Breaking News! New Study on “I Care” Curriculum Shows Increases in Math & English State Test Scores

HIGH LEVELS OF PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT LINKED TO IMPROVED STUDENT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

A two-year study of the “I Care” Positive Parenting Character Curriculum revealed that students whose parents are highly involved in their children’s education show the greatest improvement in their English and Mathematics scores. The research was conducted by SEG Measurement, a third-party educational research firm in New Hope, Pennsylvania. Click here to see the full press release!

Teach Respect!

November’s Pillar of Character is Respect. The best way to teach respect is to model this character trait. Lack of repect seems to be the norm lately, but you can change that!

In order to model respect for your children, consider these pointers:

• Always stay positive and speak to other and about others in a positive manner.
• Make sure your children are exposed to other cultures and languages. Learning that we are all different and approach things in different ways will instill a sense of cooperation in your children, which will lead to respect for others and their culture.
• Show repect to others by being kind to them and saying kind things to them. Offer to assist the elderly or anyone else who may be in need. Let your children see you take the initiative.

Showing respect to others and teaching your children to do the same is one of the most important things you can do to help your children become well-rounded individuals. It’s all in your hands!

Preparing to Go Back to School!

Good feelings about school can help your child feel good about learning. You can contribute to your child’s sense of school pride by getting involved at home with what your child does at school and by volunteering. Show an interest in your child by asking questions and doing school projects together. You can ask your child questions about what happens at school each day. Don’t accept the response of “nothing.” Ask specific questions. Encourage and probe your child for lengthy answers.

You can improve your child’s self-esteem, behavior, and academic performance by being involved with every aspect of his or her academic life. Support the events sponsored by your child’s school. Talk with your child’s teacher to find out ways you can assist the class. Some examples are sending healthy snacks, reading aloud to the class, helping with classroom tasks, etc.

Make sure you ask your child’s teacher for a copy of the daily schedule so you can talk with your child about the different things that happen during the day. Also, visit the school and meet your child’s teachers early in the school year, such as at Open House. Keep in touch on a regular basis to make sure you know how your child is performing at school. If issues arise, you will be in a better position to handle them quickly and effectively.

Valuing Achievement

“The value of achievement lies in the achieving.” – Albert Einstein

Recognizing your child’s accomplishments is one of the best ways to build self-esteem. We feel a sense of pride when others recognize the good things we do and that helps us build the confidence to try new things and to achieve even more.

The next time your child makes a good grade on an assignment or test, recognize and celebrate it. Making a child feel good about good behavior is a prime factor in their successes.

Here is something teachers can try: Identify and recognize students each day for the improvement, successes, and efforts they have made. Be specific about what each student has done to be recognized. Recognize each student! Everyone is good at something or has made improvement.

Do you have any suggestions? Please comment on this post to share it with us.

New Year, New Goals

January is the time of year that many people use to reflect on the previous year and make resolutions for the coming year. Sadly, most resolutions are broken before spring due in large part to the complete change that many of them encompass. But there is good news! It is a great time to start setting goals and creating action plans to conquer them.

Goal setting is a great skill for your child to learn. Take an opportunity in the next month to discuss and record 3 goals with your child for 2011. You can even join in and add your own goals. To make the goals stick, create an action plan for each goal. Make sure to include some small changes as well. Those are the changes that are usually easier to make and lead to larger positive changes or actions. Each month or so, review the goals and action plan with your child to measure progress for both of your sets of goals. You can even make a chart and place it in a visible area in the home to serve as a reminder of the goals that you have set and to serve as a source of encouragement.

Teach Your Child to be a Life-Long Learner

We all know how important it is to continuously learn new things. This is not only important for our children but for us adults as well. Take time this month to teach your child something new or enroll them in a class or activity that exposes them to a new skill. The activity can be as simple as teaching your child how to sew a button on a shirt. You can even teach them to cook a dish.

This time of the year is filled with new activities and local teams looking for new participants. Go to your local recreation department to seek out new activities are sports for your child. Football, soccer, cheerleading, softball, golf, and many more teams are just waiting for you to sign up. Local colleges often have evening classes that teach arts and crafts, languages, computer skills and more. Seek out opportunities in your community.

Great Attitudes for Back to School!

Summer is winding down for children across the country. Soon they will be filling the halls of schools with their chatter and curiosity. And although summer is a great time to relax, it is important to nurture a positive attitude towards going back to school. Why not count the days until school starts like you count the days down until school ends? Make sure to talk about all of the great things that will happen once school starts like fall sports, after school activities, more time with their friends at school, and all the new things that they will learn and experience as they go to higher grades. Make a big deal about the back to school shopping trip.

Teach Your Child Responsibility

Teaching your child financial lessons is a great way to teach responsibility, especially in a time of an economic downturn in our country. There are many ways to teach your child how to manage money depending on their age.

For elementary school students, starting a piggy bank is a great way to teach savings. You may want to require that your child deposits a portion of each allowance in the piggy bank to get in the habit of not spending hastily. Once your child ask for a purchase that may be a luxury, you can refer them back to their piggy bank to see if they have saved enough. If not, they will continue to work to save for it. That is a great lesson to learn early.

More middle school students, you can open a savings account at a local bank. This is generally the age that children

Teach Your Child To Be Caring

Compassion and thoughtfulness are two quality traits that everyone should have and display to others around them, their world, environment, associates, family, and strangers alike. That is the idea of caring. It is a value that any parent would like for their child to display. Even though we live in a society filled with fear and sometimes harsh environments, we can teach our children to be caring to themselves and others around them.

As always, everything starts at home. Being a caring parent and community member is the best teaching tool for all parents. Showing empathy and caring encourages empathy and caring in our children. This can be as simple as helping a senior citizen with their groceries, allowing someone in front of you in the grocery store that has one item compared to your many items, or simply picking something up for someone. Other random acts of kindness can be demonstrated to our children to encourage the joy of caring for others.

Teach Your Child Self Control

Often, young children are easily upset when their needs or wishes are not met immediately. Almost daily, children encounter many objects, toys, and activities that are attractive to them. Many times children do not know how to handle their frustration when told “no” or “later” by a caregiver. Also, there are times when young children do not understand that one child may or may not be allowed to do something because of their family’s religious beliefs or cultural background. In order to have positive experiences at home, in school, and in the community, children need to learn skills to appropriately handle their feelings associated with wanting something that they cannot have. These skills will increase children’s self-control and tolerance of others.

Teach children to use the following steps (see puppet activity below):

1. SAY, “I would like to (have) ____ but I can’t right now.”

2. THINK about your choices:

• Ask again later.
• Find something else to do.
• Ask to borrow it (if feasible).
• Ask to share it.
• Ask to do chores to earn money to buy one.
• Wait your turn.
• Accept that you are not allowed, and say “I would like it, but that’s ok.”

3. ACT out your best choice.

Puppet Role Playing Activity

This activity helps young children learn how to identify one thing that they want and cannot have. They will talk about the feelings associated with not being able to have something they want. And, the children will review the possible choices of how to deal with wanting something that is not theirs.