More than anything, Suzanne is struggling with management: classroom and materials. Suzanne’s cooperating teacher has her own style of running the classroom, and Suzanne is working to adapt to that while developing her own systems for quieting down the room and for distributing the materials needed for teaching.

Only a few of Suzanne’s students started the year knowing the alphabet, and teaching letters and sounds is still a big part of the language arts time. As Suzanne put it, her kids are always sorting something: objects, picture cards, word cards and more. Together, we’ve been combing resources to find examples of material management systems that work for teachers.

Teaching ABCs with Ease is a very helpful post for organizing sorting. The post includes, and is presented alphabetically, ideas for letter sorting containers (Aquarium, applesauce jar for A), letter objects (battery, button, bone for B), letter movements (creep across the floor, clap your hands for C) and letter pretend (do the dishes, dig, walk a dog for D). And there’s more! The pictures and video make this a fun blog visit.

Word Study in Action gives a lot of helpful advice and suggestions for managing a word study program in an elementary classroom. Although I’m not a fan of weekly spelling tests, I was encouraged to see that this teacher gives both assigned words AND new pattern words as part of the assessment.

The Classroom Procedures section of this site lays out many of the standard management devices teachers use: job charts, classroom rules, and others. Suzanne was drawn to the Talking Signal as one way to quiet down the class. She was going to make one last night to try out today.

There are many, many resources online but that was enough for Suzanne this week! Feel free to pass along your own bits of wisdom for my friend!

Children’s Books
As your child grows, choose nursery rhymes, ABC books, informational books, story books and chapter books appropriate to their reading level. Organize a bookshelf of your child’s collection, creating a special place will give a sense of value for books in your child. Make sure it is easy accessible, so that your child can reach books and read as they please. There are a lot of ways to build a collection of books: ask for used books of other parents with older children, visit book fairs, yard sales, bookstores and of course online.

Writing Center
Use a desk or table to create a writing center for your child, to promote the importance of writing. You will need thick markers, pencils, colored pencils, crayons, large paper and standardized paper to complete your center. Making a picture book and story book are fun writing center activities. Overtime, take it a step further and have a collection of your child’s books bound at Kinko’s or Staples. Kids will love seeing their work and this can make a special keepsake for you.

Letters, Words, Conversation
Introduce new words to your child as you explain their meaning. Encourage them to ask when they don’t know the meaning of a word. Keep letters all around the house: alphabet blocks, foam letters for the bathtub, ABC puzzles, magnetic refrigerator letters, ABC cookie cutters, letter stamps, and letter stickers. These materials will enable you to talk about letters and form words while you do other activities with your child such as cooking, bathing and play. Actively talk to your child through why, how and what questions. Encourage thinking before speaking by building your questions upon your child’s responses.

Reading
Always read to your child. Following a routine time to read-aloud and listen to your child read daily makes it special to a child. For young readers, pointing to words shows the relationship between spoken and written words as well as the correct way to follow print from left to right.

Tapes and Videos
Use tapes and videos to enhance the reading experience. Music and songs such as the ABC song in jazz, reggae, country and classical teaches the alphabet as well as introduces your child to different forms of music. Baby Einstein, Sesame Street and LeapFrog are just a few video/DVD producers you will find useful as your child interacts digitally.

Be a reader and writer yourself. One of the most effective ways to help children become readers and writers is to show them through your own example that you value literacy and that reading and writing have useful purposes.