My student’s final drafts and pictures were amazing. The children asked Christopher great questions, such as, “How do you stay safe?” “Is it hard to carry all your stuff?” “Will you come and visit us when you get home?” They made poignant comments. “Thank you for keeping us safe.” “Stay strong,” and one little girl wrote, “I hope you’re cozy in your tent!” They drew beautiful pictures to compliment their words.

About a month after I sent the letters we received a reply from Christopher. He “loved our letters and pictures” and shared them with all his buddies. He answered many of the children’s questions, and promised to visit when he gets home in December.

He told the children that the letters reminded him of why his mission is so important, and that he will carry the letters with him until he returns home. As I read Christopher’s heartfelt reply to my students, I realized just how much a simple letter from home means to a soldier in harm’s way.

We all know family or friends who have a military connection. Wouldn’t it be great if this Fourth of July your child wrote a note to a soldier, thanking him or her for protecting our independence?

Imagine how wonderful it would be for the children of America to start a “grass roots” campaign, this Independence Day, to honor our service men and woman as the real heroes and role models they are!

There are many approaches to getting children interested in a hobby or art or sport. Regardless of the approach I think one essential element is this: Whatever you want your kid to do or learn, leave it lying around the house.

At our house, there were always musical instruments lying around. My good ones I tried to put away, so I wouldn’t find peanut butter on the guitar strings, but I figured that we would donate some relatively inexpensive but adequate instruments to the life of the house. There were guitars there they could strum on. Pianos they could plink on (and unfortunately, in an unmonitored moment, carve their name into). Ukuleles appeared, and eventually, despite my hesitation, an old drum set showed up in the basement.

(Warning: No amount of insulation protects you from the pounding of the snare drum.)

Some of the instruments were never used. Some of them were picked up, then put down and not picked up again. Some of them were broken. This is part of the cost of learning.

It’s not just instruments, either. If you want your kid to read, leaving piles of books around is another good strategy.

Or computers. Or broken clocks to take apart.

Do not leave clothes lying around. That is a bad message. My wife reminds me of this. “It’s your fault they’re like that,” she suggests. Maybe she’s right. I suggested it was an educational approach. She wasn’t impressed.

But by leaving tools around the house that will help them grow, you send the message – “These things are part of life – tools for you to use”. And the underlying truth for parents is “Children honor what is honored in their environment.”

Of course, there’s something else – using those things yourself reinforces their value. Teaching by example is better than nagging. (Okay, nagging is basic to all parenting, but..) You don’t have to be professional at anything. They won’t remember if you were Yoyo Ma or Eric Clapton or Norah Roberts (don’t you wish?). They’ll remember that you sang, or played, or wrote, or tinkered. And they’ll do it too.

Or course, there is the possibility that they will end up as musicians or writers. Eek.

Maybe you should leave plumbing equipment around the house. The world always needs plumbers.

A two-time Grammy award-winning artist and recipient of the Magic Penny Award from the Children’s Music Network, Bill uses song and story to paint a vibrant and hilarious picture of growing up, schooling and family life. His work spans the generation gap, reminds us of our common humanity and challenges us to be our very best selves. A prolific author and recording artist, Bill is also a regular commentator for NPR’s “All Things Considered” and featured on PBS. He joined the National Storytelling Network’s Circle of Excellence in 2001 and tours nationwide as an author, performing artist and keynote speaker.

Bill has a unique sense of humor and we’re looking forward to having his “wit and wisdom” on this blog. I asked Bill for a sneak preview of the types of things he’ll be sharing with SchoolFamily.com readers, here’s what he had to say…

“I’ve spent thirty years singing songs, telling stories, and writing books about children and the world they live in (including the two my wife and I have raised) I’ll share my thoughts on what I’ve seen in schools, families, and children’s lives. From playground rules to unfinished homework to moldy growths in the backpack – that’s my area of expertise. If you think your kid is the only one who would ever do what they just did, I’ll be there to remind you we’re all in the same boat.”

Bill has some great video and audio clips of his work on his website - www.billharley.com. My favorite is “Grownups Are Strange”.

Bill will be posting his first blog post in the next couple of days. Hope you’ll check back often and add your own thoughts and comments!

Adults use this concept every day. We automatically count out appropriate dollar bills and coins to pay for items. We set the table for the right amount of people. We read in a left-to-right progression, scanning each word as we read it.

But, one-to-one correspondence is often difficult for young children to comprehend. In Math recognizing the number “ten,” and being able to count out “ten” items are two separate skills. Linking objects with numbers enables a child to count with understanding.

Mastering one-to-one correspondence is essential for organized, meaningful counting. This leads to an eventual ability to perform higher-level calculations.

Mastering one-to-one correspondence is important for your child’s reading success as well. It reinforces the print-to-voice connection. This means that your child “says” what he or she “sees.”

The best way to subtly practice this concept is to sweep your index finger under each word, in a left-to-right progression, as you read to your child. Your child will start to model this reading behavior, and begin to make that “see and say” connection.

Using their own index finger under words they are reading is an excellent way for children to visually track what is being read.

This simple technique will enable your child to become a more fluent reader!

Community – Thinking about how to keep your kids safe online? Wondering how to keep up your kids learning over the summer? Looking for book ideas? Share and learn with other parents of school-aged kids in our brand new community section. You can jump in and add your 2 cents to existing discussions or start a brand new topic. Hope you’ll jump in and start connecting and sharing!

Q&A – It’s really part of the new community but it’s such a useful feature (at least we think so!) that it deserves a special mention. A very simple Question and Answer format that makes it easy to ask whatever is on your mind. And of course we hope you’ll answer questions other folks have posted. It’s up to everyone participating to vote up and down the answers – this will make sure the really good answers stay at the top.

You’ll notice the “Community” and “Q&A” tab at the top have a “beta” icon on them. We’ve worked hard at making sure everything is running smoothly and have tested and retested all the new features. But of course there’s always a few glitches when something new is launched so we thought adding the “beta” icon was a good idea. If you see anything unusual or if you have any questions about these new features or how to use them please comment below or email us at community@schoolfamily.com.

Look forward to seeing you in the community! My username is klagden if you’d like to add me as a ‘friend’ after you’ve registered!

The store is offering kids (12 and under) a $3 shopping card for each week they read at least 15 minutes a day. The promotion is running for the months of June and July so a great way to keep those reading skills active over the summer months.

Checklists, reading logs, and tips to help your kids select books can be downloaded directly from their website.

Obviously, some cheating is still just cheating. Has been happeing since beginning of time and should be policed and discouraged (and we should continue to talk about why honesty matters).

But Robin Raskin (among others) asks the interesting question of whether all of these uses really are cheating. Isn’t learning to access information efficiently and smartly a 21st Century skill?  There’s a point there. How do we balance these two items?

Learning to read combines visual and auditory skills. For example, as a child recognizes a sound, he or she should start to visually associate that sound with the appropriate letter.

Where does a parent, as their child’s first teacher, begin this “learning to read” process?

Reading aloud to your child is essential! The more you read to children, the more sounds they will hear. The more sounds children hear and distinguish, the better they listen. And, the better they listen, the quicker they will learn to associate those sounds with the printed word! It’s all about building skills in logical sequence.

Hearing sounds in spoken language is called “Phonemic Awareness.” It is a critical pre-reading skill. A great way to practice “Phonemic Awareness” is to have your child listen to, and identify rhymes.

Get out those old “Mother Goose” books and read lots of Nursery Rhymes to your child! Some rhymes that children love are: “Little Miss Muffet,” “Jack and Jill,” “Hey Diddle Diddle,” “Hickory, Dickory Dock,” “Baa Baa Black Sheep,” and any others that might appeal to your child, or ones that you loved hearing when you were a child.

Have some fun with them! “Act out” a rhyme, or substitute your child’s name in the rhyme. (Mike be nimble, Mike be quick, Mike jump over the candlestick!)

Or, change the action. (Jack and Jill went down the hill…) Be as creative as imaginable. Your child will never tire of hearing you read these classics!

Do you have to be away on a business trip, and miss your child’s bedtime story?

• Record your child’s favorite book on a tape.  Let him follow along in the book, as he listens to you read.  It’s the next best thing to being there!

Do you love getting books for your grandchild, but miss reading to her because you live miles away?

• Before you mail that book, record the story on a cassette tape and include it in the package.  It’s a great way to stay close, even though you are far away!

Is your first grader having trouble remembering  spelling words?

• Let her record words in this order:  Say it, spell it, and say it again.  She can listen, then write, then self-correct until she confidently can spell all her words.

Want to improve your child’s reading fluency and expression?

• Tape him reading a story.  He can then hear himself as others hear him.  My students love this activity, and want to do it again and again!

So, search those yard sales for child-friendly tape recorders with built-in microphones and colorful push-buttons.

Or, get a new, inexpensive CD/Tape combination recorder and player.  Color code the buttons with colored dot stickers (green for play, red for stop, yellow for rewind, etc.) for easy operation by your child.

Simple tools make learning fun!