Are you a Key Player?

Once children have started school parents often feel they should leave education to the teachers but Clever Clogs make it simple for parents and teachers to work together. At last there is a set of 15 games and activities aptly called ‘Help Your Child’ that can be sent home from school.

Clever Clogs also produce a set of 10 early literacy games, ideal for small groups of children to use with a teaching assistant in the classroom. Each game focuses on a particular literacy objective such as phonics, high frequency words, text making sense and sequencing parts of a story.

Now the classroom learning can continue by using ‘Help Your Child’ games at home. The 15 packs complement the classroom set. Guidance is parent-friendly with helpful tips to ensure the best use is made of the games and activities.

Send a game home…instead of a book, a welcome change from the daily round of school reading books!

Parents and children can play together with the confidence of knowing they really are key players.

Hop Ready….10 games for the classroom

Help Your Child…..15 games to go home.

Ideas for Supporting Your Child’s Achievement in School  From Kimberly L. Keith,

After many years of intense effort to increase parent involvement in schools,  the results are beginning to appear in the educational research.. The news is good for schools where parent involvement is high, and the benefits for children are encouraging. When parents are involved in children’s schools and education, children have higher grades and standardized test scores, improved behaviour at home and school, and better social skills and adaptation to school. (more…)

Studies on the Impact of Parent and Community Involvement on Student Achievement

From these studies, one overarching conclusion has emerged:

Taken as a whole, these studies found a positive and convincing relationship between family involvement and benefits for students, including improved academic achievement. This relationship holds across families of all economic, racial/ethnic, and educational backgrounds and for students at all ages. Although there is less research on the effects of community involvement, it also suggests benefits for schools, families, and students, including improved achievement and behaviour.

National Center for Family & Community Connections with Schools

Southwest Educational Development Laboratory

Web: www.sedl.org/connections/

Among the studies reviewed here, the benefits for students include

• Higher grade point averages and scores on standardized tests or rating  scales,

• Enrolment in more challenging academic programs,

• More classes passed and credits earned,

• Better attendance,

• Improved behaviour at home and at school, and

• Better social skills and adaptation to school.

Key Finding

Programmes and interventions that engage families in supporting their children’s learning at home are linked to higher student achievement. In schools where teachers reported high levels of outreach to parents, test scores grew at a rate 40 percent higher than in schools where teachers reported low levels of outreach.

The studies that compared levels of involvement found that achievement increased directly with the extent to which parents were engaged in the programme. Parents with high involvement ratings, compared with those with low or median ratings, tended to have children with higher grades and scores.This finding held across all family income levels and backgrounds.

Families also have a major impact on other key outcomes, such as attendance and behaviour, that affect achievement. When families of all backgrounds are engaged in their children’s learning, their children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer, and pursue higher education. Clearly, children at risk of failure or poor performance can profit from the extra support that engaged families and communities provide.

All students, but especially those in middle and high school, would benefit if schools support parents in helping children at home and in guiding their educational career. Studies that look at high-achieving students of all backgrounds found that their parents encourage them, talk with them about school, help them plan for higher education, and keep them focused on learning and homework. The continuity that this constant

support provides helps students through changes of school, program, and grade level. This does not mean, however, that parent involvement at school is unimportant. It means that the ways parents are involved at school should be linked to improving learning, developing students’ skills in specific subjects, and steering students toward more challenging classes. Parent involvement programs should also be designed to develop close working relationships between families and teachers.

 

The first term at secondary is now finished. The biggest transition most children will make in their schooling progress is under way and it is essential that parents take keen interest in what is going on.

New classmates, friends, environment, teachers and procedures conspire to potentially confuse progress. The holiday break is the ideal time to consider what you expect of your child. Evaluate their performance, check their concerns and consider increasing the level of your involvement at home.

The biggest drop off in performance occurs in children aged 11 – 14. They can feel overwhelmed with their new environment and find the transition from primary to secondary a significant jump in standards. During this phase many feel they are slipping behind and lose their enthusiasm for learning and disengage from classroom activities. It is essential that parental support is at hand to catch this trend and provide ongoing support. A little time spent in conversation with your child and backed by a conversation with the teacher next term can make a world of difference in a child’s potential. Time spent at home practising the lesson content through a series of educational games can inject confidence that will pay dividends back in class.

The earlier the process starts the better closing any gap before they get larger. The key is to inject the fun into learning, and at home you have the advantage of working at your child’s pace and without the pressure of the school timetable. A booster at home injects the fun back into learning and you would be surprised at how easy it is for you to become involved and learn at the same time. Take a look at the maths games, English games and science games that are there to help.

We are not alone. The role of parents in the schooling is recognised as a vital – if missing ingredient throughout the USA. The use of maths and numeracy games to support a child’s progress at home is a great start to the programme to enlist help form parents.

“If parents had not stepped out of the lives of their children, we would not need education reform. The single greatest factor indicating school success is parental involvement. The socio-economic status of the family, teacher pay, teacher training, classroom equipment, curriculum are all secondary. If the parents are involved, these barriers seem to disappear. Education is not just the right of the parent. It is the responsibility of the parent. “No Child Left Behind” missing Ingredient”

“It’s essential that parents, educators, and policy leaders fully understand that raising student achievement involves much more than improving what goes on in classrooms. Leaders and policy makers must establish community, state, and national programs to both improve schools and enhance the home and family conditions that give all students a better chance to reach high platforms from which to start school”.

“Teachers will be asked to keep regular email contact with parents to inform them of their child’s progress instead of annual parent meetings and report cards. Secure websites could be set up for parents to log into to check whether their child was registered at school each day”.

Have you ever considered the number of people who will teach your child during their schooling career? Primary school starts with one or two teachers per year over the three years means your child will be taught by six different teachers. The three years at junior school adds a further nine, but the real shock perhaps arrives at secondary school. 

Subject speciality involves a dedicated teacher per subject per year. Allowing for seven subjects over the five years racks up a further 35 teachers. But this assumes that nobody leaves. In reality 50 % of newly qualified teachers quit the profession within three years. Add other changes due to staff movements, retirements, promotions etc. adds a further five changes.

In total the average child will be taught by an army of 65 different teachers during their schooling programme. The law of averages states some of the teachers will be brilliant, others average and unfortunately some will be poor. Add in changes to the curriculum, government policy, lifestyle, technology, social attitudes, and the pot-pourri becomes staggeringly complex.

Yet there is one constant in the equation. As a parent you are present throughout the entire process.  And yes – you are a teacher. Who else taught then to walk, talk, ride a bike, understand hygiene health and safety, social etiquette and to stand up for themselves. So why do we let go when they go to school.?

A combination of external issues arises. To some parents it is a relief to get some free time back; work commitments re-emerge and many feel unwilling or possibly inadequate supporting the schooling process; not wishing to interfere. The reality is the opposite. Ask any teacher and they will say one of their biggest frustrations is the absence of parents’ effective involvement in the schooling process. This is not just the end of term report or attending parent’s night, this is the hands on approach throughout the term.

Learning is achieved in stages. The “see and hear” process at school achieves a 30% score in learning retention, whereas the “do” practice activity achieves 75%. Ironically it is this practice function that is the most difficult to achieve at school – timetable, equipment availability, differing learning speeds all conspire to disrupt the activity. Yet this is the one function that is ideal for parents to help at home.

Teachers use a host of educational games to practice the lesson content whenever they can. The further use of these games at home can have a huge befit.  This is not the conventional text and exercise homework where parents can perhaps feel isolated. This is spending some fun time at home at the pace of the child enjoying games that significantly help their performance back in class. Like all games there are rules, challenges and the opportunity to become the winner! The key is the opportunity o repeat the exercise at the speed of the child. In effect it is “learning in disguise”

The educational games extend across the whole curriculum, and ideal where a child is perhaps struggling to keep up or wants that extra challenge ahead of the class. More importantly it keeps parents in touch with just how their child is performing and where a little help can have a dramatic effect. And you become the learning mentor, the one constant in a world of academic change!

 

Written by ARAcontent Monday, 03 December 2007

(ARA) — When it comes to gift buying for children, shoppers often find themselves faced with the difficult task of choosing between entertainment and educational value. Parents don’t have to pick between the two when they decide to give a board game that can be both fun and educationally engaging.

“Many of today’s parents are adding board games to their holiday and birthday shopping lists,” says Matt Carlson, a columnist on the popular parenting Web site gamerdad.com. “Board games stimulate imagination, teach cooperative play, encourage analytical thinking and are often a child’s first encounter with important, real-world themes like money management and practical decision-making.”

A 2007 study of American young people found that spending time with family was the number one response when participants were asked what makes them most happy. Though parents often lament the scarcity of family time, homes with a well-stocked game closet enjoy a built-in outlet for parent-child interaction. “Game play is an easy gateway to the type of family time that our parents and grandparents took for granted,” says Carlson.

“Savvy parents know that games are a great way to have interactive family time,” says Carlson. “Today’s board games provide opportunities for social engagement and educational value in a fun and interactive way that keeps kids returning.”

Courtesy of ARAcontent

One of the keys to effective learning is to fire up the imagination. Children learn more when they are enjoying something rather than seeing it as a chore. There are many computer games that have a “hidden” education content as well as being fun – learning in disguise. The following web site is a good example of the extent of the opportunity for parents to enjoy games with their children.

Educational Toys

Keen2learn – award winning selection of Educational Games, educational games and toys induces fun to stimulate learning.

These three quotations best summarise the opportunity:

“We cannot hold a torch to light another’s path without brightening our own”.
Ben Sweetland

“Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them”.
James Baldwin

“Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre”.
Gail Godwin