Last week I wrote about using food to build vocabulary, especially descriptive language. Another good way to get your kids talking in more than monosyllabic grunts is to make use of a mystery box. I’m pretty sure I first found this idea in Fountas and Pinnell as a possible literacy center. It works excellently … More 5 Literacy Uses for a Mystery Box
Last week I explained how our Rivers game worked for exploring the impact of rivers on a developing civilization. The next thing we tackled in that unit was to introduce the kids to Hinduism, yoga, and meditation, all indigenous to Ancient India. We started with meditation. This was the first year I’d tried meditation in … More Time Traveling through Ancient India
Moving on in our time-traveling-in-ancient-civilizations unit, we made a stop at some major rivers in Asia. Never was a subject invented for second graders drier than the identification of rivers. Yawn. But the Core Curriculum encourages a look at some of the more major rivers in history, specifically for our purposes the Indus, Ganges, Yellow, … More Rivers and Catan
Fall, fall, wonderful fall. The time for field trips to the farm (for us city folk at least) and lots of hard work for kids actually growing up in farm country. But with fewer and fewer kids growing up with access to the growing process, many in the new generation are experiencing a serious disconnect … More Food Doesn’t Grow In Grocery Stores: A Harvest Lesson
Transitions. Done poorly, they can break down classroom order faster than you can say “Sit down, please.” Done well, they become an important educational tool. Here are 20 transition games to improve early literacy learning. Rhyming 1. If your name rhymes with Bichael, Bessica, or Bestiny, you may go back to your seat. (Use whatever … More 20 Transition Mini-Games for Literacy
It’s back to school time, which, for early elementary teachers, and sometimes for upper elementary teachers, means back to the ABCs. That’s 26 letters times 2 (for upper and lower case), to be matched in various combinations with 44 separate phonemes. That’s 96 distinct factoids necessary for reading, not counting the skills needed to put … More Arts Integration & the ABCs – 6 Ways to Make the ABCs Artistic, Beautiful, & Creative
Meghan E. B. Lin 