Product Description

As the parent of a first grader, you may be asking yourself:

When will my child begin to read?
Is it okay that my child still counts on his fingers?
What can I do to make sure my child knows everything she should?

Perhaps you've been told by your child's teacher that your first grader is doing fine. But what does "fine" really mean, and how can you be sure that your child's academic growth will continue?

Be your child's best teacher. Find out what your child knows, what your child needs to know, and how to work with your child to ensure success in school.

Inside, there is a wealth of fun, easy-to-do activities designed to teach your child important skills. The time you spend together will foster a love of learning that will remain with your child in the years to come.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #994105 in Books
• Published on: 1999-10-19
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

Amazon.com Review
It may surprise parents to realize that the best way to support a child's education is not to spend extra time teaching them new information. Toss the home workbooks and flashcards, suggests educator and author Jennifer Richard Jacobson. Instead, spend your "teaching" time learning about your child. What are your child's weaknesses, strengths, and passions? What are the academic expectations of a first grader? What are they supposed to be doing socially at this stage of development?

With all this crucial information in hand, Jacobson then helps parents figure out simple and spontaneous home activities that will foster strengths, boost areas of weakness, and recognize innate interests. A child who is struggling with phonics may benefit from writing a grocery list with a parent. "Let's see, how should we spell macaroni?" a father might ask. A child who loves math will blossom when offered a chance to work with patterned beading projects, or play a game of Mancala with mom, or go on a scavenger hunt for items with specific numbers written on them. Each book in the series contains a teacher-approved assessment booklet, so parents can evaluate their children's skills in a low-stress home situation. Whether your child attends public or private school, How Is My First Grader Doing? is an excellent (and smoothly written) resource for parents and their children. --Gail Hudson

Review
Jacqueline Haines Executive Director, the Gesell Institute Jennifer Jacobson has provided for teachers and parents appropriate guidelines for classroom expectations. These volumes, when used in parallel with school curriculum, can be a very fine support for parent and child. -- Review

About the Author
Jennifer Richard Jacobson received her BS in Education in 1980 from Lesley College and her master's in Education from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has taught preschool through sixth grade and has served as Curriculum Coordinator, Admissions Director, Head of Studies, and Language Arts Specialist in several New England schools. She has also served as an educational consultant, offering workshops for teachers, parents, and librarians, and has written over twenty books for classroom use. She lives in Maine with her husband and two children.

Customer Reviews

Filled with great ideas to help your child!
Ms. Jacobson's book is marvelous! It's easy to use and helped me identify exactly where my son was strong, and where he needed a little help. I have very limited time to work with my kids on their school work, and I really appreciated the author's fun ideas for working with my 5-year old son to help him with various skills that only take a few minutes each. I felt I was able to make a difference, working with him, while we were just driving together in the car, running an errand, etc. I highly recommend this book - very accessible and very creative ideas!

Excellent book series for anxious parents
As a teacher I critically examine any book that claims to help parents at home. There are many that are nothing but laundry lists designed to further a political idiot-ology (read as E.D. Hirsch). This book is wonderful for helping parents to understand the stages that their children are going through and the best ways that they can address those needs and support current and knowledgable teaching methods. A must for any parent or teacher.

Quite helpful
I picked up this book along with several others to help me to evaluate how my daughter is doing in school (and to help her improve). This book has proved to be quite helpful. It has helped me to understand why she says and does certain things, and to help me to understand who a first grader really is. I would recommend this book.