Here’s the super fun part! As we’ve mentioned, you can count everything all the time with your child – here are some songs, rhymes, and play activities to keep it all going! Songs* Ten Little Fingers Zoom, Zoom, Zoom & Happy New Year, Zoom, Zoom, Zoom Show Me a One Five Green and Speckled Frogs Read More
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Books about Counting
Arithmechicks Add Up by Anne Marie Stephens (Preschool) Ten little chicks are at the park for a day of fun, which includes math, of course. Children will enjoy the fun illustrations while learning (without tears) different strategies for counting and addition. Enjoyed this one? Check out the second book in the series, Arithmechicks Take Away. Get Read More
Tips for Practicing Counting
Learning to count has different stages, and here are three basic ones to concentrate on with your little one. https://www.bestbeginningsalaska.org/tips-for-practicing-counting/ Edit Counting in Order The first stage is counting in the correct order using the names of numbers: 1 (“one”), 2 (“two), 3 (“three”), etc. Sometimes children skip numbers as they learn how to put numbers Read More
Counting
This month we’re using New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Noon as the best excuse to practice counting all month. Learning numbers and how to count readies your child for doing math in the future. Research from Johns Hopkins University suggests that babies may have a pretty sophisticated understanding of numbers even though they are Read More
Tips for Supporting Self-Suffiency
Getting dressed Support your child on the sidelines with corrections if clothes are on backwards or socks are on wrong feet Practice school routines For example: Packing and unpacking bags Refilling water bottles Going to the bathroom unassisted Getting ready to go somewhere on a schedule Putting on, taking off, and hanging up coat and Read More
I Can Do It Myself
Sometimes the best gift you can give your child is the ability to step back. Supporting children to become self-reliant can be tough for caregivers for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that you can always accomplish tasks faster for them! However, developing independence is huge for school readiness. Teachers often mention self-sufficiency Read More
Starting Kindergarten with a Smile
Is there a 5-year-old in your family? If yes, chances are that child has just headed to kindergarten. Some children sail right into new experiences, places, and groups of children, but there are others who take things a little more slowly, or who have expectations of kindergarten that don’t match up with reality. Even in Read More
For All of Alaska’s Children
I recently was asked if Best Beginnings provides any services outside Anchorage. This person knows Best Beginnings because her child receives books from Anchorage Imagination Library, a program of Best Beginnings. The answer is YES! Our mission statement says “Best Beginnings is a public-private partnership that mobilizes people and resources to ensure all Alaska children Read More
Legislative Update
Many thanks to advocates all over Alaska who helped ensure the needs of young children and their families were not forgotten during the legislative session that ended at midnight Wednesday, May 18! Again this session, Best Beginnings worked with the five other members of the Alaska Early Childhood Advocacy Group* to push for a state Read More
Books About Early Writing
Little Red Writing by Joan Holub (Preschool, School Age) This fractured fairy tale is filled with wordplay and puns while also teaching story structure. We might think we know what happens in this tale, but we’d better make sure to stay on the story path, so we don’t get lost. ▸ Get it at the Library Read More