If you are looking for ways to support your child’s learning of language around expectations, visuals are an effective strategy for all learners.

Below is an excerpt from our district’s Learning Support Services blog. Feel free to ask one of us in K-Plus if you would like to know more about visual supports we use in our classroom.

Visual Supports

 

 

 

Green and Red Choices

What are green choices and red choices?

Green choices and red choices is a universal support used for social-emotional behaviour management in classrooms, like Kindergarten Plus, to teach expected and unexpected behaviours through positive language that can also be implemented in all settings (e.g., home, community) through choices and self discipline. Being able to make good choices such as, listening, sharing, using kind words, and having a calm body, allows for students to be happy and confident learners when working alone or with others; while refraining from engaging in red choices such as, yelling, throwing objects, and hurting others, which could negatively effect the student’s and peers’ learning.

Green choices are good behaviours, worded in a positive way. Positive language is the focus of this system because it fosters a loving and safe environment where students are able to learn and grow. When red choices are made, we focus on the choice and quietly and simply redirect the student to change their behaviour and make a green choice instead.

Making green choices can be hard but we will have Choices Charts in our classroom to pair each expected and unexpected behaviour with a visual supports. We will be teaching green and red choices all year long, also through books and activities. Providing students ample opportunities to see and discuss green and red choices allows them to ask questions and see how their choices not only affect themselves but those around them.

Examples of positive, green choice language that can be used at home:

 

 

 

Fine Motor Practice at Home

Fine motor skills are the ability to use small muscles of the hands, wrists, and fingers to complete tasks including, grasp small objects, colour with crayons, cut with scissors, and write letters.

It is important to remember fine motor development takes time and your child will need frequent opportunities to strengthen their control and hand eye coordination. The most important thing to remember is to make it fun!

Below are some fun fine motor activities to try at home to increase control and hand strength:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

Reading at Home

Reading at home can make a HUGE difference in developing your child’s reading and language skills! Just 10 to 15 minutes a day of reading added into their everyday routine can help them link sounds to letters, blend letters, and word parts to read and write words. It is important to make this a fun activity; choose books that match your child’s interests to encourage them to be happy and confident readers.

How to build a reader

• Have your child turn the pages.
• Encourage your child to fill in the rhymes as you read.
• Notice patterns in the text and illustrations.
• Have your child be the “reader” and read the pictures to you.
• Notice and talk about letters and the sounds they make.
• Fill a basket with your child’s favourite books, tablet, and/or magazines.
• Help your child fall in LOVE with books!

How to approach reading at home to foster success

• Before reading, make predictions and ask questions (e.g., “What do you think the story is going to be about?”, “Do you think Spiderman will save the city?”)
• Talk about new words and their meaning.
• Make connections to your child’s life, other books, movies/TV, and/or their interests (e.g., “This reminds me of when we went to the pool”, “Just like you, you like to colour!”)
• Talk, comment, and ask questions about the characters and settings as you read the book (e.g., “How does [the character] feel?”, “[The character] was at school at the beginning of the story, where is she now?”)
• After you read the book, have your child retell you the story in order.
• Have your child “read” the books. They may make up the words that may or may not match the text and use the pictures as a guide.
• Act out the story, make different voices for each character, and/or use props. Have fun!

Make reading an adventure

Read in fun places

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read fun ways

 

 

 

 

Read different kinds of books

 

 

 

 

Read about different things

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writing at Home

The key to helping your child love drawing and writing is to make learning as fun as possible! Build your child’s confidence by encouraging him/her by remembering the following:

• Writing should be stress free!
• Allow your child to draw and write at their level. Every child starts with scribbling; it is a way for your child to make sense of his/her thoughts in a way that makes sense to them.
• Encourage your child to draw about their writing. Pictures are just as important as words!
• Use a variety of tools such as, pencils, pens, markers, and crayons.
• Let  your child know you value what he/she writes. Read it! Hang it up!
• Let your child see YOU writing in your daily life!

Ideas on how to create purposeful reasons to draw and write

• Make a shopping list before going to the store
• Make a card (e.g., birthday, thank you, Valentine’s Day, etc.)
• Make a sign for each person’s door in your house
• Make or buy a journal for your child to write and draw their thoughts, feelings, ideas, and important/daily events
• Make a wish list
• Make lunchbox notes for siblings

 

 

Learning About Letters at Home

In order to increase your child’s exposure to letters, it is important to create as MANY opportunities as possible to explore letters! Hands on experiences will make the most impact and make the learning process fun. There are 26 letters for your child to learn, 52 if you could uppercase and lowercase letters separately. That is a lot of letters, so go slowly and try starting with your child’s name. Chances are the first letter your child learns will be the first letter of his/her name, followed by the rest of the letters of their name and other important words like ‘mom’ and ‘dad’. Name building activities are a great and fun way to learn letters.

 

 

Math at Home

Fun activities to try

• Read counting books.
• Go on a shape hunt inside or outside. Feel and count the sides and/or corners of each shape.
• Sort the laundry by colour or clothing category, then count the number of items in each pile. Which pile has the most/least?