It has been a long time since I wrote but life has been extremely busy.  I am finishing up my Master’s in Adaptive Special Education, I have taken on a new role in my job as the Special Education Instructional Coach in my building, and trying to get the school year off to a successful start.  Yes it is December and I feel like I don’t have any kind of routine for my kids, which is extremely frustrating to them and myself. Well enough about what is going on in my life.

A question that I get a lot from parents is “What do I do with my child during these long school breaks?”. This is what I have been telling the parents that I work with.  Your child has worked extremely hard and deserve a break so don’t push them to the max.  School is their job and just like us they can get burnt out Kids need a break but that doesn’t mean they should sit in front of the TV playing their new video games they have received for hours on end.  They do need to keep their little brains learning and working.  Here are some great ways to keep them working at home.

1.  Ask their teachers to make a “fluency bag” or a bag of books that are on their reading level.  Keep these books at home and have your student read for about 20 minutes a day.  You are saying but they are reading the same books day after day and you are so tired of listening to them.  Actually, when kids reread books it helps them to build their fluency so they can become fluent readers.  This also helps build their confidence.  

2.  Take your child to the library and let them pick out books for you to read with them.  It is extremely important for kids to hear what a fluent reader sounds like and you know even if they are in 4th or 5th grade they like to be read to.

3.  Ask your child’s teacher for sight words or phrase cards to practice at home.  These can be done as a game and when anything is made into a game they are usually having to much fun and don’t even know they are learning.  This next week and I will post some word and phrase cards as word documents that can be printed and used as flash cards or creating a game.

4.  Kids can always use practice counting money and telling time.  Let your child count any change you have in your pocket or purse and if they are able to count it correctly then they get to keep it and put it in their piggy banks.  Also just randomly ask them what time it is throughout the day.  This means though that you need to throw out all your digital clocks and replace them with analog.  These can be found very cheap at dollar stores and places like that.

5.  Lastly, if you are looking for any gift ideas buy your kids educational games or games they can play with friends.  These can help build social skills as well as academic skills.  

Hopefully these tips will help you pass the time with your child as well as keep your students learning even though they aren’t in a classroom.

Check out this website:  www.starfall.com

For our school to get off improvement 64% of the students in third, fourth, and fifth grades have to pass the reading and math test.  What does this mean for the teachers and students?  STRESS!!!! 

Basically this is how I feel about this whole process….

Why do we put this much pressure on our teachers and our students?  How many of you out there are horrible at taking tests and would much rather complete a performance based exam?  If you are like me I would pick the performance exam any day.  I am a horrible test taker and to me it really doesn’t show what I can do or what I know because I freeze up and forget everything.  In the end I come out looking like a complete idiot.  This is exactly what happens to our children though.  They are only give 6 days out of an entire school year to show the state and national government what they know. 

If any of you have any care for kids you will understand how obsurd this is.  Why is this country letting three or four little tests decide whether our educators are competent enough to teach these students?  So next time you are driving by a school building this time of year say a little pray for all of the teachers and students in there that are pulling their hair out.  Also, be supportive of any spouses or family members that are experienceing these times of stress. 

Also people have got to learn to ask specific questions in special education.  If you don’t understand what the student needs ask the previous teacher.  Guessing isn’t going to work and it is going to create more work for yourself and the student in the long run.  Sometimes as a human being you have to swallow your pride and ask for help.  I know for sure I have learned this the hard way and sure not afraid to ask for help anymore.  I really like to do things only once!