Makes suggestions to help families create summer activities for children that lend themselves to learning but still allow for leisure and spontaneity. The article presents activities that involve organizing collections, developing a sense of responsibility, bolstering the three Rs, teaching good citizenship, understanding history, and getting…

This article focuses on how young children build math skills in everyday play and activities. Children focus on six categories of mathematical content including classifying, exploring magnitude, enumerating, investigating dynamics, studying patterns, and exploring spatial relations. The article gives advice to both teachers and parents on how they…

Designed for use primarily by elementary school teacher and parent use, the book presents practical ideas and teaching tips. Each idea is presented in large print on a separate page, accompanied by cartoon-like illustrations. Suggestions begin with things to do the first day of school and progress through the last week of school. Examples of ideas…

Three basic activities can infuse classrooms with enjoyment and creativity: use of a total talent portfolio, practice of curriculum compacting, and creation of enrichment clusters. These three activities underlie the Schoolwide Enrichment Model, a blueprint for total school improvement. (SM)

Presents ideas to help parents make readers and writers out of their 11 and 12 year olds. Reading ideas include subscribing to teen magazines, reading aloud, and finding movies based on books. Writing ideas include writing lyrics to popular melodies, creating time lines, and making crossword puzzles. (SM)

Parents and teachers can help children enjoy the benefits of visiting museums. While school tours are important, family visits are invaluable. Drawing real benefits from visiting museums requires in-depth family visits. The article discusses the advantages of children's museums, examines learning within museums, and presents tips for visiting…

This article describes the process approach to writing instruction, examining the literature-based approach to reading and the whole-language learning approach. In whole-language classrooms, reading, writing, listening, and thinking are interwoven. The article offers ways for parents to support such approaches at home and school. (SM)

"Every Child" is Australia's premier early childhood publication, aimed at anyone involved in the care and education of children from birth to eight years--in particular child care professionals, teachers, child care students and the parents of young children. Published quarterly, it contains informative and entertaining articles on such…

Intended for use with the Creative Curriculum for Early Childhood, this integrated ongoing student assessment toolkit, in Spanish, is designed for preschool teachers to help them focus on all aspects of a child's development, thereby giving them a way to ensure that all children in their classes are making progress. The assessment kit uses a…