The Many Benefits of... Greeting Cards

Greeting cards have many benefits.  You can use them to cheer up a friend, make relationships stronger, keep in touch with relatives and friends, keep your own spirits bright, and remind others and yourself of special days throughout the year.  With extended families and the many holidays, it can be quite a task to keep greeting cards in check and in order.  Here are a few tips to get you off to using greeting cards efficiently and effectively.

Tip #1: Get a collection going.  Collect greeting cards for all holidays, events, and any occassion.  This is easiest done by finding a box of assorted greeting cards.  You can get these at hobby stores, bookstores, and of course online.  Start building a small collection that you can draw upon all year.

Tip #2: Organize your collection.  Organize your greeting cards by months.  If a month has birthdays, holidays, or special events, put a card from each of those categories in that months designated spot.  I use an expandable folder to keep all of my greeting cards organized.  I have it first divided into the twelve months.  Then I have categories, like holidays, birthdays, and other occassions.  If I have an unplanned event, then I can just draw from the other categories behind the months.  However, the ones that I know are coming up are already in their designated month section.

Tip #3: Pre-stamp all of your greeting cards.  I buy forever stamps from the post office and all of my planned greeting cards, at the beginning of the year, are stamped already.  This saves time later.

Tip #4: Keep an event calendar.  I have one calendar in my "Home Notebook" binder that is designated for events like birthdays, weddings, baby due dates (or showers), holidays, and anniversaries.

Tip #5: Keep a contact list.  Along with my event calendar, I have a contact list that I keep a running list of names, addresses, and phone numbers to keep track of the many people that need to be sent greeting cards throughout the year.  I try to update this whenever possible.

Tip #6: If you don't mind not being creative, it is a good idea to get a list of general sayings and words of encouragement for different holidays, this too can be found on the internet with minimal searching.

Tip #7: When you make your daily to-do list, make sure to check your calendar.  Keeping track of sending cards can be one of the hardest details. A daily to-do list, solves this problem.  Set aside five minutes each night to check calendars and coordinate events for each day so you don't find yourself accidentally forgetting that important person.

Building Reading Readiness

So as a reading teacher, I see how my students struggle everyday with simple common words that should be part of their world and sight vocabulary by this age.  I teach fourth graders, so to watch them stumble over words like 'father' and 'grandparent' really breaks my heart. 

This got me thinking - maybe there are ways that parents can help their children from a before-school age build fluency with common words and therefore build the background they will need for the rest of their lives. The hardest things for education today is to get the parent's involved and caring about the education of their children.  We live in such a fast paced world that it takes tremendous effort for a parent to really make an effort to affect their child's education.  So I decided to make a list of ways a parent can help a child of any age make gains in their reading ability.

There is not more important area to succeed at than reading.  If you are a good reader you can do anything in life.  Everything you do in life, you will need the ability to read - from passing a driving license's test to reading the instruction manual for a new gadget.  You must be able to read on all levels and all sorts of texts to succeed in today's dynamic world.  Luckily as a parent, there are things you can do to foster a love of reading and give your child a great start at reading even when they are not in school.

Before Birth - Preschool Ages

If your child is young or even unborn yet, there are many things you can do to build reading readiness - here are just a few.

1. Read to your child in the womb - it has already been proven that the unborn child can hear the happenings of her/his world from inside the womb.  They can recognize the sounds of their parents voices.  By reading to them in the womb they begin to learn the rhythmic patterns of speech and sound, which is the foundation of phonemic awareness and phonics the first building blocks of reading.  What is great - it really doesn't matter what you read to them, they don't have the concept of meanings of words yet, they are only listening to pitch, tone, and flow.  Read what you love out loud and give them the gift of a lifetime of reading.

2. Read to your child anytime - reading is not just for nighttime, show your child that reading is something they can do anytime.  Make it quality time for you and your child.  Read books together and make sure they see you reading on your own as well.

3. Board books, rhyming and repeating books, and colorful books - you need to make sure your child has a variety of books that will grab their interests.  Since at this point in their lives, words are barely making sense, they will want books that interest them.  They will want vibrant colors, with pictures, textures, and fun sounds of reading to keep them entertained.  Don't expect them to always get through entire books, read until they are ready to move on to another activity and then pick it up later.   Point out pictures and relate the words to the pictures, right now it is important that they know words represent real items and they can begin to repeat these words as you point to pictures.   The story doesn't matter much to them right now, but the pictures do.

4. Label words around the house - if you put a few labels on common items like chairs, tables, phone, or even labeling their toy bins and where items go.  All of this builds vocabulary knowledge which is the third building block of reading.

Elementary School Ages

This is a really important part of your child's education.  The ideas you set forth for the importance of education will be built here.  The more you value education and show your child this value the more your child will value education and become independent in gaining education.

1. Homework with your child - reading homework often includes reading a story to or with your child.  This is so important in an early elementary child's education.  They need to hear fluent adult reading to mimic and build their own reading skills.  If your child is able to read - let them read a sentence and then you read a sentence - let them repeat your sentences.  Make it fun.  Make it a game.

2. Continue outside reading - your child should be reading outside of school as well.  Go to the library every two weeks and check out books to read.  Read them with your child and have your child read them to you.  Let your child see you reading the materials you like to read.  

3. Labels - have your child create labels with you - help them label items in their room and if an item can have more than one name, make sure they create those labels too.

4. Synonyms, Antonyms, and Attributes - make sure your child realizes that words can have same meanings, opposite meanings, and functions.  Play games with your child - "Find a word that means the same as ....", or "I go up...you go down", or "When we set the table what are the parts of the place setting..."  These simple quick conversation pieces build important vocabulary skills that are necessary for reading comprehension later in school.

Older School Ages

Once your child is a reader, you don't want to forget to make reading interesting and fun, but now it is time to concentrate on getting into the reading with your child.

1. Read and Watch - give your child a book to read and tell them you will watch the movie together once both of you have read the book.  When watching the movie, make comments like "That was just like the book" or "I wonder why they left this part out..." Try to get your child involved in predicting the next part, or answering your questions.

2. Read together - get the same book for you and your child to read.  Talk with them about the parts of the book they are reading.  "What did you think about..."  or "I really liked this part, what was your favorite part..."

3. Informational Reading - let your child read the newspaper with you or their favorite magazines.  Be sure to always talk about what is being read and discuss how viewpoints can be different.

4. Model, Model, Model - continue to read in front of your child.  This is a confusing time in their lives, with hormones and so many distractions.  It is important that we still model the importance of reading to them.

By doing these few little items you can be sure your child will become an avid reader.  They will value their education and hopefully become self-motivated to make learning in life a priority.

Off to Work I Go - ALONG WITH EVERYONE ELSE!

Because I am returning to work after the holiday season, I thought it fitting to do a post about getting yourself and your kids ready for the day.  As a mom, this is one of the hardest jobs we do every single day.  Get children who don't want to go to school up and ready, get a husband who can't fend for himself up and out the door, and get a person (yourself) who is always worried about others to worry about themselves and ready.  You really have to be superwoman to accomplish this feat some days.

It is important that the day start off good for you and your children.  A hectic morning can set the pace and determine the peacefulness of your entire day, believe it or not.  It can cause you to forget important items at home, forget important events and appointments throughout the day, and can ruin any chance of a good mood at work or school.

So what can you do to have a peaceful and successful start of each day, especially when that day means getting everybody in the mood and off to work or school -

ROUTINE - I know you have heard the word a million (and now a million and one times), but really it all boils down to having a set routine that you do everyday rain or shine, sleet or snow.  As a teacher, I can tell you children thrive on routine.  They need to know their world is safe and predictable.  They need to know what is coming next and that next is going to be something good.  They are creatures of habit (even bad ones) and they act out when they don't know what to do next or can't decide what should be done next.  Set up a morning routine.  I paid attention to what my kids do naturally in the morning and use that to assist me in setting up a routine that flows with their natural habits.  I used the following form to set up a routine every       
morning for them.  I no longer need to refer to the routine sheet, but it does come in handy when they stay with someone else when I am not at home and I need their routine to continue to be comfortable for them.  Their daddy finds it especially helpful because he is not home to know what their routine already is.

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Morning Routine Setup Guide

PREPARATION - Believe me, I know at the end of the day the last thing you want to do is prepare for the day ahead.  But if you want a smooth, less chaotic, and peaceful morning - five minutes of prep the night before will go a long way.  Everynight right before I go to bed, I prepare my to-do list for tomorrow with all the major things I hope to get done the night before.  But more importantly, I prepare items for my husband and children the night before.  I make sure booksacks are packed and by the front door.  I make sure diaper bag is packed with fresh clothing and diapers and all necessities and by the front door.  I make sure my husband's lunch is in a container in a designated spot in the refrigerator ready to be put in a bag in the morning.  I make sure things are picked up and out of the way for the morning rush.  I make sure shoes are by the front door and accounted for. By doing these few little routine items every night, in the morning there is no yelling at children to find their shoes, booksacks, or scrambling to look for lost items.  My husband can easily grab his lunch and head out without waking me and the kids.  (He gets up and out to work way earlier than the rest of us).  Our morning is much smoother and I do a lot less fussing, which always makes me happier.

TIME MANAGEMENT - I am an early person.  I arrive early to everything - early to work, early to appointments, early to visits, etc.  I believe in being early to avoid being late.  I believe if you give yourself extra time for the "not planned" events, then they will not cause you to be late and therefore stress about being late.  I always practice how much time I need to do things.  A few days before school starts I practice the amount of time I need to be up and get everything I want done, I practice how much time I need to get the kids up and moving without rushing, and I even practice how much driving time I need.  I always give myself about twenty extra minutes to make sure everything will run smoothly and a last minute dirty diaper or vomiting child will not set my routine on end.  By allowing myself extra time, I allow myself to be calm before I even wake my children.  I allow myself not to stress because one child is taking a little longer to get ready.  I allow myself not to worry if traffic is heavier than normal.  I am calmer, my morning is calmer, and my children are calmer in the morning.  This allows me to start my day fresh, free of stress, and calm (most of the time).  I am not always perfect, and you should not expect to be so either.  There will be times when no matter how much extra time you give yourself - you will be running late, but if you make it a point for that not to be a habit, you will have a much better and peaceful morning.  The MORNING ROUTINE SETUP GUIDE takes all of these elements into consideration and gives you helpful tips to make the most of your morning routine and make your morning routine work for you.

Cleaning Calendar

For those who are working on the organized New Year Resolution, here is an excellent suggestion.  Create a cleaning calendar where you do a thirty minute job each day of the month (with a few planned days off and catch up days).  The job should be something very simple like going through your shoes.  After a couple months the jobs can start repeating, because staying organized is just as important as getting organized. Also plan one major room renovation each month - but break the room into manageable activities that you can do over the course of the whole month. I have planned out my entire year for 2012 and am loving the easy list that is making life more manageable.  For those who do not have the time to plan their year out, there is already a cleaning calendar at JustMommies.com that is really great.  I used this one last year and it was wonderful, which is the reason I tweaked it to make my own this year.  The link below connects you to their site. 

JustMommies.com Home Organization Plan

Watching your weight when watching TV

If you are like me, then you like to eat while you watch T.V.  I don't sit down and watch T.V. often, but I am a sucker for a few reality shows and a couple of series.  I will only watch T.V. at the end of my day usually from about 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.  The amount of time I spend watching T.V. (about an hour a day) really isn't the problem.  The problem is that for that whole hour, I will be engulfing an unsightly amount of calories and what's worse is that I do nothing after that to burn them off and they immediately get stored into fat. Every commerical I will get up to get something to snack on from the kitchen. 

I have determined through my daily journals that this is the time that my diet falls apart and I am defeating a whole day of "being good".  See how beneficial journaling can be! I have been doing this all my life, but it never dawned on me until I read my honest journals recently.  So as always, I am making a plan to keep me from eating during my T.V. watching time.  Here is the plan and it is so simple, I feel as if I am an idiot for not realizing it sooner.

The plan, you ready, DO SOMETHING OTHER THAN EAT.  Ha - can't get any simpler than that.  But you know me better, I can't just do something without planning it.  So, I made a list of things to do while watching my favorite T.V. shows - that still contribute to my "to-do" list for the day.  I just save these chores for this time period at night. I am so nerdy, right!

10 Things to Do While Watching T.V.

1. Laundry - fold

2. Schoolwork - grade papers

3. Plan out my day for tomorrow - home notebook

4. Menu planning - if its that time of the week (for me on a Friday night)

5. Coupon clipping

6. Blog planning

7. Exercise - my 50 sit ups time (I'll do more on this in a future blog)

8. Daily Journal - Part of my New Years Resolution blog plan

9. Birthday, Anniversary, Get well, and holiday card writing

10.Bill paying - write out checks and bills for tomorrow

Take it one step further - For the REAL ORGANIZING OCD IN YOU

I have the list above printed into my home notebook, but you know if it isn't on my "to-do" list at that time, I am not going to do it.  So for the ocd organizer in me, I add it to my daily planner as well.  I make a note of the time to do it during my favorite T.V. program and I choose one or two items of the list to do during that hour.