dhiya responded January 16, 2008 at 4:10AM

  

Hey there,I picked some tips from Mybaby which will help you..Here are the links

http://www.mybaby.com/PlaygroundItem/Item/2627/Preschool_Activity_MATCHING_GAME.htm

http://www.mybaby.com/Journal/dustbunny/Item/274/Sounds_Good_to_Me_Hands_On_PreReading_Activities.htm

http://www.mybaby.com/Journal/dustbunny/Item/3785/LETTER_SOUNDS_10_Easy_Ways_to_Teach_Sound.htm

I hope I helped you...Have a nice day..

  LatteMommy responded January 16, 2008 at 12:29AM

  LatteMommy

also try picking up some preschool/K work books. go to the education store and they are full of great ideas and tips for teaching. we use a wipe board and go through the abc's and numbers.

  dustbunny responded January 16, 2008 at 9:39PM

  dishing the dirt, cleaning the chaos

hey! great questions! here are my two cents:
1. kindergarden... should have practice with shapes, patterns, sorting, sizing and stuff like that; animals, basic classifying (animals, plants, etc). PLUS practice with fine motor amd coordination like scooping, pouring, cutting, rolling, pinching etc.

2. words? start with his name and last name and mom and familiar words

3. no rule about how many words...teach some sight words maybe? TRY BOB books- seriously, google bob books and you will have a great set of beginning readers.

4. NOT TOO YOUNG FOR PHONICS...the better the building blocks, the more solid reading will be later. any child that can take words apart and put them back together by sound is in great shape! In Montessori and other types of education, they learn the sound before the letter name..like "t" is "tuh". breaking words down by sound parts in front of a child is great modeling- it teaches phonemic awareness.

5. Maybe he doesn't have to sit! Plaster activities on walls, stand at a table, make learning into movement games. like put five letters around the room. yell, hop to the "buh" sound and have hiom hop to the b - you can do ALOT without sitting! letting him choose activities (you present a few choices) also helps with engaging him into the action...

good luck!

  Sticky_Mommy responded January 17, 2008 at 11:41AM

  I love my job, it gives me a break from my kids!

Dustbunny has some great advice - plus she has a Masters in Early Ed so she knows her stuff! ;)

  scirillo responded January 17, 2008 at 9:58PM

  

I am not sure what state you are in. But, Children should know how to write their name, basic colores, shapes, and numbers. They should have some social skills- (such as sitting in a group, waiting their turn, following directions, ect..)
If your child is not is preschool, I would suggest taking him to a story time at your libary - or church group.. somewhere where he is around other kids his age in a "structured" setting. Where he has to listen. At home you can have a story/school time. Set up a shoe box or soemthing like it with items you ONLY use for this time. That way your child knows when it is time to read, or play that rules (such as sitting, listening,ect) are expected.
Playing with playdough, picking up cheerioes and gluing them, ect can help with small motor skills that will help with writing..
They will be required to be reading simple stories, writing a dictated sentence, and other such "1st" grade skills inorder to be on target for 1st grade.
While this can be overwhelming, DONT STRESS!! Make it fun for your child, and not a "task" that way they will learn to love learning...not be fearful of it.

Good luck!

  tripadiamondmomof3 responded January 27, 2008 at 4:20PM

  "Remember that everyday is not promised 2morrow"!!

my stepson is also 5 and i also have an 11month old and a 2 yr old so i understand completly to get Dacoda (my stepson) ready for school we did alot you may have tried some of these things but i will just list them
we used the flash cards for numbers adding and subtracting but along with it we havee a little tikes chalk board and we used it alot for things likewriting out the problems himself so he will know how to do it first hand instead of my showing him for example 2+2=? then next to the 2 put 2 lines or magnets or anything he could count that will help he recognize what thenumber id worth and how to add it also learning on his fingers is very important because he may not have counters or a cholk board at school using the chalk board is easiest during nap time when the baby are asleep and he can get 1 on 1 but also when he gets up in the morning stcik to words 4 letters or less for exmple resite threw the day if he has milk in his cereal show him the gallon so he can see the word and recite milk m.i.l.k milk in my cereal milk m.i.l.k. mom m.o.m mom gave me milk in my cereal also though color words are usually pretty long such as orange and yellow they are things that will realy help him to learn ahead of time words that big are deffinatly writing time for example on my chalk board it had the abc's so i would write a word on paper or the chalk board(during nap time) and have him write it 5 times a day untill he remembered it but he alwasy had a reference if he forgot what a spicific letter looked like another one is teache him how to spell ur 11 month olds name and make sure when u r driving or anytime u have spare time u r reciting "2 plus 2 is...4" "how do we spell cat...c.a.t...cat" "1 minus 1 is zero" and make sure (this is most important) you have to involve evryone for example "grammy today Dacoda learned how to spell mom Dacoda tell gramma how to spell mom" and give him lots of incouragment threw anyone close to him also he might like to right people lettters...like you write something and let him copy it for his dad like we missed u while u were at work...let him copy it on his own paper and make a picture then he can show daddy or anyone else what he is learning it gives him a chance to brag!!!!
ok so that was a novel but i hope it helps!!!