MSI Press Blog

  Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from  365 Teacher Secrets for Parents  by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly. #103 Notes on Note Taking   Learning is like rowing upstream; not to advance is to drop back. ~ Chinese proverb   In Idea #95, you read about SQ3R. During reading, this method suggests that your child take notes in some way while she is reading. There are several good strategies for doing this so that she can later look back and easily see the most important parts of what she read. It is nice to show your child a wide variety of options and then let her choose what she prefers. We don’t all take notes in the same way. We also do not take notes the same way each time we do it ourselves. However, if we have lots of options we know about, we can pull from them and decide which would work best for us in any given situation. Here are two very helpful strategies. HIGHLIGHTING : One terrific way to mark important information is to...

  Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from  365 Teacher Secrets for Parents  by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly. #102 What's in There?   There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island.  ~ Walt Disney   In Idea #95, you read about SQ3R. The first step is to have your child Survey the text he is about to read. Not every reading assignment will have all of the following parts, but if and when they do, they could be important to helping your child better comprehend. The next time your child brings home his textbook or an informational text of any kind, browse it together. We often assume our kids know what all the different parts are, but many have never actually been shown. Here are some things to seek out and discuss their purpose:   Title: Is it a creative title only, or can we predict what the text will be about from it? Headings and Subheadings (usually in bold): They usually do tell ex...

  Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from  365 Teacher Secrets for Parents  by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly. #101 Mind Monitoring   You may have tangible wealth untold. Caskets of jewels and coffers of gold. Richer than I you can never be –  I had a mother who read to me. — Strickland Gillilan               The last several ideas gave you information about the system for better comprehension called SQ3R. During reading, it is important for your child to be thinking about several different things. Teachers often call this “having a conversation with the text.” Try this out yourself: pick up something and read it. Pay attention to what you are thinking while you are reading. Are you connecting the words to anything you already know? Agreeing? Questioning? Predicting what might be written next? Good readers do this, often without even realizing it. Kids are very focused, e...