Your Child’s First Year at School: Tips for Parents
A generation ago, preschool and kindergarten days were filled with activities like coloring, water play, making friends, and learning to be peaceful at nap time. And, while reading and spelling may have been introduced in kindergarten, there was nothing like today’s pressure about school readiness. Sure, there are still art, music, and games,…
Tips for Parents | How to Spot Comprehension Weakness
Students with decoding issues, including dyslexia, can be easy to spot. They often miscall words (e.g., breakfast as “basket”); their oral reading is slow and “choppy;” and, spelling is tough to master. It is important to identify these students who struggle, so they can get the help they need. Unfortunately, there are many students…
Tips for Preventing the Summer Slide
Time away from school can lead to measurable learning loss in skills like reading. Teachers know all about “the summer slide”— students come back to school out of practice, maybe forgetting some of what they learned. For this reason, your child’s teacher may have encouraged families to make reading a summer priority. We’ve gathered…
Tips for Parents | Navigating Progress Reports
“It was fine.” “We didn’t really do anything.” “It was okay, I guess.” Students can be notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to sharing details of the school day. It can be hard for parents to glean how things are really going: did your second grader eat his or her entire lunch? Is…
Tips for Parents | Help Make Summer Reading Fun
During the school year, reading is built into a child’s day. Students are reading from the board, assignment sheets, and books at school, and during homework time. Parents may feel challenged when trying to squeeze reading into the summer schedule. No matter where your summer adventures take your family, it’s important to include regular reading…
Tips for Parents: When the Teacher Recommends Reading Help
Research shows that students who read over summer break end up boosting their reading skills, while those who do not, often slide backward, losing up to two months of what they learned during the school year. This is why teachers always encourage students to read as much as possible over summer break. But if your…
Back to School: Strategies & Tips for a Successful School Year
For many students, back-to-school season comes with the promise of a fresh start and another fun and successful year of learning. They eagerly fill their backpacks with sharpened pencils and new notebooks for each subject. But for students who struggle in school, they may instead be preoccupied with anxiety, stress, and waning self-confidence as another…
Back-to-School Tips: Imagine Better Mornings
Perhaps your kids just spent the summer at camp. Or they spent long hours in the pool or at the beach. Maybe lazy days were spent reconnecting with friends and family. Regardless, the back-to-school transition may be a big change for your family. Why not take this opportunity to establish new habits that contribute to…
Tips for Parents: Give Your Early Learner a Head Start
A generation ago, kindergarten days were only filled with activities like finger painting, “Hide-and-Go-Seek,” making friends, and learning to be peaceful at nap time. And, while reading and spelling may have been introduced in first grade, there was nothing like today’s pressure for students to be performing according to grade-level standards. Sure, there is…
How to Encourage Your Reluctant Reader
While you’d like your son or daughter to disappear into the land of Narnia or be swept up in a Harry Potter spell while reading, reality may reveal the opposite. In fact, your child might even say, “I hate reading,” and when finally sitting down with a book, emits forlorn cries of “Am I done…
