Madison Public Schools
Lee S. Nittel, Director of Curriculum
April 2013
Daily Learning Planner: Ideas Parents Can Use to Help
Children Do Better in School—Try a New Idea Every Day!
o 1. Check out a funny book at the library. Share it at dinner.
o 2. Does your child ride a bike? Review the rules of bicycle
o 17. Challenge your child to do a secret good deed for someone.
o 18. Have your child write a story from an interesting point of view, for
o 3. Notice all the ways your family uses reading and
o 19. Talk about effective ways your child can handle stress.
o 20. Talk with your child about what it means to be free.
o 21. Help your child find a website that demonstrates how to make things.
safety today.
writing throughout the day.
o 4. Challenge family members to write, eat or do other activities with the
hand they don’t favor.
o 5. Change chairs at mealtime. Pretend to be the person who usually sits in
that chair.
o 6. Choose a special place to display your child’s artwork.
o 7. Try eating with chopsticks tonight.
o 8. Put three items in a bag. Have your child and a friend use them as
props for a five-minute skit.
example, a present’s point of view of a birthday party.
Provide supplies and time to work.
o 22. Ask your child to help you plan an activity.
o 23. Talk with your child about a choice one of you needs to make. Discuss
all the options and possible consequences.
o 24. Celebrate TV-Turnoff Week. During the week, use your time for reading,
conversation and games.
o 9. Ask your child if she knows what to do in different emergency situa-
o 25. Mix up pairs of socks and let your child match them up.
o 26. With your child, read the same news story in two different publica-
o 10. Ask your child to guess how many times he blinks in a minute.
o 11. Help your child plan ahead. Talk about next weekend. What needs to
o 27. Ask your child to give you a “six o’clock report” about his day. He
tions, such as if someone is choking.
be done to prepare for a family activity?
o 12. Allow your child to stay up late to read tonight.
o 13. If your child is watching TV, ask her to turn off the sound. Have her
create her own story to go with the images.
o 14. Take your child out for a one-on-one breakfast.
o 15. Talk about outer space with your child.
o 16. Make a rebus with your child—a story that replaces some words with
tions. Compare the versions.
should pretend he’s a news anchor.
o 28. Ask your child about the best present she ever received. What made it
special?
o 29. Research another culture and plan an evening to celebrate it.
o 30. Let your child draw on paper with a white candle or crayon. His lines
will magically appear when he paints over it.
pictures.
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