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.

Parent Tip

Take a look at ways to keep your child organized with these great ideas Scolastic has to offer. Teaching kids how to be and stay organized helps kids to build good habits they will use throughout their lives.

Quick Click: 12 Ways to Develop Your Child's Organizational Skills

Cultivating a collection helps your child build sorting, classifying, and arranging skills.

Sponsored Links:

Keep a family calendar. Track everyone's activities on a prominent and accessible calendar, encouraging your child to write her own entries and reference the calendar when making plans. You also might consider checking schedules and updating the calendar as a family over Sunday breakfast.

Introduce checklists. Whether it's as simple as "3 Things To Do Before Bed" or "What To Take On Vacation," creating and referring to lists together will develop your child's ability to strategize tasks and organize his time.

Assign chores that involve sorting or categorizing. Grocery shopping, emptying the dishwasher, sorting photos, cleaning out a closet, and other tasks that involve pre-planning, making lists, or arranging things are great choices.

Get ready the night before. This one's always tough — for both of you — but it does work if you can get in the habit.

Use containers and closet organizers. If there's a place for everything, she'll find it easier to find items, keep neat, and clean up. Build "pick up" time into the daily routine.

Buy your child a planner. Ask him to help you pick it out or choose one that will appeal to him so he'll be excited about using it. Having his own planner will show him you consider his time valuable and encourage him to create a schedule. Be sure to routinely coordinate the information with your family calendar to avoid conflicts.

Organize schoolwork. Make sure your child's keeping notes, homework, handouts, and graded assignments in separate folders in a binder. Try to check her backpack nightly and set an time aside each week to go through her binder and get things sorted.

Establish a homework routine. Help your child make a "study hour" schedule and set up a comfortable workspace -- whether her room or the kitchen table. Encourage her to stick to the schedule even when she doesn't have homework (She can read, review notes, or even do a crossword puzzle.)

Create a homework supply box. Fill a box with office supplies and encourage your child to store pens, paper, measurement tools, and a calculator in it so he'll have what he needs on hand.

Cook together. Cooking teaches measuring, following directions, sorting ingredients, and managing time — all key elements in organization. Involve your child in meal planning too, challenging her to help you put together a shopping list.

Cultivate an interest in collecting. If your child has a particular interest, encourage him to create and organize the collection. It can even be something free — such as rocks or cancelled stamps — that he can sort, classify, and arrange.

Reward and provide support with organizational tasks. Your child may find organizing a challenge, so help her develop her routine and give her a treat for jobs well done!

http://www2.scholastic.com

Friday Fun

Looking for ways to help your family learn and grow while having fun? Check out Wonderopolis at http://wonderopolis.org for some awesome ideas on how to incorporate learning into everyday activities. Check out the "wonder of the day" for great topics to further learning and literacy development in children of all ages!

Friday Fun

Marble Art

Required: Small containers, tempera paints, paper plates, spoons, extra paper and marbles

Place a precut paper onto your paper plate. Pour tempera paints into small containers and place marbles into the various colors. Spoon out marbles one or several at a time onto the paper plate and while using wrist action allow the marble to roll around leaving a very colorful design. You might want aprons on the participants or you can do this project outside to prevent making too much of a mess.

http://www.funattic.com/game_family.htm#anchor15