Here’s another great idea from Lori Jamison’s workshop. A cheap, plastic plate can be used as a mini-whiteboard for kids. They’re durable, easy to store and inexpensive. And best of all, dry erase marker wipes right off! Kids can practise their writing on them, wipe off what they’ve done, and […]
Tag: tips
Lessons from a kindergarten teacher
This is a kindergarten teacher – and a teacher of teachers. Lori Jamison introduced a roomful of kindergarten teachers at the recent Reading for the Love of it conference to a handful of “mini-lessons” to get kids reading. Her first point was, “what do we want kindergarteners to know about […]
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
“Surprise!” When my son went to bed last night, this is what he found on his pillow – a Coles bookstore bag, with a book-sized lump in it. You’re eight, you don’t feel like going to bed, you’re dragging your feet, prolonging the inevitable… and then you find a new […]
Reading as a part-time job
One mom found an interesting way to get her daughter reading. She paid her. I think that’s really interesting. Now, as this mom told us about what she’d done, she cringed a little—she knew full well that bribery is not the best way to hook a kid on reading. She […]
PICTOCHAT Hide and Seek
My son and his friend invented a new game. And it just happens to have a literacy component. Even better, it uses the Nintendo DS (Gameboy), so for kids who are really into video games, this can be a good alternative. The game: PICTOCHAT Hide-and-Seek Each child takes his DS […]
Thank-you cards
A great literacy activity. Your kids have probably just received a bunch of gifts, and I’m betting that at least some of the senders weren’t in the room when they were opened. So that means thank-you cards. They’re not optional. In our house if you don’t want to write a […]
Make a book for Christmas
This is a great time to make your child a book for Christmas or Hannukah.Children of all ages are motivated to read a book about their favourite subject – themselves. Here’s how*Buy a small scrapbook with stiff pages. (Craft stores have them. You can also use a photo album.) *Select […]
Getting boys reading – start in the middle
Start from the middle.This was Leonard Sax’s counter-intuitive (and possibly brilliant) suggestion to English teachers who want boys to enjoy great literature. Boys’ and girls’ brains process information differently. Girls process emotional information throughout their cerebral cortex, where language and analysis are also processed. Boys, however, process emotional information in […]
"Reading" English
Mispronouncing uncommon words can be the mark of a reader. People who read a lot will come across uncommon words that aren’t normally used in conversation. So they won’t know their correct pronunciation—just the one that’s in their head. The other day my son said, “Tan-za-NEE-a? I thought it was […]
Hallowe’en literacy
Some ideas for working literacy into your Hallowe’en festivities. * Spell Hallowe’en. Talk about why it has an apostrophe (All Hallow’s Evening). It’s also interesting to note that many people no longer use the apostrophe and that’s OK too. Kids are often surprised to learn that spelling evolves. * Sort […]