Best Back to School Foods!

Its important to make sure that while your child studies for the NNAT and begins the new school year, to keep them fed well. It can be tempting to get them fast food or soda, but there are so many foods out there that are good for your children! Here are 5 healthy snacks that are great for your children’s growing minds and also are delicious!

• Peanut Butter on Apples: This is a classic. Perfect for right after school, when they need a break to sit and relax for 10 minutes. Cut the apple for them and place it on a plate with a scoop of peanut butter. Your kids can dip as much or as little apple in the peanut butter as they want. Apples and peanut butter are great for growing minds!
• Cheese and crackers: Bonus if your crackers are whole wheat! Whole wheat crackers are a great source of fiber. The combination of cheese and crackers will fill your child up for a long time, which makes it perfect for before a NNAT study session.
• Edamame- You may think that your child will not eat edamame but you can try! They are a great source of protein and nutrients while being very low in fat. You can serve them cold or heat them up depending on what your child enjoy. These are great for snacking during a NNAT prep session.
• Mixed nuts: A great snack because you can really tailor it towards your child’s tastes. See which nuts your child enjoys the most and mix them all together. Nuts a great source of protein.
• Hummus and Vegetables- The best snack because of how many option you have for your children. Between regular hummus, basil hummus, even garlic hummus, and how many vegetables there are out there, you are bound to find something your child will enjoy!

Here is a video of a little girl’s smoothie recipe, perfect for older children to make themselves! Good luck on the NNAT!

How to Determine G&T Tests

Many parents receive a shock when their child starts school in the fall. Their child has been selected to test into the Gifted and Talented program, perhaps having to take the NNAT! However, those initial notes do not contain much information on the program or the testing process. The test for G&T admission administered to students varies from district to district and occasionally from school to school within a district.

Thankfully there are ways to find out the test name or type, so you can start preparing your child as soon as possible. It is important to start preparing your child as soon as possible for these G&T tests, one of which is the NNAT. These programs are highly competitive and your child can miss out on the program by not testing into the top 99% percentile. That does not leave much room for error.

How do you discover which test your child will be given to apply to the G&T program? As soon as you receive the note that your child can apply to the G&T program, start looking on your school district’s website. Most school districts list in their G&T section of the site which test they administer to the children. The test can be one single test, such as the NNAT, or multiple tests, such as the CogAT and the OLSAT.

But if your school district does not list the test on their site, you can ask your child’s teacher if they know the name of the test. They might be able to give you the name of the test and valuable tips or insights into the G&T testing process. Some school districts do not give out the name of the G&T test. Then ask them if the test will be an intelligence test or an achievement test. This can narrow down which tests to prepare your child with. Hopefully it’s the NNAT exam with how much information there is out there! You can visit this site to get more information on the NNAT! Good luck with the NNAT!

Best Back to School Supplies for NNAT

Its back to school time and that means its time to go back to school shopping, as well as take the NNAT test! With stressing out all summer on proper NNAT study techniques, it can be hard to remember just what your children need. Most school send children home with specific school supplies, but you don’t want your child bereft on the first day of school. Here are the top 6 things your child should have in their backpack on the first day of school:

• Writing supplies: Whether your child writes in pen, pencil, or is still in the mainly coloring stage, they will need writing instruments on the first day of school.
• Notepad: Again, what kind of writing pad your child will need will depend on their grade. It can be a binder with loose leaf paper in it, a notebook, or even just a clipboard will be helpful on the first day of school.
• Erasers: Every child will make a mistake while writing and an eraser can help them to move on from it! This can be a standard eraser or white out or whatever is appropriate for your child
• Flash drive: This is more applicable to the older students, but this will be a lifesaver for them! They will be able to save whatever they need for at home or at school.
• Lunch Box: Your child will need something to transport their lunch in, and this is a fun way for your child to show off their personality. Let them pick this out and they will be guaranteed to bring it home from school every day!
• A Backpack: Your child will need something to put all of these supplies in! Let them pick out their backpack, as this is also a way for them to show off their personality!

Back to school is a stressful time for a lot of parents! But make it less stressful with these back to school supplies tips! Check out this site for more back to school supplies tips. Good luck on the NNAT!

Tips for Improving NNAT Study

NNAT season is fast approaching and the best way to prepare for the NNAT is to study practice questions. However, simply completing practice questions can get tedious for children, especially if your child is testing to enter Kindergarten. There are many different ways to help keep NNAT study more exciting for your child. The benefit of making NNAT prep fun and interesting is that your child will not dread this extra homework. Through interesting NNAT prep they will be able to learn to appreciate learning. Try these tips below to spice up NNAT study sessions with your chid.

• Gradual Exposure: Do not attempt to have your child complete an entire NNAT practice test the first time you sit down to study the NNAT. Start of at first with 10 minutes worth of NNAT prep. Explain what kind of questions they will be asked, and explain to them that they will have to sit still and answer questions for up to an hour. Then gradually introduce practice questions and extend NNAT prep time till they can sit still for the duration of the NNAT.
• Re-enforce the positive: Children will make mistakes during the NNAT study sessions and it is easy to get frustrated with their incorrect answers. But instead of saying that your child got that question wrong, ask them to think about the question again and have them explain their answer. That way they know the answer is not correct, but will not have their confidence levels decreased from being “wrong”.
• Consistency is key: Keep the NNAT study session at the same time every day. Children, especially very young children, can get distressed when their routines change. They are still learning to negotiate the world around them, so keep their routines the same to provide them with stability. This way they will be able to focus on NNAT prep.

NNAT study session is a very stressful time for both parents and children. If your child gets too stressed try reading them a book. Here is a video of a fun book read aloud. Good luck on the NNAT!

 

5 Ways to Prepare for NNAT Prep Season

Are you ready for your child to begin the NNAT prep season? The beginning of the school year coincides with the beginning of NNAT prep season! Make sure they have a solid beginning of the school year, and they will flourish for the rest of the year. If your child is comfortable in the classroom, then they will be better able to flourish in their NNAT. You have been working with your children all summer long to prepare them for the beginning of school, completing math activities or daily NNAT study in order to keep them sharp for fall. Follow these 5 suggestions and your child will shine in the NNAT.

• A Steady Bedtime: It is tempting to allow your child to stay up late during the summer. However, once school starts again your child will need their 8 to 10 hours of sleep a night. Stick to the same bedtime every night as well as this structure is good for your child’s attention. This will ensure that they are able to pay attention and properly study for the NNAT.
• Prepare your child properly: After a summer of workbooks and reading times, you don’t want your child to be unprepared on the first day of school. Keep a look out in your mail or email for a list of school supplies your child should bring on the first day of school. This will inspire confidence in your child that will last till their NNAT.
• Short good-byes: You want to inspire confidence in your child for the first day of school and you can do that by keeping your good-bye concise! Children can easily pick up on anxieties from parents, and so you do not want to linger and anxiously look after your child after you bid your little one good-bye. Make sure your child is comfortable in the classroom and then say your good-byes and walk out the door.

Here is a good video on the first day of kindergarten! Good luck on the NNAT!

How to Make NNAT Study Fun!

It can be incredibly difficult to have your child study for the NNAT exam, especially during the school year when they already have homework that they have to do. But NNAT study is important for your child to do daily, even if they are tired! The best way to encourage them to study for the NNAT exam is to make NNAT prep fun! There are a lot of different things that you can do to make NNAT prep fun, and your child will thank you. For ways to encourage your child to study for the NNAT, and also to not scare them away from school, here are tips on how to make NNAT prep fun!

• Make the materials attractive- If you only have black and white materials for your child to work this, you can understand why your child can get bored with their NNAT study! Try and get colored materials if you can, to make the prep more exciting and to keep your child’s attention.
• Use real life objects- A lot of kindergarten prep tests numbers and colors and common knowledge. For these skills you can get physical objects that you child can use for NNAT prep. Get a bunch of different fruits, and you can test your child on color, on taste, on the names of the fruits, and you can use them for basic number counting skills!
• Read to your children- This is the best way to make NNAT study fun, because children already want to be read to! Kindergarten testing often includes listening comprehension and listening skills. After you read your child a story, ask them about the story. Tell them to name a character for you or ask what a sequence of events went. Also, to encourage creativity, ask them to continue the story for you.

Check out this site for more ways to make NNAT test prep fun! Good luck on the NNAT.

How to Enrich NNAT Study with Museum Trips

One of the best ways for a child’s NNAT study to be improved is to get them out of the house. Too much NNAT study can cloud a child’s mind and you need to keep their love of learning fresh in order to make education valuable. One of the best ways to keep a child entertained out of the house and still educate them is to take a trip to the museum! Museums can be daunting to bring a child to. They tend to be quiet, filled with things that children cannot touch, and the subject matter may seem too difficult for children to understand. Here are some tips on how to have a successful museum trip:

• Start with children’s museums: There are a lot of children’s museums or child friendly museums out there. These museums are filled with touchable exhibits, wall text with language appropriate for young children, and lots of other children!
• Check out children’s tours: Most museums will have a children’s tour. Check the tour times before you go to the museum to make sure you don’t miss it! The children’s tour will have other children in it and will be geared for children so you children will be able to relate to what they see in the museum
• Look at exhibits before your trip: If there are no children’s tours for your kids to take, look at the exhibits with your child before the trip. Explain all the different places you can visit to your child and have them pick 3 parts of the museum to visit. This will get your child excited for the museum trip and will help smooth the trip. This will also give you time to figure out how you want to present the exhibits to your children.

Here is a great video about the Children’s Museum of New York. Good luck studying for the NNAT!

Tips for NNAT Study in the Fall

The summer is a great time to prepare your child for the NNAT exam. Your child isn’t also in school and so they can focus more completely on NNAT prep. Once school starts and their schedules get busy again, it can be easy to forget NNAT study. But the best way to properly prepare your child for the NNAT test is to work with them a little bit every day. The daily practice ensures that your child doesn’t get too overwhelmed with test prep and ensures that they are properly prepared for their test. Here are tips on how to include NNAT prep in your child’s daily routine:

• Incorporate NNAT prep with their homework: Your child has homework that they have to complete every day. The easiest way to ensure that your child practices the NNAT everyday is to integrate the prep with their homework. The addition of 10 to 20 minutes of NNAT study will not overwhelm your child.
• Take a break: When your child first comes home from school, they are tired and need a break from the learning they did that day. Have a low-key activity planned for when they get back from school, like yoga or a reading time. That way they are refreshed and can properly concentrate on their NNAT study.
• Have a snack: Just like in the tip above, your child will be able to study the NNAT more effectively if they are full. The snack shouldn’t be too heavy, or else your child can get groggy. Try a snack of fresh fruit or vegetables with hummus to ensure they are getting the nutrition they need as well as get a break before they start their NNAT prep.

The fall is a great way to revitalize the NNAT prep you and your child go through. Check out this video for test prep tips! Good luck on the NNAT!

 

Help Your NNAT Child to Relax

Children taking the NNAT can become stressed out, and a stressed out child is one that is hard to help. The NNAT is extremely important to your child’s future, and it can be hard not to have your stress over this test rub off on your children. Children are very intuitive and can pick up on your stress over the NNAT test. Children should not be too stressed out over NNAT prep and I assembled some good tips below to help them relax.

• Get out and Play: One of the best ways to de-stress, especially from NNAT prep, is to get out and play! Running, jumping and playing games will help distract your child from the upcoming test and will let them get out excess energy.
• Think of happy places: This may be an old trick, but it is one that works. Tell your child when they are getting too worked up, to think of a time when they were really happy. Maybe it was the vacation to Disneyland or maybe just the park down the street, but thinking of it should help your child relax from NNAT prep stress.
• Meditation: This can be a hard one to sell to children, but if you teach them correctly, it can help reduce their stress levels. Tell them to sit still, and to breathe in slowly and deeply, like they are filling up a balloon! As they breathe deeply, tell them to think of something that makes them happy. This should help them calm down and re-focus on NNAT prep.
• Laugh together: Sometimes all a child needs to do is let out a little steam through laughter. When they seem particularly stressed, put on their favorite funny TV show, read them their favorite funny book, or just be silly until they start laughing!

NNAT prep can be a very stressful time in your child’s life. Follow these tips and the tips in the video below to relax your child and focus back on NNAT preparation. Good luck on the NNAT!

 

Discipline Your NNAT Kid

NNAT preparation can be a stressful time, and that can bring out the worst in your child. NNAT test prep takes daily practice and this daily routine can be tiring for your child. Fights can occur and temper tantrums can turn your sweet child into a little devil. Here are ways to discipline your child effectively, so that they can sit down afterward a tantrum for some NNAT prep and be prepared for that NNAT test!

• Know your child: Very rarely does a child or an adult get upset and throw a tantrum for no reason. Maybe your child was tired after a long morning of playing with their friends outside, or maybe they are hungry. A lot of times children do not know how to express the emotions they have, so you need to interpret for them. Try to figure out their triggers to prevent a tantrum that will distract from NNAT prep.
• Stay consistent: It is very tempting to stop pestering by agreeing to something you said no to yesterday. Children are still developing their boundaries and if you change your mind day to day, they will try to push the boundaries to get what they want. Being able to run in the house one day and not the next can cause a tantrum that will inevitably distract from NNAT study!
• Control yourself: It is hard to get your child to stop screaming if you are screaming at them. Children mirror the behavior they see around them. So if you scream, they can see it as they are allowed to scream! To effectively get back to NNAT preparation, keep yourself calm to calm down your child.

It is tempting to let your child go and give them whatever they are screaming about. But this will not benefit them in the long term. Keep in mind that the more you discipline them now, the easier it will become later. Here is a video on how to discipline a child who does not listen! Good luck on the NNAT test!