Learning Tricks & Treats

In our house, we’re working with my 1st grader on quickly reading letter blends instead of sounding them out. (E.g. ing, ack, ou, tion, kn, etc.) But, flashcards are boring–not just for HER but for ME.

Being that I am all about making learning FUN for kids as inexpensively as possible, I re-purposed an old board game that she’d recently become bored with–Candy Land–and made it into a reading “trick” game.

The result? My “people smart” daughter who has less of an interest in the reading-to-herself realm asked to play four times in 36 hours. It was a real treat for me to see her have so much fun learning…and to see it translate into much more fluid bedtime reading last night.

This game can easily be aged up based on your child’s grade/skill level. Try it with Latin roots to expand vocabulary or help with spelling… Try it with math skills based on their level… Or even with language verb conjugation, historical events or the periodic table.

Here’s how to do it:
1) make a BIG index card for each color with the key skill being practiced (we used the letter blend). Cut index cards in half for 6 examples of use. In the picture, we were practicing the ACK blend, so I made small index cards that used the letters BL, SN, SH, CR, R, P.

2) Use a matching symbol on the opposite side of the card so you know which little cards go with which big cards. We used hearts, diamonds and stars of each color, which gave us 18 blends to start.

3) Have your child pick one symbol “set” of each color.

4) Play Candy Land as you would normally with the CL deck, but…

(a) when you pick a SINGLE color, you have to get the right answer to make the move.
In our case, my daughter had to make the correct sound. If using it with a Latin root, the child would have to know that “rupt” means “break”; if using it as a Chemistry game, they would have to know that H=hydrogren; if using for Spanish practice, the child would have to know that “jugar” means “to play”.

(b) If you get a DOUBLE color, you have to get the blend correct to move forward.
In our case, my daughter had to know that “TH” and “ING” together made the word “THING”. Using the same examples as above – if the child got a double color, the question might be what does “INTER” “RUPT” mean? If using with Chemistry, what’s something that H and O make together? If using for Spanish practice, how would you conjugate “jugar” for “we”?

5) As with traditional Candy Land, whoever gets to the end first wins.

ALTERNATE VERSION: If you’ve got several kids and want to make it a learning game for the whole family, assign each child a different symbol with different skills they’re working to learn. If your 1st grader selects a red, the question will be different than your 6th grader.

Make It Your Mission! Part 6

It’s time for your next mission meet-up!

Talk to each other about what your experience was with your responsibilities from Part 4. Did everyone do what they said they were going to do? Did some people do more than they had planned?

Analyze your results by writing down these 3 numbers for each of the different techniques you and your fellow advocates tried:

• How many people were you able to connect with about your mission?
• How many of those people could understand why it’s important to you…and should be to them.
• Use a calculator to divide the number of people you were able to inspire by the number of people you were able to connect with.

Talk about which techniques were most effective in terms of:

• Reach (how many people you were able to connect with using that technique)
• Conversion rate (what percentage of people you were able to get excited about your mission using that technique)
• Evangelist rate (the number of new “advocates” you were able to get to join your meeting as a result of using that technique)

What techniques to “get the word out” do you want to try this time around? Will you use the same ones? Do you want to try new ones? Has your mission changed course as a result of your efforts? Has your focus narrowed or broadened?

Before you go home, be sure to set a date and time for your next small group meeting.

Return to Part 1 with your growing group of advocates and spread the word about what’s important to you to even more people.

CONGRATULATIONS!

You are helping to change the world for the better in ways that are important to you. You should be extremely proud of yourself. 🙂

Backyard Bug Banquet

Use your child’s gifts for observation and analysis and use your backyard or nearby park as a math & science lab. One way Deborah Churchman of American Forests suggests is to mix overripe fruit and honey in a blender, then go outside at sunset and spread the mixture on a few trees.

Go back with a flashlight with your child when it’s dark and see what creatures are feasting on your backyard banquet.

Try it with a different combination of fruit and sweetener (agave nectar, sugar, molasses) on a different night.

Which one attracted more bugs? Were certain insects drawn to one more than the other?

Did your child enjoy this activity? Let ’em get a closer look with the Bug Biter live insect catch-and-release trapper. Simply place the see-through bug chamber over a bug and pull the lever to catch anything that moves. Watch the Bug Biter’s mondo mandibles “chew” as you safely and humanely capture your bug! Great for moms who don’t like bugs, or bug-hunting kids who love them.

Make It Your Mission! Part 5

Attend a trade show or conference with some of your fellow advocates and/or a parent that is in alignment with your mission.

(Maybe one of your new email pen pals will also be attending and you can meet!)

Walk the exhibit floor and see what other people are doing that you could work into your plans.

Talk to the people at the booths that are interesting to you and tell them about what you are doing. Get their feedback on other things you might want to try to get the word out or how your two groups could work together to accomplish your goals.

Get in Gear for Back-to-School :: LANGUAGE ARTS

One day closer to the first day of school…

Below, we’ve compiled our favorite 10 language arts activities we’ve featured over the summer (as well as our Summer Reading Lists) to make sure your child gets in gear ahead of time and practices some of the concepts that they learned last year—in a FUN way—below. (That is, if your school follows the Core Standards.)

• Paint by Part of Speech – or make up a new “legend” based on grade level standards (e.g. long and short a-e-i-o-u in words)
• Color De-Coding – for word decoding and spelling “trick” practice
• Worldly Words – skim, scan and summarize informational texts
• Skillful Singing – for lyrical language rule reminders
• Become a Story Sleuth – for reading comprehension detective work
• Tongue Twisters – an active way to brush up on sentence structure
• Scripted Summer – for dramatic reading fun
• Starstruck Storytime – celestial mythology
• Innerspace List Poems – for poetry practice
• You’ll Hit It Out of the Park with Me in Your Corner – idiom fun

Want more? Several others are included here:

Check out all of our posts filed under Linguistic / Verbal Intelligence.

RECOMMENDED READING LISTS
for kids that particularly enjoy dabbling in specific Multiple Intelligence types.

• For the Picture Smart Child (AKA Visual-Spatial Intelligence)
• For the Nature Smart Child (AKA Naturistic Intelligence)
• For the Number Smart Child (AKA Logical-Mathematical Intelligence)
• For the Music Smart Child (AKA Musical Intelligence)
• For the Body Smart Child (AKA Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence)
• For the Self Smart Child (AKA Intrapersonal Intelligence)
• For the People Smart Child (AKA Interpersonal Intelligence)
• For the Word Smart Child (AKA Verbal-Linguistic Intelligence)