English Language Arts for Kids – Parent Toolkit

ElevatEd
English
February 19, 2020

We are aware of the fact that most parents want to help their young learners develop their literacy and build their phonemic awareness as they grow. But the impending question is, how can they make sure of it?

english language arts

Before proceeding, think if you are still in a dilemma about what's the most vital part of your child's home school curriculum.

Without any doubt, you can be confident it is the English Language Arts curriculum that is typically designed for this purpose. Yes, the English language arts curriculum provides your kids with guidance on the following subjects:

Phonics

Understanding of children on how letters combine to form words and sounds. We know students map out sounds into spellings and decode words, which is the key for them to comprehend text successfully. An active phonics program can move early readers from phonemic awareness to being able to decode new words.

Reading

To build critical thinking skills in your child through pre-reading, reading comprehension, forming inferences, asking questions, summarizing, and identifying cause and effect which devises an understanding of literature.

Writing

Applying the process of sentence and paragraph structure, sequencing rules, various kinds of composition, response, and creative thinking shapes a child’s writing.

Grammar

To develop skills in spelling, punctuation, parts of speech, verb tenses, and sentence types. This leads to a more conventional way of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

Vocabulary

To acquire new words, a collection of words that a person knows and uses. This includes synonyms, antonyms, prefixes, suffixes, and parts of speech, that aid students in widening their verbal expression and writing skills.

Spelling

Learning a specific combination of letters, understanding the link between sounds and letters, patterning of consonant-vowel-consonant, sight words, commonly misspelled words, and subject-specific terminology.

We now believe you have a clear-cut idea of how fundamental Language arts are during your kid's developing years.

It's not the time now to look back and search for what you have missed to teach them. Considering your child's future in mind now is your time to take the necessary steps to ensure they are strong with the basics and on their path of taking off. So we are here to guide you with required learning pointers to be encouraged from home.

Read books to them every day: During your kid's early ages read as often as you can to your child. This can foster your child's reading and writing skills when they grow up. Let your reading time begin with 15-20 minutes a day, but ensure you make reading a daily fun activity for both of you.
Induce a curiosity for books in them: You can do this by ending your daily reading session with a new book. Yes, discuss the title and the cover pic of the book with your child. Ask them what they think the genre of the story is, from the cover pic what the author is trying to convey all such questions invoke curiosity in them to know the story the next day.
Make easy access to writing materials: Make sure your child has access to all the writing materials they want. Get them sketch pens, crayons, colored paper, boards with dusters, basically anything that lures them into the writing process.
Encourage your child to make lists: Let them make lists of their play activities, books to read, and things they want to do, or even let them help you with the grocery shopping list. Never restrict your child's writing to school activities alone; let them enjoy writing in their interesting ways.
Take turns and read: Make a reading group activity, and let your child read with their friends, siblings, or with you. Make sure each of you takes turns reading; let each one of you read one page and move on to the next person. So when you read, your child gets to know the word he or she is not familiar with. This helps in improving their vocabulary.
Encourage your kid to make use of the Library: It's your responsibility to get your child a library card in a nearby well-maintained library. Please encourage them by taking them to the library on holidays or weekends. This gives your child access to a wide range of books on different genres appropriate for their age.
Encourage the use of a dictionary: Get your child a dictionary. All you need to do is guide them on how to spell their meanings and synonyms in the dictionary. Ask them to follow this process whenever they come across an unknown word. You can notice an immediate rise in your child's curiosity to learn new words.
Always discuss what they are reading: Yes, it's important to ensure they read for a reason. Let it be fiction or non-fiction, and ask them to summarize what they read. For fictional stories, you can ask them to suggest a different way of leading the story. Keep them interested in their choice of reading.

We advise you to implement these tips one by one over time.

Yes, you will be able to figure out when to implement this with the progress of your child's learning of language arts. Be patient and never push them for your desired results; you will know if your child is ready to move to the next level of learning. For example, their interest in higher complexity of words can be noted in their use of the dictionary. So pay attention and observe each of their learning activities, we assure you will see growth over the years.

98thPercentile Understanding the concepts your children are learning in school can help you support them at home. Find ways to support them from Pre-K through high school. click here to learn more about our English classes for kids or book a free trial for your kids now!