Resource Material
YOUR KID’S FINANCIAL LITERACY
I’m starting a thread here in the blog on other businesses that we at Notch Hill endorse because they have great philosophies, have amazing products or are just in general super cool people.
So it is appropriate that the first company seems to fit into all these categories.
Four Quarters Finance seem to come from similar roots to us here at Notch Hill. They believe in the concept of play being a powerful way to teach kids. Like us they are also passionate about literacy, but in their case they are passionate about financial literacy. They have 3 financial literacy packs designed for different age groups. I love the idea of teaching kids from an early age that it is important to save a portion of their money for themselves and a portion of their money to give away.
Check out their website at www.fourquartersfinance.com you will also find them at the BC Home School Conference in early June.
FAMILY LITERACY DAY
Happy Family Literacy Day every one!
Here’s a fun idea to celebrate – find a well loved book that has the same number of characters as there are in your family and have a family play. It doesn’t matter if you have an audience or not, as I guarantee that most of the fun will be in the preparations. Costumes are a must, the best ones are scavenged from around the house.
I remember doing this as a kid. My much older brother landed the part of a bee (I seem to remember that it was the main protagonist). As his only line was to say “Buzz” he made a comic strip type bubble out of card and wrote “Buzz” in it. I thought that it was wonderful!
THE ART OF STORY TELLING
One great way of introducing a new skill, routine or activity with your child is to make a photo story book about it. I just made a “Day-In-The-Life-Of” story book as a bit of fun for my son. It was really easy, over several days (it would have taken a day, but I kept forgetting) I took photos of him doing the things he does during the day. For example: Waking up, eating, playing, bath time etc then I printed them and put them in a dollar store photo album. As he is the main character in the book he absolutely loves “reading” it.
This type of story book can be really great if you are trying to work on a routine. For example, if you are trying to instigate a bedtime routine to help your child go to bed more easily/quickly, take pictures of your child going through the parts of the routine. Enlisting your child to help put the photos in the right order helps embed the process as well as “reading” the story regularly. Just beware, once you do this, you won’t get away with making any variances from the routine!
Another fun thing to do with these picture stories is practice sequencing – a good thing to practice before your child starts kindergarten. Going through first, then, next and last with your child both using pictures and physically around the house will help your child understand typical instructions she will get from her Kindergarten teacher. For example: First hang up your coat, then wash your hands, and lastly sit at the table.
Photo books have a huge range of applications and are great because they are easy to make and kids love having a book written all about them. If you have any other uses for them feel free to add a comment.
THE LETTER SOUNDS IN THE PHONICS ALPHABET
The phonics alphabet is just a posh way of saying. “This is the sound that the letter makes rather than the name of the letter” We teach kids the letters phonetically first because it is easier to remember “The letter a” rather than “Ay says a”…. yes it’s challenging to write this stuff down!
Here is a flawless example of the phonetics alphabet pronounciation by www.helpingtogrow.com
Here is a high energy example – but beware, some of the letters are prounced as bu, du, pu, cu etc. The correct way to pronounce them is softer and more breathy (as in the first video). This video courtesy of www.genkienglish.net