Organize with Labels

Organizing with Labels

How to use a label maker as an organization tool

by Lorraine Brock

Label Maker… if you don’t have one now, it’s time to get one! Label makers have so many functions in an organized home or office. They clearly identify items, define the home for items in your spaces, and they also clarify the owner of items so others do not take or eat them.

When I was growing up in the late 70’s, on grocery days my mom would bring home a six pack of 1 liter glass soda bottles. There were five members in our family and my mom would write the initials of each member of our family with a black marker on our own supply of soda. I still don’t know who got the sixth bottle, but that’s another story.

Since there were no fancy labels on the soda bottles back in the 70’s, the idea of labeling even our beverages made the ownership obvious. Other items around our home were labeled in a variety of ways; sometimes with masking tape and a black marker, often with a piece of paper covered with clear packing tape. Although not pretty, they were good solutions.

What to do when you have a shy child

Nurturing Social Growth in Your Child

by Dr. Caron B. Goode

I birthed a social butterfly named Kristin. From the day of her birth, she saw all people as her friend and always said hello. My friend, Karen, birthed a shy daughter named Lisa. Parents don’t often worry about how social butterflies flit through the world; however a shy child usually needs a parent’s help in learning to negotiate relationships in a safe way. Karen understood this. Here is how she helped Lisa.

Karen’s daughter was painfully shy until she entered second grade. When she did interact with other children, it was on a very selective basis and always one-on-one. This was of great concern to her teachers. For a few years, Lisa’s progress reports all read the same: Needs improvement in group interaction and socialization.

Karen was always an optimist and thankful that Lisa wasn’t disruptive in class! Still, it was Karen’s job to usher Lisa into the world of friendships and group dynamics. Karen joined a playgroup and invited classmates over. She and Lisa took part in their local babysitting coop and signed her up for pee wee soccer. Lisa was a good sport about all this socialization. She entered into each situation with her chin up and her eye peeled for the one child she would interact with. So much for group dynamics.

Pre-Reading Activity: Building a Word Family

Word Family - Games for Kids

Guest post from Kristina at Kidsactivitiesblog.com

Learning to build a word family is an important pre-reading activity.  Turn learning into a fun game for kids by letting your child use some colorful sticky notes!

I  have been doing a lot of activities with my son to help us focus on some Back to School Basics skills. We’ve been working on simple pre-kinder and kindergarten level math, writing, and pre-reading activities.