Kids seem to have a natural interest in rocks and minerals, particularly girls. Today’s Friday Find is all about learning about rocks and minerals with links to education sites and a video on identifying rocks. Use this to create your own science unit at home whether it is for fun or a class project.
Author: Pragmatic Mom
My DIY New Header Artwork and Avatar
I finally have a new header for my blog after thinking about it for over a year. It was one of those “To Do” list items that was an education in overcoming obstacles up to the very end. Thank you to my Twitter Friend @IanChia for the technical assist/Tech fairy Godfather that fixed my header.
Korean-American Picture Book Teaches Multicultural Lesson
Juno is a little boy who receives a letter from his grandmother in Korea. He can’t read Korean and his parents are busy with the usual household chores. Despite the language barrier, he is able to understand the letter though his mother eventually translates it for him. The letter is special as are the enclosures — a dried flower and a photo of his grandmother and her new cat. And Juno decides to write a letter back. One that will also transcend their language barrier. He makes several drawings and encloses a very large leaf. And so they write each other back and forth … at least until she comes to visit!Juno is a little boy who receives a letter from his grandmother in Korea. He can’t read Korean and his parents are busy with the usual household chores. Despite the language barrier, he is able to understand the letter though his mother eventually translates it for him. The letter is special as are the enclosures — a dried flower and a photo of his grandmother and her new cat. And Juno decides to write a letter back. One that will also transcend their language barrier. He makes several drawings and encloses a very large leaf. And so they write each other back and forth … at least until she comes to visit!
5th Grade Book Club: The Uglies
A Mom Friend hosted my daughter’s 5th Grade book club. The book was The Uglies by Scott Westerfield and the activity was discussing what is beauty exactly using magazines and tabloids. The coup de grace was in looking at before and after pictures of Heidi Montag. We Moms were gratified that our kids thought Heidi looked best in the “before” pictures. In the day and age of media bombardment of unrealistic female body images, we were grateful that our girls accept both themselves and a broad range of images that they consider to be beautiful!
SAT Vocabulary Words for Kindergarteners from Caps for Sale
My son’s Kindergarten teacher is really up on the latest ideas on early childhood education. She believes in big words for little people and uses these six new words during daily conversations at school and during activities. We are also encouraged to use them at home and to make a game out using them. So I asked my 6-year-old son what “ordinary” means and he gave me this long winded story about how from one day to the next, the books in the bookshelves of an “ordinary” day would not be disturbed. I think the smile/laugh value of hearing kids relate these words to their every day lives is well worth this exercise. I think the same of my son’s karate class — it’s like an episode of Saturday Night Live, only actually funny.
Top 10: Pokémon Books for Kids
There are a LOT of pokemon books out there. My son is obsessed with pokemon (he’s 5) and these are our favorites. There are also pokemon chapter books that are great for encouraging boys to read — all books promote literacy! We don’t have any listed because they are too advanced for my son.
Barefoot Book Fairy
The book and card selection that Leah sent showed me a whole different side of Barefoot Books. What I loved about each item was that it combined an educational aspect with entertainment. The books have nuances that include multi-cultural themes (Little Leap Forward), magical realism (The Boy Who Grew Flowers), and math concepts (The Real Princess) that makes each book special, interesting, and engaging. As for the card decks, these are really well done and I know that we will be using them a lot!