Dr. Linda’s School Success Newsletter | December 2009
Published monthly by Linda Silbert, PhD
In This Issue
January. Plus lots more at Strong Learning
readers
Happening Now
Happening Now at StrongLearning.com Call 845-628-7910 today.
- Come to our free panel discussion, “The Insider’s Guide to College Admissions,” with college admissions counselors and area high school counselors. Mahopac Public Library, Jan. 7, 2010. Parents and high school students invited. Click to see the flyer and RSVP.
- Enroll for SAT and ACT small group prep for upcoming tests–only in Westchester and Putman Counties, NY – three options to save money.
- One-to-one tutoring for upcoming SAT, ACT, PSAT, and ISEE tests
- One to one tutoring. All subjects, levels and grades. K-12. No contracts. All areas.
- Homework help and test prep
- Call for educational testing to discover how your child learns.
- Help with college applications, essays, and more
Happening Now at DrLindasBlog.com Call 845-628-7910 today.
- News and updates about our events, online & offline
- Articles – You’re welcome to reprint any article in full. Include my contact information. Great for a school or community newsletter, a blog or ezine.
- Email your comments, thoughts and observations about kids, school and learning. I love to hear from you!
Note from Dr. Linda
Hi Parents, Grandparents, Teachers and Friends:
As we leave Thanksgiving, a time to give thanks, we move into December, a time of giving.
Giving gifts and receiving gifts has become a major custom around this time of the year. What fun! Who doesn’t love receiving a gift or seeing the smile on someone’s face as you give them a gift. Unfortunately, sometimes we forget the meaning of gift giving.
As parents, grandparents and teachers it’s important that we teach children the concept of giving and receiving. Sometimes the spirit and the warmth of the season is diminished because kids become so wrapped up in the gifts they want, the gift and the cost of the gift become the focus. It’s not easy because the advertising industry sure does a great job of convincing us to spend lots of money.
So keep your cool. Have realistic family discussions as you try to come up with realistic and logical solutions. Just don’t become so logical that you all miss out on a little extra fun!
This month’s School Success Tip features gifts your children can make for grandparents, aunts and uncles, and anyone on their list.
Of course there’s the December quiz. Be the first three to get the correct answer and you’ll win a $5.00 gift certificate to use at www.StrongLearning.com. See below for details.
Happy Holidays to all of you.
Dr. Linda
From ADHD to homework, from test-taking to phonics, twice a week, you’ll get short, effective tips to help your child learn. Sign up now and invite other parents to sign up. It’s my FREE gift to you and your children. Check out the bonuses you’ll get when you subscribe to the tips http://www.askdrlindasilbert.com/tips.html.
School Success Tip for Mom and Dad: Making gifts is fun
Show your kids the true spirit of the holidays by making their own gifts.
Kids love making cards and gifts and grandparents and aunts and uncles love them. They’ll appreciate your help with these suggestions.
Share Thoughts: Take time to talk with your children about the feeling you get when you receive a gift as well as the feeling you get when you give a gift or a card. Think about holidays and special occasions in which you give gifts and/or receive gifts. For example, Thanksgiving is a holiday in which you neither give nor receive gifts, and yet it is one of the most special holidays for most people. Why do you think that is so? Who do they think they should give a gift to? Is there anyone they’d like to make a card for? Why?
Problem Solve: Giving gifts is a great opportunity for real life problem solving. Have your child make a list of people to whom they’ll give gifts or make cards for. What would each person want? What is appropriate for that person? How much money will the gifts cost and does your child have enough allowance and chore money saved to buy all these presents? The answer to that is usually “no.”
Once they’ve decided what they’ll make for whom, help them plan these activities. How soon does the gift have to be finished? How much time will it take? What materials will they need? Nothing squelches making presents quicker than last minute panic, unfinished gifts, or overly-complex projects. When that happens, the lesson learned about gift giving isn’t very successful.
Here are some doable suggestions:
1. Draw a special picture and write a poem or story about the picture.
2. If you can spare some family pictures, making a simple scrap book is great for kids who don’t like to draw. They can decorate the pages and add captions to the pictures.
3. Giving a gift to women? If your daughter has a bead or jewelry making kit, use the kit to make a piece of jewelry. But make sure it’s going to the Grandma who will wear it–at least once. If you know Grandma is very fussy and only wears her favorites, this isn’t the route to go. No point in putting Grandma on the spot and disappointing a child.
4. Find a natural souvenir that tells a story about their town and then write a description of it and attach it to the souvenir. This is a great gift for that special person that appreciates history and geography.
5. Bake and decorate holiday cookies. Give the cookies as gifts. Again, think it through. If Aunt Sue is carefully watching her diet and avoiding sugar, your child won’t want to give her cookies.
For more examples, see our activity book, “The Wonderful World of Gift Giving.”
December Quiz
Share this December Birthday Quiz with your kids
He was born this month on December 5, 1901 and has given the world hours of entertainment through his holiday shows, cartoons, movies, theme parks and cartoon characters. Who is he? If your kids still can’t guess, tell them his initials are W. D.
The first three to answer correctly win a $5.00 gift certificate towards any order over $25.00 from our online learning store. If you win, be sure to let your kids help choose what to get.
Be sure to contact me with the correct answers.
Congratulations S Glatz for being the first to answer the big November quiz correctly. Here are the answers.
1. Abe Lincoln and FDR 2. William Bradford 3. Three days 4. Harvest festival 5.Wampanoag 6. forks
Now It’s Your Turn
Thanks for sending me your Holiday traditions. I’ve chosen two about gift giving to share with you.
One family always gives their kids and themselves gift certificates to one of the large bookstores. Then as a family they go to the bookstore on a day before school starts. After everyone has picked out their books, the family has hot chocolate and a cookie in the store’s coffee bar and looks at each other’s books.
How about saving the school pictures until the holidays? One little girl makes a nice card for her grandparents, uncles and aunts. It’s all decorated with stickers and glitter and her own drawing. Then she makes a paper frame (of course she decorates that too) for her school picture and puts that in the card. She’s in 7th grade now and has been doing this since 2nd grade. What a keepsake!
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I love to hear from you. Let me know what you’d like to see in the next newsletter. Thanks so much for all your emails, calls and comments.
If one of my tips or articles has helped, send your child’s success story or a funny but true story to share with my readers. Let me know what gifts your child made for family and friends and what they learned or what you learned.
If we use your story, you’ll receive an eBook copy of my award-winning book, “Why Bad Grades Happen to Good Kids,” which I wrote with my husband, Dr. Al Silbert. The co-host of NBC’s “Today Show,” Al Roker, wrote the foreword to our book.
Wishing all your children a happy winter holiday break, and to all you loving, caring, and hardworking Moms and Dads, thank you for all you do.
Watch for my New Year Resolution suggestions in the January Newsletter
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