When kids are in grade school, it’s important to let them know that their efforts and achievements are noticed. When they’re just learning to read and write, it’s easy for them to become discouraged. If their classmates seem to catch on more quickly to the basics of ABC’s, printing, writing or arithmetic, this can foster a misplaced sense of under-achievement and a negative attitude towards learning that follows them throughout their school years.
As a parent, you can prevent this adverse development by bestowing your own awards to applaud your child’s achievements, in the form of a certificate of achievement. If your kids are quick to learn, giving them a certificate of achievement is still a great idea, because you’re nurturing continued enthusiasm for their efforts.
Maybe you remember the first time you were faced with learning your ABC’s. The letters didn’t make much sense, right? It’s confusing to kids, trying to understand what the symbols mean and why they need to know them. Sure, they’ve seen them in books, but even the concept of reading can be difficult to connect to how these letters fit into the whole scheme of things. It’s only through much repetition that the kids finally accomplish this milestone. Awarding your child a certificate of achievement, with the date, their name and what they learned, with a shiny gold foil star in the corner, gives them a sense of pride that makes all the work worthwhile.
You can use a three ring binder to hold their certificates. Especially during the early school years, these certificates of achievement can add up quickly. Think of the many occasions you can mark with such rewards. Kids enjoy having tangible evidence of what they’ve accomplished. Whenever your child feels frustrated with his schoolwork, take that binder off the shelf and leaf through each certificate of achievement, noting the dates as well. “Remember how hard it was to get through the ABC’s? But you did it!” He will remember and this serves to encourage him, knowing he surely can do this current work too.
Learning how to tell time is difficult for most kids, probably because it’s conceptual in nature, coupled with the idea of there being 24 hours in a day, with only 12 markers on the clock. Another difficulty is that they have trouble discerning the big hand from the little. When your child does learn to tell time, this is certainly an occasion for a certificate of achievement!
Reading, printing, learning script writing and all the steps of arithmetic – addition, subtraction, multiplication and division – are all great accomplishments. You can also give them certificates for non-academic achievements, such as sports, good deeds and developmental achievements, like learning to share, cleaning their room every week or controlling their temper in a difficult situation.
By the time your child reaches sixth grade, he’ll have quite a collection of certificates of achievement and a good sense of how persistence in learning pays!
- Gift Certificate For birthdays, anniversaries, different accomplishments, or even Christmas we want...
- Financial Planning Certificate Do you see yourself as a financial adviser or working...
- Kids School Supplies I was very surprised at first, when my daughter started...
- Finding Learning Online For Kids You may not think about doing much more online than...
- Teaching Astronomy For Kids As an elementary school science teacher, I always have a...