Posts Tagged ‘early elementary’
Daily Journals
Sep
I think that daily journal writing was the most detested part of my elementary school years. Oddly, I am not a horrible writer. I just hated journal writing. Honestly, I still don’t find journal writing to be a terribly inspiring pastime. So, it’s not surprising to me that lots of kids (and adults!) resist the idea of daily writing. However, it’s hard to argue with the valuable educational outcomes of writing. Barnabas Emenogu, summarizing current research on the benefits of writing in the early grades, concludes:
Amongst other things, I have suggested that a key benefit of getting elementary students to start writing early is that the amount of writing they do during their school years has a strong impact on the way they think, the amount they read, and the quality of their writing as adults. Motivating students to write in many forms for many reasons will enhance not only their achievement but quite possibly their life chances.
Just this summer, I again realized how much daily writing can help kids. I was amazed at the progress Dillon with our consistent (not daily) journal writing. It was definitely worth the pain it took to get the habit started. Daily journal writing remained somewhat challenging for both of us, but I reassured myself with this tidbit from The National Council of Teachers of English:
The “language arts” develop in concert. Drawing supports writing, writing supports reading; opportunity to use multiple expressions of language increases language learning and ability.
So, I feel pretty good that any kind of literacy activity contributes to the overall goal of developing reading and writing skills. With that in mind, I learned to be flexible about what constitutes a journal entry. After we spent a few weeks developing the basic concept of journal entries, I let the kids do different kinds of entries. You can easily search online and come up with all kinds of creative journal ideas, but here’s a few that have worked for us:
- lists of favorite or most disliked things
- free association activities
- acrostic name poems
- comic strip stories
- riddles and jokes
- recipes
- maps
- sketches and explanations of inventions
As I mentioned in the video, two crucial components of a journal writing at our house are story paper and a decent list of writing prompts. I happen to like the calendar format of that link, but you can search online and find many excellent compilations of journal prompts for kids.
Now that school has started, I’ve slacked off a bit. I know that Dylan has daily writing in class, so I’ve kind of given myself a pass for now. However, if you need to help someone get over a hump in reading or writing, daily writing is almost certain to help. And making it fun, is going to help even more.
So do you have any great ideas for keeping journals with kids? Let us know, because it seems that keeping writing fresh and new is the best way to keep it going.
Tags: art, creativity, dylan, early elementary, reading, writing
Cooking with Children
Aug
These are my favorite child-friendly cooking websites. If you think I’ve left one out please leave a comment and share your favorites with us. Or if you have a great recipe to make with kids, share that as well.
Tags: early elementary, math, preschool, sensory activities
Art Supplies for Kids
Aug
August and September are a great time to refresh your art supplies for the year. Most stores are having back-to-school sales that make supplies quite economical.
For younger children, the most important rule is that everything is washable! My favorite brand for washable supplies is Crayola. In my experience when Crayola says, “washable,” it really is. And this matters to my couch. I have found this to be true of their markers, crayons, paint, and glue, etc.
For my youngest artist, I start out with crayons with scratch paper and coloring books and paint-with-water books. The paint-with-water books were a major hit when my kids were 2 1/2 to 3 years old.
Carina mentioned allowing older children interested in more advanced art techniques to explore with water color pencils. Older children may also be ready for art classes offered through your local community college or university. Sometimes local museums have kids programs as well. Some elementary schools offer before or after school art clubs. If yours doesn’t, consider asking the art teacher if you can assist him or her with starting one.
So what’s in my basic art supply kit?
Paper: I have scratch paper from the printer, construction paper in the standard size and the bigger size, and coloring books. Also, I like to keep the big long pieces of paper that are often crumpled up and used as packing material. I smooth that paper out and hang in on the wall in the kitchen. Over the next several weeks, my kids work on making a mural.
Color: Washable crayons, washable markers, and washable paint. I start the kids out with finger paint. As they get older I buy Kids Paint. For younger children, be sure to buy fat crayons, fat markers, and fat paint brushes to help them out as they develop fine motor skills. At some point in the preschool years, I introduce colored pencils, but my kids have never really loved them. Be sure to also provide regular pencils.
Decorations: Cheap stickers, beads, buttons, tinsel, raffia, ribbon, fabric, wrapping paper, lace, beans, lentils, pasta, glitter, pom-poms, confetti, etc. This category is often just whatever I’ve saved. I usually only buy the stickers, and I just look for big multi-packs for cheap at Wal-Mart.
Miscellaneous: I usually have glue sticks or glue bottles and tape for the kids to use. I also tend to keep old office supplies like file folders, post-it notes, and sticker labels. The kids like to use paper clips and staples, too, so I try to be generous sometimes. I also keep some shaving cream around to mix with finger paint for a different feel. Old sponges are also fun to play with.
What’s a must-have art item for your kids? Are you aware of any great deals on art supplies? Leave us a comment and let us know!
Practicing in the Car
Aug
Part of the reason that practicing in the car can be effective is that car trips are of a limited duration. Kids know that it’s going to be over when the trip is over. So they seem to be able to focus and get some of that boring drill practice over with.
Making Car Practice Successful
- Keep it short
- Pay attention to your child’s mood
- Make it a routine to practice while driving
- Involve singing or chanting, if possible
- Turn practice into a game
- Provide reinforcement and rewards
- Take turns or practice with your child
- Don’t just listen; you participate, too
- Practice different things throughout the week
- Keep flash cards in the car
- Keep oral reading books in the car
Things to Practice in the Car
Names: Help your child learn his full name, how to spell his name, and the full names of both parents. Use daily repetition for a few days and then periodically do a little “Facts About Me” quizz on names, phone numbers, address, etc. to make sure that your child is maintaining the information.
Phone Numbers: For safety reasons, the first phone number your child should learn is the one that is most likely to get her in contact with a parent (or parent-figure). Once you’re confident your child knows that number, you may want to add in a back-up phone number. Also, it may be wise to start out teaching your child the ten-digit phone number even if that is not required in your area. We have to reteach our kiddos ten-digit numbers by next summer.
Address: I chose to teach our children our address using single digit numbers. For example, I taught them our house number as “one two five six” instead of “twelve fifty-six.” I did this for safety reasons. They are more easily understood by others who may need to know their address and Emergency Operators (9-1-1) are trained to use this format to help prevent miscommunication.
Seasons of the Year, Months of the Year, Days of the Week, Child’s Birthday: I know little songs that teach these concepts. You can usually find examples online. If you ask nicely, maybe I’ll get around to making a video of the kids and me singing for you.
Flash Cards: You can make or buy inexpensive flash cards to teach colors, shapes, numbers, letter names and sight words. Let your child hold the deck and practice while you drive.
Quizzing: Do little quiz-style activities for colors, shapes, counting, rhyming, and letter sounds: What color is your shirt? What does the letter “A” say? What rhymes with “ball”? How many toys are in your car seat? Playing “I Spy” also reinforces color and shape concepts. Quizzing can also be used to teach opposites and synonyms, simple blending (C-A-T), spelling words, vocabulary words, foreign language vocabulary, math facts, states & capitals, and many other assignments. This often works better if you and your child take turns being the “asker.”
Chanting: Chanting is the method I used to teach rote counting (1, 2, 3, 4), ordinal counting (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th), skip counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s, and saying the alphabet. This can also be an excellent way to work on memorizing parts for programs or presentations.
Storytelling: Ask your child about her day. Prompt with “What happened first, next, last?” if you need to. You can also ask her to tell you the story of a book she read or a movie she watched. Sometimes it’s fun to retell memories of fun activities with friends and family.
Oral Reading: If you keep a few books in the car, this can be a great time for your son to read out loud to you.
What else can we teach our kids while driving around town? Leave a comment below and share!
Tags: drill, early elementary, homework, preschool
Making a Morning Schedule
Aug
A daily organizer is usually best used by children who are at least beginning to read. Keep the words as simple as possible. If you’re willing to be your child’s “reader,” this list will also work. But, if you’re looking for independence, try a picture chart instead. These organizers are designed to be checked off with a star or a sticker and work best if your child chooses a reward that is available for completing the chart. Be careful about making perfection the standard for the reward. This can be very frustrating for some children and defeat your purposes.
Picture card schedules are commonly used with special needs children who have communication difficulties. But clearly they work for preschoolers who are still learning to read. Several subscription-based or for-purchase services are available, but when I did this, I was looking for FREE picture cards! You can go through the various categories and find pictures to represent the things your child needs to do in the morning. Under “Food” you’ll find a breakfast picture, a backpack is available in the “School” category, etc. Yes, it was a a bit wasteful to print out a page of pictures and only use one or two, but my kids used up the scrap paper. So, less guilt there. My kids enjoyed coloring the pictures, while I explained what they were. Then we laminated them. Actually, I used packing tape to laminate them, but maybe you’re up for more than I was. Post the pictures somwhere prominent in your kitchen or your child’s room using velcro or magnets. As a task is completed, your child can move the picture to another spot on the wall or put it in a small basket, etc.
Giving your child a simple list of morning activities, adds to her growing sense of independence and competence. It develops a sense of responsibility and helps your child see how his actions contribute to the the family’s success in the morning. Finally, remember schedules are most successful when they are both consistent and flexible. Tricky, but true.
How do you keep your kids motivated and on task in the mornings? I mean, besides by nagging them to death…I’ve got that one down! Leave me a comment and share with us all.
Tags: early elementary, preschool
