By Julia Mohamed Going on a road trip? Here are some great literacy games you can play in the car. THE LICENSE PLATE GAME● One person begins by spotting a license plate and announcing the letters (not the numbers) on it. ● Everyone else, in turn, must come up with […]
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The "Air Mail" game
My son’s friend likes to play “air mail” whenever he comes over on a playdate. It’s a great game and I know that it works on their literacy skills because I’ve seen improvements. It involves a bit of the adult’s time, but it’s such a fun game that I indulge […]
Set up summer reading rewards
Stats show that kids who read throughout the summer have a great kick-start to school in September. And kids who don’t, typically start the school year a bit behind. With the school year ending, now’s the time to plan your child’s summer reading and writing projects. Does your library have […]
Numeracy activities
A few posts ago, I listed some great literacy activities from our school board. Here are some numeracy activities to get kids doing math (same source, TDSB). Again, I’ve put in bold the ones I think are particularly interesting. Estimate speed/distance/time relationships while travelling with your family. What was the […]
Offering a healthy choice
My son doesn’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. And I think that one reason is that I often take the easy route instead of the healthy one. Let’s say he has 10 minutes before his baseball game – he’s starving, but he’s late. “Mom! I’m hungry!” I will usually make […]
Get involved in your child’s school
Enrich your child’s learning, help your teacher, get involved. I despair when parents complain that their kids aren’t getting what they need from their school. I despair, not because the children aren’t getting what they need from their school, but because we parents have been conditioned to accept those terms […]
Newest Twilight book – free
the short second life of bree tanner – by Stephenie Meyer It’s hot off the press and today until July 5 it’s available free online here. The book is a novella, only 178 pages, and its protagonist is one of the minor characters from Meyer’s earlier novel, Eclipse. Bree Tanner […]
Theodore Boone by John Grisham
Does your child want to be a lawyer? Does he negotiate bedtime like Alan Dershowitz? Does he want to put the bad guys behind bars? If this is your kid, then you need to buy John Grisham’s new book for young adults, Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyer. Grisham has written 22 […]
Literacy Lava – excellent (free) resource
Literacy Lava 5 I’ve got an article in the latest edition of Susan Stephenson’s (The Book Chook) great e-newsletter, “Literacy Lava.” “Literacy Lava” is a free .pdf for parents and educators, and is basically a collection of great articles on helping kids to read. This is the 5th edition of […]
Current events
I’ve been doing current events at my son’s school. I approached my son’s teacher a few weeks ago, and proposed a weekly, half-hour current events discussion for the grade 3 / 4 class. My son’s teacher is very cool, and progressive and totally supported the idea. He also helped to […]
