Hanen Calendar {Review and Giveaway}

I received a complimentary copy of this calendar for the purposes of reviewing and hosting a giveaway.  The opinions are my own.  

Have you every wondered about how to work with critical thinking skills in younger children?  I’m really excited to be hosting a giveaway for three of Hanen’s new critical thinking calendars.  Use it in your SPED rooms, give to a parent who you think will need it, or share the information in the calendar with your families monthly.

I first learned about the Hanen program when I was in grad school.   The Hanen Centre is located in Canada. They  focus on helping parents and other caregivers learn how to support children’s language, literacy and social skills throughout every day activities.

If you work with in early intervention or have close contact with the families you serve, I highly recommend their products and training.  I was lucky enough to attend an It Takes Two seminar and have maintained my certification with Hanen since then.

Hanen Calendar Contents

The calendar is from September 2015 through December 2016 so you get some bonus pages.

• Following the child’s lead in conversation
• Keeping the conversation going
• Build children’s vocabulary every day
• Expose children to rare and unusual vocabulary
• Help children understand how stories work
• Make explanations part of your day
• Provide children with opportunities to offer opinions
• Encourage children to predict what could happen next
• Get children involved in solving problems
• Help children see other perspectives
• Look for print all around you
• Build letter-sound knowledge

Each calendar page has a research article cited to support the topic.

In addition they have four activities for parents and four activities for educators to support critical thinking.  Each activity falls into one of four categories: daily activities, pretend play, book reading and on the go.

One of the things that I like is that the activities are quick and easy so parents and educators can incorporate them easily into their day.  For example, the parent suggestion for following the child’s lead in book reading is that parents ask a question that encourages their child to use their imagination when their child points to a picture in a book.  The example given would be to say, “Yes, that’s Clifford.  Look how big he is!  What do you think would happen if all the dogs who live on our street were that big.

How I used it: 

I have been using the calendar this October and November.  I used it primarily for home programming.  So each week, I would look at a suggested activity and share that information or tip as something my parents could carryover at home.  I really liked that the activities were so specific and easy for my families to carry over.

If you work in the schools, I could see using the educator tips to meet some of your indirect minutes.  You could share the information with the classroom teacher or a para-professional working with the child.

I have several copies of the calendar to give away.  You can enter below!
a Rafflecopter giveaway