Fairy Tales

Fairytales or fables can be fun for kids of all ages. There really is lots you can do to extend the lesson. For example, if you are are reading Jack and the Beanstalk, talk about different types of beans. Plant beans and graph them as they grow. Experiment with light and no light. Younger kids can sort beans according to size, color, texture…, make bean and cheese quesadillas, act out the story, change the ending to the story, make a bean collage…

A fun activity is to write a family fairy tale involving all the members of your family. Create a story board. A storyboard will help us organize our thoughts by drawing pictures of the setting, characters, the problem, the attempts to solve the problem and the solution. Be sure to add color illustrations. Write a fractured fairy tale, they are my favorites!

Heart Smart

February is the time of year we exchange valentine cards, eat candy hearts, give candy in a heart-shaped box… Sometimes we cross our heart when we give our word to someone. Sometimes we sing about how our heart is overflowing with love for someone or something, or how our heart was broken. I don’t know about you, but I don’t ever think my heart has actually been broken, maybe bruised a bit, but not broken. Whew! Thankfully, most of have healthy beating hearts.

Your heart is really a muscle, but it not shaped like a valentine. It's located just to the left of the middle of your chest (between your lungs), and it's about the size of your fist, and it looks red like meat. The heart sends blood around your body. The blood provides your body with the oxygen and nutrients it needs, and it carries away waste.

Have you ever wondered what your heart sounds like? Try building a stethoscope in this activity so you can listen to your heart.

Spelling

A good spelling curriculum includes a systematic approach to spelling using phonics and sight words. But you might be wondering why a child needs to focus on a formal spelling program when we use word processors with spell check.

According to Susan Jones, M. Ed., learning to spell helps to cement the connection between the letters and their sounds, and learning high-frequency “sight words” to mastery level improves both reading and writing.

Let your child play fun online spelling games for practice. My daughter is a visual learner, so I have her write her spelling word on a blank 3X5 index card and draw a picture of the word on the reverse. She is also dyslexic, so this works great for her.

Winter Animals

What happens to animals during the winter season? Some animals head underground to stay warm and take a nap. This is called hibernating. Some head for warmer weather and better food choices. They are migrating. Those that stay where they are might begin to put on a heavy coat of fur to keep warm.

It’s always fun to try hands-on activates to reinforce what you are learning about. How about reading a book about animal tracks in snow, then try to make animal tracks in Crayola model magic. The white of the clay looks like snow. Animals have to work harder to find food in the winter. You can simulate this by hiding food in a large pan of rice (or something similar to act as the snow). Your child has to dig just like the animals do to find the food.

Have fun learning about hibernation in the following song.

Time For Hibernation

(Frere Jacques tune)

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,

Big black bear, big black bear?

Time for hibernation.

What is your location?

In a log, in a lair.

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping, Hanging bat, hanging bat?

Time for hibernation.

What is your location?

In a cave is where I'm at.

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,

Garter snake, garter snake?

Time for hibernation.

What is your location?

In the mud, in a lake.

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,

Toad and frog, toad and frog?

Time for hibernation.

What is your location?

In a pond, near a log.

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,

Meadow mouse, meadow mouse?

Time for hibernation.

What is your location?

in a field, near a house.

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping,

Turtle friend, turtle friend?

Time for hibernation.

What is your location?

In the stream, till winter's end!

Teaching with the holidays in mind.

It's December 1 and around our part of the world it's getting colder, days are getting shorter and we're in the middle of the holiday season. Our second grader and kindergartner are both preparing for the visit of Santa and are still finding ways to not express being burned out on turkey leftovers. Believe me by now there have been many a lesson in cooking with left over turkey, and bones have been stored in the freezer to make a broth with on a cold day. Opportunities exist everywhere to teach math, delving into percentages when you pull out the digital scale to measure what you cook with.

Now is also a great time to learn about winter holidays and how they are observed around the world. A quick trip to the library will reveal many books on holidays and can lead to some creative reports about what your students have found.

If they are young children – art projects with pictures and cut outs can suffice for materials that will explain what they have discovered. If older students, don't limit them to reporting in written format, but encourage speeches, plays, songs – all these will help in retention of what has been learned and make the time pass a little more rapidly for you too!

Get creative and let us know what you've found...

Oh – and Happy Holidays wherever you are!!

The importance of Arts in Education

In the last year I've covered a lot of academic territory, but what hasn't been covered is physical education related. The Arts stimulate minds and help strengthen the skills socially and emotionally, allowing for better communication and comprehension of all materials at hand.

My own children are dancers...where this gene for such gracefulness came from completely eludes me as I seem to have been born with two left feet and have the body of Roseanne Barr, pre-surgery. What I can say my husband and I both have is a great appreciation for Theater Arts, and on my side a bit of exposure to varied other performing arts, including painters, pianists and the symphony.

While I hope to never hear my daughter utter the phrase “One time at band camp” in the context it is used in our modern society, I will give her (and her brother should he continue down the same path) exposure to dance competitions, conventions, workshops, and as many classes as our pocketbook allows for. Both children have learned the history of the time of Classical Ballet they've seen performed, the political history of the era, and we've turned it into a lesson in geography and mathematics at the same time that they are off learning to plie, tendu, jete, shuffle-hop, buffalo and ball change their way across a stage.

While it doesn't have to be dance (in my case it worked out) I would strongly advocate that arts be included in your own student's education. It fits seamlessly into ours and provides extra physical education that is outside the realm of sports.

Give it a try – you might find your own child learns to express themselves better while learning things you never would have imagined too!

Teaching the difference of Memorial and Veterans Day

After I wrote the Memorial Day post here my mother asked me “So what's the difference between Memorial day and Veteran's day."

Doing a little research online revealed that the two days are very much the same, simply their roots are set in different era's – one began due to observance and memorial of those who made great sacrifices in the civil war and the second was an amalgamation of observance and memorial of World Wars I and II.

Per the Us Department of Veterans Affairs website:

History of Veterans Day
World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.

Thus began Armistice day...

Memorial Day began as Decoration day and over time grew to become the holiday we know it as, and in 1938 Armistice day became an official legal US holiday. This is a great opportunity for your older elementary aged student to cover history of the US, and have their own comparisons and discoveries as to how the holidays are similar but different.

Post World War II it became known as Veteran's Day – and a great activity would be for your students to trace the timeline of what twists and turns have happened over time and with laws to make the holiday we now know it to be.

Good luck and come back to share with us what you have come up with!