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Welcome Back to School! Why Are Rituals And Routines So Important?
Routines: the basicsRoutines are how families organise themselves to get things done, spend time together and have fun. Every family has its own unique routines. Routines help family members know who should do what, when, in what order and how often.
For example, your family might have:
  • daily routines for work and school mornings, bath time, bedtime, mealtimes, greetings and goodbyes
  • weekly routines for housework, like washing and cleaning
  • other routines involving holidays and extended family get-togethers.
Family life is often smoother with a few routines, but there’s more to routines than this.
Routines also let your children know what’s important to your family. For example, really special routines are sometimes called rituals. These can help strengthen your shared beliefs and values, and build a sense of belonging and togetherness in your family. 
What makes a good daily routine?There are no rules about how many or what kind of routines you should have. All families are different, and what works well for one family might not work for another.
Your routines need to be based on your individual family needs. But effective routines do share three key features:
  • Well planned: in a good routine, everyone understands their roles, knows what they need to do and sees their roles as reasonable and fair. For example, your children know that they take turns with washing up and drying up each night after dinner.
  • Regular: good routines become part of everyday family life. For example, you might all look forward to Sunday night barbecues with your children’s grandparents.
  • Predictable: in a good routine, things happen in the same order each time. For example, you always wash school uniforms on the weekend, so you know they’ll be ready for Monday morning.
Toddlers and preschoolers: ideas for daily routinesFor toddlers and preschoolers, you could have routines for:
  • getting ready in the morning
  • getting together with other children to play, perhaps at playgroup
  • eating meals
  • spending time playing and talking together each day
  • reading books or telling stories
  • having quiet time and going to bed at night.
A bedtime routine for toddlers might be brushing teeth and changing nappy, having some quiet time while reading a book, then getting into bed for a special song and kiss good night.School-age children: ideas for daily routinesFor school-age children, you could have routines for:
  • getting ready in the morning and going to bed at night
  • tidying up toys
  • getting together with other children to play, perhaps after school once or twice a week
  • giving out pocket money at a regular time and day
  • reading books or telling stories
  • doing after-school activities like hobbies or sport
  • doing chores – for example, setting the dinner table, unpacking the dishwasher, helping with the laundry, or caring for pets.
For school-age children, you might have a playdate routine if there are days when you don’t go to paid work. For example, on Mondays your school-age child is allowed to invite a friend over after school. When the friend goes home about 5 pm, your child tidies up before setting the table for dinner.Teenagers: ideas for daily routinesOlder children and teenagers might grow out of, or start to challenge, some routines. You’ll probably need to be flexible and adapt routines as your children get older. For example, you might need to change bedtime routines or the chores that children do around the house.
For teenagers, you could have routines for:
  • doing laundry or other chores like making beds and cleaning rooms
  • doing homework
  • doing after-school activities, including hobbies or sport.
A weekday evening routine for your teenage child might involve getting home from sports training, having a quick shower, sitting down to a family meal and then helping with the washing up and clearing away before doing an hour or so of homework.Routines for the whole family: ideasYou could have routines for:
  • preparing and eating meals together
  • spending family time, like regular walks after dinner or movie nights
  • having family meetings, or just taking turns talking about the day
  • spending special one-to-one time with parents
  • catching up with extended family and friends
  • taking part in special celebration days or community activities.
Check out the web page where this article was excerpted from by clicking  here: 


Family Reading and Game Night Was a Home Run!
Our Annual Family Reading and Game Night brought together the importance of Reading and Math Literacy and Family Fun for everyone!  After an hour of interactive family activities and our Feed Michigan Raffle, PAWS from the Detroit Tigers joined Mr. Paulson in the auditorium for a reading of the poem "Casey at the Bat" . A prize give-a-way followed, courtesy of the Detroit Tigers. Student's had to answer comprehension questions related to the poem that was read aloud to win a Detroit Tiger Themed prize and a hug from PAWS! Thank you to our elementary PTO's for sponsoring this important event!

March is Reading Month! Reading Volume Matters!!!

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Reading volume is defined as the combination of time students spend reading plus the number of words they actually consume as they read (Allington, 2012). This combination affects everything from students’ cognitive abilities to their vocabulary development and knowledge of the world (Cunningham & Zibulsky, 2013).
In “one of the most extensive studies of independent reading yet conducted,” Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding (1988) traced reading growth to independent reading and reading volume.







​ They found that the amount of time students spent in independent reading outside of school was the best predictor of reading achievement.

This chart reveals the results of the study. Note the number of words students consume during independent reading—and the enormous differences in reading volume between higher- and lower-achieving students. Viewed across a year, we can immediately see the striking differences in reading achievement between the high-volume readers, who read more than an hour outside of school, and those students who avoid reading.
Keep in mind that children spend 900 hours a year in school versus 7,800 hours outside school (Trelease, 2013). Ideally, students are reading both in school and out. The Scholastic Kids & Family Reading Report: Fifth Edition found that children are more likely to read outside of school if they are reading a book for fun in school. One influences the other, creating a field force of reading energy!
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References: 
Allington, D. (2012). What really matters for struggling readers: Designing research-based programs. Boston: Pearson. 
Anderson, R. C., Wilson P.T., Fielding, L.G. (1988). “Growth in reading and how children spend their time outside of school.” Reading Research Quarterly, No.23, pp.285-303. 
Cunningham, A. & Zibulsky, J. (2013). Book smart: How to develop and support successful, motivated readers. New York: Oxford University Press. 
Scholastic Kids & Family Reading ReportTM: Fifth Edition commissioned by Scholastic and conducted by YouGov; 2014. 
Trelease, J. (2013). The read-aloud handbook (Seventh edition). New York: Penguin Group.
http://edublog.scholastic.com/post/what-research-says-reading-volume#

STOP SUMMER SLIDE!!!!

Summer Reading Club is a free, fun-filled program held during June and July for children of all ages. Beginning, Independent, and Teen Readers can choose their own library books to read while parents can read aloud to younger children for a chance to win some great prizes including tickets to Cedar Point and LEGO sets! It's fun for everyone! It starts at our Summer Reading Club Open House on Tuesday, June 6 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Great programs will be held every Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at 2:00 PM during June and July. It has everything needed for an energetic summer: crafts, stories, games, music and laughter! Visit the Youth Services Department to pick up a schedule of events.
Did you know summer slide, the loss of learning that occurs over summer vacation, is due in large part to a lack of reading in the summer? Researchers have found that students who read less in the summer experience tremendous summer learning loss.  This loss of achievement, unfortunately, is cumulative.  That means summer after summer the lack of reading experiences build up year after year.  This can result in  difficulty all through a child's school career.
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The good news is, after thirty years of research, Summer Slide can be reduced! “The two largest contributions to reading achievement were access to interesting books and student choice of the books they would read…The effects of reading four or five books over the summer months was ‘potentially large enough to prevent a decline in reading achievement scores from spring to the fall.'”[Excerpted from Not This, But That: No More Summer Reading Loss, by Carrie Cahill, Kathy Horvath, Anne McGill-Franzen and Richard Allington (edited by Ellin Oliver Keene and Nell K. Duke)]
What can families do about summer slide?
  • Visit the public library to check out books, attend read-aloud sessions, and participate in summer reading programs. Info and links provided on this page!
  • Have a routine time for reading with your child.
  • Discuss what your child is reading.
  • Set goals and make a list of books that your child wants to read over the summer.
  • Be a reader and writer yourself. Share what you are reading with your children.
  • Read aloud to your reader.
  • Encourage your child to choose the books she or he reads. Self-selection is important for motivation.
  • Help your child choose books that are “good fit” reads. Listen to him or her read aloud a page or two and determine if he or she can read the words easily.
  • Read a variety of print materials including books, poetry, and joke books, magazines, websites, vacation brochures, newspapers, travel books, sports pages, comic books, etc.
  • Encourage your child to write – postcards, letters to relatives or school friends, grocery list, emails, journals and sticky notes.
  • Check out the St. Clair Shores Summer Reading Program BELOW 
  • Visit our websites often for additional summer reading and math ideas!
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AND
FREE COMIC BOOK DAY IS SATURDAY, MAY 6TH!
Check out the video below to learn more about this fun family event! Click the button under the video and enter your zip code to see your local comic book stores that are participating.

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Anytime is a great time to practice reading and math facts.  Try bringing along flash cards or load free apps to practice sight words ​and math facts on those new tablets! Here are a few of our favorite picks! 

FREE I Tunes (ISO) and Google Play Store (Android) Selections: 

Deep Sea Duel (National Council of Teachers of Mathematics) All apps in the collection are excellent for reinforcing skills in addition to the basic fact practice, such as fractions and story problems.

Sight Words List - (No Ads- ISO only) 6 sets of words, simple app with customizable features

Learn Sight Words- (No Ads- ISO only) List of k-3 and nouns as well as 25 word mix options Words can be read to you

Sight Words: Kids Learn- (No Ads- ISO only) Practice words by writing, recording and listening to themselves

Sight Word Coach- (Android) Simple App if you want to leave the flash cards at home

Check back often as we add to the collection above!