MSI Press Blog

  Excerpt from 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents by Cindy Alder-McKinley & Patti Trombly.  Introduction How To Make This Book Work for Your Family: Congratulations! You have just taken the first step in helping your child improve not only his academics in elementary school but also his attitude toward school this year and for years to come. 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents is jam-packed with fun ways to work with and help your child. No longer does school have to be tough. Who says practicing things at home can’t be fun? We have written this book after years of teaching elementary school and many more years working closely with individual ele mentary-aged children. We’ve spent over ten years collecting 365 of the very best ideas and the most helpful activities that we have ever used successfully to help remediate and/ or enrich young children’s learning experiences, and now we are sharing them with you. We’ve spent over ten years collecting 365 of the very best ideas, the m...

Back Story  of  365 Teachers Secrets for Parents: Fun Ways to Help Your Elementary Child Succeed in School  by Cindy McKinley Alder & Patti Trombly Nearly 30 years ago, I met Patti in the back row of a grad school classroom at Eastern Michigan University.  Our professor had us begin the class by writing out a “Bliss List”: all the things that made us happy.  When we compared lists, we were shocked to see they were almost identical! We were both due to have our first babies in a few months, both elementary school teachers, both working on a Masters in Reading, and both had a weakness for soft pretzels. We didn’t know it at the time, but that day sparked a decades-long friendship. Throughout the years, Patti taught upper elementary, and I taught the lower grades.  We met weekly with our four kids and, of course, always ended up talking about teaching and how eager the parents were to find ways to help their kids at home.  I eventu...

  Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from  365 Teacher Secrets for Parents  by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly (yes, those are the two talented teachers). #22 Chores   He did each single thing as if he did nothing else. ~Charles Dickens   Studies show that having your child help with basic household chores does more than just get the house clean. By taking charge of a chore, a child learns about responsibility, consequences, planning ahead, establishing a goal, and planning how to reach it. (Not to mention the satisfaction that comes from a job well done!) Giving your child too many chores may become overwhelming, though. Experiment to find an arrangement that works well for everyone involved.   The workbook on the 365teachersecrests.com website contains a sample chore chart.          Cindy McKinley Alder                     ...

    Today's tip for parents (from two talented teachers) comes from  365 Teacher Secrets for Parents  by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly (yes, those are the two talented teachers). #16 Break it up!   Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it up into small jobs. ~Henry Ford   Many tasks, from homework assignments to chores, can seem overwhelming to children. No matter what the job is, if your child needs help, perhaps you could help her before she even starts. See if you and your child can work together to break the entire task into smaller, more manageable parts. For a younger child, it may be helpful to write the steps down for her to check off as she accomplishes them. For older children, a verbal discussion may be all that is necessary to get them off to a good start. Your child may be more willing and able to take the whole project on herself once she sees a clear way to get there.        Cindy McKinley Alde...

Exceptional teachers Cindy McKinley and Patti Trombly have put together a book that can help any parent through this extended period of sheltering in place. Packed with home activities for learning, readers can pick any number that appeal to them or fit their personal family circumstances. Here is one example that is bound to make the time spent in lockdown more fun: #144 Steal the Beat From a very young age, parents and teachers use song and rhyme to teach children information. From teaching the different sounds animals make in “Old McDonald” to learning the letters of the alphabet in the “Alphabet Song,” children grasp concepts and information easier when it’s presented in rhyme or song or both! Keep that in mind when you see your child struggling with a difficult task or concept. Try brainstorming with your child a rhyme that might help her spell a certain word or remember a definition.  It is usually easiest to utilize a song that everyone is familiar with. Song...