Spring is just around
the corner! And with that comes "Spring Break." For
teachers, it is a week to get caught up on life, spend time with our own
children, and gear up for the last couple months of school. For parents,
it means your children are out of school for a WHOLE week:-) Today's blog is for the Fox 23 Tulsa viewers and families. Check back later for the video clip of the segment.
So how do you keep your children learning while having fun during this week? Let your imagination run
WILD! Get creative. Better yet, let your children get creative.
Think back to when you were little before we became the "technology crazed,"
"information in a second" generation.
I watched my grandson
last week who is just a toddler. It never ceases to amaze me that he can
have a million toys (just kidding) and still want to play with boxes, cups,
pots and pans, and other things. So on this last adventure, I decided to
bring out a sheet and make him a tent to play in. Why? Because I
have wonderful memories of my grandmother doing that with me and my children
were able to do the same thing with my mom. And guess what? He
LOVED it. I could go on and on about the learning opportunities that come
from playing in a tent. But basically, he learned how to climb in, climb
out, play hide and seek (yes I knew where he was - but he was learning that
concept), and how to play farm inside the tent. We gathered up all of the
farm animals and took them in the "barn." Pretend play builds
cognitive skills and encourages language while building vocabulary skills. Or think of it this
way: IMAGINATION + CREATIVITY + LANGUAGE + VOCABULARY = HIGHER COGNITIVE
SKILLS (PRICELESS)
Here are some
activities to do with your child over the next week. And for all of the
teachers and families that read this blog, feel free to add your list to the comments
section at the end. Better yet, it you have a great post about this
subject, add it too.
BUILD A TENT: Pretend it's a barn, a cave, a
store, a volcano, or make it a special place to read (flashlights can be
included too).
BUILD A BOARD GAME: I love to do this activity with my
students and children of all ages. What do you need? Look around your house
and see if you can find:
post-it-notes
index
cards
envelopes
poster
board
copy
paper
construction
paper
any
paper
scissors
markers
crayons
pictures
Next, pick what your
theme will be for your game board. Your only limit is your imagination.
And believe me, young children can be very creative when the
opportunities are given. Think about what your children will be doing
this week.
Are you going to the
zoo? To the park? To the aquarium (I live by one)? To the grocery store?
To your place of work? To visit family? On vacation? On a nature walk? To
play outside? Then you have a "theme" for your game!
As you are at the zoo,
at the grocery store, on vacation, visiting family, walking around your
neighborhood, going on a nature walk . . . talk about the things that you see, the
places that you visit, the sounds that you hear, the smells that you smell
(stinky elephant building at the zoo:-), etc. Then when you return home,
gather up your paper and get writing or drawing the things that you see
(nouns). Your children can draw pictures of what they saw, write the
words, or do both on their paper.
I suggest that you keep
the paper about the size of a post-it-note or a 3x5 card to allow for room.
That's when you use the scissors to make your paper smaller - added bonus
"better fine motor skills." Now that you have your pictures/words
ready, build a board game in the shape of a road. It can be a curvy road,
a straight road, a winding road, etc. You can build it on the floor or on
the table. Now you are ready to play your game! You can make up
directions for your game or follow mine:
1. Roll a die
(singular word for dice) to see who goes first (youngest goes first, person who
has an "a" in their name, etc.) Don't have dice? Make some
cards to turn over with the numbers 1-6 (Great practice for writing numbers!)
2. Player one
rolls the die and moves that many spaces. Let's say you went to the zoo.
Your child lands on a monkey. The child has to use one word to
describe the monkey (adjective) or one word that a monkey can do (verb).
Your child gets to remove the card from the board.
3. Player two
rolls the die and moves that many spaces. Follow the same rule as above.
Stay consistent in your
rule. If you choose actions, then everyone has to say an action (or then
can act it out too=more fun). If you choose a describing word (what does
it look like? sound like? smell like? taste like? for the grocery store - not
zoo), then everyone does the same. This player removes the card from the board.
4. Play continues
as you wind your way around the road until it all disappears.
5. Want to make it
even better? Keep a list of the words that everyone says while playing
the game. Read the words back at the end and see if they can say which
animal or thing belongs to the word.
6. When the game
is over, think of another way you can play the game, and rebuild your road a
different way.
Suggestions:
*Adjectives: Describe
the word/picture. (crackers from your groceries store visit = crunchy,
salty, tasty, delicious.
*Verbs: Name an action
that goes with the picture. (ex: picture of a swing = swing, glide picture
of a fish=swim
*Categories: What
else could belong with that category? (ex. apple from the grocery
store=oranges, bananas, grapes =fruit)
*Adverbs: Where
else could you find this? This will be more challenging and make them
think outside of the box - literally. (ex: crackers from the store =
inside a lunchbox, inside your bowl of chili, in your mouth)
*Synonyms: Name
something that means the same. We are bumping up the vocabulary. ex: You are playing the action game with the zoo animals. Player
one lands on the dolphin card. They say the word dive. The other
players around the board have to name a word that is similar to dive: lunge,
leap, descend (Yes, you can "Google" words if you need help.
I just did!) If you know your category of the game, you can predict
some words you might need to help. The point is to help your children increase
their range of vocabulary which will help them understand all of those books
that they read in school. True reading is when your child understands
what he/she has read.
Make a "On the Road" book or your own version of Oh the Place We Will Go by Dr. Seuss. You can print out pictures that you've taken or bring out those markers and let them illustrate their books. It doesn't matter if you go to Jamaica, the zoo, or the park. To your child, it can be a story. Decorate the cover like a road. See the pictures below as examples. We used construction paper, craft paper, wrapping paper, and sacks. Even brown paper sacks make a great book cover. Add some paper to your cover and let your children write. Document all of those things that you saw, heard, smelled, tasted, or visited. Those are called "small moments" that your children write about at school. Want to make it a family book? Each child gets a page to contribute their ideas including moms, dads, grandparents, or friends. Or you can combine your artwork and writing as a "team effort."
 |
Use construction paper to make a
book. Cut out a road to glue on
the front cover. Write about a trip
to the zoo, your grandparents,
the park, the grocery store.
|
 |
| Do you have any party sacks left over from your child's birthday party? I bought these party sacks for 50 centers at Target. Cut the sack into 2 pieces. Staple copy paper inside the bag cover. This sack would be great for writing an information book about dogs. |
 |
| Let your children design their own Spring Break Writing Journal. Let them choose a theme or write about things they do during the week. Encourage them to bring it along to jot down any ideas they have along the way. |
 |
| This is a left over birthday bag that I cut apart to make a book. I did the same thing with the blue flower bag below. Your children can make stories about spring or what they did over spring break. You can buy these type of bags at the Dollar Tree or look for the sale items at Target. |
 |
| If you leave on the handles, your children can "hang" their books on the doorknob in their rooms. It's a fun way to display their stories. |
 |
| Make a flip book to help with sequencing. |
 |
Make riddle or I Spy Flip books for nature walks and trips to the zoo or park.
|
SIDEWALK CHALK is a must for beautiful weather outside.
I get mine from the "Dollar Tree" for $1.00. I buy the
thick chunky kind. It usually is a spring/summer item so stock up while it's
there. What can you do with sidewalk chalk?
Write
words.
Make
a game.
Write
your numbers.
Write
you ABC's.
Write
your name.
Write
your friends' names.
Write
words you know.
Write
rhyming words (cat, fat, sat, hat).
Write
sentences.
Write
a letter.
Write
your numbers. How high can your write.
Write your numbers backwards from 20.
Write
your numbers by 2's, 5's, 10's or harder by 3's, 4's, 6's, 7's, etc.
Write
addition facts.
Write
subtraction facts.
Write
multiplication facts.
Write
division facts.
Draw
a story problem then add the math number sentence.
Play hopscotch games.
Want to add movement to
your chalk drawing fun? Make a hopscotch game and write some of the
things above inside your hopscotch game. Make a Doubles Fact Game. Write the answers to the double facts on your hopscotch board. When you land on a number, say the double fact that goes with it. (ex. Land on 4, you must say 2+2.)
 |
| Doubles Facts Hopscotch |
 |
| Rainbow Writing Numbers |
 |
| Write spelling words, rhyming words, or word families. Make the ending word pattern the same color. Use a different color to write the first sound. |
SCIENCE
If you like science,
then click on the right side of my blog and click on the Pinterest symbol.
Click on Science Experiments and choose some to do with your child. Talk
about what you are doing. Record the steps that you do to complete the
experiment. Describe, describe, describe to build their vocabulary.
And I can't end this
blog post without the true teacher coming out in me:
READ, READ, READ! "THE MORE YOUR CHILDREN READ, THE BETTER READERS THEY BECOME." Make a commitment for your child to read each
day. Read stories, jokes, riddles, road signs, cereal boxes, green bean
cans. The world is full of print everywhere you look.
Have a great spring
break! Thanks for stopping by.
