Starting the year on the right foot. or left. whichever you prefer.

Wondering how to start this next year? Here are a few ideas to help:

• If your mentee is new to the school, talk about what is different and what is the same. Share your own experiences with new schools and settings.
• Ask your mentee what she is looking forward to most during the school year and to describe the one thing she most wants to accomplish. Tell her what you want to accomplish during the same period.
• Investigate new things that will be happening in your community and discuss how they will affect each of you.
• Create an imaginary time capsule. What would each of you want future generations to know? Pick a place where you would bury it and decide when it should be opened.
• Fly a kite in the schoolyard.
• Help your mentee search the Internet for an after-school job.
• Initiate a discussion about dream vacations. Describe your dream vacation and ask your student to do the same.
• If you like to plan ahead, invite your mentee to join in making holiday gifts for friends and relatives.
• Read with and to your student. (Literacy is more than just being able to read and write. It is the ability to understand and communicate information and ideas by others and to others clearly and to form thoughts using reason and analysis.)
• Read for information. Read maps, graphs, charts and recipes together. Learning how to read a bus schedule is an important skill in life.
• If your student is older, try sharing more mature reading materials like newspapers, magazines and chapter books. Reading aloud increases your student’s listening comprehension and vocabulary. Ask your student’s teacher or school librarian to suggest books and magazines that are appropriate for your student’s age group.