Resources and Information for Parents

 

Introduction

Nursery Rhymes and Action Songs

Developing Language and Maths Skills in Young Children

Reading

Children With Additional Needs

Fine and Gross Motor Skills Development

Christmas

 

Introduction

 Resources 4 Parents is part of a new site that is constantly changing and each week we hope to add additional materials for you to use with your children.

Our aim is to provide parents with information and resources to help you have fun with and educate your children. If there are any topics or resources you would like to see on the site then please use the Contact Us feature to let us know.

Below will be links to free resources and ones that can be purchased. Please respect our copyright by downloading and using the resources for your individual needs.

Two main factors affect your children's development.

1. One factor is Genes, which is what we pass onto our children. Our genes determine a number of our children's characteristics like eye and hair colour.

2. The other factor that influences child development is their environment and this includes experiences they have at home and in their local community.

Parents often feel pressurised by advertising to buy a number of expensive toys and materials to stimulate their children and improve their development. However there are so many every day activities that you can do with your children to help them develop and grow. Over time we will provide suggestions for you to use with your children.

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Nursery Rhymes and Action Songs

Young children, even babies, love listening to and learning to recite nursery rhymes. They are fun to learn and they enable them to create their own imaginary world. They especially enjoy the accompanying actions to many of the rhymes and songs.

In addition, substantial evidence exists which confirms that learning nursery rhymes at an early age greatly enhances reading skills. Research carried out by Lynnette Bradley and Peter Bryant has shown that children’s early knowledge of nursery rhymes, and their awareness of whether words sound the same is a good predictor of how well they will later learn to read and spell. They found that even small amounts of special practice with rhyme and alliteration (Rachael likes real rabbits, Peter likes popcorn) could produce massive gains in a child’s literacy development.

In their studies five and six year old children who were initially poor at picking an odd word out by rhyme were given 10 hours of extra training in these skills spread over 2 years. At the end of the training, they were on average in reading 10 months ahead of children who had had extra individual attention but not specifically rhyme and alliteration work. In spelling they were 17 months ahead. What is more these initial gains seem to be maintained over long periods: four years after the training ended, the children who had the special teaching were approximately 2 years ahead of the control group in reading and at least 14 months ahead on spelling.

Below are Nursery Rhymes and Action Songs for you to print and use with your child.

PDF file 1, 2 Buckle my Shoe

PDF file A Frog he would a Wooing

PDF file Baa, baa, Black Sheep

PDF file 5 Little Ducks

PDF file 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed (with actions)

PDF file Hey Diddle, Diddle

PDF file Hickory, Hickory Dock

PDF file Humpty Dumpty

PDF file I see the Moon

PDF file In a cottage in the Woods

PDF file Little Bo Peep

PDF file Little Boy Blue

PDF file Little Miss Muffit

PDF file Mary Had a Little Lamb

PDF file Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

PDF file Mr Crocodile and the 5 Cheeky Monkeys

PDF file Old MacDonald had a Farm

PDF file Pussycat, Pussycat

PDF file The Animal Fair

PDF file The Bear went over the Mountain

PDF file The Farmer's in his Den

PDF file The Owl and the Pussycat

PDF file The Wheels on the Bus

PDF file Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

PDF file Wee Willie Winkie

PDF file We're going on a Lion Hunt

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 Developing Language and Maths Skills in Young Children

Click on the following links for a number of activities you can carry out at home to develop maths and language skills in your children

PDF file How to Improve Comprehension when Reading with your Child

PDF file Ideas and Activities to Develop Language in Young Children

PDF file Ideas and Activities to Develop Maths Skills in Young Children

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Reading

How to Teach your Child to Read

We all know that the ability to read is the key to educational achievement. Poor literacy skills can severely limit opportunities, not only at school, but also throughout life.

Parents understand that reading doesn’t start on the first day that their child starts school. They love to see their child achieve their first steps, words, sentences and want to feel that they are being pro-active in preparing their child for school.

Parents need a book that is easy to read, makes them feel empowered and confident. A book that answers their questions and allows them to enjoy supporting their children, whilst seeing progress and achievement for them. Helping your Child to Read meets that need.

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Excellent Money-Saving option

I am providing the information as a hard copy book and also as a PDF file. As a PDF file the book will be available for immediate download. No longer will you have to order a book and wait for it to be delivered - you can order it, view it, and use it within moments! You can save on the cost of paper by storing the file on your computer so that you can print pages if and when they are needed.

For more details about Helping your Child to Read and to view sample chapters click here

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High Frequency Sight Words

Reading is one of the most important skills a child can learn.

High Frequency Sight Words are those most common and frequent words used in our everyday reading and writing.

Research suggests that if a child can read just the first 12 sight words they can read 1/4 of all reading. In fact, according to Robert Hillerich, "Just three words I, and, the account for ten percent of all words in printed English." If children can read the first 100 they can read approximately 50% of all general texts and if they can read the first 300 words they can read 65% Therefore it is crucial that they learn these words. However these words are often difficult to learn because many of them tend to be abstract so you can’t use a picture clue to help them and often they can’t be sounded out either. For example: the, and, could. Therefore they have to be presented in different ways and reinforced and repeated regularly. Therefore below I have provided information about how to teach your child to read the sight words and lots of games to play to help them retain them. I have also provided flashcards for the first 300 sight (see Teacher Resources page).
PDF file High Frequency Word Games for Parents

Children with Additional Needs

Spotting the Symptoms of Specific Learning Difficulties in Children

Parents often instinctively know that their child is not developing as they should, is really struggling to learn to read and write or is exhibiting certain behaviours that are concerning them. It is important to emphasise that many of these difficulties will be developmental and will disappear as a child matures. Sometimes this isn't the case.

The whole process of formal diagnosis can be lengthy and expensive and sometimes a whole year can be wasted waiting for an assessment. In addition GPs and schools require information and examples to help them decide what the problem might be, whether a referral is necessary and, if so, to whom.

I have provided signs and symptoms of different learning difficulties and disorders to help parents understand more about specific special needs (and will add more over time). These checklists can be used when a parent is concerned about their child to help them ascertain what the problems might be and provide support

Read:

PDF file Spotting the Symptoms of Specific Learning Difficulties in Children - and please peruse the introduction first.

PDF file Dyslexia Checklist for Children and Adults

 

PDF file Working in Partnership with your Child's school- Research over a number of years has demonstrated  that education partnerships between home and school can make a significant difference to the learning, development and healthy outcomes of children and young people. Parents often are unsure how to approach their child's school and raise concerns or share information therefore I have provided advice and suggestions to support parents and carers in this process whether your child is at primary or secondary school. Please click on the link. 

 

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Fine and Gross Motor Skills Development

Gross motor skills development is about children being able to use their large muscle and also about body control and coordination. Gross motor activities include running hopping etc.

PDF file Activities to Improve Gross Motor Control

Fine motor skills development is about children being able to use their small muscles, in particular their hands and fingers. Fine motor activities would include writing, drawing, using eating utensils etc

Both skills are critical life skills and there is much you can do to support your child's development.

Play Dough

Play Dough is a great educational tool, it provide great stimulation for the senses and will certainly help to develop the manual dexterity skills necessary for writing, drawing, painting etc. Children are not dexterous at all to begin with and dough will provide a fun and exciting opportunity for them to develop these skills.

Download the following easy and cheap recipe:

PDF file Wendy’s Quick and Easy Long Life Play Dough

PDF file Finger Painting- How it helps a Child's Development plus a Cheap and Easy Paint Recipe

 

Coloured Rice - a Great Alternative to Sand

Children love sand and it is educational too. However, it can really only be used outside. Why not use Coloured Rice, it is cheap, easy to make, will keep indefinitely and can be played with indoors? It also helps in your child's development in so many ways.

PDF file Coloured Rice- Great for Imaginary Play

 

CHRISTMAS

PDF file Christmas Decoration Ideas

PDF file Christmas Party Games

PDF file Food for Rudolph

PDF file Christmas Tree Decorations using Children's Hands

PDF file Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer song

 

 

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E-mail: karen@dyslexiasupportservices.com.au