Talk to your child.

Children whose parents speak 2000 words an hour have higher IQ's. I was always told "talk to your child, you have to do a lot of talking." I thought okay of course I am going to talk to my child. Well when I say talk to your child I don't mean just talk, I mean talk annoyingly so.

For example, talk about what you are doing at the time that you're doing it.

• Good morning
• I am going to pick you up off your crib
• Lets change your diaper
• I am going to take off your pants.
• Your diaper is dirty I am going to throw it in the garbage.
• This diaper is clean. Lets put it on.
• Lets put your pants back on.
• Now we will go downstairs
• Let go in the kitchen
• I am opening the refrigerator and taking the milk out.

Annoying yet? I'll stop there I think you get the picture.

Your child will learn so much just by you talking to them all the time about everything no matter how redundant you or others may think it is. Start early, although most children can't speak at 9 months they certainly can understand the world around them. Talk to your child using more advanced vocabulary, ask challenging questions, engage them at dinner. Give verbal instructions describing how to do something. Relate materials in books to objects and events in your child's life, ask who, what, where, when, and why questions about the story. Encourage your child to participate. Just keep talking!

7 Abilities every child needs to succeed in school.

There are seven learning abilities that various tests measure. These tests cover all the abilities educators believe children must have to do well in the classroom. The results of the test may determine how your child is grouped (ability tracking) slow, average, or advance. As a result children are instructed differently. Those placed in advanced groups are given richer content than those placed in slow groups. Over time the gap between the two groups widen making it impossible to catch up, limiting the abilities of the slow group.

7 Learning abilities:

1. Language
• Receptive
• Ability to tune into and understand the language you hear.
• Expressive
• Ability to use words orally to express ideas and feelings in a clear, organized manner.
2. Knowledge/Comprehension
•  Your child's understanding of information, social standards of behavior, and common sense that kids their age generally understand.
• Ex. Colors, shapes, seasons, holidays, farm animals, fruits, vegetables, etc.
3. Memory
• Long-term
• Ability to retrieve learned information from the past or after a delay.
• Ex. Why do we wear hats?
• Short-term 
• Ability to retrieve information just given.
• Ex. Can you repeat.......?
4. Mathematics
• Ability to work with simple computation skills.
• Ex. patterning, sequencing, ordering, classifying, and comparing.
5. Visual-Spatial Reasoning
• Ability to reason and solve problems using pictures, images, diagrams, geometric shapes, maps, and tables.
6. Cognitive Skills
• Abstract/Symbolic Thinking
• Ability to make generalizations based on concrete experiences.
• Sequential Thinking
• Ability to think about information in a particular order, recognize patterns, and be able to anticipate and predict what will happen next. 
• Ex. Being given pictures of a child taking a bath, putting their pajamas on, and going to bed and asked to put them in order. 
• Conceptual Thinking
• A set of features that together form a category of ideas or objects. 
• Ex. An apple is a red fruit we eat and grows on trees. Or a plane is a means of transportation, fly's high in the sky, and has wings.
• Problem Solving 
• Ability to respond when faced with a challenge involving unfamiliar information or processes. 
• Ex. Putting a puzzle together or recreating a block configuration/pattern.
7. Motor Skills 
• Ability to control hands and fingers.
• Ex. Pencil grip draw/write, cutting with scissors, folding paper, buttoning/unbuttoning, playing with small toys/blocks, etc. 

These learning abilities can help you give your child the best possible academic start. Work with your child to build on them. You don't have to drill your kids or spend countless hours working on them (although you can without them knowing it). Try to spend 15-25 minutes a day on learning focused activities. In this blog I will share how I work with my kids to improve their abilities. My teaching begins from the time they wake up to the time they go to sleep. It begins with talking. Talk, ta-talk, ta-talk, talk, talk. 

Please see my post on What type of learner is your child? to effectively improve your child's learning abilities. 
 

Testing For Kindergarten

For a while I had been searching the internet for a book that would tell me the things I needed to know to get my child ready. I came across Karen Quinn's "Testing For Kindergarten." I can not say enough good things about this book. This book has taught me most of what I know up to this point. She also has two websites  http://www.testingmom.com/ and http://testingforkindergarten.com/  Her websites share information from how to chose a school to how to prepare your child, and to top it off if you become a member you will have access to some of the best educational websites available to your child. 

What type of learner is my child?

The most effective way to help your child is to determine what type of learner they are. There are four learning styles for children between the ages of 2-4 and they are:

1. Introverted Learner
• Needs alone time.
• Can spend an extended amount of time with one activity.
• Needs time to digest information.
2. Extroverted Learner
• Prefers to work with someone.
• Dives right in and learns by trial and error.
• Likes very hands on activities.
3. Perceiving Learner
• Needs constant change.
• Makes learning an adventure.
• Allow child to determine when to stop.
4. Judging Learner
• Thrives on routine and structured learning.
• Wants to know beginning and ending times.

By recognizing how your child learns, you may be able to pique their interest and explain tough topics. If you are wondering what are your child's weaknesses. I will attempt to help you discover them in another post when I discuss the 7 learning abilities your child needs to succeed in school.

Welcome!

As if we didn’t have enough to worry about. Did you know that your child will receive some form of intelligence test by the time they’re five?

While attending public school my daughter was evaluated in pre-k4 using the Brigance Inventory of Early Development II Standardized Creative Curriculum Development Continuum for Ages 3-5. This test measured her social/emotional skills, cognitive skills, communication skills (expressive & receptive), physical development (motor domain & gross motor), and self help (daily living & adaptive behavior domain). This test and others similar to it are used to track students and can be used for ability grouping.    

My daughter has also taken the Early Childhood Admissions Assessment (ECAA) test for kindergarten entrance to private school. There are different forms of ECAA tests my daughter took the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence III (WPPSI-III). This test has eight sub-tests, four of which measure verbal skills and four of which measure non-verbal skills. 

There are many different types of intelligence test. The test taken will depend on the type of school you’re trying to get your child into. This is not a blog that will help your child study for a test. This blog is intended to help you teach your child the basic things they are expected to know by the time they enter kindergarten. Using the tools on this blog should help you give your child an academic start that will help them qualify for the best educational opportunities available to them.

About Me!

I grew up in the NYC public school system. I have a B.A. in criminal justice and B.S. in health education N-12. I am no psychologist or English major but I am a determined mother of three with a goal in mind. When I moved to the suburbs I felt my school district would be good enough for my children since they were better than what was offered to me. Well......... after I had my children I began to look further into what my school district has to offer compared to other schools. I have decided that my school district is not the right environment for them.

I have a 4 year old, a 3 year old, a 17 month old and I am determined to get them into some of the best schools in New York. This goal can be challenging especially when you don't have the extra finances to help you accomplish it. This past fall I applied to three schools for my oldest daughter. She was denied into two of the three and put on a waiting list for another. I blame myself for not teaching my daughter enough. Yes, myself because there's so much we can do as parents without putting any pressure on our kids. I have made learning fun in my household or at least I try. I have educated myself on how to accomplish my goal and continue to do so. I will share with you what I've discovered and continue to discover through my journey in round two. I will re-apply to the three schools again this fall and three other schools.

Although my goal is to get my children into  private school ultimately my goal is to set the stage for academic success. If you don't have the same goal as I, I still feel your child can benefit from this blog. If you have any information that would be beneficial to my children or those of the readers of this blog please feel free to share it.