Virtual Field Trip

Ever wanted to take your kids some place far away but couldn't afford the plane tickets. How about a trip to Ellis Island? To the White House? Try looking for a virtual tour. Virtual tours are becoming more popular and easier to find on-line. What a GREAT way to help your kids see places you can't fly them too to experience first hand. I have used the White House Virtual Tour and have used it in my classroom before. The kids really relate to it a lot more than pictures in a book. The Virtual Field Trip to Ellis Island is brand new!

English

Isn't English just one of the most confusing languages around. Some letters make 2 sounds depending on which other letter is sitting next to it, vowels say 2 sometimes 3 sounds, e's do different things to different letters and words. And that's just phonics. Then there's the grammar. Instead of saying "Yesterday she sayed" we say "Yesterday she said." Instead of "We goed to gramdma's house" we say "We went to Grandma's house."

Does better handwriting mean higher scores in school?

I happened to stumble upon an article on CNN called "Connecting the dots between handwriting and hight scores." The article states the Dr. Laura Dinehart discovered that a child's ability for form letters when they are 4 was a strong indicator of their academic achievement later in life. She stated that those with better penmanship had higher reading and math scores.

Animal Alphabet Book

The other day the kids and I were just playing around and reading books. I got the idea to have them write their own animal alphabet book. We have taken each letter and come up with an animal that begins with that letter. It has been so much fun. My kids look forward to doing a little bit each day.

Sqool Tube

Tonight at the dinner table my so was telling us about bats and how they find bugs by making a noise. We said that was a really neat thing. My husband then asked if he wanted to learn something else about bats. My son said yes. My husband then told him that bat's can't see. This started an argument between my son and husband. In an effort to settle the argument I wanted to find the Magic School episode on Bats, with no luck. Netflix doesn't have them. The only place I have seen them is on Youtube. I did however stumble upon this really neat site that offers videos on just about any subject.

Germs and Hygeine

 After some deep cleaning to rid my house of the germs that are floating around I decided it was time to teach my kids more about hygiene and how to keep healthy. I found this wonderful game that teaches about germs and the importance of hygiene.

Alphabet

I just found a neat game for kids called Alphabet Marks the Spot. It's like twister, with a twist. It's an alphabet mat. The goal of the game is to run to the beginning letter of the picture on the dice before your opponent.