is-your-smartphone-taking-over-your-family

Are SmartPhones Taking Over Your Family?

My husband and I used to make fun of the couples in restaurants who stared longingly at their phones rather than each other. Over plates of over-priced food, they gazed at their screens while never making eye contact with one another. We vowed never to be that couple. Then, we each got a Smartphone…on the same day. Looking back, that may have been one of the most transformative days of our marriage.

3 Cool Tips for Springtime Reading - Red Apple Reading Express

3 Cool Tips for Springtime Reading

Spring is here—finally! Time to open the windows and break out the sandals. Moms and dads usually love this time of year because it means that kids can unglue themselves from the TV and spend less time underfoot and more time outdoors. While reading certainly makes a great cold-weather activity, be sure to keep up a regimen of daily reading during the Spring months as well. To help you out, here are a few tips for making sure your little one stays on top of her literacy game during warmer weather.

3 Strategies for Helping Your Visual Child Learn to Read

3 Strategies for Helping Your Visual Child Learn to Read

If you’ve been following the blog lately, you know that we’ve been talking about how important it is to know your child’s learning style so that you can help them learn best at home and advocate for them at school as well. We’ve also discussed some specific strategies for those kids who, in my opinion, are the most underserved in school: kinesthetic learners.
What if you have a visual learner, though? What can you do to help her reach her full potential by using her natural talents? Well, first, it’s important to know that visual learners learn by seeing, and they often think in pictures.

3 Ways to Teach Reading to Your Auditory Learner

3 Ways to Teach Reading to Your Auditory Learner

Even if you haven’t taken a learning styles quiz, you can probably determine whether or not your child is an auditory learner by knowing this one characteristic: they like to talk—a lot! Auditory learners not only like the sound of their own voice, though. They prefer to take in the world by listening rather than seeing or touching. Since so much of learning to read is about learning distinct sounds, auditory learners have an advantage.

Teaching Reading to Kinesthetic Learners

Teaching Reading to Kinesthetic Learners

A few months back, I posted about the importance of knowing your child’s learning style. Hopefully, you took some time to take the quiz and find out just exactly how your little one’s brain ticks. If not, check out this quick learning styles quiz.
I mentioned in the post that my Kindergartener is extremely kinesthetic. That is, she learns best by touching or doing, not listening or seeing.  Since many teachers tend to use primarily verbal and auditory teaching methods, these types of learners can have a rough time when learning to read, or learning anything else for that matter! It’s not that these kids are incapable of learning. Oh no! It’s that they learn in way that is different from how most educators teach, which clearly puts them at a disadvantage.

Art and Literacy: Do They Go Hand in Hand?

Art and Literacy: Do They Go Hand in Hand?

Dwindling budgets have forced art programs across the country out of our public school systems, much to the dismay of many teachers and educators who have long respected art as not just a second recess (as some mistakenly perceive it), but as a key part of a child’s schooling. We know that the arts can help students develop critical thinking skills, special intelligence, and of course, creativity, but did you know that art can also enhance literacy? Here’s how.

Red Apple Reading Online Reading Software

A Mom’s Review of the Red Apple Reading Program

As you may suspect, I’m not only a regular contributor to this blog, but I’m also a Red Apple Reading customer, so I wanted to let you know how Katie is progressing with her lessons and share some thoughts on the effectiveness of the program from a parent’s perspective. And what better day to share than on Read Across America Day! Quick disclaimer: though I’m obviously a member of the team here, you have my word that my opinions are my own and as unbiased as possible!