Child to Learn

Help Your Child to Learn

Children have a tremendous capacity to learn. You can support your child's capacity to learn by involving your children in activities that require talking, exploring and experimenting.

Research shows that parent involvement helps children's learning. You can foster learning by:

Showing your child that learning is both enjoyable and important;
Encouraging your child to play, which helps him or she learns, explores, develops social skills, solves problems, listens, negotiates, takes turns and share;
Encouraging your child to take part in various conversations throughout the day;
Asking your child questions that require her/him to give more than a "yes" or "no" response;
Answering your child's questions, and also encouraging your child to answer her/him questions;
Listening to your child.

Preparing Your Child for School: Socially and Emotionally

Children start school with different levels of social and emotional maturity. To do well, they need the following qualities:

margdarshak right Confidence - feeling good about her/him abilities to succeed

margdarshak right Cooperation - getting along with others and being able to share and take turns

margdarshak right Self-control - knowing there are good and bad ways to express emotions

margdarshak right Persistence - finishing what he or she starts

margdarshak right Curiosity - using her/him natural curiosity to learn

margdarshak right Cooperation - getting along with others and being able to share and take turns

margdarshak right Self-control - knowing there are good and bad ways to express emotions

margdarshak right Empathy - having an interest in others and understanding how others feel.

You can help your child develop these qualities by:

margdarshak right Showing your child that you care about her/his. Children who feel loved are more likely to be confident;

margdarshak right Setting a good example. When you treat other people with respect, your child probably will too;

margdarshak right Letting your child do things by herself/himself;

margdarshak right Encouraging your child to make her/him own choices, rather than deciding everything for her/him;

margdarshak right Helping your child find positive ways to solve conflicts with others;

margdarshak right Creating opportunities for your child to share and care.

Reading is at the Heart of All Learning

Helping your child become a reader is the most important thing you can do to help him/her succeeds in school.

You can make reading an enjoyable experience by:

Reading to your child frequently;
Choosing a comfortable place where your child can sit near you; Being enthusiastic about reading;
Pointing word-by-word as you read a book to help your child learn that reading goes from left to right;
Reading your child's favourite book over and over;
stopping and asking about the pictures and what is happening in the story;
Offering explanations, making observations and helping your child to notice new information;
Explaining words your child may not know;
Pointing out how the pictures in the book relate to the story;
Talking about the characters' actions and feelings.

You can lay the groundwork for reading and writing by developing your child's listening and speaking skills. By the time your child enters primary school, he or she should be able to:

margdarshak-yes Listen carefully for different purposes;

margdarshak right Use spoken language for a variety of purposes;

margdarshak right Follow and give simple directions;

margdarshak right Ask and answer questions;

margdarshak right Use appropriate volume and speed when he or she speaks;

margdarshak right Use language to express and describe her/him feelings and ideas.

What Skills and Knowledge Will My Child's Kindergarten Teacher Expect?

Expectations will differ at each school, but some commonly expected skills for kindergartners include the ability to:

Recognise, name and print alphabet letters s/he often sees, such as her/him name;
Listen attentively to and follow instructions;
Understand that words convey meaning and know that words run from left to right across the page and from top to bottom;
Concentrate on and finish a task;
Notice and work with sounds of language and recognise when a series of words begin with the same sound;
Follow school and classroom rules;
Use spoken language to express her/him thoughts and ideas;
Produce circles, lines, scribbles and letters as part of her/his early writing;
Recognise numbers and understand what they stand for quantity, order and measurement;
Know how to hold and look at a book;
Recognise, name and manipulate basic shapes;
Do as much for themselves as possible, such as taking care of their personal belongings, going to the toilet, washing their hands and taking care of and putting away materials.