Many kids say that they don't know what to do when they have free time; especially when there's no homework or homework is done, there's no new movies coming out (hey, have I told you that I'll take you to the movies? :-)), there's no chance to go out for a playdate, so on and so forth. Here are some websites that give you fun games with words. So, come and play. Play and learn, too (learning again, are you kidding?)
http://pbskids.org/games/vocabulary.html
http://www.playkidsgames.com/games/pinball/vocabulary/pinballvocab1.htm
http://www.funbrain.com/words.html
http://www.vocabulary.co.il/games2/hangman/hman.php
http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/word_games/word_games_syllables.html
Keep coming back for more updated games and websites!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Interactive Books
Interactive books have text and illustrations similar to traditional picture books, but they incorporate computer technology to enhance children’s learning experience. They feature audio renditions of the entire text as children read along, pronunciations of individual words when children highlight them, and hotspots that children click to produce sound effects and graphic animations where characters talk and settings spring to life. Apart from interactive books on CD-ROM, others are available at following websites:
http://storylineonline.net/
http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/about_tumblebooks.asp
http://storylineonline.net/
http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/about_tumblebooks.asp
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Tips for 3rd grade struggling writers
Many 3rd graders are reluctant to begin writing, they do not want to revise their work, and they are hesitant to share anything publicly. Below are some tips to support these struggling writers:
According to Dr. Mel Levine’s book Developmental Variation and Learning Disorders, some of the milestones of developing writers during late second to fourth grade are:
- Incorporate standards of capitalization, punctuation, syntax, and grammar
- Seldom plan what they are going to write before they write it
- Use writing to relate experiences rather than to solve problems or develop ideas
- Begin writing in cursive
- Begin revising their work
Based on that, following are some tips for third-grade students who are struggling writers:
- Start with little and familiar things such as daily events or personal experiences. Ask them to take photos and then write captions.
- Ask them to tell about their favorite books/ stories. Anything about the book, even a short quote or a simple summary of the storyline
- Let the students dictate while you write.
- Record the student’s ideas, details, sentences. Reluctant writers are often great speakers. They can talk through their paragraph details, recording the story as well as practice pronunciation, working with an adult to transcribe, edit and finalize.
- Brainstorm ideas/details on a dry erase board or on brightly colored index cards and arrange around the topic card on a wall, a table or the floor. This will also allow the students to write the details in sentence form on the card and then arrange or rearrange the sequence without having to write and rewrite.
- Allow the students to choose and write with interesting/colorful pens/pencils and paper.
- Computer word processing allows your student to change the format. Let them experiment with fonts, font sizes and color and page background to customize their writing.
- Write along side your child. Do the same assignment. Students may resist writing if it is perceived as too difficult or as busy work. Modeling is an invaluable tool. You can describe your thought processes, word and sentence choices as you work together.
- Adding humor can reduce the stress or severity of an assignment with a reluctant writer. Wear silly hats or dress up. Act out ideas before writing. Allow the students to assume the role of the director while you act out his or her story idea. This may generate more details and some laughs as well!
- Author’s chair: encourage them to share their stories/writing with other, first with their classmates, then with outside audience
Provide positive feedback as negative comments will make them more hesitant
According to Dr. Mel Levine’s book Developmental Variation and Learning Disorders, some of the milestones of developing writers during late second to fourth grade are:
- Incorporate standards of capitalization, punctuation, syntax, and grammar
- Seldom plan what they are going to write before they write it
- Use writing to relate experiences rather than to solve problems or develop ideas
- Begin writing in cursive
- Begin revising their work
Based on that, following are some tips for third-grade students who are struggling writers:
- Start with little and familiar things such as daily events or personal experiences. Ask them to take photos and then write captions.
- Ask them to tell about their favorite books/ stories. Anything about the book, even a short quote or a simple summary of the storyline
- Let the students dictate while you write.
- Record the student’s ideas, details, sentences. Reluctant writers are often great speakers. They can talk through their paragraph details, recording the story as well as practice pronunciation, working with an adult to transcribe, edit and finalize.
- Brainstorm ideas/details on a dry erase board or on brightly colored index cards and arrange around the topic card on a wall, a table or the floor. This will also allow the students to write the details in sentence form on the card and then arrange or rearrange the sequence without having to write and rewrite.
- Allow the students to choose and write with interesting/colorful pens/pencils and paper.
- Computer word processing allows your student to change the format. Let them experiment with fonts, font sizes and color and page background to customize their writing.
- Write along side your child. Do the same assignment. Students may resist writing if it is perceived as too difficult or as busy work. Modeling is an invaluable tool. You can describe your thought processes, word and sentence choices as you work together.
- Adding humor can reduce the stress or severity of an assignment with a reluctant writer. Wear silly hats or dress up. Act out ideas before writing. Allow the students to assume the role of the director while you act out his or her story idea. This may generate more details and some laughs as well!
- Author’s chair: encourage them to share their stories/writing with other, first with their classmates, then with outside audience
Provide positive feedback as negative comments will make them more hesitant
Resources for parents
In today's school setting, many parents are concerned about their children's learning with more and more homeworks and assignments, tests and assessments. The workload is too large that they don't know where to start with. However, if you- as a parent- know your child's learning style and his/her multiple intelligences, your support to their learning will be much more efffecive. Following is one reliable source that you and your child can find out his/her unique learning modality as well as multiple intelligences.
You also can have better understanding about learning styles and multiple intelligences by watching this video
You also can have better understanding about learning styles and multiple intelligences by watching this video
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Welcome message
Hi, welcome to my blog. I want to become an elementary teacher because I love little kids and I think I'm a very patient person. My major is English but I want to switch to Science, but it's a different story :-). I create this since I want to share my thinking as well as learn from others' experiences.
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