For Parents
Congratulations!
You’ve done it! You’ve completed the official first week of virtual learning. I hope you and your children found some activities to enjoy. Please think of the posts on this website as a restaurant menu: pick and choose depending on how you feel.
I thought this news clip from CBC was a good reminder just to take things day by day. https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1722543171610
Printing Numbers and Letters
Printing numbers and letters correctly is difficult for many children. Reversing numbers and letters is very common, especially in grade one. It takes lots of practice! Here are two videos which might help.
Writing Numbers: https://safeYouTube.net/w/KYu4
Writing lowercase (small) letters: https://safeYouTube.net/w/tZu4
Practice writing numbers in fun ways: tracing over letters with a highlighter, printing outside with sidewalk chalk, printing inside with flour sprinkled on a countertop (or with pudding!)
Reading with your Child
Here are some strategies to use with your child when they get to a word they don’t know. If you have a printer you might like to print this out to refer to during your ‘read to me’ times.
In class so far, we have used “read the pictures”, “skip the word” and “check and think” the most.
Helping with Spelling
One activity that your child should do each day is writing. And, as I have been hearing from parents, the children are having trouble spelling. Here are a few things to remember:
— Many children are just learning to spell words correctly. To start, they learn to say the word slowly and write down the sounds they hear. First sound, middle sound, ending sound. As their sound skills improve, the words they write get closer and closer to the correct ‘dictionary’ version.
Help them to write down what they hear, congratulate them for the sounds they write correctly and then show them the ‘dictionary spelling’.
— For words that they use often in their writing (such as because, there, school ) it is helpful for them to have the correct version to copy (especially since English has so many spelling exceptions!) Each child also has some favourite words they write over and over (dinosaurs, unicorns and rainbows are popular as well as family member names and favourite places) In the classroom words are posted on a ‘word wall’ and they each have personal word lists to use.
I thought it would be helpful for your child to have their own spelling dictionary to use at home. If you have a printer, please feel free to print this one out. It has commonly used words as well as space to add their own. (If you don’t have a printer perhaps you can staple several pieces of paper together and help your child make their own dictionary).
Let me know how it goes!
Hi Parents! I hope you and your family will find this website useful as you navigate the coming weeks.
My goal is to provide your children with some activities as a way of building on the reading, math and writing skills they already have. And, of course, I’ll add some fun things to do as well.
In this ‘For Parents’ section I’ll post information that I think you will find helpful.
Please be in touch and let me know of ways I can support you!
Cathy