Reading Strategies:
- Read aloud to your student every day to build student’s vocabulary and background knowledge as well as to support future grade level comprehension.
- Read a variety of books and make a game out of guessing the genre (e.g. fairy tale, fantasy, poetry, non-fiction, history).
- Re-read favorite books over and over and have student "fill in the blank" or identify the rhyme at the end of a phrase.
- Ask wh-questions such as who, what, where, when, why and how to increase comprehension skills.
- Encourage enriched language experiences such as listening to, talking about and telling stories with family members.
- Play games manipulating, deleting and identifying sounds at the beginning and ending of words.
- Play games like “I Spy” encouraging your student to find objects that start with a particular letter sound, color, size or number.
- Point out letters and numbers while out with your student—for example in shop signs and windows, movie posters, street signs.
- Encourage children to predict, confirm, and self correct while reading a story.
- Create a quiet, special place in your home for your child to read, write and draw. Keep books and other reading materials where your student can easily access them.
- Print out flashcards to practice sight words everyday. These high frequency words can not be sounded out but must be memorized for to increase reading fluency. Work on no more than 10 words at a time. Words are considered mastered once the student is able to read the flashcard with automaticity in 5 consecutive sessions. ("Automaticity" is considered the speed you would read and say your name!)
- To increase reading comprehension, use graphic organizers to document settings, characters, feelings and sequence of events (e.g. Venn Diagrams, KWL charts, Main Idea & Supporting Details).
- Provide color overlays for reading to minimize visual distractions.
- Minimize the amount of visual information on a page to help student focus on one line or paragraph at a time. Use a blank piece of paper to cover all but the questions or one problem at a time on a worksheet.
Math Strategies:
- Count everything! Count toys, kitchen utensils, and items of clothing as they come out of the dryer. Help your child count by pointing to and moving the objects as you say each number out loud. Count forwards and backwards from different starting places. Use household items to practice adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing.
- Play board games that focus on matching, sorting, and that which incorporate counting 1:1 and basic concepts (eg. up/down, in/out, around, under/above, big/small, etc). Games should focus on direction or time, logic and reasoning, sorting, or estimating.
- Include your student in everyday activities that involve math – making purchases, measuring ingredients, counting out plates and utensils for dinner, planning schedule and timing on a family outing.
- Ask your child to help you solve everyday number problems. "We need six tomatoes to make our sauce for dinner, and we have only two. How many more do we need to buy?" "You have two pillows in your room and your sister has two pillows in her room. How many pillowcases do I need to wash?" "Two guests are coming to eat dinner with us. How many plates will we need?"
- Practice "skip counting". Together, count by 2’s and 5’s. Ask your child how far he or she can count by 10’s. Roll two dice, one to determine a starting number and the other to determine the counting interval. Ask your child to try counting backwards from 10, 20, or even 100.
- Measure items found around the house. Have your child find objects that are longer or shorter than a shoe or a string or a ruler. Together, use a shoe to measure the length of a floor mat. Fill different containers with sand in a sandbox or with water in the bath, and see which containers hold more and which hold less.
- Estimate everything! Estimate the number of steps from your front door to the edge of your yard, then walk with your child to find out how many there really are, counting steps as you go. Estimate how many bags of milk your family will need for the week. At the end of the week, count up the number of bags you actually used. Estimate the time needed for a trip. If the trip is expected to take 25 minutes, when do you have to leave? Have your child count the number of stars he or she can draw in a minute. Ask if the total is more or less than your child thought it would be.
- Talk about time. Ask your child to check the time on the clock when he or she goes to school, eats meals, and goes to bed. Together, look up the time of a television program your child wants to watch. Record on a calendar the time of your child’s favorite away-from home activity.
- Go on a "shape hunt". Have your child look for as many circles, squares, triangles, and rectangles as he or she can find in the home or outside. Do the same with three dimensional objects like cubes, cones, spheres, and cylinders. Point out that street signs come in different shapes and that a pop can is like a cylinder.
- Build structures using blocks or old boxes. Discuss the need to build a strong base. Ask your child which shapes stack easily, and why.
- Sort household items. As your child tidies up toys or clothing, discuss which items should go together and why. Show your child how you organize food items in the fridge – fruit together, vegetables together, drinks on one shelf, condiments on another. Encourage your child to sort other household items – crayons by color, cutlery by type or shape, coins by denomination.
- Provide near-point references such as number lines and hundred charts as well as hands-on manipulatives such as unifix cubes, teddy bear counters to help calculate problems.
Writing Strategies:
- Provide sentence frames to support written expression and responses (i.e. I would like _______________because_____________.).
- Provide near-point references to assist in writing and math assignments (i.e. personal word bank, vocabulary words, letter & number strips, and visual/pictorial dictionary.)
- Use graphic organizers to help student organize topic and details in writing both informational text and narrative writings.
- Have your student keep a writing journal for personal narratives. Journals can include collages and artwork to extend meaning and understanding. Have your student read aloud his stories to you. Provide him with a fun and silly writing prompt using Scholastic's Story Starter (www.www.scholastic.com/teachers/story-starters).
- When practicing spelling words, have your student see it in print, hear it in context, and say it (letter by letter) while writing it. Make it fun by tracing it in sand or shaving cream!
Organizational/Behavior Strategies
- Provide student with checklists and visual agendas to support sequencing of information and instructions.
- Keep things consistent! Pre-warn them of changes to schedules or daily routines. Provide them with a weekly or monthly dry erase calendar to help track upcoming events or deadlines.
- Chunk larger projects or chores into smaller units with intermediate goals. Check for understanding of instructions by having your student repeat the instruction back to you.
- If you student is "active", provide him with frequent movement breaks to recalibrate, recharge, and re-ground himself.
- Work out a signal for when your student needs a "break" from sensory overload.
- Provide alternate seating options while doing homework or classwork (eg. wiggle cushion or wedge, sitting on floor, standing at table or counter, exercise ball, t-balance stool).
- Provide student with earplugs or noise-canceling headphones for those who are very sensitive to sound.
- Use a visual timer to help student monitor progress during task.
- Model mulit-step directions and/or provide example of end product to enhance understanding of expectations and instructions.