When my son was in preschool, I created this free Kindergarten readiness book for him. I printed it out, bound it into a 3 ring paper folder, and made a copy for each child in his class and the teachers had the kids work on it for a few months before preschool ended. It is …
For the last day of April and National Poetry Month, I am so excited to welcome my guest author, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater of poetry picture book Forest Has a Song. She has inspired me, a poetry-phobe to explore poetry with her gentle coaxing so I asked her to please write a post on teaching poetry …
I am starting to buy into this idea of teaching and really connecting material through games and apps. I was sort of on board with this concept, but since playing around with The Elements (a Harry Potter version of the Periodic Table) that my brother-in-law turned me on to, I am now a believer as I saw, with my own eyes, how captivated my kids were with the Periodic Table, an otherwise dull chart.
Simple Skip Counting Songs to Learn Multiplication and Division. Fun free multiplication games to play on the computer.
Tips, Tricks, Do’s and Don’ts to Getting an Athletic Scholarship.
Dragons and aliens and dinosaurs, oh my! And for girls, there are interesting slightly mischieveous girls to meet as well as cousins who are really sweet. Short chapter book series can often have repetitive plot lines about nothing or language that is neither rich nor interesting. There is something special about each of these book series for the child AND the adult reading along.
Every summer I stress out about what books to get for my kids that they will like but are also exposing them — as only books can do — to the wide world all around them both past, present and future. This summer, we are going to take a trip around the world by reading these multi-cultural books. What is great about this list is that it covers all the ages of my kids: from preschool through elementary school. I will be sneaky and check out these books for them and leave them strewn about the house for them to examine when they are bored. I will keep you posted on what books my kids actually liked because that is a whole ‘nother list! See you at the library!
I find that The Univ. of Chicago’s Everyday Math needs home supplementation, especially in math facts. She recommends Daily Word Problems and Singapore Math.
How to detect and remove lice and nits. Two effective methods for killing lice: Robi Comb (an electronic zapper comb) and the Olive Oil Treatment. Pragmatic Mom does not recommend lice shampoo because it’s not 100% effective due to lice resistence, and has harmful chemicals.
Reading Lists for 2nd -5th graders of books that deserve a Newbery Award plus Newbery Award winners that are appropriate for elementary school children.
My elementary school also recommends these great FREE math websites. Read more…
The idea of street art and graffiti as something other than hooligans defacing public spaces intrigued me. And that art and even street art has math concepts built-in is an argument for my 6th grader who wants to go to art school to pay attention to math. I suppose concepts like symmetry make sense for art, but how about measurement, proportion, and scale? Read more…
Kindergarten teachers do an incredible job with students during the first year of formal education, however, once the last school bell rings, it is the job of the parents and guardians to reinforce the skills that were acquired during the year. Read more…
Please welcome my guest author, Kathryn Starke, who is am an urban elementary school literacy specialist, children’s author, freelance writer and the founder/CEO of Creative Minds Publications and Consulting, global educational companies. Read more…
I love Pinterest. I’ve discovered that I am a digital hoarder of things that I am not good at. These pins inspire me to be better at crafting and get generally more into the spirit of holidays. Yep, my Pinterest boards are me in my fantasy world of Martha Stewart-like perfection. Read more…
I found this article that I thought made a lot of sense called Vocabulary: Five Common Misconceptions: Read more…
Ready for week 3 of summer math review for incoming second grade kids? My son is doing this week by week. We try to do it as mental math problems first. Read more…
My two girls are in Ohio visiting their cousins so it’s just me and my 7-year-old-going-into-2nd grade son who opted to stay home instead of attending day camp this week. I thought I’d try out the Camp Mom schedule I posted on, but I find that we don’t ever have a full day of unscheduled time and also that I can’t keep to a set routine. Still, it was helpful to switch in and out of the different modules. Here’s my Camp Mom diary. How is your Camp Mom going if you are doing this too? Read more…
David McCullough Jr., an English teacher at Wellesley High School, gave this funny and provocative high school graduation speech. It’s one town over from where I live. In fact, I live on the side that borders Wellesley. Except for Wellesley being more homogeneous, our kids are growing up in a very similar way.
