Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids » Learning Activities

Step Inside the Story!

colleen — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 20:15:11 +0000

If your young reader has trouble remembering the details of a book he just read, or if you just have a disinterested reader, try this activity to jog his memory and keep his interest! Next time your child begins a new book, start a "diary" of important details from the story, like that character's name and the setting, to put your child in the shoes of the character. It will help him become more interested in reading and help boost his memory skills! Use this fun twist on reading so the next time a book report is due he'll have (and remember!) all the information he needs to complete it!

What You Need:

A book that your child recently read
A few sheets of paper
A pencil or pen

What to Do:

As your child reads the book, encourage him to remember details about a favorite character's life.
When he's finished with the book, invite him to imagine that he's one of the main characters from the book. Then, on the sheet of paper, have your child answer the following questions:

What is your name?
How old are you?
What is today's date (in the story)?
Who are your friends?
Where do you live?
Do you go to school?
What makes you sad or upset?
What makes you happy?

On another sheet of paper, ask your child to describe a significant event that happened to the character. Have him answer and explain the following:

Describe what happened during the event.
How did it make you feel?
How did you solve the problem?
Was anyone else involved?
If so, who? What role did they play?

Finally, discuss the significant event together. Ask your child if he would have reacted in the same way or differently, and why. Not only will this help him remember the story, but he'll gain insight into another person's life…even if that person is just a character in a book!

by Kimberly Stinson Serrano
© Copyright 2006-2011 Education.com All Rights Reserved.

http://www.education.com/activity/article/Step_Inside_the_Story/

Build a Balloon Powered Car

colleen — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 18:15:48 +0000

Ask a child to describe science in just one word, and you’ll probably hear “fun!” To young kids, hands-on science activities satisfy natural curiosities and are motivating, almost magical feats.

But science isn’t just about experiments that yield magic-like effects. It’s also about using knowledge to solve some of the world’s toughest problems. In today’s energy crisis, we're constantly looking at the science behind our sources of energy. Where does power come from, and how can we use it efficiently? Explore some of these big energy issues with your kids by putting on a jaw-dropping demonstration of an ultra-efficient air-powered car!

What You Need:

Clean, dry, half-gallon milk carton with the top cut off, cut in half along the length of the carton

4 spools (or substitute your own items for wheels, such as large bottle caps)

Straws

Balloon (and some extra ones, too!)

Hot glue gun and glue

What You Do:

1. For starters, you may want to decorate the milk carton—while this won't make the car go faster, it will make the ride more swank! You can use tempera paint to cover the outside surface (but do put in a drop of dish soap so that the paint will stick to the waxy coating on the milk carton), or glue on strips of colored paper, and mark windows and doors with a marker. Do beware: don't cut holes in the milk carton…the only hole will be the one you make for your balloon.

2. Cut a small hole in the middle of the back side of the carton. This is where the balloon will go. (Start with a small hole…you may need to make it bigger later if it doesn’t let enough air escape from the balloon.)

3. Put the open end of the balloon through this hole.

4. Make holes in the sides of the cartons for the straws to form axles. (Axles are the straight stick-like parts of the car that hold the wheels.) These holes need to be close to the bottom of the carton.

5. Stick the straws through the holes and glue on the spools to form wheels.

6. Now the car is built and ready for testing. Before you try it out, though, be sure to explain the principle behind it. Have your child fully inflate a balloon, hold onto the end without tying it, then let it go. What happens? (It zips around the room until the air is fully deflated. This is because when the air comes out, it pushes the balloon with equal force in the opposite direction. The gas powers the movement of the balloon. This is the principle behind the car as well.) Ask your child to predict what is going to happen when he inflates the balloon in the car, and lets it go.

7. Now, try it out! Inflate the balloon, but don’t tie it closed. Let go. What happened?

Note: You may need to make some adjustments to tweak the design of the car, the size of the hole holding the balloon, or the size of the balloon. It’s all about problem-solving. Encourage your child to keep trying until it works?just like all the great inventors of the world!

By Liana Mahoney

Liana Mahoney is a National Board Certified elementary teacher, currently teaching a first and second grade loop. She is also a certified Reading Specialist, with teaching experience as a former high school English teacher, and early grades Remedial Reading instructor.

Fossilize Your Footprints

colleen — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:15:36 +0000

Paleontologists, best known for studying dinosaurs, investigate prehistoric life by digging up and looking at fossils, or remains (like imprints or skeletons) that have turned into rock! With this exciting and surprisingly simple hands-on activity, your child can preserve imprints of his footprints, his toys, and even the family pet. All the while, he'll be learning about the geological process of forming fossils, the methods paleontologists use to find them, and scientific and historical importance of understanding creatures of the past. Mentioning dinosaurs a couple of times probably wouldn't hurt, either.

This valuable, fun-filled activity is sure to leave an impression!

Make Imprints in Playdough

What You Need:

Playdough

Large disposable tray

Living things, such as a leaf, flower, pet, and your child

Any other objects to imprint, such as toys

What You Do:

1. Recruit your child to help you fill the tray with playdough. Leave a couple of inches at the top so you can fill the tray the rest of the way with plaster later.

2. Encourage your child to press his hand into the dough to make an imprint. You can join him if you'd like! Talk about the consistency of the dough. Is it hard or soft? Does he think that this imprint would still be around many years from now if he left it here? What about an imprint in mud or sand?

3. Now, make imprints of other things! These can be leaves, flowers, shells, toys. Recruit the family dog or cat to make a few footprints as well! This works best with items that your child will still recognize when he sees the imprint.

4. If you'd like, you can start making plaster (see instructions below) while your child is making imprints. Your child can do as much or as little of this as he'd like. When he is satisfied with his imprint, it's time to preserve them in plaster. Follow the steps below to complete your homemade fossil.

Preserving the Imprints With Plaster

What You Need:

Playdough imprints in tray

Plastic milk jug or juice carton

Scissors

2 cups plaster of Paris Water

Rubber glove or large spoon

Small plastic toy animal

What You Do:

1. Cut the top off of the milk jug or juice container. Now you have a nice disposable container that you can mix the plaster in and throw away when you're done.

2. Put about 2 cups of plaster of Paris powder in the container. The plaster of Paris directions usually suggest one part water to two parts plaster (so 1 cup of water in this case), but start off with less water than you think you need.

3. Use your hand (with a rubber glove) or a large spoon to mix and smash big lumps.

4. Add more water, a little at a time, until a smooth paste is formed.

5. When it is ready to be poured over the playdough, the plaster will be the consistency of pancake batter or a milkshake.

6. Before pouring the plaster, use toy animals to act out a story about how fossils are sometimes formed:

Once upon a time, a long time ago, a turtle (or other animal) walked through the mud at the edge of a river. Sometimes footprints in the sand or mud get covered up by more sand or more mud. Suddenly a flood of water came down the river pushing lots of sand with it. The footprints made in the mud got covered up and, over a long time, became a rock. Because they turned into a rock, they lasted a long time and we can still see them. These are called fossils. Fossils are remains of plants or animals that lived a long time ago that have turned to rock.

7. While the children are watching, pour the plaster on top of the imprints in playdough. You can even incorporate this into your story!

8. Even though the plaster will harden within 30 minutes, let it sit for 24 hours before peeling the playdough from the hardened plaster. Otherwise, the playdough will stick to the plaster.

9. Wash tools and hands with water. Note: Do not pour any remaining plaster down the sink. Throw it into the trash.

The fun's not over! When you do finally remove the plaster from the playdough, try asking your child to identify the imprints or tell a story about how these things became fossilized. You can even bury his fossil in the yard or at the beach for him to dig up, just like a real paleontologist!

By Peggy Ashbrook

Play Syllable I Spy

colleen — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 18:15:37 +0000

At some point in your life, you’ve probably played the game “I Spy.” It’s perfect for boring waits at the grocery store, or long car rides. But with a little tweaking, the game can also help kids practice a key first grade concept…syllables. Here’s how to play:

What You Need:

* Hat

* Paper, ripped into small strips

What You Do:

1. Start the game with a little refresher. Tell your child that just as music can be divided into beats, words can be divided into syllables. Spend a few minutes talking about a few multi-syllable words, clapping at each syllable to show your child where the “breaks” are.

2. Let 'er rip! With your child’s help, tear a piece of paper into a bunch of small strips. On each piece of paper, write a number from 1-4. When you’re finished, throw them all into the hat.

3. Time to play! The first player picks a slip of paper from the hat. Just like in “I Spy,” he must come up with an object for the other player to guess. But in this version of the game, he must come up with an object with the number of syllables on the slip. For example, if he picked the number 2, he might choose “table” or “teaspoon” or “stapler.” With children this age, the number of syllables itself probably isn’t enough of a hint to keep the game from getting frustrating, so give clues that incorporate other hints as well, for example, “I spy something black with two syllables” or “I spy something you eat on that has two syllables.”

As your child gets the hang of it, don’t be afraid to throw a bit more challenge into the hat. Or, hat aside, just ask your child to think of a word with five syllables, or even six! He’ll look at your refrigerator in a whole new light.

by Kathy Meindl

Kathy has taught first grade, kindergarten, and fourth/fifth grade for 8 years in Tucson, AZ. She holds a Master's Degree in Educational Leadership.

http://www.education.com/activity/article/syllableispy_first/?cid=50.200

Parts of Speech in Rhyme Form

colleen — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 19:00:46 +0000

The Parts of Speech in Rhyme

A noun's the name of any thing,

As school, or garden, hoop, or swing.

Adjectives tell the kind of noun,

As great, small, pretty, white, or brown.

Instead of nouns, the pronouns stand–

Her head, his face, your arm, my hand.

Verbs tell of something to be done–

To read, count, sing, laugh, jump, or run.

How things are done, the adverbs tell,

As slowly, quickly, ill or well.

Conjunctions join the words together —

As men and women, wind or weather.

The preposition stands before
A noun, as in, or through a door.

The interjection shows surprise,

As oh! how pretty — ah! how wise.

The whole are called the parts of speech,

Which reading, writing, speaking, teach.

BY Alfred J. Lawrence, Michigan – submitted by Toni Cosgrove of Notebooking Forum on Yahoo.

Multiplication Math War

colleen — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:17:34 +0000

Play this fun card game with your child and before long those annoying multiplication facts will be part of her mathematical skill set. Besides strengthening multiplication skills, this game also provides practice in comparing numbers.

What You Need:

Deck of cards
A kitchen timer

What You Do:

Shuffle the deck of cards and deal them face down, giving each player an equal number of cards until the deck runs out. Each player keeps his cards in a stack. Assign picture cards, such as jacks, queens, and kings, a value of 10. Give aces a value of either 11 or 1.
Demonstrate to your child how to play the game: Each player turns two cards face up, reads the number sentence and supplies the answer. For example, if your child draws a 5 and a 4, he says 5 x 4 = 20. If you draw a 7 and an 8, then your number sentence is 7 x 8 = 56. Because your product is larger, you win the four cards and you put them at the bottom of your pile.
If each of you has a number sentence with the same product, then it's war! Each player puts four cards face down and turns up two of them. The player with the largest product wins the eight cards.
Set up the timer and play the game for 10 to 15 minutes. When the bell goes off, each player counts his cards. The player with the most cards wins. If one player runs out of cards before time is up, then the other player wins.
Say no to boring "drill and kill". Get your game on! Multiplication Math War is an enjoyable way to spend time with your child while strengthening his math skills.

Sally is an experienced educator, with over 14 years of teaching experience. Over the last ten years she has created educational materials, including ancillary, textbook, and test items, for Grades K-8 for major educational publishers.

Activities – Book Through the Summer

colleen — Tue, 18 May 2010 21:00:37 +0000

Summer is a wonderful time for kids. Not only do they get a well-deserved break from their busy school schedule, but they get time to reflect, grow, and experience. Whether your child will be attending camp, staying home, or going to visit family or friends, it's bound to be memorable! To keep those memories alive forever, help him create a summer book that encourages writing practice over his three-month break.

Writing Process Review:

Brainstorming: Includes thinking, taking notes, talking to others, outlining, and gathering information.
Pre-Writing: Putting your ideas into an outline or using a graphic organizer.
Draft: The meat of the writing, in which you include the ideas and thoughts from brainstorming and pre-writing.
Editing: The re-reading of the story. Does it make sense? Are all of the details included? Is the grammar, punctuation, and format all correct?
Revising: Correcting, changing, or adding to your writing from the edit stage.
Final Copy: Writing the whole story with edits and revisions complete.

What You Need:

Rough draft paper (lots of it)
Final draft paper
Construction paper or card paper for book cover and back
Pencils
Illustration tools (they choose)
Dictionary/Thesaurus

What You Do:

Help your child pick out a quiet spot to focus on his writing. He may already have a place designated to do homework, but as it's summer, how about sitting outside under a tree?
Encourage him to brainstorm a topic he's excited about. He may choose a subject or setting that he's experiencing quite a bit this summer. Is he spending time at the beach? Summer school? Focusing on learning a musical instrument? Once he has a topic picked out, sit with him and discuss his ideas and thoughts. Be enthusiastic about his choice and encourage him to get as many ideas down on paper as possible. This is brainstorming! He can organize them later.
From this point, your child can start outlining his story and deciding what he wants to include. What happened first, next, and last? Where, and when, did the events occur? This is the pre-writing stage, so he can jot down ideas in the form of notes, or even sketches.
Next, have him write his story. Encourage him to include as much detail, description, and personal touches as possible.
When he's completed his first draft, have him read it to you. You should ask questions about the story, such as, “What happened at the lake when Joe Doe fell in the duck pond?” "Why did Jason act that way?" Encourage him to reflect on what went on behind the scenes.
Using the dictionary, thesaurus, and a good listener for grammatical structure (indent paragraphs, use of capitals, punctuation, parts of speech, and spell correctly), have your child edit this story for the final draft.
Next, have your child apply his corrections and revisions to the final draft, making it ready for publication!
Upon completion, invite your child to include some illustrations, making drawings to go with the writing or using photographs they took that go with the story. The more original and creative, the better!
Once bound, share with friends, family, and classmates upon returning for a new school year. Your child's summer book will be a great ice-breaker for making new friends and having something to talk about with old ones, too!

submitted by by Alicia Danyali
Alicia Danyali, BS Elementary Education, taught primary-level students for four years at the International School of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The last four years of her teaching career, she taught at the Washington International School in Washington, D.C. She recently completed writing a series of children's picture books and is a mother of one young son.

http://www.education.com/activity/article/Summer_Book_fifth/

Play Word Bags to Learn Parts of Speech

colleen — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:00:26 +0000

Parts of speech can be a difficult and dreary concept for many kids, but you can quickly turn that feeling around by creating this fun, easy, learning game your child will enjoy playing!

What You Need:

Eight brown paper lunch bags
A stack of index cards
Pen or pencil

What You Do:

Step 1
Go over the eight most common parts of speech with your child:

Noun—a naming word. It names a person, place, thing, idea, living creature, quality, or action. Examples: cowboy, theater, box, thought, tree, kindness, arrival
Verb—describes an action (doing something) or a state (being something). Examples: walk, talk, think, believe, live, like, want
Adjective— describes a noun. It tells you something about the noun. Examples: big, yellow, thin, amazing, beautiful, quick, important
Adverb—usually describes a verb. It tells you how something is done. It may also tell you when or where something happened. Examples: slowly, intelligently, well, yesterday, tomorrow, here, everywhere
Pronoun—used instead of a noun, to avoid repeating the noun. Examples: I, you, he, she, it, we, they
Preposition—usually comes before a noun, pronoun or noun phrase. It joins the noun to some other part of the sentence. Examples: on, in, by, with, under, through, at
Conjunction—joins two words, phrases or sentences together. Examples: but, so, and, because, or
Interjection–an unusual kind of word, because it often stands alone. Interjections are words which express emotion or surprise, and they are usually followed by exclamation marks. Examples: Ouch!, Hello!, Hurray!, Oh no!, Ha!

Step 2
Prepare for the game by labeling each of the eight brown bags a different part of speech. Then, on index cards, have your child help you think of and write down 10-20 words, any words will do, for each category. Write only one word on each index card.

Step 3
Place the appropriate card in each bag that fits its part of speech.

Step 4
Pick out one word from each bag and use those words to build a long sentence. Each word used correctly in context wins a point for the player; you play until all cards are used up, or until one player manages to use every single part of speech in one sentence. The first person who can use all the parts of speech wins immediately; otherwise, victory goes to the highest point-getter. Note: you may need to conjugate the verb tense and/or include articles, such as, “a”, “the”, “an” to make the sentence complete. Is this proving a little tough? Modify the game for your child by omitting some of the parts of speech at first, such as interjection, conjunction and/or pronoun. As your child gains mastery over this concept, slowly introduce the other parts of speech into the game.

Step 5
After you've built a few sentences, reverse the game! Dump all the words onto the table, scramble them up, and correctly replace each word back into its corresponding parts of speech bag.

http://www.education.com/activity/article/play_word_bags_third/

Activities – Embark on a Leprechaun Treasure Hunt!

colleen — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:00:08 +0000

First graders love magic, especially if it comes on a holiday and even more if it's connected to “treasure.” So it's not surprising that leprechaun lore is a big hit in March, when St. Patrick's Day rolls around. This hunt for leprechaun gold is so much fun, kids won’t even realize they’re working their reading muscles at the same time. Invite a friend or two, or get help from a couple of siblings who like a sweet adventure.

What You Need:

A “treasure” (gold chocolate coins are a classic favorite, but you can also use a small toy, dried fruit, or some other surprise)
Several Sheets of yellow or goldenrod card stock or construction paper
A pack of round gold “medallion” stickers, at least 1-1/2” in diameter
A black sharpie marker
Scissors (creative edging ones are a special plus)

What You Do:

Hide your treasure. Remember, this is leprechaun work, so have fun. Did the tricksters hide the treasure outside, in a tree? Did they creep inside, perhaps under a pillow or bed? Did they leave sparkles in their wake, or turn the toilet water green? You decide.
Make “leprechaun gold” clues. Let's say that the treasure is “Under the living room couch.” To write this message, mark a 2” circle for each letter in the phrase and add one extra circle for each space between words– 27 circles in all, in this case. Cut them out, and lay them in a long row on a flat surface. Now use your sharpie to write one letter on each circle, leaving a plain blank circle between each new word. Leave your circles in this order, but turn each one over so that it's front is blank. Stick a medallion sticker on each circle, and then number each one from left to right. In this case, you'll go from 1-27.
Hide the clues. Leprechauns are known for leaving clever clues in a rather fun, careless way. So spread the clues all over, making sure that they're not so carefully hidden that nobody will find them!
Send your child hunting! Show your child one example of the leprechaun “gold,” and explain that you've heard that there are at least 26 more pieces out there. Tell your child that you have it on good authority (who knows from where?) that if all these pieces can be found, there's a special message to read.
Decode the message. When all the “gold” has been found, take a look with your child at what’s been collected. Letters on one side; numbers on the other! Hmm! Start by having your child line up all the numbers in order, in one long line. Then suggest turning each gold piece over to find the letter underneath. Challenge your child to sound out the message with you, and be prepared to step in and help if a word seems hard.

Make sure you’re prepared for the grand finale: a mad dash to the big treasure and a lot of happy laughs!

by Julie Williams

http://www.education.com/activity/article/goldhunt_first/

Activities – Make a Monster Green Milkshake

colleen — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:33:29 +0000

For some good “green” fun, pull out your blender. A spinach milkshake?! You better believe it! And kids will not only slurp it up, they’ll beg for seconds. Check out the recipe below:

Yes, it’s bright green, like the mint chocolate chip and pistachio ice creams that kids love so much. This is a great way to celebrate summer or just have fun anytime! The key is to start with a really good tasting vanilla frozen yogurt or light ice cream; the vanilla extract will help its flavor shine through. Each tablespoon of Green Juice is the equivalent of eating about 1/4 cup of spinach, so you can feel great about serving this delicious treat.

Makes 2 servings

What You Need:

2 cups vanilla low-fat ice cream or frozen yogurt
4 to 6 tablespoons Green Juice (see recipe below)
1/4 cup low fat milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

What to Do:

Start with the lesser amount of juice called for, and work up to more over time.
Blend all ingredients together in a blender until smooth.
Serve in tall glasses with a quick squirt of whipped cream and a straw.

Nutrition Highlights: Calcium and vegetables Rich in vitamins A, C, and K, manganese, folate, iron, calcium, and protein

Make-Ahead Recipe: Green Juice

This makes about 1 cup of Green juice. Double the recipe if you want to store another cup of juice.

What You Need:

3 cups raw baby spinach leaves (or 2 cups frozen chopped spinach, or frozen chopped collard greens)
1 cup water If using raw spinach, thoroughly wash it, even if the package says “ pre-washed.”

What to Do:

Bring spinach or collards and water to boil in a medium pot.
Turn heat to low and allow to simmer for 10 minutes.
Pour into a fine mesh strainer over a container or bowl, pressing the green “pulp” with the back of a spoon until all the liquid is released.
You can store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or freeze 1/4 cup portions in sealed plastic bags or small plastic containers.

http://www.education.com/activity/article/monster-green-milkshake/

by Missy Chase Lapine

Enhanced Learning Skills for Kids » Learning Activities

Step Inside the Story!

What You Need:

What to Do:

Related Posts:

Build a Balloon Powered Car

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Fossilize Your Footprints

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Play Syllable I Spy

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Parts of Speech in Rhyme Form

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Multiplication Math War

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What You Do:

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Activities – Book Through the Summer

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What You Do:

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Play Word Bags to Learn Parts of Speech

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Activities – Embark on a Leprechaun Treasure Hunt!

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Activities – Make a Monster Green Milkshake

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