Category: blog

Do you have a child heading to kindergarten in the fall?  Now is the time to assure he or she is ready!  Your child may be excited or have many questions.  Addressing these questions, supporting academic readiness, and providing emotional support will ease the transition and build a foundation that will foster a love for learning.  The following are some general skills students are expected to have upon entering kindergarten, according to the Illinois Early Learning Project: Hold and use a pencil, crayons, and scissors. Speak well enough for others to understand what she is saying. Say her full name and how she gets to and from school. Handle self-care tasks such as hanging up her coat, going to the

  As we all experience this snowy, bitter winter many thoughts come to mind.  Will my car start?  Will school be cancelled?  What am I going to do with my kids all winter?  Winter can be long, but remember winter is an exciting season.  This year the 2014 Winter Olympics will begin in February!  As the Olympics approach, take this opportunity to learn about the host country as well as all the sports.  What is curling?  What are the different types of skiing?   Yes, we cannot get outside as much, but we can still find activities to keep everybody busy.  Gather the troops and create a list of winter activities to do as a family.  Have each family member contribute

As we gear up for two big sporting events in February, many people will be talking about the super bowl and the winter olympics.  Not everyone is interested in participating in a conversation about sports, so I’ve developed some questions to make talking about sports more interesting. Super Bowl Questions: What is the NFL? What NFL team is from your state? How many teams are in the NFL? Where will the  NFL play offs be held in 2014? When is the super bowl? What two teams will be playing in the super bowl? What states are the two teams from? Winter Olympics: What events are in the winter olympics? In what city will the winter olympics be held? In what

The first week of January, is a good time to reflect on the past year and an excellent time to work on language skills.  A fun activity for you and your family is to make a time capsule for the year 2013. You can use a snack tube (Pringles container) or jar and choose any items you want to decorate the outside of it.  While decorating your container, make sure you talk about what decorations you are using and why.  To fill the inside, you can use family photos, tickets from trips, memorabilia, or anything else that can symbolize events from the past year. This is a great time to work on summarizing and sequencing as well as using the

The Museum of Science and Industry is my favorite Chicago museum. They currently have a new Walt Disney exhibit that I look forward to visiting. Going to museums with a family can be pricey, but here are some Free Days for Chicago museums: Adler Planetarium: free general admission with valid Illinois id on December: 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17 Art Institute of Chicago: children 14 and under receive free admission always; Illinois residents get free admission Thursdays from 5-8pm Chicago Children’s Museum: free admission for everyone Thursday evenings 5-8 pm, free admission for all ages under 15 the first Sunday of every month Chicago History Museum: free admission for Illinois residents January 20th, with free special

Brr…brr…brr…As winter approaches, many words come to mind-boots, hats, melting, mittens, chilly, cold, snow, wet, hot chocolate, etc.  Can you think of other winter words?  Here are some activities to build language skills. Look in a magazine for clothing items you wear in winter. Have your child describe his or her favorite winter item. Name foods that are chilly. Make hot chocolate with your child.  Have your child tell you the important steps. Compare and contrast winter clothes.  mittens versus gloves or hats versus earmuffs Find a winter craft to do. Make a list of winter sports. Have your child draw a picture of a favorite winter memory. Ask your child to think of winter words that start with each

  When I think of winter, I think of snow, which makes me want to make a snowman. Winter is the perfect time to build a snowman out of actual snow outside, but if you want to stay warm indoors, you can also make a snowman inside! You can use marshmallows, shaving cream, construction paper, cream cheese, or many other foods, gels, or craft materials. Making a snowman, using whatever materials you decide on, is an excellent language activity. Concepts you can focus on include: Size concepts -You can use words like small, medium, and big -You can also use comparatives (bigger, smaller) and superlatives (biggest, smallest) Sequencing -Talk about the activity, as you are completing it and once you

  Bubbles are always fun to blow, but did you know that you can blow bubbles in the winter too?  You can use regular bubble solution and a bubble wand to blow icy bubbles outside on a cold day.  Alternatively, you can make your own bubble solution with water and liquid soap. A wide range of speech and language areas can be targeted including: Articulation -You can work on bilabial sounds (sounds we make with both lips, including p, b, m) Social Skills -You can work on turn-taking Increasing the length of utterances -You can work on combining words (I want bubbles, more bubbles please) Basic Concepts -You can work on concepts including: high, low, up, down, one, many Oral-Motor

  Tar Heel Reader is a fun and easy to use website that lets you make your own short books with pictures AND lets you look at other people’s books. The literacy center teamed up with the computer studies department at UNC-Chapel Hill to make it and I have been using it since graduate school. To search for and look at books made by other people, all you need to do is type the search terms and voila! You can look at any of the books, print them, or have the computer read them aloud to you and the child(ren). These books have been written by people all over the world and you can find books written in different language. 

Magic tricks can be a fun activity to target language skills.  As your child learns the magic trick, he or she can share the new trick with a friend or family member.  There also is a great deal of communication happening during the task, such as problem solving, following directions, etc.  After learning the magic trick, your child could perform the magic trick in front of the family.  Taking pictures or recording the magic trick will help your child with his or her narrative skills and sequencing skills, too! Check out the magic tricks at the link below: http://www.kidzone.ws/magic/