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Guess Who I Am

July 2, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

This engaging activity can be adapted for different ages easily and it can be a great way to get your kids to do some character analyzation (which really helps comprehension).

Choose a character from a book or story you are currently reading or have read with your child. Tell your child that you will be playing a guessing game in which you will give them clues about a character and they will have to guess who it is.
Once the correct character has been named, you can switch turns and have your child make you guess the next one. Having your child pick a character and thinking of clues for himself is where they will really get practice in analyzing character traits and elements of the story.

For older kids, this type of game is great for making your child go beyond the superficial details and allowing them to think critically about the characters – especially when you challenge them to make it hard for you!

This is a really fun game that lets your kids practice matching objects to letters and sounds. You’ll need some picture cards of various objects (and/or magazine pictures) and a bit of creative imagination. You can play with two players, but the more the merrier!

Choose a target letter to work on (for example: M) and select several pictures of objects that begin with M. Sample pictures can include: monkey, mother, mop, motorcycle, mirror, etc.
Place the pictures in a basket or bag so that they can be chosen randomly without being seen by the other player(s).
Have the first player pick a picture from the bag and act out the object for the other player(s) to guess. Note: I recommend that the parent be the first to choose a picture to act out so that you can model how to play.
Once your child guesses the object, ask them to tell you what sound it starts with. Then ask them if they can tell and show you what letter it starts with. If your child is in the beginning stages of learning their sounds and letters, help them out by telling them this information.
Continue the game and take turns with your child so that they get a chance to act out the pictures for you.

You can play a variation of this to practice more than one letter/sound by mixing up pictures that begin with different letters in the bag. Each player has to guess the object and then match it to the correct letter.

Family Friendly Online Bookstore

June 27, 2008 / Scott / 0 Comments

The other day I happened to run into Gavin Baker of Abunga.com at an informal entrepreneur’s meetup. Abunga is a family friendly online media store that actually uses the input of its community to decide what they should sell. Abunga isn’t Amazon, and they aren’t trying to be either. They are built around the idea of not only providing family friendly products at great prices, but they also have a program that donates money back to worthy causes.

Gavin and I had a really good conversation about the directions they’d like to go with Abunga and new services they have in the works to enhance the experience of their user community. We talked part technology, part marketing, and part “you know what would be cool”. I don’t want to give away any of their plans for the future, but those guys are working feverishly to add more and more to Abunga.

Check them out if you have a chance. We’re constantly looking for cool things like this in the community (especially our local community) that are good resources for parents and kids!

Straight or Curvy?

June 26, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

This is game you can play with early learners to expose them to some concepts of print…in this case letter shapes (even if they don’t know their letters yet). You’ll need some letter magnets or foam letters that your child can use as manipulatives and some containers (small bins, toy boxes, large cups, baskets, or whatever you have on hand that the letters will fit into).

Put some letters out in front of your child on the floor or table. Ask them some questions about how the letters look: Do these letters look different or do they all look the same? What makes them look different? Do any look alike? What makes these look similar?, etc. You want them to be looking at their shape and size.
Ask your child to pick 2-3 letters to look at more closely. Depending on the letters your child picks, you can talk about how the letters are made up of straight lines, curvy lines, or both. Have your child trace the letters they chose with their finger and talk about whether they are made up of curvy lines (for example: S or C), straight lines (A or T), or both (B or R).
If your child understands and shows interest, you can tell them you’re going to play a game where they have to separate the letters by what kind of lines they have. Have three containers ready, each labeled with a picture of the different lines.
Play along with your child as you place the letters in the correct containers!

This game can also be used with older kids who are learning to write their letters to help reinforce what types of lines they should use.

Good Night Rhymes

June 23, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

Here’s a quick and simple game you can play during your bedtime routine with your child that will help them learn to make words rhyme.

Think of a word and tell your child that the two of you will take turns saying a word that rhymes with the given word. These words can be real or make-believe as long as they rhyme!
When you run out of words, ask your child to think of the next word – or save it for another night!

For example: You say “free”, your child can follow with “tree”, and you can come back with “glee”…”flea, tea, me, plea, we, tree, gee, bee, nee, kee, zee, etc.” (the last three words were examples of make-believe words)

Kids have a lot of fun with this one because they don’t have to worry about word meaning, they only have to match the ending sound. You can tell them that Dr. Seuss was an expert on making up words that rhyme. Read one of his books that night to help you guys get started with the game.
Although this is a good bedtime activity, it can be done anytime and anywhere!

Puppet Sound Review

June 17, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

This is a great way to help your child review their letter sounds. You’ll need an alphabet chart (or letter cards) and a puppet – and make sure he’s wearing his “dunce cap”!

Tell your child that the puppet is going to help him/her review their sounds.
Have the puppet point to a letter and have him say something like “The letter ‘B’ makes the /r/ sound.” Wait to see how your child reacts. Hopefully he/she will laugh and/or give the puppet a weird look. Ask your child to correct the puppet.
If your child needs some help…you can say something like “Hmm, I don’t think that’s right. Does the ‘B’ make the /r/ sound? No, the ‘B’ makes the /b/ sound like /b/ for ball. Can you say /b/ for ‘b’?
You can continue with the whole alphabet – sometimes the puppet can be right and sometimes he can be wrong. Change it up by picking random letters rather than going from A-Z. This will keep them on their toes!

Your kids will have so much fun correcting the silly puppet they’ll barely even notice that they’re reviewing their letters!

Oral Blending (Onsets & Rhyme) – Lesson Idea #40

June 16, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

This is a phonmeic awareness activity that will help your child blend words together using word families. You’ll need a list of word families and a puppet to make it extra fun. Explain to your child that the puppet sometimes needs help finishing words because he’s not sure how to put them together. Make a big deal about what a good helper your child can be…this usually gets them really excited to play!

Tell your child that you will say the first sound in a word, the puppet will say the rest of the word, and they have to put it all together and tell you what the whole word is.

Example:

Parent: /d/

Puppet: /ig/

Parent: “What’s the word?”

Child: “dig!”

Quick Tip: If your child is in front of you during the game, put the puppet on your left hand. Hold up your right hand when you say the first sound, your left hand (as the puppet says its sounds), and then bring your hands together when you ask for the word. This will provide a visual for your child that lets them know to blend the sounds from left to right . (which will translate later on when you teach them that words are read and blended left to right).

Continue with words in the same family (wig, fig, pig, big, gig, twig). Then you can switch to another word family to continue the game if your child is really into it. If they’re loosing interest move on to something else and do different word families at another time.
Remember that you want to keep these phonemic awareness lessons quick and fun!

Outside The Box Reading Ideas For Summer

June 13, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

So the year is winding down and many parents and kids are getting ready for some summer fun around the pool. But we parents know that learning is year round (and hopefully life-long)! So in the spirit of learning, I’d like to share a couple of cool ideas for summer reading that others have put out there for us to use.

Kelly invites us to join her for a Summer Reading Theme-a-thon over at Little Homeschool On The Prairie.

This fun and simple program is designed to encourage families to enjoy reading together and extending favorite stories into togetherness-building activities as a family.

Summer Reading Theme-a-thon begins Monday, June 23 and will extend through the end of August.

I can’t think of a better reason to join in! She will post different themes bi-weekly and encourages you to create family activities and/or trips to make the themes come alive. Then she’ll be posting pictures of participating families and their creative journeys with each theme. This can be great fun for all ages!

HomeSchool Journey has some great ideas for curing what she calls “Imboreditis”.

One thing I noticed about home learning in our own environment, is that the children seem to function better when a specific level of routine remains consistent over the long summer break. If that routine is broken over the summer break, the children seem to develop what I call: Imboreditis. The symptoms of Imboreditis include: persistent whining, the droning sound of I’m bored, lethargic lying about, the dragging of feet, and of course: lots of sighing. If you begin to hear the dreaded I’m bored, I’d encourage you to think creatively.

Be sure to check out her ideas to cure these dreaded symptoms. She includes weekly visits to the library and joining a summer reading program.

Have a great time reading this summer!

175th Carnival of Education

June 12, 2008 / Scott / 0 Comments

This week’s Carnival of Education (game show edition) is being hosted at Learn Me Good 2. Good luck to MisterTeacher on his upcoming game show appearance!

Vocabulary Retells

June 12, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

This simple activity will do wonders for your child’s oral vocabulary (which is important to build so that their reading vocabularies can grow) while working on their comprehension at the same time! You can do this with kids of all ages that can listen to and discuss a book or story.

Prior to reading a book to your child, try to notice words that represent an easy concept for your child that you can replace with a harder, more mature word (this is really easy to do with adjectives). Choose about 3-5 words that you will focus on along with their “big word” synonym.
Read the book as it is with/to your child. Either during or after the reading (while you’re discussing parts of the book with your child), talk about and show them how you can say certain things in a different way. For example: If a character in a book was really hungry, you can say they were famished during your discussion of the story. Talk about how the new word tells the same story, but makes it a bit more interesting!
Here are some other examples of common words and their “big word” synonyms:

yummy: scrumptious

silly: frivolous

friend: acquaintance

These synonyms are examples of Tier Two Words – read more about the importance of these words.

You’ll find that the more you do this while you read (or just in conversations with your child) the more they’ll start to use these new words on their own!

COH Issue For June 10

June 10, 2008 / Scott / 0 Comments

The Carnival of Homeschooling is up–thanks to The Common Room for hosting! Just a few of the interesting posts that caught our eye here at RCO:

Hands on ABC Order — some activities you can do with your child to exercise their alphabetizing skills.

First Grade Curriculum Review — great insight from a first year homeschooler on several subjects (not just reading)

There’s More to Education Than Smarts — an interesting post about the social responsibilities that come with an education.

And take a look at the test Phil gave his 4th grader.

There are several other great posts in the carnival for homeschoolers–check it out!

Sounds In Nature – Lesson Idea #39

June 9, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

This is a great phonics activity for a hike as an alternative to Digital ABCs, or ABC Nature Hike. All you need for this activity are pencils or crayons, a clipboard, and the great outdoors.

Before you leave for your hike, create a grid of different sounds. You an choose certain target sounds or do the whole alphabet A-Z.
While you’re on the hike, have your child search for items that begin with each sound in the grid and write their names in the grid. Younger kids who can’t write yet will have fun drawing a picture of each item.

For example, two of the sounds on your sound grid may be the long and short /a/ sounds. An acorn satisfies the long /a/, but they’ll need to find another item for the short /a/, maybe an ant or an apple.

This is a great activity you can repeat over and over with different sounds – so get out there and have fun!

Age Guidance For Children’s Books…No Thanks!

June 6, 2008 / Ana / 8 Comments

That’s what Philip Pullman and over 80 other authors, illustrators, librarians, and booksellers are saying in their petition against the proposed age banding for children’s books by leading publishers. This proposal looks to add suggested age ranges on children’s books (such as ages 5+ or ages 7-9) in order to help parents, teachers, and kids tell which books are appropriate for children to read. This has sparked much debate amongst those involved with children’s books. The publishers claim that this will be very helpful to parents when choosing books for their kids at bookstores and for teachers selecting material for their students.

Is this really necessary? Has there been some sort of epidemic of concerned adults wandering the aisles at bookstores and libraries unsure of what material is appropriate for their children to read? I don’t think this age banding proposal is a good idea and here are a couple of problems I see with it:

Not all kids are the same: Every child reads at different levels at different ages! Parents who homeschool have much more control over letting their child read out of the “appropriate” range that will appear on a book’s cover, so I’m sure we will continue to make decisions that best suit our children rather than allow an unnecessary age range deter us from purchasing a certain book. Yet will kids who attend schools still have the freedom to choose the books they wish to read? Will the advanced 7 year old (like this one) who devours chapter books deemed for older kids be allowed to read them at school?
It may discourage readers or embarrass others: A child who is interested in dinosaurs may excitedly pick up a book about them only to put it down quickly once he realizes it’s a “baby book”. There’s no telling how much he could have learned or how much fun he could have had reading it because he never even gave it a chance. And trust me, kids don’t want to be caught reading books that are considered too young for them! So what about the kids who read below their current grade or age level? How would an 11 year old who reads at a 3rd grade level feel when they are given a book that says it’s for ages 8-10? My guess is that child would not want to read that book…or any other that reminds him how behind he is. Pullman says it best:

“…Everything about a book should seek to welcome readers in and not keep them out.”

I really hope that these publishers take to heart the wishes of the petitioners and decide against including these age ranges on their books. Parents, educators, and kids should enjoy choosing books based on interest and curiosity without such limits!

Odd One Out – Lesson Idea # 38

June 6, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

This simple activity is great for helping your child develop discriminating skills as well as working on rhyming to improve phonemic awareness. You’ll need some picture cards or pictures cut out from a magazine.

Put together some sets of picture cards (3 in each set) of things that rhyme and one that doesn’t belong. For example, you can have pictures of a bone, a phone, and a cat – or a tree, a ring, and a bee.
Lay the pictures out for your child (1 set at a time) and tell them that they will have to tell you what the things in the pictures are and to find the one that doesn’t belong. Bonus points for them if they can tell you why the picture doesn’t belong!
After they figure it out (or if they need help), tell them that you’re working on how the words sound and that the goal is to pick the two that rhyme. You can choose to tell them this before the activity if you want to or see if they can figure it out on their own. Do whichever you think would be most fun for your child!
Repeat with the other sets of pictures.

ABC Nature Hike – Lesson Idea #37

June 5, 2008 / Ana / 0 Comments

This is a great way to get your kids to reinforce their letter recognition while playing outside in the wonderful summer weather! You’ll need some letters (either paper, foam, magnetic, or other plastic letters) and a safe outdoor space (backyard, familiar trail, park, etc.)

Take some letters and hide them around different areas of the outdoor space where your child can safely hunt for them. You can choose what letters to hide depending on what you want to work on with your child. For example, if you’re working on just one letter or reviewing a few, then just hide several of those letters. Or you can do the whole alphabet and have your child hunt for the letters in sequence – it’s up to you!
Give your child a bag or basket to fill up with the letters they find. Be sure to tell them how many letters there are for them to find, so they know when to stop hunting! Go through their bag with them when they finish so they can tell you all about the letters they found.

This can be easily integrated with any unit study or special interests your child may have by being a little creative. Have fun and enjoy the weather!

Scott Adcox