting a "Help Wanted" sign detailing various jobs and the pay for each job. For example, water the plants - 50 cents. This also helps build self-confidence and teach the importance of hard work.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Friday Fun Activity

Secret Messages

Have your kids write messages or draw pictures on pieces of white paper using white crayon. Have them paint over it with some weak watercolor paints and their artwork or message will magically appear.

Monday, April 19, 2010

Parent Tip

Expect Success

In order to learn, children must believe that they can. The feedback they get from teachers is significant, but parents are the most important adults in children’s lives. Whatever you say or do about your child’s abilities as a learner affects your child’s opinion of himself.

Friday, April 16, 2010

Friday Fun

Celebrate Earth Day....April 22!!!

Pine Cone Bird Feeder
Collect large pine cones during a walk through a park. Let the children tie a long piece of yarn around the top of each cone. In a bowl, mix 3 tbsp, of peanut butter with 3 tbsp. of margarine. Working over newspaper, use a spatula to spread the mixture all over the pine cone. Pour wild bird seed on a paper plate, and roll the pine cone in the seeds, pressing them in to cover the entire cone. Hang the pine cone from a tree branch by the yarn string for the birds to enjoy.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Parent Tip

Spelling Dictionary

To help young kids who are learning to spell, try creating a "dictionary" for your child. Use a spiral notebook, and designate two pages for each letter of the alphabet. Whenever your child asks you to spell something, write it on the appropriate page of the dictionary. The next time he needs that word, he can look it up in his dictionary. Not only does this reinforce spelling skills and keep frequently used words readily available, but it encourages sight-reading as well.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Parent Tip

Playroom Fun

A fun and inexpensive way to decorate a playroom or child’s bedroom is to use chalkboard paint on the walls. You can paint and entire wall, or several walls at your child’s level. It is as simple as painting the wall, and the kids get hours of fun, and can finally really write on the walls!

Friday, April 2, 2010

Friday Family Fun

Gak Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup Elmer's glue
  • 1 cup liquid starch
  • Pour glue into plastic container.

    Add starch a little at a time, stirring with a spoon or kneading with your fingers as mixture thickens.

    Keep stirring until mixture holds together like putty.

    Test with your fingers: if too sticky, add more starch in small amounts until mass is smooth and rubbery.

    This is fun activity for the whole family... Great to make outside too!