Friday Rainy Day Fun!!

A tradition all kids participate in while growing up is making forts out of furniture, blankets, and cushions. The next rainy day that comes around, help your kids construct their own super fort in the family room. They'll stay busy all day long with fun, quiet activities to play inside their new imaginary castle.

Simple Strategies for Creating Strong Readers

		Without doubt, reading with children spells success for early literacy. Putting a few simple strategies into action will make a significant difference in helping children develop into good readers and writers.

Through reading aloud, providing print materials, and promoting positive attitudes about reading and writing, you can have a powerful impact on your child's literacy and learning.

• Invite your child to read with you every day.
• When reading a book where the print is large, point word by word as you read. This will help your child learn that reading goes from left to right and understand that the word said is the word seen.
• Read your child's favorite book over and over.
• Read many stories with rhyming words and repeated lines. Invite your child to join in on these parts. Point, word by word, as your child reads along with you.
• Discuss new words. For example, "This big house is called a palace. Who do you think lives in a palace?"
• Stop and ask about the pictures and about what is happening in the story.
• Read from a variety of children's books, including fairy tales, song books, poems, and information books.

Friday Fun!!

Benefits of Bicycling

There's a special bond between kids and bikes that can never be broken. Riding a bike is a rite of passage, a passport to worlds beyond the front lawn. Bikes represent fun, freedom, and fresh air -- everything that's good about being a kid. Moreover, biking is a healthy pastime that kids will never outgrow.

Here are some of the other benefits of cycling:
Developing strength, balance, and overall fitness
Burning up calories
Strengthening the heart, lungs, and lower-body muscles and bones
Developing and strengthening the muscles surrounding the knees without impact

But biking boasts other benefits as well. Children of all shapes, sizes, and abilities can ride a bike. Most important, bicycling is a healthy outdoor activity that the entire family can enjoy together.

Parent Tip

Did You Know...

• Kids who are read to do better in school.
• Reading aloud to a child raises her self-esteem and reading ability.
• Becoming a better reader helps a child do better in social studies and math.
• Keeping a diary helps a child become a better writer and reader.
• Reading the print on cereal boxes is good practice for a child.
• Allowing your child to read in bed is a good habit to start.
• Children will read on their own a book that has been read aloud to them.

Friday Fun!!

Evolving Story
This activity is best done with a clipboard to hold several pieces of paper. Have someone in your family begin a story with a single sentence. Pass the clipboard to another member of the family to write a second sentence. Continue this process until a short story is completed. It is funny to see how the story changes and to see the personal touches that everyone adds to the story.

Monday Parent Tip

Help Your Child Become a Good Friend

Four- to six-year-olds are learning what it means to be a friend. They will have fun times as well as arguments and hurt feelings. It can be tempting for parents to try to solve these problems themselves or by talking with the other child’s parent. Instead, guide your child to solve problems. With your help, your child can learn how to solve social problems.

1. Help your child understand the other child’s point of view. “I guess Suzie wants a turn too.”
2. Teach your child the following:
• Stay calm
• Do not hit, grab, or shove
3. Use words:
• “I get upset when you talk to me like that.”
• “I’m sad you don’t want to play with me.”
• “I’m angry you took the ball from me.”
4. Stand close by and watch as the children solve their problem. Being close by puts the children on their best behavior. This is how they begin to develop the confidence and skills to communicate honestly, calmly, and politely with others.