Teaching Your Child to Read: Not as Difficult as it Seems!

This year, I decided to teach my son to read. He is 5 years old, in Senior Kindergarten. Friends who know me well aren’t surprised by this; I am task-oriented, organized and just a bit competitive ☺ I am also a certified teacher. I want to make one point very clear though: these are not the attributes that have led to my son’s reading success, or to my success when working with him. The reason we have been so successful is because of the program I am using, and the quality time we have spent together.

Have you ever thought about teaching your child to read? It is a daunting task. Do you start at the letter A? How do you teach vowel sounds? How do you teach homonyms…what are those again? How do you explain that sometimes the letter c says /s/, and other times it says /k/? So many questions. Where do we even start?

The program I am using addresses all of these questions. In fact, it tells the parent which words to say in order to teach their child to read! It teaches children necessary pre-reading skills such as rhyming, blending, and sound-symbol correspondences before teaching them to read words and stories. It teaches them that the letters th together make a different sound than t and h do separately. It teaches the final-e rule. And the best part? Each lesson is 20 minutes spent with your child.  

If you have been following Cori for more than a minute, you’ll know that children thrive with structure, routine and predictability. Knowing what to expect and what is expected of them leads children to behave positively. This reading program turns learning to read into a success-based task that parents and children will succeed at together. It is based on taking small, predictable steps frequently over time. The child masters skills before learning new ones. They are successful in each lesson you do together. Each lesson follows the same format, which leads to confidence in reading. When a child feels confident, they are more likely to take risks to extend their skill set. For example, my son loves animals. He is reading well enough now that I have started writing a new animal fact for him each day. His motivation to learn and his confidence in reading led him to attempt to read the word crepuscular to learn about rabbits’ sleep/wake cycles. He could not yet read this word accurately, but was not deterred by his errors. He has a strong letter-sound base, and confidence in his skills and his learning. I was equally as proud of him for trying such a difficult word as I was about his self-regulation and attitude when he stumbled on such a tricky word.

Teaching him to read has an added behavioural perk: building the capacity to work at something that is not necessarily a preferred activity.  Working through these lessons with success and confidence will contribute to a positive attitude towards school and school-related tasks to be completed at home. In my job, I speak to a lot of parents for whom homework is a considerable source of conflict and frustration. With this reading program, I am laying the groundwork for a constructive approach to working together and completing academic tasks in the future.

There are several rumours indicating that it is possible our children are entering a kindergarten system that may not have a certified O.C.T. teacher in the classroom. Our children may lose the classroom caps placed in the primary years. Learning to read is a skill that is imperative for success in the early years of school, and a lack of strong reading skills will have ramifications for life.

Alana Silver,

Academic Specialist & Consultant

Angus Lloyd Associates

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Angus Lloyd Associates will be running workshops on how to implement this learn-to-read program on the dates below. We feel so strongly about this program that we want to teach parents how to use it with their own children. Please be in touch with us to sign up for this workshop.

We are offering the following training dates (located in mid-town Toronto):

Monday April 8: 7:00-9:00pm

Friday May 10: 12:30-2:30pm

Thursday June 6: 7:00-9:00pm

Connect with us!

Website: https://www.anguslloyd.com/teach-your-child-to-read

Email: alanna@anguslloyd.com

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How to Teach Emotional Regulation, Sharing & Cooperation with Toddlers

So as you may know, I recently did a huge purge on my kids' playspace at home. I ended up filling a huge garbage of broken toys & toys with missing pieces, and then another huge bag of toys to donate because my kids had grown out of them or we had duplicates.

 There's something so satisfying about filling those garbage bags and getting them out of the house.  

 Buh Bye!

 See you later alligator!

 Every time I purge that toy room it always comes back to haunt me how much "stuff" the kids have and how little of it actually gets used. It's this constant cycle of....

 they get something new,

 play with it religiously for a few days (or even a few hours),

 and then it gets chucked into corner and on to the next best thing....

 If we're lucky that item will surface again down the road.

 and repeat!

 sound familiar?

 so.... as I was going through this purge, I was hit with a dose of inspiration from my friends over at the Smart Cookie Club, who legit up-cycle old household items and create very basic, low tech educational toys.

Last week I chatted with them live in Behave it or NOT! and they shared some ways that they teach their students emotional regulation, sharing, & cooperation with these brilliant toys & activities they make.

[🚨 spoiler alert]- these girls take garbage and turn it into gold!

 While I was chatting with them I had a serious💡moment. Sooooo you're telling me I can....

1. save money by not having to constantly buy my kiddies new toys

2. recycle house hold item to get more value for the money I originally spent on those items

3. reduce our household footprint

4. do all this while teaching my kids some of THE MOST IMPORTANT life skills they need!?

WHAAAAAT!?!?!?!? This is a serious #parentwin!

 Get comfy and ready to be inspired. I don't want you to miss this. All I have to say is you.are.welcome!

Let me know what you are going to do with the info you gather from this video. I've already started picking through my recycling bin for some items to up cycle for my kids. I might even save it all for March Break and have them create these new toys and activities with me.

Anything to get them involved and make them feel empowered!

You've got this!

-Cori

p.s. If you have a toddler that LOVES a good power struggle and knows how to push your buttons. Then I want you to download my FREE cheat sheet with 7 simple strategies to get your child to listen to you. You can start using my strategies right away! Let this be the game changer for you!

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5 ways to make your child's play space functional

Hello 2019! It's a new year, which is a great excuse to clean house and start off feeling fresh & organized. Every 4-6 months I purge my toy room to clean out all the shit that accumulates over time.

You know what I’m talking about…. those miss-matched pieces in toy sets, missing puzzle pieces, markers without lids, broken toys, dead batteries, ripped books, food crumbs in random corners, and the list goes on....

A few questions for you…

1. Do you feel like your kid's toys are taking over your home?

2. Do you constantly feel like you are forever cleaning up your child's toys?

3. Are you ready to walk from room to room without stepping on toys?

4. Are you ready to create a space that feels clutter free & functional for your child?

so how similar are we? I scored 4/4 here. You?

Play holds a very important role in a child’s growth & development. Children primarily learn through play in the early years. Play is a brilliant process that deserves attention and a ton of nurturing. I designated a room in my house for a structured play space so I can have a bit of control to help my children expand their imaginations, develop their creativity, and foster their social communication skills. In order for all of this to happen, it's my job to make sure this sacred environment is set up for success. It's my job to be proactive and provide them with structure so they can really dive in. Here are my top 5 strategies for setting up a successful & functional play space.

1. LESS IS MORE. We want our children to develop their imagination so… we have to give kids the opportunity to get creative with their toys and use them in different ways. If they have an abundance of toys you are likely to see them play with 1 toy for a few minutes, chuck it across the room and move onto the next. That will be put on repeat until it’s time wash up for dinner. If you have an abundance of toys, you can rotate them monthly and put some away in storage. It's amazing how a kid reacts when you stash a toy away for a bit then pull it out a month or two later. It's like gold. I also tend to do this around birthdays and holidays when they receive an overload of gifts. I put a bunch of them away and pull them out systematically when I feel they are ready for something new. The bonus here is when your child has to get creative and use their imagination with limited toys, we often see that attention span & focus stretch. It’s a win-win! Here are a few options for getting rid of toys; donate used toys to families or charities in need, hand them down to family or friends with younger kids, do a toy or book swap with a friend, or donate them to your child’s school.

2.  FIND A HOME. Every toy, book, costume, crayon, & stuffed animal needs a home. Every item in the play space should have a designated spot where it goes when not in use. If the item is homeless get rid of it! (remember- less is more). This builds predictability for kids so they know where to find things when they need them and it also gives them a concrete spot to put things away when it comes time to tidy up. This allows you to teach your child how to “clean up” in a very structured way” I label all the toy bins and drawers in our playroom so both adults and kids know exactly where everything belongs. None of us have an excuse. There’s no doubt that some toys end up in their friends houses for an extended period of time, but at least when I do my 4-6 month purge, I can easily just drop it where it belongs.

3. GET HIGH! Not every single item needs to be at your child’s disposal. Put things out of reach. Use the height of your space. I like to use shelving that is out of my kids' reach so I have a spot to put toys that require adult supervision. For example, board games with little tiny pieces that I don't want going missing or ending up in my dog’s mouth- this pup eats EVERYTHING! I learned my lesson with Perler beads!!! I left the bucket of them on my kid’s A&C table and came in the room to find them allllllll over the place. They now reside in a lovely home on the highest possible shelf in my playroom. A great hack for this is to take an ikea unit (you know the one with the bins) and mount it high up on the wall out of your child’s reach

4. BAG IT.  ZIpper-ed bags are my best friend! I love the mesh zip up bags from the good old dollar store. Bags that zip are amazing for toys with multiple pieces, such as puzzles. I hate when pieces go missing or end up in the bottom of a toy bin in another room of the house. It’s so important to keep sets together. What’s great about having things in bags is when we are heading out for a long drive or to a restaurant- I can easily grab one of the bags from our toys room and bring it along with us. I use zip bags from arts & crafts, puzzles, figurine sets (we’re all about super heros these days), & stickers

4. DEPOSITS. Deposit bins are key to maintaining an organized space. There are often times when toys make their way out of the playroom and into tiny spaces and crevices around the house. To help manage that mess, I've put "miscellaneous toy bins" in common spaces around the house so we can deposit the toys in them until I have time to put them away in their proper places in the playroom. This helps me get toys off the floor at the end of a long day without having to expend whatever brain power I have left. 

So… if you are wondering where the hell to start, my suggestion is to get 2 big bags. 1 bag for toys you want to donate of or store out of sight and the other bag is for garbage. Don’t feel bad about throwing out broken toys or toys with partial pieces. Your child won’t care and probably won’t even realize. If for some reason they have some deep attachment to items you want to get rid of then let them hold on to it, until they are on to the next best thing. It’s probably best to tackle this when they aren’t around so you don’t have any interception :)

Let me know how it goes.

You’ve got this

-Cori

I’ve got one more thing for you to help you start off 2019 STRONG! Here’s my cheat sheet with some of my go-to strategies for getting your child to listen to you. You can start using these strategies right away! Give them a try and let me know how it goes!

Avoiding Discouragement

When we talk about children's behaviour we know that it is goal oriented. We know all behaviours happen for a reason. There's no such thing as "it happened for no reason" or "it came out of nowhere". Our responses to our child's behaviour will always do one of two things. It will either strengthen the behaviour or weaken the behaviour. If we reinforce the behaviour we will see that behaviour over and over again. If we don't reinforce the behaviour we are likely to see less and less of that behaviour. Starting in the toddler phase of development, we start to experience the ever so famous "power struggle". These power struggles are inevitable, they are exhausting, and they take a toll on our day to day routines. The struggle is REAL! As a preface to all of this, we have to understand that our own behaviour has a direct consequence on our child's behaviour. Often without even realizing it, us parents do things that discourage our child, which often leads to triggering the power struggle. Misbehaved children are often discouraged children and discouraged children love the power struggle the MOST. So... this is good new for us. Wonder why? We have the ability to monitor our own behaviour to make sure we aren't inadvertently discouraging our children in this time of growth and development. You should NEVER mock, criticize, humiliate or use sarcasm with your child. These are very obvious ways that can lead to a discouraged child. We also might do things that are a little less obvious that can cause discouragement. Here are 6 powerful ways to avoid fostering a discouraged child; Try it out! Let me know how it goes! You got this!

1. DO NOT talk about them in front of them when it comes to misbehaviour or anything negative. This just gives a reaction and attention to the negative stuff. Broadcasting this information sends them the message that their behaviour is something worth talking about. Kids love attention (positive or negative)!

2. DO NOT do things for them when they can do on their own. This sends the message that we think they are incapable and have a lack of faith in their skills. This really pisses them off!

3. DO NOT expect perfection. Manage your own expectations- Practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent. The more a child practices a skill the deeper in goes into their memory. Don't expect adult like behaviour from them. They are kids!!!

4. DO NOT label your child. Do don't refer to them as the "shy one", the "crazy one", the "artistic one", the "loud one". This puts them under a lens and can be very embarrassing.

5. DO NOT compare your child to another child. Not to another one of your own children or another child in the community. This again comes from a place of judgement and can really hurt a child's self-esteem. Child who feel judged will often rebel and push back harder when it comes to the power struggle.

6. DO NOT overprotect your child. This sends them the message that they can't do things on their own. That they can't think for themselves or act for themselves. This very easily invites the power struggle. Let them have an opinion, make choices, and explore cause and effect variables in the environment (within reason).

Join me in my Facebook group Behave it or NOT! for a lot more practical strategies on managing child behaviour!

- Cori

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A Meaningful Mess

I always love the feeling when I walk into my kids' playroom and it's spotless. Toys are put away in bins and drawers, random toy pieces have found their match, I can actually see the floor!! It's the best. BUT... what I love more is walking into the playroom and witnessing the process of that mess being made. This process is called playing and playing is learning. Kids have method to their madness, just like we do to ours. It's a brilliant process that deserves attention and a ton of nurturing. I use this space to help my kids expand their imagination, develop their creativity, and foster their social communication skills. In order for all of this to happen, it's my job to make sure this sacred environment is set up for success. It's my job to be proactive and provide them with structure so they can make the best mess possible. It's my job to make sure their mess is meaningful to them. Here are my top 5 strategies for setting up a successful play space.

1.  FIND A HOME. Make sure every toy, book, costume, crayon, stuffed animal has a home. Every item in the play space should have a designated spot where it goes when not in use. This builds predictability for kids so they know where to find things when they need them and it also gives them a concrete spot to put things away when it comes time to tidy up. I label all the toy bins and drawers in our playroom so both adults and kids know exactly where everything belongs.

2. GET HIGH! Put things out of reach. Use the height of your space. I like to use shelving that is out of my kids' reach so I have a spot to put toys that require adult supervision. For example, board games with little tiny pieces that I don't want going missing or ending up in my son's mouth. The kid eats EVERYTHING!

3. BAG IT. Ziploc bags are my best friend! I've recently become a little more environmentally friendly and starting using mesh zip up bags from the good old dollar store. Bags that zip are amazing for toys with multiple pieces, such as puzzles. I hate when pieces go missing or end up in the bottom of a toy bin in another room of the house. 

4. LESS IS MORE. If we are looking at developing those imaginative minds then give kids the opportunity to get creative with their toys and use them in different ways. If you have an abundance of toys, you can rotate them monthly and put some away in storage. It's amazing how a kid reacts when you stash a toy away for a bit then pull it out a month or two later. It's like gold. I also tend to do this around birthdays and holidays when they receive an overload of gifts. I put a bunch of them away and pull them out systematically when I feel they are ready for something new. 

5. DEPOSITS. Deposit bins are key to maintaining an organized space. There are often times when toys make their way out of the playroom and into tiny spaces and crevices around the house. To help manage that mess, I've put "miscellaneous toy bins" in common spaces around the house so we can deposit the toys in them until I have time to put them away in their proper places in the playroom. This helps me get toys off the floor at the end of a long day without having to expend whatever brain power I have left. 

Here's a glimpse into my kids' playroom. Some people ask why bother even cleaning it up if they are just going to jump in and make a mess again. We always have to reset the environment to provide a new canvas for them to create and learn from.

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The Kindergarten --> Grade 1 Transition

In about 5 weeks time, thousands of kids around the city are going to be making the transition from Kindergarten to Grade 1. WHOA! This is a BIG deal! The days of roaming the classroom like a free bird are over. Up there with graduating from High School, this is one of the biggest jumps in a child's academic career. Things are about to get more formal, more structured, and a lot more demanding. For some learners, this transition will be seamless. For others, it might cause a lot of fluttery butterflies in the tummy. Each learner will handle the transition on their own terms. For those extra-special learners, this transition might be extremely challenging because of all the change that is going to take place. We all know what the first-day-of-school jitters feels like.  Been there! Done that! Now magnify that x10 for a child who doesn't fare well with the unknown and needs the predictability to maintain a state of calmness.

What does one do to avoid total transition catastrophe?? How do you settle those butterflies in the tummy for all those extra special learners?? There are various factors to consider when preparing for this transition. As you gear up for the first few weeks of school consider the following 5 factors when you are in prep mode. These factors are not exclusive to the SK--> Grade 1 Transition. They can be considered by any teacher who has students who struggle with transitions.

Best of luck preparing for a seemless transition!

- Cori 

New Environment

Welcome to your Grade 1 classroom! For the most part the Grade 1 classroom is in a different room than Kindergarten was, perhaps a different hallways and even more so a different level/floor of the school. Things can look different in Grade 1. The room is set up differently, the cubbies are in different places, and there's no washroom in the classroom anymore. Boo! If you know you have an extra special learner in your classroom, consider taking pictures of the classroom for the student so the student has access to them at home. Providing a visual of the classroom will help reduce anxiety around entering the new learning environment because you will be exposing them to the classroom before they even step in it. increasing the predictability is the name of the game!

New Routines

Sample visual schedule- good for new routines and transitions

New classroom! New teacher! New routines! This includes but is not limited to; an entrance routine in the morning, an exit routine for recess and home-time, a lunch-time routine, a snack-time routine and a washroom routine (to name a few). These are all things that are taught in the first few weeks of school. This can be information overload for some learners, which can lead to some negative behaviours. Consider creating visual schedules that breaks down each routine into it's component steps. This will give the student the opportunity to learn the routines step-by-step and have something to refer to if they get stuck or confused along the way. Visual schedules are great for keeping students on track when doing a multistep task.

New Transitions

Sample visual timer

With a new classroom comes a new set of rules, guidelines and transitions. Going to back to unpredictable situations- transitions can cause those butterflies to flutter because sometimes there is an unknown at the end of the transition. This can include transitions from recess back to class, activity to activity, classroom to gymnasium, and the list goes on. Students are transitioning all day, every day between different activities, rooms, and people. To help make the daily transitions concrete for your learners, use countdowns so they know when the transitions are coming and use visual schedules so they know what they are transitioning to. Some students will benefit from a visual timer so they exactly how much time they have left with a certain activity.

Change in Structure

The learning environment is about to get a lot more structured and formal. Kindergarten supports a very play based learning environment. Kids are familiar with bins of toys to explore, an open space on the carpet used as a canvas for exploration, and learning centres set up for them to roam to and from. Grade 1 comes along and we are all of sudden sitting at desks for extended periods of time, doing a lot more paper and pencil work, and a lot less moving around the classroom. For some learners this change might feel like going from 0-10 in 30 seconds (especially when coming back to school from summer vacation). This can be a recipe for disaster. When in prep mode, you should be asking yourself how you can incorporate some K-structure into your class at the beginning of the year and slowly up the ante as time goes on. Can you incorporate a fun and cozy book nook for free reading time? Still use activity centres for certain subjects? Allow room for exploration with learning manipulatives?

Developmental Trajectory

At this point we know all kids grow and learn at their own pace. We also know that typically developing kids usually follow a similar trajectory with their growth and development. The same is not true for kids with exceptionalities. Whether they are gifted, have a learning disability, or a developmental disability, they will all present differently. This means you have to play detective from to the get go and figure out where each of your students are in their development. Once you have this under your belt-you will be able to better develop your curriculum and programs to ensure success! A lot of natural maturation takes place over the summer, so just because you know a student from the previous year, doesn't mean they are going to be starting off where they left off. Lastly, there are always those kids that go through physical growth spurts over the summer- be sure to take into consideration that outer and inner development might not happen simultaneously. Kids might come into class the first week of school looking a lot older, however still be very early in their emotional and cognitive development.

Where it all begins

We all have our FIRSTS. 1st birthday, 1st day of school, 1st job, 1st love, and the list continues..... Welcome to my 1st blog post! I define myself as a Mother, Wife, Daughter, Sister and Friend by nature and as a Teacher, Behaviour Analyst, and Entrepreneur by nurture. With never enough hours in a day to conquer the world, I feel blessed that these roles don't exist independent of one another. As a "new-ish" mother to a daughter of a 1 year-old, I recently took my 1st step down the path to setting her up for a enriched education. I SIGNED HER UP FOR DAYCARE!!! OMG!! I feel sick about it, but nonetheless, I know it's what's best for her (at least that's what I tell myself 5 times a day). Being so immersed in the world of education, I have always been asked where I would send my kids to school. Public? Private? Religious? Home School? always followed by the $1,000,000 question- What's the best school out there? Now having taken my first step to planning my daughter's education- I still have the same answer I did before being a mom- "There is not 1 best school out there. My child will attend the school that has the best suited learning environment for her developmental and learning needs". This does require a little leg work because you have to take the time to understand exactly what your child's needs are and then do your research on what's out there to suit those needs. By doing research I don't mean hanging out on Google searching to see what daycare is closest to home and/or work- I mean setting up appointments with different daycares for a visit (during operating hours) to see if they actually practice what they preach in their online-ads and brochures.  When choosing your child's first formal learning environment you want to feel confident that you have made the best possible decision.  As I went through the process of visiting different learning environments for my daughter I walked in with list of 10 things that were are MUST for me. Here (in no particular order) is my list. I hope this helps ease the process for you :)

Goodluck!

Cori

Security

Safety and security is always my #1 priority with my little one. When I went to visit daycares I looked for answers to the following questions; Do the doors that lead outside automatically lock behind you? If a non-regular person is picking up my child, does the daycare require to see identification? Are the grounds monitored by any surveillance? What does the drop off and pick up process look like? 

Nurturing Staff

When visiting daycares, I try to make myself as invisible as possible to get a true picture of how the staff interact with the children. I find extreme comfort in knowing my child will be under the care of nurturing people. Here are things I look for; Do the staff bend down to the children's eye levels when communicating with them. What tone of voice do the staff use when communicating with the kids? Do the staff offer the kids choice with activities, toys, and snacks throughout the day? 

Registered and Regulated

Before making any appointments to visit daycares my first question was "are you registered with the Ministry of Education?" When a daycare is registered with the Ministry- they are required to meet specific Provincial standards that are in place to support the health, safety, and developmental needs of all children. For more information click here

Accessible Curriculum

What will my child be learning all day? Great question, right?!? During my visits I made a point to look around the classrooms to see if the staff's lesson plans, weekly goals, and objectives were posted anywhere. If they weren't, then I made sure to ask for a sample copy so I can get an idea of what a day in the life of a daycare child looks like. I needed to know that my child was being put in a goal oriented- structured environment, despite how unstructured a daycare classroom can look at times. 

Proactive or Reactive

This is where the Behaviour Analyst in me kicks into high gear! While observing the different classrooms, I tried to get a sense of whether the staff in the room took a proactive or reactive approach to negative behaviours. I always crossed my fingers for bad behaviour from the kids during my visits- this way I could see how the staff dealt with them. I personally do not believe in punishment at such a young age and wanted to make sure that I am not putting my child in an environment where punishment is used as a consequence strategy.

The Learning Environment

... and the Behaviour Analyst in me stays in high gear. Science tells us that we all learn from our environment. This is my exact reason for booking visits to check out what can potentially be my daughter's day-time digs for the next few years. Is the place clean? Is there natural light in the classrooms? Is the furniture in the classrooms and bathrooms kiddie height? What kind of visual stimulation is on the walls? Are the classroom toys and cubbies organized? How much space do the kids have to play outside? Is this a place where I would want to spend my day time hours? HECK YA!

Drop Ins

Any good daycare will welcome parents to drop in early before pick up to observe what's happening in the class. A good daycare will usually advise you that it's not wise to drop in mid-day unless you plan on taking your child home with you when you leave- no kid that young wants to stay at school once they see mama or dada. If the daycare is ok with the parent dropping in unannounced early before pick up- than you know they have nothing to hide. 

Daily Physical Activity

For me, Daily Physical Activity (DPA) is a MUST! It promotes good health, it teaches motor skills and helps develop social skills. It also allows kids to be kids- young kiddies have itsy bitsy attention spans. What better way to break up focused activities, than with DPA. Whether it's through a structured gym or sports program, cooperative games, or outdoor time- I need to know my daughter is getting the optimal amount of exercise her brain needs for  her overall growth and development. 

Health & Safety

If you are visiting a daycare that is registered with the Ministry of Education, than likely you are visiting a daycare that makes health and safety their #1 priority. But... just to make sure, here are some important things to observe. Make note of the staff:child ratio in the class-does it follow Provincial standards. How many kids are in the class, total- does it follow Provincial standards. What is the daycare's policy for sickness and injury- how strictly is this enforced? Will my child get sick at daycare- 100% YES! Will it be because the daycare isn't healthy and safe- 100% NO! (if it's a registered daycare that passes it's yearly inspections).

Staff Training

Who are these people that will be taking care of my child? I can't help but wonder! Towards the end of my visits, I made a point to ask about the staff's education and training backgrounds. Are any of them parents themselves? Are they certified Early Childhood Educators? Ontario Registered Teachers? How recent is their CPR training? How many years have they been working at this daycare? I need to know that I am leaving my child in the hands of someone who is educated on child development and has experience working with young children.