10 Questions to Ask Your Child About School: Quick Click | Scholastic.com

"10 Questions to Ask Your Child About His Day at School"

Get a sense of your child's life at school by asking questions that elicit more than a one-word response.
Move beyond 'fine' and 'nothing' by asking your child to describe his world.

The trick is to ask about things that are specific, but still open-ended. It's also great to start the conversation with an anecdote from your own day. Try one of these conversation-starters: (As found on Scholastic.com)

Tell me about the best part of your day.
What was the hardest thing you had to do today?
Did any of your classmates do anything funny?
Tell me about what you read in class.
Who did you play with today? What did you play?
Do you think math [or any subject] is too easy or too hard?
What's the biggest difference between this year and last year?
What rules are different at school than our rules at home? Do you think they're fair?
Who did you sit with at lunch?
Can you show me something you learned (or did) today?

Friday Fun!!!

Egg in a Nest

There's no better way to start off your family's mornings with a great breakfast. Here's a new twist on an old favorite that your kids will be sure to love...

Instead of serving your egg on toast, try serving it in toast. This breakfast classic, also known as Egg in a Saddle, Egyptian Egg, One Eye, and Bird in a Nest, is a long-standing favorite.

Ingredients
1 egg
1 slice of bread
1 tablespoon butter

Instructions
Crack the egg into a bowl and set the bowl aside.
Use a 3-inch cookie cutter (circle, heart, star, or flower) to cut a shape out of the piece of bread.
Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Place the bread in the pan and fry it lightly on one side (you can also fry the cutout shape). Flip the bread over. Reduce the heat to low.
Carefully pour the egg into the cut-out hole in the middle of the bread. Cover the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the egg has set in the bread 'nest.' For an over-easy egg, flip the egg and bread and cook it on the other side. Serves 1."

Thanksgiving Parent Tip

Chopstick Pass-Along Thanksgiving Games & Activities FamilyFun:

This is a fun and inexpensive way to keep little hands busy while you finish the cooking!
What You Need
Chopsticks
Unshelled walnut
Acorn
Cranberry
Pea
Small plate

Instructions
Give each player a set of chopsticks and place an unshelled walnut, an acorn, a cranberry, and a pea on a small plate next to the oldest player. She begins by using the chopsticks to pass each object, from largest to smallest, to the person on her right, who receives it with chopsticks and passes it along to the next player. The object is to try to get all four objects back to the starting plate without dropping any of them. Players unable to manage the chopsticks can use a teaspoon instead."

Friday Fun!!!

Thanksgiving Turkey Wall Hanging - FamilyEducation.com: "Thanksgiving Turkey Wall Hanging"

Materials:
Construction paper or small paper plate
Marker or pencil
Glue
Dried beans and uncooked pasta

Directions:
Trace around your child's hand (fingers spread out) on a piece of construction paper or small paper plate.
Using the pen or marker, draw an eye and beak on the thumb and turkey feet at the bottom of the traced hand.
Decorate by gluing on dried beans and uncooked pasta.

Parent Tip

How can I ... help build his self esteem?

Children with high self esteem believe in themselves and have a sense of importance and self-respect. Self-esteem affects how your child will approach new tasks or challenges and how he interacts with others. Children with low self-esteem may avoid challenging activities or may give up quickly when things aren't going his way. He may also be bossy, have a low level of self control, and have difficulty making friends.

Children with high self-esteem feel a sense of trust, security and feel accepted by others. They understand their own self-worth, have self control and are willing to take on challenging or difficult tasks.

To promote your child's self-esteem you can spend lots of time with him, especially in activities that he enjoys and is good at, and allow him to make some decisions, so he can learn responsibility and can feel that you trust him. Learn to praise your child and to pay positive attention to him and teach him how to accept praise for his accomplishments. Also, do not always rush to rescue your child from frustrating experiences. Instead, try and help him solve the problem himself.

National Family Literacy Month

November is National Family Literacy Month. Since 1994, National Family Literacy Month has been a month long effort to celebrate and remind families of the importance of reading and learning together. Reading to/with your child is valuable in many ways.

Reading helps you child develop basic thinking and social skills such as:
* teaches children about communication
*introduces concepts such as stories, numbers, letters, colors and shapes in a fun way
*builds listening, memory and vocabulary skills
*gives kids information about the world around them
*teaches the ability to solve problems
*teaches the ability to speak, understand and write properly

Even if your not a reader yourself, you can still impact your child's academic and social success.You just have to send the message that reading is fun and important.