Help with teaching little kids!

Parent Cafe
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<p>Well, my little brother and I are spending the summer taking care of our nieces while my sister takes GED classes. Aside from the traditional babysitting, activities, making lunch, we’re expected to work with them on some age appropriate skills for school, because one will be entering school and one has special needs and needs consistent summer review.</p>

<p>Today was my first day working with this and I encountered some problems that I was hoping I could have some advice for. My older niece is 8 and is learning disabled, in addition to having ADHD and a low IQ (though I wonder about the accuracy of the latter considering the former, knowing how hard it is to get her to sit down and focus on anything). She seems, more than anything, to struggle mostly with the same learning disability as her mother, having difficulty with both speech, reading certain words that can’t be chunked, and reading comprehension. As such, I’m supposed to work on these skills with her using various workbooks, but I just can’t get her to sit down and actually attempt to read and comprehend what she’s expected to do. I know she is capable of chunking out words, but she gets so discouraged, frustrated, and hates reading so much that I just cannot get her try. </p>

<p>For instance, I was trying to help her work in her grammar book, and it was a section on identifying the subject of a sentence. The goal is for the child to read the sentence, identify the subject, and copy it down on the written lines. However, I just couldn’t get her to attempt to read the sentence, no matter how much I cajoled her, and she just grew frustrated and upset. She loves to do her math and never gives me a problem with it, and she’s okay with her speech exercises, but the reading is just like pulling teeth and I really could use some strategies to make this work. </p>

<p>Also, I’m expected to work on teaching my younger niece, who is 4 going on 5, the alphabet, counting to 10, and how to write her name in preparation for kindergarten. She’s making progress on the numbers already, but I don’t know how to approach teaching her to write her name. The way I was taught at that age was that I was just drilled by my mother to replicate the image, but I’ve also always been a very attentive kid, so I don’t know whether that strategy will work on my niece. Should I work on teaching her individual letters first so she can begin to comprehend how her name is composed, or am I overcomplicating this?</p>

<p>Is there any real trick to getting her to memorize the actual alphabet other than just singing the song? She seems to do okay with the song up until I, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t really associate most letters with their appearances and is unclear about the names. As I remember thinking when I was learning my alphabet, she seems to believe that elemeno is a letter. Any tricks in getting her to differentiate?</p>

<p>Also, I have a workbook for her to practice her letters, but I’m having a hard time getting her to sit down and practice the ones that are more difficult. I got her to do a line of As with relative success, but then she started flipping through and decided doing O’s would be easier. :)</p>

<p>Any helpful strategies from the mommies and daddies out there who have some experience with this? I feel like I’m not being organized enough to make this stuff sink in.</p>

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<p>How old are you??? That’s a lot on your plate.</p>

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<p>I’m 18, so I’m doing this as a summer job (or, well, a really extended volunteer service if my daycare application is eventually denied).</p>

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<p>It is typically best to try to teach a 4 yr early in the am or shortly after the nap. Also try to incorportae arts and crafts…make an alphabet book using contruction paper. </p>

<p>Example, make a large A on the paper (block style) and then give her an apple cut in 1/2 and let her dip it temper paint, ask her to fill in the lines. Now she has an A! Repeat all of the letters in block style…for B you can use cotton balls and let her glue them down. C use circles, so on and so forth. Then everytime you look at the book with her you are making it fun since she did it! When she is done it is a book she can read with mom…also in big letters put what the object is on the back, this also assists in teaching how to read…i.e. she’ll associate A with the apples, see the word apple and start putting them together</p>

<p>You can do the same with numbers. Make sure you only put the no. of objects to the number…for 1 you can cut out a potatoe as a 1 stencil, </p>

<p>For the older it is best to get is a cookbook. Cook together, it will teach math and help her in short grammar. Try going to any book store and look in the clearance aisle, let her pick it out. This will also help with her ADD. Let her teach you how to cook lunch for her sister or make a fun snack.</p>

<p>You need to get it to be fun and not summer school</p>

<p>Good luck</p>

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<p>The older daughter sounds like a visual learner and visual learners are a fairly small percentage of the population. They tend to have a lot of difficulty learning to read using phonetic methods and usually are better reading the whole world. It might be related to the ADHD. BTW, I read up on this a long time ago so these are just my recollections.</p>

<p>I would suggest simple readers. The McGuffey Readers are an example but they are very, very old. The teaching approach is brilliant though. It is a very slow and progressive approach with short words, then short sentences, then longer words and longer sentences. You can replicate this with individual books but it can take a lot of effort finding the books.</p>

<p>For handwriting, letter stencils are commonly used. You can find these at teacher supply and early learning stores. There are some on the internet that you can print out too.</p>

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<p>

I teach kinder so I’ll give you some quick suggestions. Forget the workbook. Motivation is everything, and right now your niece has no motivation and is not finding success at reading. You need to awaken that desire to read by helping her be successful. Go get some easy reading books that your niece can read comfortably. (Go Dog Go. Are you my Mother?, Little Bear, Frog and Toad…) Tell her what a great reader she is, and have her practice reading them so that she can read them to her little sister. Repeat readings are very important. Show her how much you enjoy having her read to you. When she is comfortable and fluent with the easy books, introduce a new book. Do a “picture walk” where you look at the pictures together and talk about the story. Point out a word or two that yo think might give her trouble and help her chunk it. Read it with her, then have her read it several times until she is comfortable enough to share with sister. Tell how much you enjoy having her read to you, again. Continue throughout the summer. Find joke books to share, comic books, etc
Re; kinder student. Read lots of alphabet books from the library. Chant the letters of her name as you write them, and make a little poem out of them if possible. Talk with her about the shapes of the letters. ("oooo, let’s write the “A”. Let’s see, first I need to draw the line up and make a point, then come back down. Hey, it looks like a mountain, doesn’t it. Okay, now let’s draw the line across the mountain…)</p>

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<p>I remember my kids coming home from preschool with a different letter drawn on a piece of construction paper three times a week (three-day preschool). The same paper also had a picture drawn by the child of something that was spelled with the letter and, sometimes at least, things that begin with the letter glued to it.</p>

<p>Maybe working with flash cards for the words that give the older girl the most trouble would help her to feel a bit more successful because she’ll begin o recognize them visually and, hopefully, become less reluctant to read. Then you could do some sort of reward system as she reads. For instance she could make ink stamp marks on a piece of paper for each difficult word she reads and after she gets x she can run to the mailbox and back or some such active reward. My son’s 2/3 grade teacher had a couple boys who just couldn’t sit still and focus and she used to periodically tell them to go run around the sand box twice and come back. It seemed to help them get rid of some energy. Also, I have a vague recollection of a conversation with a teacher who’s masters is in special ed about something to do with spinning (as in twirling while standing or on a twisted up swing) and barrel rolling (like, laying flat with arms at sides and rolling down a hill) being important to brain development and learning. (Sorry, that’s kind of vague but maybe you can google for more info.)</p>

<p>Edit: Anxiousmom’s post reminds me: Another fun way to read is to choose a more advanced book–something that meets their intellectual level even if not their reading level (something adventurous for this girl, I’d guess) like James and the Giant Peach or The Minpins–and read the book to her while following the words with your finger. Periodically stop and have your student say the word you are pointing to. When she’s done a few easy ones stop on a more difficult one. Also, choose some difficult words that the context helps a lot with once in a while and be sure to build her confidence plenty with easier words (whether because you know she knows them or because she’s guessed from context). My son was a good little reader but reluctant to read the very early reader books; he was much more cooperative with the more advanced books that were really a challenge for him, but had the reward of an actual story. The Magic Treehouse books, in particular, would keep him interested.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the advice thus far! I’ll definitely have to sit down and discuss these things with my sister, and see what she thinks about some different strategies. My only big concern is that I’m pretty sure my older niece got the workbooks through her school, and I think she may be required to do them for school. :\ Her grade school practices A LOT of rote learning, especially spelling words. </p>

<p>I’ll definitely work on incorporating arts and crafts as much as possible, because my nieces love that. I’m unfortunately on a nonexistent budget though, because I can’t get paid for 6 weeks until my application is processed, at which time, assuming I’m approved, I’ll receive pay for the prior weeks. </p>

<p>One thing we tried with the older one today that seemed to help a bit, is that we had an age-appropriate reading computer game with activities that involve recognizing what word would make the sentence make sense, working on some simple reading, etc. She seemed to be a lot more receptive to that because it was more interactive.</p>

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<p>hmm, I don’t have nearly as much on my plate but I am trying to tutor my cousin (going to 2nd grade) in math. I’m having some difficulty motivating her too. Also, the simple addition facts she really needs to memorize just aren’t sinking in (how do you teach someone to memorize math facts?). Can I get a little advice to help/motivate her as well? ( Not as important as OP’s request though, Good luck to you!)</p>

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<p>HyperJulie, finding & copying the subject of a sentence just doesn’t seem like an appropriate exercise for your niece. It sounds like torture for a girl with her issues. I am not an expert, so I can’t really give you any advice on what WOULD be appropriate … the suggestions here look good to me, though. While I am no expert in what to do, I can definitely tell you that I doubt very much the work you describe is going to be effective for your niece. Who came up with this for the girl? Is this something a special ed teacher designed for her? If so, then I will defer to the specialist (although with the thought that he/she might not have come up with the best idea). If this was not assigned by someone who really understands the problems a child like your niece has … is there someone available who CAN give some better assignments? If it ends up being you who must figure out what to do, start with the suggestions here. Then watch her carefully, see what she responds to, and give her more of what works. Kids like your niece simply can’t work in certain ways, and no amount of trying to get them to do it will work. That doesn’t mean she can’t learn. She just learns differently & you need to try to figure out what works with her learning style. Best of luck. You sound like a caring young woman, and that will go a long way toward helping your nieces.</p>

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<p>Multiplication Rock (an old video) may be useful for teaching multiplication.</p>

<p>For addition, you need to make sure that they understand addition and place value if you’re going over ten. Spending two minutes in the morning going over a set of facts may work well if done every day.</p>

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<p>I have ADD & am probably dyspraxic. Lots of familarity with things that don’t work- with LD kids.
I suggest using gross motor skills to help her.
Moving our physical body helps make new pathways in brain.
Try making songs out of number facts ( try getting help from Schoolhouse Rock)
Start with things that you know she knows- to give her a sense of confidence and to help reinforce.
Try bouncing a ball back and forth, while saying number facts- she could even just be repeating what you say- until she feels ready to try it on her own.</p>

<p>I have a little booklet called brain gym that has exercises that help with concentration.
Things that are cross lateral ( like swimming, or rock climbing) are especially good at engaging the brain. Try taking them swimming first- I bet they will be able to focus better after.</p>

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<p>My boys loved playing with magnetic letters and numbers. There are a lot of fun activities and games they can make up. My older one used to “test” the younger by having him bring the “A” or “M” or whatever. </p>

<p>Both of them also liked to have me read the same book over and over until they had it memorized. Then they would “read” it to me. It helped with their reading skills.</p>

<p>You can check out Seuss and other books from the library. Magnetic letters are cheap at the grocery store or a dollar store. Garage sales might be a good place to shop too.</p>

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<p>Peggy Kaye has some books called “Games for Learning,” “Games for Reading,” etc. which have good suggestions for various learning styles.</p>

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<p>Julie,
I’m a teacher, although at the secondary level. I totally agree with kelsmom about the inappropriateness of the subject-identifying exercise for a struggling 8 year old. If you absolutely must do this due to a school assignment, put it off until after you have won your neice’s cooperation, and then use the strategy first with simple sentences from reading material she is interested in (that you might be reading aloud to her). I’m not really up on current favorites for that age group, but if there is a public library that you can get to, consult a children’s librarian. Or maybe some other parents will make suggestions here. One series I remember my girls loving at that age was Amelia Bedelia; other favorites were by Beverly Cleary, but I’m sure there are some more recent things that would also appeal to your niece. The main thing is to get her engaged in the stories, even if you are doing the reading and only asking her a few words now and then and building up to “now it’s your turn to read a sentence” at the end of each paragraph. With her attention issues, you’ll need good recommendations for high interest material, and even then, start with very short sessions.</p>

<p>Also at the library, look for some books by reading specialist Janet Allen. I especially recommend Yellow Brick Roads: Shared and Guided Paths to Independent Reading. Allen’s work is intended more for middle and high school remediation, but I think many of her strategies, especially her questioning techniques, will help you a lot. </p>

<p>For the younger child, my kids loved Chicka Chicka Boom Boom - a very catchy alphabet book that I’m sure you can find at the library. I found free printable coordinating color book pages here: [Chicka</a> Chicka Boom Boom Book Break](<a href=“http://www.dltk-teach.com/books/chicka/index.htm]Chicka”>Chicka Chicka Boom Boom Book Break)</p>

<p>Anything tactile/active will help reinforce what the kids are learning and help make it fun. So building on the great suggestions from other posters, playing games with the children forming their bodies into alphabet letters (think “Y-M-C-A!”), sidewalk chalk to practice outside, shaping playdough into letters, or cookie dough - let the older girl read the recipe - bake, then turn eating the cookies into another game - eat the cookies that spell “dog.”</p>

<p>Bless your heart for taking on this challenge! I’ve known so many kids who would have benefited from the kind of interest you are showing in your sister’s children.</p>

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<p>Echoing the kudos to you for taking on this challenging (but helpful!) job!</p>

<p>Something most of my friends have found helpful for early letters/sounds: the LeapFrog videos (Talking Letter FActory, Word Factory & a math one). You might be able to get them from your local library or via inter-library loan. Also, most libraries have fun, educational software (w/age level on cover so you can know which is appropriate).</p>

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<p>I agree with the posters that your niece’s ability to identify the subject of a sentence is of low importance compared to her general reading ability. You should have her read aloud to you to assess if she has learned phonics. You should try looking for homeschooling resources. Our kids found the “Sing, Spell, Read & Write” curriculum extremely helpful for learning phonics and beginning reading.</p>

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<p>Here’s a free website with lots of reading activities, including actual stories, etc. It’ll be good for both your nieces. [Learn</a> to Read at Starfall - teaching comprehension and phonics](<a href=“http://www.starfall.com%5DLearn”>http://www.starfall.com)</p>

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<p>There’s a Dr. Seuss book that’s the alphabet used phonetically. It’s "Dr. Seuss’s ABC: An Amazing Alphabet Book "I can remember some letters:</p>

<p>“Camel on the ceiling” for example, which teaches kids the concept that c has a hard and soft sound, without making this a rule. </p>

<p>It teaches the letters of the alphabet, but gives words which start with each letter. </p>

<p>There’s another book by Dr. Seuss that teaches phonics without being boring like a workbook. The title is “There’s a Wocket in My Pocket.” It’s silly and fun.</p>

<p>Do look for really simple books like “The Fire Cat” or “Cat in the Hat.”</p>

<p>Since money is an issue, head for the library. You can probably borrow them there.</p>

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<p>I am a special ed. para and one of the strategies we use is work boxes with visual schedules. Find preferred activities, ex. video, snack, game, play doh, bubbles etc. and put pictures of them on the visual schedule to choose from after the “work.” Say first we’ll do this, (1,2,3) then you can do this, the preferred activity. You may want to put work in 2-3 different boxes with numbers on them. At first put very little in them and work your way to more and then when she is done with her box or boxes she can do the preferred activities.</p>

<p>The visual schedule should be simple icons ex.</p>

<p>The Number “1” which stands for the first work box
The Number “2” for second work box etc.
Work your way up to 4 or 5 when they get the swing of it.
Then pictures of preferred activities. When she gets done with the work boxes she can pick an activity. While she is doing the preferred activity refill the boxes. If she complains simply POINT to the number you’er on and then to the preferred activity as a gentle reminder. </p>

<p>Change activities in the boxes to keep them interesting. It’s like opening a present and wondering what you’ll find next. Every once in a while you might put in some fun markers and paper to practice letters or even play-do for fun. Kind of a surprise, especially if they are having a tough day. It might just turn them around and then you can get back to work. Cheap plastic shoe boxes work well for this with numbers on them in permanent marker .</p>

<p>Then you tell her: “First you… then …” Point to the icons as you do that.</p>

<p>You can simply make the visual schedule on the computer or better yet help her make her own. Then you can laminate it. </p>

<p>I hope this makes sense. It works great for our kids. PM if you need to ask questions. We have some pretty severe kids as well as not so severe. Use your imagination and have fun with them too.</p>

<p>I’ll second Starfall as well. Plus you can do a search for free reproducible worksheets and you’ll find a lot. The Crayola site is good too.</p>