Teaching Kids GRIT I recently came across this Ted Talk by Angela Lee Duckworth entitled ‘The Key to Success? Grit’. Angela left a successful job in consulting to become a 7th grade math teacher in New York. What she realized from this experience and from studies she made afterwards was that IQ, socioeconomic status, and […]
Social-Emotional Development & Kindergarten Readiness
Early Childhood Development: Early Social and Emotional Development Children learn best when they are comfortable in their environment. When children feel comfortable, they can relax in their surroundings and concentrate on the lessons being taught.
Math and Number Awareness & Kindergarten Readiness
Early Childhood Development: Math and Number Awareness Math and Number Awareness involves a variety of skills, including: 1) Numeral identification (recognizing all 10 numerals from 0 through 9 and knowing each numeral’s name); 2) Counting; 3) One-to-one correspondence; 4) Counting on; 5) Patterning recognition and creation; and 6) Sorting and classifying.
Phonemic Awareness & Kindergarten Readiness
Early Childhood Development: Phonemic Awareness Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize, differentiate and manipulate the individual sound units in spoken words. As if the term “sound units” wasn’t pretentious enough, early childhood educators and speech therapists often refer to individual sound units as “phonemes.” Phonemes are more than just syllables. The word “hat” has […]
Teaching Letter Recognition – What Order to Introduce Letters
How to Teach Children the Alphabet After many years of introducing kindergarten students to the 26 letters and their sounds, I found that 3 simple principles helped all students learn this information quickly and easily.
Letter and Word Awareness & Kindergarten Readiness
Early Childhood Development: Phonological Awareness Letter and Word Awareness is the ability to identify individual written letters and words. Once children are able to identify printed letters, they develop the ability to identify entire words. The entire developmental progression from letter awareness to word awareness to fluent reading typically begins around age three with letter […]
Auditory Processing Skills & Kindergarten Readiness
Early Childhood Development: Auditory Processing Auditory processing is the ability to recognize, interpret, and analyze spoken language. Strong auditory processing skills are critical components of two different activities in the classroom: following a teacher’s instructions and successfully interacting with peers.
Fine Motor Development & Kindergarten Readiness
Early Childhood Development: Fine Motor Skills Fine motor movements involve the coordination of small muscles in the hands and fingers. Strong fine motor skills are essential to complete tasks such as writing, cutting, using a fork or spoon, threading beads, moving puzzle pieces, zipping, buttoning, and tying shoe laces. Without well-developed fine motor skills, a […]
Gross Motor Development & Kindergarten Readiness
Early Childhood Development: Gross Motor Skills Gross motor skills involve movement of the large muscles in arms, legs, and torso. Gross motor activities include walking, running, skipping, jumping, throwing, climbing and many others. It may be easiest to think of “gross motor” skills as skills most utilized in a gym class or on a playground. […]
Help Your Child Learn The Colors
Grouping pictures or items by color is one of the simplest classification systems available to young children, since color is such an obvious attribute. The following worksheets will challenge your child to rely on strong visual discrimination skills to group items by major color group. Many children first begin identifying different colors when they are […]
Helping Your Child Learn The Shapes
Learning to identify common shapes is an important visual discrimination activity for young children. Shapes exist throughout a child’s environment, and an ability to readily identify shapes and to use the correct term when referring to them is important. These worksheets will help your child learn to properly draw each shape as well as gain […]
Intro to Visual Discrimination
Young children learn through observation. They love exploring the world around them, observing the nuances of everything they see. Interestingly, many people, things and places share similar characteristic and may differ in only one or two small ways. Also, many letters (such as B and P or J and L) appear very similar and only […]
Best Austin Art Classes – Art Studios Austin
Top 10 Best Art Classes in Austin, TX Art can be a fun and relaxing hobby. We all have fond memories of our children’s artwork, and many of us still have these creative works on display around the house. Where do you go when your child needs a serious glue stick and glitter session but […]
Best Art Supply Stores in Austin
Artists are serious about their art supplies, so finding an Austin art supply store that has everything you need is really nothing short of amazing. When shopping, artists, and crafters consider several factors, the two most important of which are product quality and price. If you’re going to art school or simply enjoy creating, you’ll […]
Best Online Art Classes for Kids
Because schools have reduced extracurricular activities such as art, students may not have enough time to express their creative side. We’ve compiled a list of the best online art classes for kids. There are numerous art and craft activities in which children of various ages can participate. These mostly free online art classes for children […]
Austin Holiday Craft Markets & Bazaars
Austin has a plethora of fun arts and crafts markets, especially this time of year! Whether you’re looking for one-of-a-kind clothes, artisanal jewelry, or Texas crafts, you’re almost certain to find what you’re looking for at one of these markets. Prepare to find the ideal gift for your children, nanny or babysitter, grandma, and all […]
When You Can’t Afford to Give Your Amazing Nanny a Raise
Nanny Raise? You appreciate the wonderful work your nanny does. Not only does she take terrific care of your child, but she also keeps your household organized and running smoothly. Plus, she’s always ready to pitch in and help whenever you need her to. She deserves a raise, but, unfortunately, it doesn’t fit into your […]
10 Steps to Boost Your Child’s Creativity
Spark Your Child’s Creative Thinking Raising a creative child has little to do with nature and a lot to do with nurture. Creativity isn’t “born”. We all have the capacity for creativity, and if we encourage our creativity, it will grow. No one can guarantee that your child will become the next Picasso, buy you […]
Play Areas for Encouraging Creativity
How to Encourage Creative Play Preschoolers, as you may have noticed, enjoy playing. According to experts, not all play is created equal. Here are some open-ended” activities to encourage children to engage in creative, imaginative play. Creative Play can be divided into seven major categories. In no particular order, these are:
Austin’s Best Places for Adults to Celebrate Their Birthday
Best Adult Birthday Ideas in Austin, TX Austin’s hot, and there are plenty of places to visit, see, and enjoy on your birthday. Maybe you want to have a food tour of Austin’s best restaurants. Or maybe you’re looking for a more low-key experience. In this guide, you’ll find all the different things you can […]