second few lines or paragraph, and so on. This could be a long-term project that gives you a look at your child's understanding of story sequence and word meanings; it also encourages the child to write creatively. Save these stories so you and your child can look at them together at a later time.
*Begin making a journal of good times together--possibly the highlights of a trip, vacation, or family holiday. You and your child can each make entries. Read through what you have written from time to time.
*Read newspaper headlines together and try to figure out what the story is about. You might also make a point of reading aloud to each other one newspaper story every day. This will help make the newspaper important to your child, as well as provide reading practice.
*Read newspaper headlines together and try to figure out what the story is about. You might also make a point of reading aloud to each other one newspaper story every day. This will help make the newspaper important to your child, as well as provide reading practice.
*Get in the habit of clipping from the newspaper things you think your child might find interesting--human interest stories, cartoons, news related to the local environment. Such pieces are natural starting points for conversation.
*Committing things to memory is a good exercise throughout the intermediate and middle school years. Each of you memorize a poem or story to tell to the other--one in the fall and one in the spring. The presentations can be family events.
*Buy books for you child for special occasions. This gives you a chance to structure later conversations about the book, by asking, "How was the book? What was the mystery?" and the like.
*As your child reads, find time to ask, "What is the book about?" Who are the characters? What are they like? Where does the story take place?" Most children like to talk about what they are reading, as long as they do not perceive the questions to be either suspicious inquisitions or rote inquiries devoid of real interest.
*Folktales and myths are often part of the fourth grade curriculum. See what your child knows about Robin Hood, Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, King Arthur, Brer Rabbit, Zeus, Apollo, or Prometheus. Read folktales and myths to each other.
Reprinted from 101 Educational Conversations with Your 4th Grader by Vito Perrone, published by Chelsea House Publishers.
Copyright 1994 by Chelsea House Publishers, a division of Main Line Book Co. All rights reserved.
Building Math Skills--Grade 3
Tips for Parents
*Count to 24 by fours, to 30 by sixes, to 40 by eights.
*Make up story problems around math facts such as 12-4=8. For example, 12
elephants started the race but 4 stopped along the way; how many finished? If the stories are silly or funny, so much the better.
*Another way to see how well your child understands numbers is to play board
games that call for markers to be moved forward and backward so many spaces--
for example, "Now you can move six spaces forward." A considerable amount of mathematics is embedded in games such as dominoes and Monopoly. Chess, which involves strategy as well as mathematics, would be a particularly good game
to introduce and play.
*Many games will reveal your child's knowledge of numbers as well as of words and directions. Play tic-tac-toe, dots, checkers, concentration, hangman, Scrabble, and increasingly complex card games.
*Ask your child to use a ruler to measure something in the house--a rectangular table, a room, a bookshelf. You will learn a good deal about your child's measurements skills.
*See how many math symbols or notations you and your child can find in the newspaper. Such symbols might include +, -, =, 1/2, 10:15, a date such as 6/30/92, shapes such as a circle or trangle, or graphs.
*There are many opportunities for counting during everyday activities. While
cooking you could ask, "Can you count out eight potatoes?" or ask, "Can you put ten
(Continued on page seven)