May 15, 2022
Dear Berry Patch Families,
Summer is right around the corner! The next three months provide a time for less structured play and activities. Plan to enrich your child’s summer with learning activities to spark the imagination, expand the mind, and foster social interaction skills.
Social Emotional Learning (SEL)
• Tune in to your child (verbal and non-verbal communication).
• Name and validate feelings using emotional vocabulary including words that express a wide variety of emotions (frustrated, confused, generous, impatient, overwhelmed, content, etc.). Help your child recognize and name underlying feelings.
• Feelings are responses. Teaching children about cause and effect will assist in understanding feelings are reactions. And feelings can change. After identifying an emotion, follow up with, “How can I help you?” This response aids the child in determining what is needed to make the situation better.
• Most children’s books provide a variety of emotions. When reading, ask your child to identify how the character is feeling and what is needed to improve the situation.
• Download The Berry Patch School Parent Tip Sheet for SEL.
Reading
• When reading to your child, follow the words with your finger to emphasize left to right progression of the written words on the page.
• Look for words the child can read.
• Encourage daily quiet reading for the whole family. Build a fort with pillows and blankets.
• Create a special summer reading bin.
• Make story time a regular part of the bedtime routine.
• Visit the local library.
Writing
• Draw pictures together, describing what you’re drawing.
• Write the narrative as your child tells a story then illustrate the story.
• Write thank you notes as a family.
Speech
• Talk about what you are doing (gardening, preparing dinner, cleaning, doing chores).
• Discuss how things work using descriptive words.
• Ask open-ended questions, rather than “yes-no” questions. Give the child time to think and answer.
Play
• Make play part of your day with your child. It’s really your child’s job!
• Play enhances literacy development.
“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination.”
Albert Einstein
Most sincerely,
Becky Danielson, M.Ed.
Licensed Parent & Family Educator
612.619.5777
b.danielson@berrypatchschool.com
