Easing the First Day Jitters

Here are a few excellent books to read to your children to ease their worries about starting school.

The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing
First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg
Countdown to Kindergarten by Alison McGhee
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn 

Milestones: Your Baby at Four Months

How your child plays, learns, speaks, and acts offers important clues about your child’s development. Developmental milestones are things most children can do by a certain age.

 

What most babies do at this age:

 

Social and Emotional

• Smiles spontaneously, especially at people
• Likes to play with people and might cry when playing stops
• Copies some movements and facial expressions, like smiling or frowning

 

Language/Communication

• Begins to babble
• Babbles with expression and copies sounds he hears
• Cries in different ways to show hunger, pain, or being tired

 

Cognitive (learning, thinking, problem-solving)

• Lets you know if she is happy or sad
• Responds to affection
• Reaches for toy with one hand
• Uses hands and eyes together, such as seeing a toy and reaching for it
• Follows moving things with eyes from side to side
• Watches faces closely
• Recognizes familiar people and things at a distance

 

Movement/Physical Development

• Holds head steady, unsupported
• Pushes down on legs when feet are on a hard surface
• May be able to roll over from tummy to back
• Can hold a toy and shake it and swing at dangling toys
• Brings hands to mouth
• When lying on stomach, pushes up to elbows

Take a Bite out of Math

Having fun with food is a great way to introduce your child to math.   

Here is a simple idea to get you started. 

Marshmallow Ant
 
Together with your child, count out the "body parts" and sort them into different groups.  Count them aloud as you go.  You can discuss the different shapes as your sort.  Make each component of the ant a math problem.  Example:  Three legs plus three legs equals six legs all together.  You get the idea! 

Here is what you need:

3 large marshmallows (body parts)Peanut Butter (ant glue)2 M&M's (eyes)11 pretzel sticks
(6 legs, 2 antennae, 2 to hold the body parts together, and 1 broke in half to form the mandible)

Let your creativity guide you.  Keep it simple, keep it healthy, make it fun!  

Creative Way to Learn Colors

Identifying colors is a necessary skill that people use everyday—for choosing which clothes to wear, reading signs, following traffic signals, and describing the surrounding world.

Introduce your child to this bright new world of colors using ordinary household objects such as buttons, beads, and marbles. She can group these objects into different sections and learn to recognize their written names using a homemade egg carton sorter.

This activity provides an interactive, colorful way for your preschooler to practice color recognition!

activity directions

Milestones: Your Baby at Two Months

How your child plays, learns, speaks, and acts offers important clues about your child’s development. Developmental milestones are things most children can do by a certain age.

What most babies do at this age:

Social and Emotional

• Begins to smile at people
• Can briefly calm himself (may bring hands to mouth and suck on hand)
• Tries to look at parent

Language/Communication

• Coos, makes gurgling sounds
• Turns head toward sounds

Cognitive (learning, thinking, problem-solving)

• Pays attention to faces
• Begins to follow things with eyes and recognize people at a distance
• Begins to act bored (cries, fussy) if activity doesn’t change

Movement/Physical Development

• Can hold head up and begins to push up when lying on tummy
• Makes smoother movements with arms and legs

Hone Your Kid's Fine Motor Skills: 7 Hands-On Tips

Source: education.com

1. Use Crafts to Improve Your Child's Pencil Grip

Let your child roll and mold play dough, tear up newspapers for a papier-mâché project, string beads, and make finger puppets. These fun activities will improve the way she holds her pencil.

view the seven tips here

Is Your Child Reaching Developmental Milestones?

Baby Steps: Learn the Signs. Act Early.
Source: National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD)
Running Time: (4:32) Release Date: 9/22/2008

Learn how to look for developmental milestones and what to do if you’re worried about your child’s development or think there’s a problem.  Call the C-FB ISD Special Education Department at 972-968-5800 if you have any questions or suspect a developmental delay in your child.