Ready to Learn

Show your child how to manage time with calendars, color, clocks

The project is due tomorrow and she hasn’t started. Her spelling test is on Friday, but she left the list at school.

Kids don’t always have a good idea of the passage of time. To help your child get a better understading of time, use the three C’s: a calendar, color-coding and a clock.

• Calendar. This month, buy a big calendar for your child’s room. Each day, have your child draw a little picture about that day. (The dog threw up; it rained.) Look back over those pictures and ask questions. “How many days ago did it rain?” This helps your child begin to get a sense about the passage of time.
• Color-coding. If soccer practice is always in yellow and music lessons are in blue, your child will know what to expect.
• Clock. Use the clock to reinforce routines. “Homework time starts in 15 minutes.”

Reprinted with permission from the January 2007 issue of Parents make the difference!® (Elementary School Edition) newsletter. Copyright © 2007 The Parent Institute®, a division of NIS, Inc. Source: Drew and Cynthia Johnson, Homework Heroes: Grades 3-5: It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s Done!, ISBN: 0-743-22258-X (Kaplan, a Division of Simon & Schuster, 1-800-223-2336, www.simonsays.com).