Welcome to Mrs. McLaughlin's web site!
Wow! I am wearing a Black Rat Snake! The photo was taken August 24, 2011 at the Crystal Ridge Branch of the Fort Erie Public Library. Black Rat Snakes are rare. They live in trees, in our area. They grow to 2.0 metres long, and are the largest snake in Ontario. This was my first experience wearing a snake. It is fun to learn, whether it is learning about snakes or other things. Hope that all the students at Crystal Beach will agree, learning is lots of fun.
This site was created to share information with the Crystal Beach Public
School community. Mrs. McLaughlin is a Learning Resource Teacher and
Early Learning teacher of the Junior Kindergarten Class.
Learning Resource teachers work with students and teachers to meet students' learning needs. Resource Teachers teach small groups of students who have identified (through a meeting of the school team or through a formal Identification, Placement and Review Committee) learning needs. Some of these needs are met through instruction in word identification, reading comprehension, reading fluency, articulation, printing, mathematics problem solving and computer skill development.
Scroll down to find information on the following topics:
1.Reading With Your Child
2. Hints for Parents of Children with Auditory Processing Problems
3. Mnemonic Devices - memory helpers!
4. Arithmetic Operations Math Vocabulary
5. Reading Targets - Where Should My Child Be In Reading?
6. HOPE (Helping Others Parent Effectively) ADD Support Group
7. Websites for learning.
Reading is a key learning skill.
1. Reading With Your Child
Reading with your child is a treat that gives you both so much pleasure
and so many benefits. No matter how young your child is, reading inspires
learning about the world around us. It is important for intellectual
development, as well as for social and emotional development. Reading
helps your child develop language and listening skills and prepares her to
recognize the written word. Most importantly, reading lets a parent and
child enjoy each other’s company in a quiet, fun and emotionally
satisfying way.
Here are some of the ways you can make the most of reading time with your
child:
Make reading a part of your child’s daily bedtime routine. For all
children, reading at bedtime provides comfort and security. The nicest
way to end the day is sharing a favourite story.
Pay attention to which pages or books are your child’s favourites. When
you support his interests he gets the message that you value what he likes
and cares about.
Describe the emotions shown by the book’s characters. Young children
need to hear and learn the words for feelings as they begin to make sense
of own emotions.
Take time to talk about the story; for example, say, “I wonder what will
happen next”, or “What do you think this girl is going to do?” This
stretches your child’s imagination and encourages creative thinking. Be
sure to show how reading is thinking.
Change your voice and use lots of animation in your voice when you read;
for example, whisper for someone who is sleeping. This will engage your
child in the story, and she will learn to watch your face and listen to
your voice fot emotions.
Read favourite stories again and again. Then start to leave out key words
or phrases. Your child will love to fill in the blanks, practise beloved
rhymes or retell the story in his own words. This will make reading an
interactive experience and build his memory.
Take the opportunity to talk about colour, shape and size of objects.
These abstract concepts can be hard to identify and label, but books provide a simple and visual way to learn them.
Listening Presents Challenges for some Children, so try these suggestions:
2. Hints for Parents of Children with Auditory Processing Problems
1. Make every attempt to keep background noise to a minimum. (e.g. turn
the radio or T.V. off before you talk to your child.)
2. Present your child with the best possible speech signal.
a. Speak slowly to allow your child time to process what you have
said.
b. Use short sentences and simple grammar.
c. Accent key words by stretching them out, or making them slightly
louder, or pausing after them.
d. Speak clearly.
3. Attract the child’s attention before you begin to speak.
4. Help your child to develop the habit of always looking at the person who
is speaking. He will then absorb visual cues which will help him to
understand what is being said.
5. Make every attempt to ensure that the speaker’s face is clearly
visible. (The speaker should ideallyot be placed in front of a light
source such as a window or a light.)
6. Check with the child whether he has clearly understood important
information or instructions. A yes or no answer is not sufficient. Ask
him to repeat or explain what was said.
7. Encourage the child to tell you when he doesn’t understand what has
been said.
8. If necessary, repeat instructions using different words to present the
same information and simplifying the grammar, if possible.
9. Always be supportive when the child has misunderstood. He is not being
disobedient and has no control over his ability to comprehend.
Suggestions are from the Department of Audiology at Chedoke Child and
Family Centre.
Here is a link to a video about Central Auditory Processing in young children,from Anaheim Skills Speech, which you may find of interest.
The link is to part one of the program, and the rest can be seen from the YouTube sidebar.
3. Mnemonic Devices - memory helpers!
Mathematics
MOMA - for two digit multiplication: multiply, over, multiply, add
BEDMAS -order of operations brackets, exponents, divide, multiply, add,
subtract
Angles - an acute angle is a cute little angle less than 90
Steps in long division
Dad- first divide
Mom - second multiply
Sister - third subtract
Brother - last bring down
Calendar aid
Thirty days have September,
April, June and November;
All the rest have thirty-one
Excepting February alone:
Which has but twenty-eight, in fine,
Till leap year gives it twenty-nine.
Environmental Studies
Red Sky at Morning, Sailors take warning - stormy weather ahead Red Sky at
night, Sailors delight - clear weather ahead
Roy G. Biv - rainbow descending order Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue,
Indigo, Violet
Mr. V. E. M. J. Sun and his little dog Pluto - solar system
in order from the sun Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,
Uranus, Neptune, Pluto
NEVER EAT SHREDDED WHEAT- North, South, East, West (or never eat soggy
weiners)Stop, Drop and Roll - what to do if your clothing catches fire.
Spring Forward, Fall Back - the time change for daylight savings
time
Stalactites, Stalagmites - ceiling for stalactites, ground for
stalagmites
HOMES - the great lakes Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, Superior
Righty Tighty, Lefty Loosy (screwing and unscrewing jars, light
bulbs)
Latitude - lat/fat rhyme, these are the fat lines that circle the
fat belly of the earth
Longitude - these are the long lines that stretch
the long way from the north pole to south pole
Language
principle/principal - Our principal Mrs. Smith, is our pal.
piece - a piece of pie
practice, practise - I skate on the ice. Practice is the noun and practise
is the verb.
COPS - capitalization, organization, punctuation and spelling
supper - there are two helpings of peas in supper
dessert - there are two helpings of sses in dessert
Music
Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge -notes of the lines on a treble clef
FACE - notes of the spaces on a treble clef
4. Arithmetic Operations Math Vocabulary
These words can mean that you use the operation above the column.
Teaching children the definitions of the words we use in school (academic language like this that is not always part of their play conversation) increases their success.
Add + |
Subtract - |
Divide / |
Multiply x |
plus sum total combine and increased by completed how many in all altogether addition more than bigger tan tally deposit credit together with amount to join |
minus subtract take away left difference decreased by less than more than from change loss how many more than how many less than exceeds debit smaller than greater than deduct withdraw reduce |
divide quotient amount half/quarter % each share group equal parts equally every into split divided by remainder division left over distribute average portion |
product times all together total of double triple area groups of power square |
5. Reading Targets - Where Should My Child Be In Reading?
All children gain reading skills at their own rate, and when a child has
not yet achieved the expectations for his or her grade, more practice in
reading will develop skills. Here are the targets for reading, using our
levelled books (Fountas and Pinnell system).
End of Senior Kindergarten level D
End of Grade One level J (examples are Red is Best by K. Stinson and Are
You My Mother?)
End of Grade Two level M (examples are the Cam Jansen series and Amelia
Bedelia)
End of Grade Three level O/P (examples are Owl Moon, Beezus and Ramona)
End of Grade Four level S/T (example is Wanted: Mud Blossom by Betsy
Byars)
If your child is regularly meeting the reading expectations (reading
fluently with understanding at the above levels) of his or her grade, the
report card mark will be a B. Your child’s teacher can help you learn
is another source of information.
6. HOPE (Helping Others Parent Effectively)
Family Support Group - ADHD
~ Meetings
Meetings are usually held monthly through the school year.
Presented by:
Niagara Region Public Health
For schedules and group locations near you,
Health Nurse,
at 905-871-6513, ext. 31
Free - No need to register. All are welcome!
Share what’s working well in your family
Get suggestions for managing the challenges!
www.forterie.library.on.ca is our Public Library website, which has Tumble Books, an on line set of books for children to enjoy. Using the public library opens a world of wonder and knowledge to children. There are many on-line databases you can access from home. The library offers many programs for children and families. Our closest library branch is the Crystal Ridge branch on Ridge Road South.
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