Ready for Second Grade: Skills, Checklists & Success Strategies

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Well, hey there, it is Robin Wilson and I want to welcome you to the Education Connection.

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I am a first grade teacher with years of experience helping young learners build the skills they

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need to thrive.

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I want to help you as the caregiver, the teacher, the mom, whoever you are, you have little

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ones in your life and you're wanting to help them succeed.

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And tonight's topic is about is my child ready for second grade?

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Now if you have a little one going into first grade, you don't want to miss last week's

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episode and then the same if you have one going into kindergarten.

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Two weeks ago I did a podcast on getting ready for kindergarten so I really want to

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help you.

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You have primary students.

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Listen, I've taught first grade, second grade and third grade so I'm a primary teacher

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all the way around and I've worked with children for many years now and so I have what you

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need to help them succeed and I'm here to help you.

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I want to serve you in this capacity.

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Now have you ever worried about whether your child will make that big jump successfully?

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You're not alone.

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Let me tell you, it is a huge jump from first grade to second grade.

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Well actually it is a big jump from all the...

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So I can say that about kindergarten going into first grade.

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Sorry if you hear me wrestling, I'm taking off a jacket.

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It was a little chilly taking it off.

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But if you go from kindergarten to first, it's a big jump and if you go from first to

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second, it is a big jump.

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So just be prepared for that and be ready for that.

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But the good news, there are simple practical things you can do right now to help them feel

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confident and capable.

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By the end of this episode, you're going to have a clear roadmap to set them up for success.

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So before we dive in though, I don't want you to forget I have something that might

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interest you if you teach Sunday school or if you homeschool and want to put a little

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bit of Bible in your child's life.

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I have a 13 lesson bundle that makes Bible learning engaging and easy.

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And if you struggle to find lessons that keep kids interested while teaching solid biblical

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truths, this bundle is designed to help solve that problem.

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I'm going to share more details in the end, but for now, let's jump into today's episode.

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By the way, it's called the Genesis bundle.

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So it's the Genesis Bible bundle.

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Oh my goodness, I'll have to look that up again and see what that is.

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It will definitely be in the show notes.

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So I do also want to share that I have been working on something new.

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Now, you know, as a creator and you're probably a creator as well, if you teach, we are constantly

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thinking about new things for our students.

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We're constantly thinking about new things for our school or for our lessons.

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I'm always trying to figure out different ways that I can teach fun things.

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For example, this week in first grade, a little off topic, but it's a lot of fun.

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I'm teaching EW and EW says, ooh.

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Like in the words, chew, few and stew.

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And so guess what we made today for Fun Friday?

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We made monster snot.

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That's right.

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I said it, monster snot and it is, yeah, it's slime.

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And so the kids were just having a hoot with it in the classroom today.

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They were talking about all the little green things in there and, you know, being totally

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six years old, which they should be.

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And it was so much fun.

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And I put up on the board, what does EW say?

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And they will never forget EW.

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So you as a creator, you're just like me.

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You're thinking of things all the time.

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And so I'm thinking about something that I have in the works and I don't want to say it

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yet because I'm so excited, but I want to make sure that I have all the pieces together

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before I actually do this.

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So I'm looking for ways to support you and for your students and your child.

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And I can't wait to tell you more about what's coming soon.

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So stay tuned.

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It's going to be a game changer.

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I'm really excited about it.

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So I want to tell you a story.

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Meet Emily.

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She's a bright, energetic first grader who loves story time and playing with her friends.

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But when it comes to reading, she sometimes stumbles over words and math.

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Well, let's just say that when her teacher introduces two digit addition, that's what

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we're doing right now in first grade.

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She gets that deer in the headlights look.

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Emily's mom, Sarah, knows that summer is coming and second grade is just around the corner.

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She doesn't want Emily to struggle.

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She wants her to feel prepared, excited and ready to shine.

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But between work, family life, summer activities, Sarah isn't sure where to start and let's

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just be real.

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When we get home from work, I don't know about you, but I dive straight into dinner.

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And then after dinner is where I come in here and talk to you, you know, doing my podcast

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or creating new resources for teachers and that kind of thing.

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But as a mom, you have little children around and I don't have that at home anymore.

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And so, you know, they need your attention and so you don't have the time or know where

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to start and then, you know, you can take the time to search on the internet, but I am

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here to help you.

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You know, you can listen to this as you're driving and you can get ideas along the way.

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Just keep following this podcast and you're going to be getting little sparks along the

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way of how you can help your child.

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Well, you're not alone if you're feeling this way.

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You don't know where to start.

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Many parents feel like Sarah, wondering how to bridge that gap between first and second

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grade without making learning feel like a chore.

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So the solution is to find a smooth transition and it's not overwhelming for your child and

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you don't want to just give them worksheet after worksheet and drills after drill.

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It's about building competence through small, simple tasks, small, simple habits that they

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feel like play, but put a pack, a big learning punch into it, a pack of learning punch into

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that.

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So, it's not that you're never going to do worksheets because let's be for real, when

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your child gets to second grade, they're going to have to know how to face a worksheet.

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Not that teachers are going to do this every single day, but it is going to be presented

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and so you just want to give them those skills and a worksheet really is a good way to practice.

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Now, you can take a worksheet and change it into a game.

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You can gamify it and so we can talk more about that later.

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So here are some social emotional, excuse me, some emotional readiness skills that you

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can get your first grader going into second grade ready.

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So these are some things you can work on because second grade comes with new expectations for

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independence and social interactions.

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Now, as a first grade teacher, I am walking kind of hand walking my students along a little

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bit more slowly releasing that as the second half of the year comes in and that's where

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students are wanting me to help them more and I'm trying to back off a little bit because

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I don't want to give them that learned helplessness.

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I want them to be more independent because when they get to second grade, it is a lot

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different and it is a lot more independent than what first grade is.

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Your child is going to be expected to follow multi step directions, work in a small group.

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So you can give them for small or multi step directions.

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You can give them test three to four things to do in a sentence and just see how many

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of them they can do on their own independently and just practice that.

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You can also work in small groups.

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So we found in an earlier episode, there are areas that you can go to, you can go to your

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church and work in small groups in your church or maybe if you could have your child join

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girl scouts, there's summer camps and things that they can do, make sure that they are

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able to work in a group and be able to get along with others because that's going to

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become more and more important as your child grows older.

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Talk about their emotions.

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So when things come up with siblings or when things come up with friends, talk about it

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so that they can work these things out before they get there.

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And let me tell you, when they get to second grade, they're going to have these issues,

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but your teacher will be or you, you are amazing.

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You're going to be able to talk with them at school or your teacher.

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If you're sending them off to school, your teacher is qualified.

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Others are amazing and they went into the profession to help others.

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And so they also are a lot of them, our moms or aunts, uncles, and they really do have the

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best interest of your child at heart.

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So they're going to talk them through that, but you don't want that to be the first time

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and I know you, you already do this at home too.

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So but just practice it even more than you are.

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Practice calming strategies like deep breathing and role play different social situations.

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So we did deep breathing yesterday.

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The kiddos came in from recess and we were, we've been cooped up a lot because of the

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cold and it kind of warmed up a little bit and the sun was out, but the wind was really

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blowing and it got those kids just all hyped, really hyped up.

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And so when they came in and we needed to jump into another learning block, it took

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a minute to calm down.

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And so, you know, we did some deep breathing exercises.

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So I had the kiddos just breathe in deeply, feel every little bit of their lungs and breathe

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out slowly.

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They actually liked doing that and it calms them down.

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We might play a game of quiet mouse and it also calms them down.

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So quiet mouse is just where they're all, they put their heads down and they, and I

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pick a quiet mouse and the quiet mouse walks around and finds another quiet mouse.

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That's really all it is.

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And then that quiet mouse gets up to walk around to find another quiet mouse.

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They love that game.

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Love that game.

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It just seems so simple, but it is something that I have used all the years of my teaching

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and I keep going back to it because it is amazing how much they will just settle down

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with that game.

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Teach simple phrases like taking a turn.

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Can I have a turn or I need help with this?

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Playing board games will help.

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Let them lose.

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Please, please let them lose if you are winning.

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Now on occasion, you might let them win if you see that you are winning every time.

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I know some parents are, crack me up because they are very competitive and they want to

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win too.

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And so they're like, no, I'm not, I'm not going to let them win.

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I mean, they can win if they win, but if, if I win, I'm winning.

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But let them lose sometimes because they're going to need to know how to lose playing

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little Johnny at the table and not get really angry because they grew up and their parents

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or grandparents had let them win every single time.

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They will not win every single game on the playground and in the classroom.

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So they need that experience at home in a safe environment where you can kind of talk

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to them about it, where they can have some time to process that before being in a classroom

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where they've never lost a game.

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So build actually playing board games at home with your children builds their confidence

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and it builds their communication with peers and with you.

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So they're going to be doing this a lot in second grade.

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And this will just help them if you get them ready for that.

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The more socially and emotionally prepared they are, the easier their transition to second

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grade will be.

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So let's talk a little bit about academic readiness.

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Academically second graders build on foundational skills in reading, writing and math.

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They're going to be moving from learning to read.

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Yes, learning to read in first grade.

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That's what we're doing now to reading to learn.

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So now they're going to be presented with a book and they will need to read the chapter

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or the short paragraph or even a couple pages alone.

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And then so then they're going to be asked some questions about their reading.

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But second grade is really when they start that reading to learn.

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So they're going to be reading about habitats, reading about the solar system.

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So the learning to read is gone.

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Like we need to learn how to read in first grade.

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So when we get to second grade, we are learning or sorry, we're reading to learn.

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They're going to be tackling longer stories, answering comprehension questions that require

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deeper thinking.

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I was watching as we do a reel on a social media and I was just kind of relaxing after

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work for a few minutes before I started supper tonight.

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And there was the cutest little thing.

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It was it was a dad and his daughter and he was asking about Cinderella and he was saying

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what happens at midnight when Cinderella when what happens to our clothes and all her things

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at midnight in the little girl.

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I think she's about three and she said, well, everything turned back to normal.

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And he said, well, why didn't the shoes turn back to normal?

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And because she had the glass slippers and the shoes didn't turn back to normal.

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Tell me why the shoes didn't turn back to normal.

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And then they zoomed in on her little face.

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She was confused.

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She was thinking and I wanted to put in the comments.

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I didn't.

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I should have that you are a teacher's dream because if you are asking those critical thinking

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questions, you are creating thinkers.

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So ask those questions.

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You know the movies that you watch with the kids of the Disney and all of that and you

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think to yourself, that didn't quite make sense there.

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Talk to your kids about that.

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Point that out to them.

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Let them be critical thinkers.

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They might come up with a good answer and it might be a good real answer.

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It might be, oh, yeah, I didn't think of that.

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Even that is still being an amazing critical thinker for your child.

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Also, so I think I said this before.

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So they're going to be moving from learning to read to reading to learn, tackling longer

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stories and then also let's write.

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Write with them.

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Let them write about their day.

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Start a journal this summer.

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What did you do this day?

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Let's write it down.

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Write what you did in the morning.

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If you are a Christian family, which many of you are listening to this podcast, journal

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out a Bible verse.

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So maybe you and your child or your children do a Bible verse first thing in the morning.

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Have them write that.

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They can copy that Bible verse, but then have them write what that means to them.

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And if they are little, little, you know, you might not want to have the littlest ones

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writing, but they can talk it out.

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But your first graders going into second grade should be able to write one sentence

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about what that Bible verse meant.

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Now, you don't have to do Bible verse, but maybe you can journal.

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Like what are we going to, what, how are you feeling this morning and what are you going

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to be doing today?

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Or what did you do yesterday?

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So just treat it like maybe like a diary, but call it a journal and then that will get

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them writing.

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Maybe they can write a book.

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I know my daughter wrote a book when she was really little.

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I think it was second grade stapled the edges and everything.

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She still has that book to this day.

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It's very cute.

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And so just, yeah, just be writing with them.

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Now in math, let's talk about addition and subtraction fluency.

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So just like reading in first grade, we are working to learn those math facts.

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We're really working to get them to be fluent.

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So just being able to quickly shout out five plus nine is 14.

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Like just quickly to be able to do those flashcards.

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They really need to have that fluency.

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It's not wrong for them to be counting on their fingers in first grade, the beginning

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of first grade, because that's 10 digits that they have right in front of them and they

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can use that to help them.

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But once they start memorizing some of those by second grade, hopefully they are just able

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to spit out those one digit addition problems and one digit addition, sorry, and subtraction.

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And that's called fluency just to be able to say it quickly.

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So you can play so many games with addition and subtraction fluency.

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One that comes to mind years ago, they called it war.

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You lay a card down, your child lays a card down and who can say the addition first adding

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them together is the winner.

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Play that for a few nights or weeks because you don't want to get them confused.

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You can switch to subtraction then after that.

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Then when you're doing subtraction, if you lay a nine and they lay a four, they're going

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to have to think of which is greater than.

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So it's also helping with greater than and then they're going to say nine minus four

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and the first one to say five is the winner of that.

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But I would recommend you not doing addition one night and subtraction the next stick with

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addition for a while and then you can switch over to subtraction and help them make that

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transition a little slower.

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Begin working with larger numbers, exploring concepts like time.

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So let's go back to working with larger numbers.

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Going into second grade and actually we do this in first grade too.

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So it's not too big of a concept.

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You're going to do two digit addition and two digit.

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No not subtraction.

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Sorry.

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That's the second.

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I think we're going to touch on it, but basically the two digit addition, so 34 plus 62, adding

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those together because second grade is going to be when they get to that.

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Your teacher is going to love you because you have already introduced that to them.

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They heard it in first grade.

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Then you've practiced it in second grade.

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So practicing two digit addition.

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You can introduce them to the two digit subtraction.

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Be careful not to do the borrowing yet because things are so different now with the Cormor

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Core that they do teach it differently now.

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So if you do two digit subtraction, try to keep it without borrowing would be my suggestions.

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Others might think differently.

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So you might do 54 minus 23 so that they're just basically taking that four minus three

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and putting a one down there.

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I don't remember what my first numbers were, but you're not having to borrow.

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So try doing that.

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You can do that for subtraction.

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Explore concepts like time.

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We are actually teaching to the hour in first grade.

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So moving on to second grade, they need to kind of get that little more fluent.

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You can do to 30 so the half hour as well.

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So 10 and 10 30 practice that make sure that's pretty good and fluent.

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You can add they're going to be learning and working more with a quarter after and five

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minutes after you are to the five.

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So 1005 1010 1015 a quarter after.

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Make sure that they're using you're using that vocabulary with them as well.

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Money so knowing those coins what they're called and how much they're worth to support

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academic readiness.

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Encourage your child to read every day.

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So what would be amazing if they take off reading and you are catching them reading

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on their downtime.

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That's what when it really starts to click in there.

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And your teacher.

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Oh my goodness or you if you're homeschooling.

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It's going to make your life so much easier if you can spark that learning for them to

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become more independent.

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You can count change at the store.

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You can measure ingredients while cooking.

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These small steps will strengthen their foundation and help them feel confident and ready for

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second grade.

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So look I look down and I'm at 22 minutes.

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I don't want to keep you too long.

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I'm going to just quickly go over the last few steps that I have.

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I have read every day which I've already talked about.

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Make math a game.

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Get those cards out and play that war game we just talked about.

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Encourage writing like a journal.

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Build that independence.

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Let them do these things independently maybe with a sibling or maybe on their own if they're

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reading on their own and talk about their feelings when they are with others.

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So I'm coming to a close and if you'd like a simple structured way to help your child

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get ready for second grade.

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I have put together a get ready for second grade resource pack.

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It's filled with engaging activities.

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Reinforce reading, writing, math and independence skills in a fun way.

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It's perfect for summer and even this spring to just kind of start dipping your toes a

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little bit into getting ready for the next year.

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And again if you're looking for faith based resources don't forget my 13 lessons in the

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school and home school Bible bundle.

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It's designed to make teaching God's word easy and engaging.

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You can find these both at my TPT store and the links will be in the show notes.

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Listen, helping your child get ready for second grade doesn't have to be overwhelming with

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small simple steps and I'm here.

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I'm going to be here talking more about this every week.

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You can build their confidence, strengthen their skills and set them up for success

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both academically and socially.

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Remember the key is consistency over perfection so you don't want to work a couple of nights

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a week and then for a week or two and then not be working on anything for a month.

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You want to kind of keep that consistent.

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If you found this episode helpful I would love for you to share it with a friend, leave

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a comment and give a five star review.

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Your support helps me continue creating resources that make learning fun and stress free for

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parents and teachers just like you and you are amazing.

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The very fact that you are listening to a podcast that is helping you help your child

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it just goes right back to you and how amazing you are reaching out to get the help that

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you need.

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So I want to say thank you for listening and I'm going to see you the next time on the

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Education Connection.