Anyone who has worked in education knows that to be most effective, you need learning activities that can be differentiated to meet a variety of levels and objectives. That’s part of what makes play-based learning so effective — it’s naturally adapted to the needs and objectives of individual learners. I’m always excited when an activity can be tweaked to meet each learners needs, and we happened to have a perfect example pop up at our house recently. (Pardon the cluttered table. Just keepin’ it real, folks!)
First Friday Q&A: Make Handwriting Practice Fun and Playful!
I’m taking a little break as we welcome our fourth son to our family. Enjoy this First Friday Q&A from last year (also available at YouTube here).
First Friday Q&A 10.7.11
Playful Learning: Nurturing Young Authors
I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was excited to share a new book, Playful Learning, by my friend Mariah Bruehl. I had just returned home from a long trip and found it sitting on the top of my mail pile. I immediately opened it and began thumbing through. About half an hour later, I was still leaning against my kitchen counter, reading. This book is fantastic. Mariah has taken her ardent passion and rich experience and packaged them together to create one amazing resource.
Sign Me Up! Meaningful Ways to Encourage Preschoolers to Write Their Names
I wrote a while back about a sign-in chart that provides regular practice for name-writing while also providing a record-keeping system to track progress. Some children really thrive with this method — they’ve recently figured out that they OWN their name, and they want to write it everywhere! Others however, are more reluctant. “I already did that,” they may say. Like the parent who’s constantly cleaning the same kitchen, the child wonders, “Why am I doing this again? I did it yesterday!” Sometimes all a child needs is more purpose for the writing. Writing it today so they can write it again tomorrow just doesn’t always cut it. Here are some ways you can encourage reluctant writers to leave their mark. [Read more…]
The Writing in the Salt
My oldest son began kindergarten this year. He is enjoying all of the “big-kid” perks of going to school like riding the bus and having recess. But he’s also discovered that school also comes with responsibilities. Not least of which is a list of skills to be practiced as homework, including several penmanship tasks like drawing shapes and writing letters, numbers, and his first and last name. I don’t think my guy is the first child to react as though writing practice were akin to being kidnapped by terrorists, but there is at least one way I’ve found to get around this response. Make it fun and exciting! [Read more…]
The Write Way to Read
Often, when we think of writing, we think of penmanship. We give children handwriting guides and workbooks and think we’re teaching writing. But truly writing in the context of developmental literacy is so much more. In my view, writing is a display of a composite of skills: [Read more…]
Do the Write Thing -A Repost
It’s a beautiful summer day and my boys are antsy to go play in the fountains at the park! Enjoy this repost from back in the olden days – Feb. 2, 2009!
Book Activity: Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
A Trip to the Dinosaur Museum Puts Us All in the Author’s Chair
When you’re studying dinosaurs with preschoolers, nothing really takes the place of a trip to a dinosaur museum or another hands-on dinosaur experience. Check in your local area and see what options you may have. Don’t forget to check into nearby universities as some have free exhibits or perhaps a professor (or maybe a grad student) who would meet with your group of little ones and show a few prehistoric specimen.
When I took a group of preschoolers to a dinosaur museum lately, I was sure to pack along my camera. I took pictures of the children as they explored, but I also took a lot of pictures of the dinosaurs themselves. After printing the pictures, I put each one on a single page and then combined the pages for a book. I shared the book during large group as we talked about the trip. We had been learning through lots of great dinosaur books. I told the children that they were now the dinosaur experts, that this was their book, and they needed to add the words to go with the pictures.