Along with teachers and students, parents play an essential role in a child's education. There are many ways - small and large - that a parent can help their child learn the skills he or she needs to be successful. Even by simply making a point to ask the child about what he or she is learning in school, parents can help students understand that education is important and that what the child is learning matters outside of school.

Ways a Parents can help a Child with:

Reading

Math

Spelling

 

Ways a Parent can help a Child with Reading: (pdf version)

• Read out loud to your child – books, newspaper articles, recipes, billboards and signs – anything!

• Let your child see you reading

• Ask your child about the books he or she is reading at school

• When reading a story with your child, ask him or her what he or she thinks will happen next

• After reading a story with your child, ask him or her to make up a different ending or to guess what would happen to the characters after the story is over

• Visit your public library regularly

• Set aside a time and place for your child to read – possibly a comfortable chair or a reading light for bedtime stories

• Encourage your child to write letters to family and friends, such as thank you notes

• Have a dictionary in your house and help your child look up new words he or she reads in a book or hears on T.V.

• Ask your child questions about what he or she is reading, such as…
• What is the story about?
• Who are the important characters in the story?
• Where does the story take place?
• Why did that happen?
• How did you know about that?
• Why do you think the character made that choice?
• How is this book alike or different from the last book you read?
• Would you recommend this book to others to read? Why or why not?

• Read mysteries with your child and help him or her to figure out the clues

• Provide crossword puzzles, word searches and other word puzzles, or help your child to make up his or her own puzzles with words

• Give your child a notebook, diary, or journal where he or she can write about family events, trips, or what happens in his or her daily life

• Have books and magazines in your home

• Allow your child to play appropriate reading and word games on the computer

• Ask your child to draw a picture that shows what is happening in a story

• Provide scrap paper, pencils, pens, markers and crayons

• Read poems and nursery rhymes out loud

• With younger children, make a game out of finding words that rhyme or words that start with the same letter or sound

• Look for after-school and summer reading programs at your school or library

 

 

Ways a Parent can help a Child with Math: (pdf version)

• Look for patterns and shapes in real life

• Have your child measure ingredients for a recipe you are making

• Ask your child to explain the math skills he or she is learning in school

• When helping students with homework or school assignments, ask your child to explain how he or she got an answer

• Allow students to play math games on the computer

• Play card games or board games that involve counting or patterns

• Have your child count down the time (weeks, days and/or hours) to a special day or holiday

• Ask your child to count the change at the grocery store, or to estimate the total cost while you are shopping

• Encourage your child to track or graph scores or stats for a favorite sports team

• Make comparisons: Which thing is the tallest? the heaviest? the longest? the smallest? the most expensive? the hottest? the most expensive?

• Provide flash cards (or help your child make some) to practice math facts

• Have tools such as a ruler, a scale, a calculator, and a measuring tape in your house

 

Ways a Parent can help a Child with Spelling: (pdf version)

• Have your child practice writing his or her spelling words in a wide variety of ways:
• On paper with pencils, pens, markers or paint
• With chalk on a sidewalk or patio
• With whiteboard markers on a piece of tile or linoleum
• By typing on a computer
• With his or her fingers in a plate of pudding!

• Have your child spell his or her spelling words out loud to you while riding in the car or waiting in line somewhere

• Use blocks, Scrabble tiles or cards with letters (or make your own by writing letters on the back of index cards – one card per letter) and have your child rearrange the blocks/cards to practice spelling the words

• Have your child spell words out loud in time with a physical activity. For example, he or she could do jumping jacks, saying one letter per jump, or while walking up or down stairs, saying one letter per step.

• Buy inexpensive one-inch square tiles at a home improvement store. Using a permanent marker, write one letter on each tile, making several of each letter. Have your child use the tiles to spell the words. The tiles could be used over and over for years.
• Additional idea: Use a different color tiles for vowels: a, e, i, o, u

• If your child has a long list of spelling words, have him or her focus on four or five words at a time, rather than trying to learn the entire list at once.

• Encourage your child to create words puzzles such as word searches or crossword puzzles with the spelling words, or you or an older sibling can create puzzles with the words for your child to solve

• Have your child write the words in alphabetical order or in order from shortest to longest

• Play hangman with your child using his or her spelling words

• Keep a dictionary in your house so students will be able to look up unfamiliar words

• Encourage your child to read! Good readers are often good spellers.

 

Parent Involvement