Math Jam: What is my child learning during KinderJam?

          There is so much emphasis on reading with young children, math skills are often forgotten about.  Rote counting, one to one counting, number recognition and number value are some of the math skills practiced during a typical KinderJam class.  Each skill is separate and will be achieved at different ages, but all are building blocks for future skills like adding, dividing and algebra. 

Rote counting is the ability to count in consecutive order.  Practice rote counting with your child in the car or while waiting in line.  Much like learning the words to a song, your child will learn the order of the numbers and may be able to count very high.  Many preschoolers will show you how well they count by counting very fast. As your child masters rote counting, remember to count to 20 or higher to prevent the conception that 10 is the last number (like Z is the last letter). This skill is a prerequisite skill to one-to-one counting and therefore must be mastered first.

One to one counting is the ability to point to objects and count them one at a time.  Practice this skill while playing with toys, pushing your child on the swings, waiting for food to come at a restaurant.  You’ll be surprised how many things can be counted!  Some preschool children will want to display their rote counting skills by counting fast.  However one-to-one counting takes more observation and isn’t about counting to the highest number.  Watch your child as he counts to make sure he isn’t counting objects twice or skipping numbers.

Number recognition is the ability to name a written number.  Playing cards, reading license plates, writing numbers in sand and naming house numbers during a walk are great ways for children to work on this skill. Choosing numbers at random instead of in order will ensure your child isn’t demonstrating their rote counting skills.

Number Value is the most difficult skill for a young child to master.  It involves matching a written number with the correct amount of objects. KinderJam practices this skill during the Number song when the child and parent hold up fingers while the instructor shows the number card.  

Come to your next KinderJam class prepared.  After practicing each skill at home, your child will enjoy the math songs so much more. “The Number Song” and “Counting All the Shapes” will come alive in a new way.  Always remember that you are your child’s first and best teacher. Now that you know the skills to practice, you can make learning a jammin' good time at home. 

Bring out the Little Scientists: Observing the Change in Seasons

  Its back to school time, and that means a change of season is upon us.  Even if your little one is to young for school, all around America, yellow buses are being spotted around town.  Soon the weather will get cooler, days will get shorter and leaves will begin to fall. 

      Noticing the changes in weather is a great way to bring out your preschooler’s inner scientist. Record you and your child going on a nature walk. Be sure to collect things you find on your walk, either through pictures or by collecting items in a zip lock box.  Follow the same route each month, recording your children and collecting objects during the walk. Let your child observe how the neighborhood has changed as Summer turns into Fall. 

Books can bring to life the year's weather cycle.  The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle illustrates the changing of seasons very well, showing how a seed travels and time passes as the seed begins to grow.  You can also use a calendar like you would a book, choosing pictures that depict natural scenes.  Tell stories about what is going to happen each month (family dates like birthdays or deployment dates, holidays and what the weather will be like).  Use the season changes to help children understand the concept of time. For instance, “Daddy is coming home in the Spring, when the snow is gone.” or, “We’ll visit Grandma and Grandpa in the summer, when it’s hot outside”

For a great family keepsake, take pictures of your kids near a local tree throughout the year.  This makes a great flip book. Your children can compare today’s picture, yesterday’s picture and last summer’s picture, noticing that the leaves have changed, the snow has melted and how big they have gotten over the year. 

What about kids in mild climate areas like Hawaii or San Diego? How do you explain season change when it never snows and the temperature never drops below 75 degrees?  Simple! Start a picture exchange with friends and family around the globe.  Share pictures via email, Facebook or old fashioned snail mail.  Your kids can compare the weather around the world by taping the pictures on a map of the world. 

How ever you do it, be sure you and your child are enjoying your time outdoors before the snow trucks out number the school busses.  Keep Jammin'

Secret Ingredient makes it a Super Smoothie

Kid Friendly Super Smoothie 

1 hand full spinach

1/4 cup water

Blend to desired consistency.

1/2 cup plain or greek yogurt

1/2 cup canned pineapples or pears

1 Banana

1/4 cup blueberries or strawberries (to hide green color)

Blend and serve

       Did that recipe just have the words KID FRIENDLY and SPINACH???? For years I have been using yogurt and fruit smoothies to increase the nutritional value of my picky child's diet, but never thought of using vegetables.  Recently I started adding spinach to the smoothy, adding healthy perks like iron, calcium and omega 3's to the delicious drink.  The sweet fruits hide the bitterness of the spinach and colorful fruits mask the green color, making it look like any other smoothie we've ever had. 

       Smoothies are a great breakfast for the busy family.  They include all the required nutrients a child needs in one meal! Pour the drink into a coffee mug for on-the-go breakfasts or serve with toast and enjoy a meal at the table to start your day.

Have left overs?  Pour your extra smoothie into popsicle molds and surprise your child with dessert before dinner.  Use as "syrup" over oatmeal or pancakes.  Or, my favorite, make breakfast cupcakes by substituting the smoothie in Bisquick's pancake recipe (1 cup Bisquick, 2 eggs, 1 cup smoothie. Add honey or agave nectar as sweetener.  Cook at 350 for 15 minutes).  

However you enjoy your smoothy, be sure to tell your child it has a secret ingredient that makes it a super smoothie.  Wait until they tell you how delicious it is before you let them know the secret. Keep Jammin'!

Start the Morning with a Routine Chart

August marks the end of the summer and beginning of the school year for many families.  If your little one is starting preschool, kindergarten or higher grades, creating a morning routine will help your child prepare for their school or daycare day.

Morning routine activities are a great way for children to learn independence, self help skills and self pacing.  Unfortunately, coupled with this great learning opportunity, is the adult’s need to be on time.  If parent and child are not prepared, morning time can become very stressful for both parties involved.  In order to start your day off on the right foot, plan out a morning routine that is right for your family.

Decide what tasks you want your child to accomplish and make a morning routine chart.  Above is a usable chart that fits the criteria for many on-the-go families, but you may want to add: Clear the breakfast dishes, feed the dog or say family prayer.  

       Many young children who haven’t learned to read yet can follow a picture chart on their own.  This will encourage your young one to get ready at an appropriate, yet self paced time frame.     The KinderJam chart is simple enough for a preschooler, yet is relevant to a senior in high school.  Give your children about a week to learn how to use the chart, and your mornings should flow much smoother.

Still having trouble getting out the door on time?  Add and expected number of minutes each task on the chart should take and provide your child with a digital kitchen timer.  Tell her to race the clock and get done each task before the timer beeps.  Be sure to give your child a big hand clap and an even bigger Woo-Hoo when she’s all done.

Traveling with Kids

If your PCSing, road tripping to grandparent’s house or flying across the globe, traveling with children is always an adventure.  When planning for the trip, be sure to keep your child’s age, development and temperament in mind.  A child under 2 will have a difficult time understanding, “if, then” statements (“If we stop the car now, then we wont get to Grandma’s before dinner”).

Think of alternatives to food for the child who needs extra encouragement (i.e. bribery) to get through an airport. When my daughter was 3, I flew from Hawaii to Philadelphia with her 2 week old sister by myself.  Instead of giving her M&M’s to get her through the obstacle maze that is the airport, I gave her Jibitz (we called them “shoe bling”) for her Crocs. She was happy to receive a prize for getting through security and wasn’t hyped up on sugar by the time we got on the plane.  Other motivators could be stickers, 1 crayon at a time from a brand new set, small figurines such as Littlest Pet Shops or Little People.

When trying to decide if a stroller/ carrier is necessary, consider your child’s napping schedule.  Any child who naps will be happier in a stroller or being carried during their regular nap time no matter where they are.  

Even though technology has blessed parents with portable devises that pacify our children during these long trips, eventually the batteries will run out and when they do, it is important to have a plan.  Check out the website Mom’s Mini Van at http://www.momsminivan.com/index.html for great age appropriate ideas for both car and airplane trips.  My favorite tip from this site is to bring a lollipop to suck on during take off and landing to avoid ear pain.  So much better than gum for my little ones!

Routines: A Parent's Best Friend

      

      “But I don’t want to go to bed.”  It’s a common phrase heard by parents around the globe.  But for families who have well established routines, children are muttering these words as they crawl into bed.  Why?  Because the family has established a consistant ritual that involves repetitive actions such as bath time, brushing teeth, reading books, saying prayers and then going to bed.  Parents can rely on the routine as a kind of extra parent in a way.  Mom isn’t nagging her daughter to get into bed, it’s the routine compelling her to do it.

Establishing good routines for your family will take time and discipline from Mom and Dad.  Some children will fight parents at the beginning of a new schedule, but as much as they argue, children find comfort in repitition and rituals. Understanding the flow of the day and predicting what comes next gives children a sense of control.  Even when required to perform a task she might not enjoy (i.e. brushing teeth in the morning or clearing her dishes after lunch) a  young child will learn through routine that fun activities like going to preschool or reading time with mommy, are in the near future.  

Routines can also help the adult who is new to the role of a Stay-at-Home Parent.  If you feel overwhelmed with your new role as 24 hour parent and playmate to your little ones, look for activities in your area and create a weekly schedule that includes one thing to do each day. For example:

Monday, Playdate 

Tuesday, Story Hour 

Wednesday, KinderJam

Thursday, Fieldtrip

Friday, Stay-at-Home Science. 

The rest of the day: Wake up, Eat breakfast, Daily Activity, Lunch, Nap, Afternoon Playtime, Dinner and Bedtime will be filled with routines and rituals that make the time pass.  This may sound dull and mundane now, but so is the life filled with Wake up, Eat, Work, Eat, Sleep, Repeat.  Remember to provide alone time and adult time for yourself and your spouse in your daily and weekly schedules. 

For more information on routines and how they help children, visit:

http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/family_routines_how_and_why_they_work.html

and

http://www.ahaparenting.com/parenting-tools/family-life/structure-routines

Close Out Your Summer Break with Reading Fun!

Host a Reading Marathon to close out the last weeks of summer!  Invite your friends to library play dates, keep a list of the books you read and have a party for every time you read 26 books.

Paint over sized boxes to create a special reading fort.  Add to the fun by bringing out some snacks for a reading picnic in your backyard.  

Bring books to the playground.  Sit together in the shade before you head home for a great wind-down activity.  However you do it, be sure to add reading to your summer schedule.

Many school aged children graduate one grade at reading level, but enter the next grade below grade level due to a lack of summer reading experiences. In the long run, these children read at a lower level when compared to other children who have rich summer reading experiences.  

As parents, you have the power to make reading a part of your child’s summer schedule.  Along with camping, cook outs, days at the pool and beach combing, you can  help make reading a part of what makes summer special!  This love of books will follow your baby through adulthood.

Summer PCS: The Start of a New Adventure!

It's that season again: fun, sun and moving boxes. With school on break from June to August, it makes sense that most military families try to PCS during the summer months. Between the Goodbye BBQ's, vacations to the extended family and unpacking of belongings in your new location, there is plenty of planning to do for you and your children.

Very young children may not comprehend the move, but the older they get, the more involved they can be in the move. Let your 2.5 year old fill a "very important toy" bag. This bag should travel with the child and hold things like a favorite stuffed animal, favorite book and a cozy blanket. Decorate a plastic bin and label it: Open First. This box should be filled with activities to capture your child's attention while the adults are busy hanging pictures and organizing the new house.

If you will be traveling to multiple destinations, print out a map at www.printable maps.net and label all the places you will visit with your PCS destination circled with big hearts or a gold star. Even young babies can participate in coloring the map, and it will make a great addition to a scrap book at the end of the move.

Use the Internet to your advantage. Google Map your new location to show your children where they will be living. Search www.schooldigger.com to find schools and real estate in your area. You can even plan a "discover our new home" adventure that involves a new play group, the library and a new KinderJam class!