Activities III -- Helping Your Child Succeed in School

Reading on the Go

For children ages 7 to 9

Show your child that reading has value in everyday life.

What You Need

• Map of your areas
• Bus, subway and/or train schedules for your area

What to Do

	Children need to learn that reading is not just something they do in school - it is important in all parts of their lives.

• Help your child use a map to mark a route to a special place, such as his school, the football stadium, the mall or his grandmother's house. Help him to figure out the distance to the place.

• Next, give him a bus, subway or train schedule and have him find departure and arrival times and the rates. Have him figure out how long the trip takes and how much it costs. 

My Time Line

For children ages 7 to 9

You can help your child use events in her own life to gain both a sense of time and to understand the order in which things happen.

What You Need

• Shelf paper
• Yardstick
• Pencils, makers or crayons

What to Do

	Making and reading time lines helps children to learn about the flow of history and to develop an understanding of cause and effect.

• Place a long piece of shelf paper on the floor. Have your child use a yardstick to draw a line that is three feet long.

• Talk with your child about important dates in her life - the day she was born; her first day of kindergarten, of first grade; the day her best friend moved in next door; and so forth. Tell her to write the dates on the line. Invite her to add dates that are important for the whole family - the day her baby brother was born, the day her favorite aunt got married - and the dates of any important historical events.

• Display the finished time line and ask your child to tell other family members and friends what it shows. 

Time Flies

For children ages 9 to 11

"I don't have time to do that!" Sound familiar? Planning time is one of the most useful things that your child can learn. Knowing how long something will take can save time and prevent temper tantrums.

What You Need

• Paper and pencil
• Clock
• Calendar

What to Do

	Being on time or not being on time affects other people. It is important for children to understand their responsibility for being on time - it's not just for grown-ups.

• Together with your child, write down estimates of how long it takes each of you to do certain tasks (such as getting ready for school or work in the morning; ironing a blouse; making toast). Use a clock to time at least one of these tasks. Then take turns timing each other. (Be realistic - it's not a race.)

• Talk with your child what part of a job can be done ahead of time, such as deciding at bedtime what to wear to school the next day.

• Talk about at least two places that you and your child go where you must be on time. What do you do to make sure you are on time? 

Homework Made Easy

For children ages 9 to 11