Preparing for Kindergarten

I was reading a blog and unfortunately I don't remember where it was, but it was a blog from a Kindergarten Teacher. She was encouraging people to prepare their kids for Kindergarten and said that Kindergarten is no longer what it use to be. By the end of Kindergarten kids are now expected to read simple words. What can you do to make sure your kids are ready?

Motivation

My son has just recently started reading. He loves it when I read to him but getting him to read now that's another story. I was helping my kids write a simple story and when it was finished he wanted me to turn it into a movie so he wouldn't have to do any work. That's my boy!! So how do you motivate kids to do something?

FREE STORY TIME

Story time is so much fun. My kids love it. They love listening to the librarian read to them at library story time. We don't make it very often but I found a solution. Barnes and Noble offers FREE story time with authors and celebrities reading the stories.

Equation race

Here's a fun game the whole family can play. You need 6 dice (3 dice with numbers 1-6 and 3 with 0, 1, 2, 7, 8, 9), paper and pencils.

Spelling

Spelling - UGGGG. Spelling. Remind your kids that if they learn the phonics rules it will make spelling so much easier. If they learn their Phonics sounds (ph says f, ea-says long e, short e or a) It will make this task much easier.

You Are Your Words

Here is a neat site. YouAreYourWords.com It takes your picture and turns it into your words. What a powerful way to teach kids about how their words makes them who they are. This would be a great way to teach about bullying, just a fun way to do a writing project about a historical figure, or a great scrapbook keep sake.

Dreambox

I just found out about dreambox math when a reader posted a comment. Thanks for telling me about it. I'm always looking for new sites to review. We just signed up for the free 14 day trial and so far it's been really fun.