Parent Activities

A BLUE RIBBON SCHOOL

A Candidate School for
International Baccalaureate - Primary Years Programme

506 North 162 Avenue • Omaha, NE • 68118
(402) 715-2020 • Fax: (402)715-2035

Parent Activities for the Learner Profile Inquirers - Thinkers - Communicators Risk-Takers - Knowledgeable - Principled - Caring Open-Minded - Balanced - Reflective Return to Aldrich's IB Parent Information Page
Inquirers
	1.	Encourage areas of your child’s interest by visiting the library to borrow books that explore these topics.
	2.	Develop an understanding of the internet. Work with your child when the internet is being used to research information.
	3.	Model being an Inquirer. Admit when you don’t know the answer to a problem or a question and seek out answers in front of your child.
Thinkers
	1.	Encourage your child to try to think of solutions to problems independently.
	2.	Pose real-life problems and questions to your child: “I wonder how much the groceries in the cart will cost…how can we make an estimate?” “We need enough cookies for the 24 people in your class. What kind of change should we make to our recipe?”
	3.	As your child questions when they are working on a problem: “Do you have any ideas about how we might begin?” “How can we do this differently?” “I had never thought of that. Tell me more about it.” “Why do you think that?” “How did you figure that out?”
Communicators
	1.	Encourage your child to stay in touch with relatives and friends who live in other countries by writing letters, using the phone or sending e-mails.
	2.	When working on mathematics homework, encourage your child to explain his/her answer to you orally or by drawing a pictures.
	3.	Work with your child to improve his/her listening skills. Being a good listener is an important part of communicating with others.
Risk-Takers
	1.	If your child is feeling uneasy about trying something, encourage them to attempt it and then reflect on both whether they liked the activity and how it felt to try something new.
	2.	Be careful to explain to your child the difference between being a risk-taker by trying new things and doing dangerous things.
Knowledgeable
	1.	Encourage your child to read books at home that relate with topics being covered in school.
	2.	Ask your child about what they are learning in school and engage them in conversations about it.
	3.	Foster any area that your child expresses an interest in with books and activities.
	4.	Encourage your child to become familiar with current events and to read the newspaper and watch the news when appropriate.
Principled
	1.	Involve your child in deciding on the rules for a game or activity and then ensure that they stick to the ones that have been decided upon.
	2.	Encourage your child to play games that involve teams. Discuss with your child the qualities of a team player. What sort of person would they want on their team?
	3.	When your child wins a game, insist that he/she is a well-mannered winner.
	4.	When playing a game, don’t change the rules or let your child win. Being a gracious loser is just as important as being a good winner.
Caring
	1.	Role model the caring behavior you would like to see in your child all the time. Using kind words, helping people without being asked, being an active listener all show your child that you care about people.
	2.	Think about how your family can get involved with community organizations.
	3.	After reading a book, spend some time considering how the people in the book acted. Was someone in the book caring?
Open-Minded
	1.	Encourage your child to try new things.
	2.	Expose your child to different celebrations and traditions.
	3.	Encourage your child to listen when others speak.
Balanced
	1.	Encourage your child to participate in a wide variety of structured activities.
	2.	During less structured time, also be aware of the activities that your child is participating in. Too much time in front of the computer or television is obviously not desirable, but all kids need to do a variety of things. Generally active kids should take time for quiet reading or reflection; students who spend a lot of time drawing or reading, should be encouraged to also exercise and play.
	3.	Discuss the food groups with your child. Spend a few minutes during a mealtime deciding if what your family is eating is balanced.
	4.	Model this attribute. Spend time as a parent or family doing many different activities.
Reflective
	1.	Spend some time reviewing the work sent home in your child’s Friday Folder. Discuss it with them and truly consider their thoughts on their strengths and areas for improvement.
	2.	Set goals with your child. Make a list not only of the goals, but of specific actions that can be taken to achieve these goals. You might want to list action that your child will take independently as well as action parents will take to support them. For example, if one of the goals your child sets for herself is to improve her writing, her action might be to keep a journal and write in it for at least 10 minutes each night. As a parent, you might decide that the two of you will participate in shared writing, for 30 minutes each week and produce a book of narratives together.
	3.	Discuss the Learner Profile with your child. Can she give an example of an area in which she is particularly strong? How does she know that this is a strong point? Can she set specific goals for improvement in other areas?

Return to Aldrich's IB Parent Information Page

Millard Public Schools

Updated 2/25/08

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Mrs. Susie Melliger

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Marilyn Scahill

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