Family Music Month

Apr 042010
 

 By Esther Jantzen, guest poster

Singing songs with kids is magical! Making music in any way stimulates the brain, brings happiness, and creates a sense of belonging. How about making your house a singing house regardless of how well any of you stay on pitch. Babies, toddlers, preschool children, elementary students, middle-school kids, high-schoolers all love to sing together. When you have time with your kids and want to do something fun, make music in your home. Whenever you get a chance, sing! Here ís what you can do:

1) Almost everyone in our culture knows certain songs like Old MacDonald,Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Row, Row, Row Your Boat, and I’m a Little Teapot. Sing these and other common tunes to your kids. If you don’t know them, get a recording and play it for your children.

2) Make up your own songs to familiar tunes. Choose words that fit your family’s interests like, Dribble, dribble, dribble your ball… or Mom and Dad, they had a house, e-i-e-i-o….

3) Sing when you’re driving somewhere. Sing when you’re out on a walk. Sing every day. Singing conveys love. It touches us deeply.

 4) Do you remember songs you learned as a child? Songs you learned at school, in your place of worship, or from radio or TV ads. Do you know lullabies? Have you passed them on to your children? It makes a great family tradition to pass songs on. Do you love opera or gospel or blues? Sing with your kids.

5) Moving with music activates parts of the brain that might not get exercise another way. Play a lively song and dance free-form . March to your own music. Strut to your own songs.

6) Have your kids teach you songs they’ve learned. If they have a favorite song and don’t know the words, look them up on the internet or in a song book.

Write the words down and carry them with you until the kids know them.   * Family Music Month supports the English-Language Arts Content Standards related to listening and speaking strategies.

Esther Jantzen, Ed.D, is a mother, an educator and the author of Plus It! How to Easily Turn Everyday Activities into Learning Adventures for Kids available at www.plusitbook.com and the Way to Go! Family Learning Journal available through www.jantzenbooks.com

FAMILY READING HOUR

Mar 192010
 
Reading to Zachary

Reading to Zachary (Photo credit: hoyasmeg)

by Esther Jantzen, guest poster

It’s great when children read about subjects that really interest them. Their knowledge and vocabulary expand. Kids start to read eagerly when they see their parents reading eagerly. So sit down and enjoy doing that together!

Here’s an activity to try:

1) Plan a family time when you make independent reading important (when each person reads something they choose on their own).

A weekend evening may work well, or try it on a slow summer day, after a holiday meal, on a rainy day, or when someone’s recovering from the flu and you want to keep things a little quiet.

2) Invite family members to bring what they want to read to the same room and get comfortable.

They might bring a magazine, a comic book, a novel, a newspaper, a technical manual, a cookbook, an atlas, a non-fiction work, a book about animals, a hobby manual, or anything else appropriate. Turn off the TV or radio.

3) Let everyone know that you’ll be spending at least half-an-hour together in the room, with each person quietly reading what interests them. If you have a child who is too young to read, let them look at a picture book.

4) After the quiet reading time, invite each person to talk about what they read, saying whatever they want to say. And if someone gets stuck or doesn’t know what to say, you can ask:

  • What’s something that you learned?
  • What did you notice?
  • What was the best thing about what you read?

5) You may want to serve a snack after the reading time.

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Family Reading Hour supports the English-Language Arts Content Standards related to reading comprehension, literary response, and delivery of oral communication.

Esther Jantzen, Ed.D, is a mother, an educator and the author of Plus It! How to Easily Turn Everyday Activities into Learning Adventures for Kids available at www.plusitbook.com and the Way to Go! Family Learning Journal available through www.jantzenbooks.com

SPECIAL POWER

Jan 152010
 
Cinderella -Fairy Godmother -Maris Anderson -1893

Cinderella -Fairy Godmother -Maris Anderson -1893 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

by Esther Jantzen, guest poster

Often fairytale, book, or film characters have special powers A fairy godmother can turn pumpkins into coaches and mice into horses, and Superman can fly. Kids enjoy imagining they too might have a special power that could help them solve problems and help others. It gives them a chance to think about how they’d like the world to be. This activity can lead to talking about what kids really can do through their strengths and abilities, which are their real ‘special powers.’ Here are several ways to do this:

First read a story or book that has a character with a special power  like Cinderella, The Cat in the Hat , Harry Potter , The Phantom Toll Booth , or any such story. Then choose one or more of the ideas below.

1) Ask your child how having that special power helped the character. Then ask, “If you had a special power what would it be?” Let them tell you what they would do with that special power. What would be fun and what would be hard about having it? Encourage the child to make up or write a story about having a special power.    OR

2) Invite your child to imagine the character with special power was his or her friend. Then ask, “What would happen in our house if ___ walked in?”   OR

3) Ask your child to tell you what special power they would like YOU, the grown-up, to have. This could lead to a lively discussion. Let them talk about why they’d want you to have that power and what they would want you to do with it. Then you and your children can make a list of the real strengths and powers they have such as friendliness, courage, curiosity, humor, honesty, perseverance, cooperativeness, and imagination. Hearing these words helps kids develop a rich vocabulary and a strong sense of their abilities.

Special Power supports the English-Language Arts Content Standards related to reading comprehension, narrative analysis, oral explanation, and inferential thinking.

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Esther Jantzen, Ed.D, is a mother, an educator and the author of Plus It! How to Easily Turn Everyday Activities into Learning Adventures for Kids available at www.plusitbook.com and the Way to Go! Family Learning Journal available through www.jantzenbooks.com

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