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Age 4-6 Reading - Always Learning

Make a Fort - Fort making kits

October 28th 2011 04:16
Forts are FUN.

Forts can also be an inexpensive gift that encourages imaginative play. You do not even have to wait for a special occasion to present this amazing indoor gift, but it does make a wonderful present to bring along to one of the seemingly hundreds of birthday parties your children are invited to over the years.

Pack one for your own children to take along on overnight trips to grandparents, both your child and parents will thank you. If you have the room and temperament, a more permanent solution is described below.


FORT MAKING KITS
What is it?
What do you need?

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A is for Always

April 2nd 2011 12:52
For 26 days in April (minus Sundays) I will be posting a blog for each letter of the alphabet.
"Sylvie's word of the day"
I am all for challenges, so when this was dangled in front of me in my writers group, I grabbed it.

Hundreds of people signed up, literally 1037 people. Go ahead, Sign up here, if you dare.

This mini adventure is fairly mundane, but with 1000 bloggers jumping in, stalking each other, chatting away everyday, something good is bound to happen.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Always is my word of the day, in honor of ALWAYS learning. Life is too ....oh wait, I'll just quote Henry Miller, he said it best.....


"develop interest in life as you see it; in people, things, literature, music, the world is simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself." ~Henry Miller

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Creative Ideas for Struggling Beginning Writers

August 30th 2010 02:18
Stepping into my first creative beginning writing class of the year was an eye opener. I quickly realized only two of the 12 students could write more than their own names.

A few quick revisions to my plans and we ended up having a fantastic year together. They progressed in both their story telling and writing skills by year end...thankfully. That class was a challenge...high energy, high creativity, high drama, little writing, yet lots of learning.

Creative Writing Lesson PlansStory Starters

Throughout the lesson time, I emphasize the elements of a story, beginning, middle, end and the elements, setting, characters and plot. By years end they were all fluent in those terms. Repetition is key!
Another beginning of the year activity, was to bring out a wide variety of magazines and let the kids tear out interesting settings and character possibilities. We set these in two big piles on the main table. Towards the end of the class, and in order to get help quickly cleaning up, I'd let the cleanest table go first picking out a setting and a character to tell an impromptu story.

a couple of reliable sources for interesting magazines...

* library book sales

* ask your neighbors, I discovered a retired couple down the street had been singlehandly keeping publishers clearing house in the money all these years. They had such a wide variety..which is also why many of my posted ideas include the sentence...bring out a variety of magazines....

* set a box out at school, church, your parents church...with a sign requesting magazines. This works well and also tends to bring out the surprising and obscure.magazines.

Throughout the lesson time, I emphasize the elements of a story, beginning, middle, end and the elements, setting, characters and plot. By years end they were all fluent in those terms. Repetition is key!

creative writing, beginning writing, elementary writing

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Winnie the Pooh Math Fun

July 26th 2010 04:03
Winnie the Pooh Bear is a well-loved children's classic storybook character.

Use this sweet, honey-obsessed bear to gain your preschooler's attention when introducing math facts. Relate cooking, time, counting and sorting to Winnie the Pooh and his antics from his stories.
Winnie the Pooh Bear
Winnie the Pooh

Originally developed by A.A. Milne in 1924, Winnie the Pooh has been featured in animated television shows, movies, games and nursery decorations, along with the book series.

Try Cooking with Winnie the Pooh Bear

Math is more than just numbers on a piece of paper. Cook a Winnie the Pooh Bear snack and incorporate math skills into a fun treat that preschoolers can make. Mix up a batch of sugar cookies using a recipe from any cookbook. Have the preschooler help measure the ingredients. Once the dough is done, roll it out and use Winnie the Pooh cookie cutters to make special cookies. You can find themed cookie cutters online or in craft stores.

A no-cook version is Pooh Bear Honey Butter spread on graham crackers. Have the preschooler measure equal amounts of honey and soft butter into a bowl. Let them mix the two items together and then spread it on graham crackers. Incorporate math concepts into this activity by showing how the graham cracker can be divided in half or into four equal sections. They can also count out how many snacks they will need to make for the family or group.

Tell Time with Winnie the Pooh Bear

Consider purchasing one of the products on the market that feature telling time with Winnie the Pooh. "Tell Time with Winnie the Pooh Bear" has a clock built right into the storybook. Preschoolers can learn to tell time by moving the clock hands to the right position for each time referenced in the storybook's text.

Winnie the Pooh's Telling Time Sticker book includes full-color reusable stickers for preschoolers to use when learning how to tell time and discover shapes and colors.

Winnie the Pooh Preschool Game

Winnie the Pooh Preschool is a computer game designed for young children. In going through all the steps involved in throwing a birthday party for Christopher Robin, they will learn sequencing, number recognition and counting skills. All the activities are incorporated into the story line. Preschoolers can learn math concepts on their own with this game.

Get all the links for the above products here
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Caps For Sale

February 25th 2010 17:42
Caps For Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina is such a wonderful and timeless tale which I can recall reading when I was a young child. I have passed on this fun tale to my daughter however we have purchased the updated book and CD version which also includes some fun tunes to go along with the story.

To get into a monkey mood we are going to bake some banana bread cookies and read some other monkey stories including Five Little Monkeys Sitting On A Bed and Curious George.

And as my daughter loves hat we are going to decorate a paper bag to turn it into a gorgeous paper hat creation.

If you are after some more ideas, check out these links:

Hubbards Cupboard
Teaching Heart
Teachers.Net

For those with very young children, I must confess that my favourite Monkey book has to be the gorgeous Usborne title - That's Not My Monkey.

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Posted By: Michelle Sweeney - Category: Age 3-4, Age 4-6, Books, Craft, Reading
   


Play With Me

January 25th 2010 18:34
Following on from our animal theme we have been reading the charming book, Play With Me written by Marie Hall Ets. It features a little girl who ventures outside to play with the wild animals only to discover that at first they are too frightened to go near her. The text and pictures are charming in this book and is one of my daughter's favourites.

Homeschool Share provided us with some book related suggestions, the favourite one of my daughter being the Guess Who Animal game


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Animal Classification Cards

January 5th 2010 03:27
My daughter and I had an enjoyable afternoon reading some animal classification cards - some which I discovered on the internet (see previous post) and others which I created along the same vein. She enjoyed animal spotting in her books and then locating the cards with a random fact that was placed on the bottom.

Fun yes - educational - double yes. Win win for sure


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Katy No Pocket

December 26th 2009 19:37
We are going to have some fun with Katy No Pocket over the next week or so. Katy is a kangaroo, born without a pocket and is struggling to carry her baby like all the other animals in the countryside. Katy, desperate for a pocket, goes to the city in search of one and meets up with a kindly construction worker who helps her out.


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Coraline

November 20th 2009 01:26
My daughter loves the animated movie Coraline so loudly announced that it is Coraline week in our house giving me about five minutes notice to organise some activities for us to do.

Thankfully Coraline.com came to our aid and we were able to button eye images of both myself and my daughter as well as create online button flowers. There was also a fun print image in which the circus mice could also spell out my daughter's name


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Easy Cranberry Squares

November 12th 2009 18:54
Taken from the fun story, Cranberry Autumn, my daughter and I decided to bake this easy Cranberry Square recipe this afternoon as follows:

Cranberry Squares


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Arthur on Speakaboos

November 1st 2009 02:42
For those looking to find some fun tales for children to listen to should stop by and visit Speakaboos. They have added a good selection of Arthur tales read by an interesting mix of celebrities including Tom Arnold, Kevin Bacon, Kelly Ripa and Clay Aiken. The stories include Arthur's New Baby, Arthur's New Puppy, Arthur's Chicken Pox and Arthur's Computer Disaster,

You can choose to watch them for free online, buy an individual track for 0.99 or purchase an entire album for 8.99


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The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

October 19th 2009 00:30
Once upon a time there was a little old lady who was not afraid of anything until one windy autumn night, while walking in the woods, she hears CLOMP CLOMP.

This is such a fun tale and suitable for scary retellings around Halloween


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Halloween Lesson Plans

October 1st 2009 13:50
October already and that means only one thing for children (particularly in North America) - Halloween. This is a fun time for children to let their imagination run wild and it is great to incorporate monsters, goblins, ghouls and witches into the curriculum to inspire their creativity and imagination.

For history buffs it is interesting to go over the facts behind the tradition and if you are unfamiliar with the history then drop over to TIme For Kids to give you the lowdown


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Don't Discount Second Hand Stores

September 18th 2009 17:35
Investigating a new area to live, I started checking out all the stores - second hand stores included and noticed what bargains they had to offer particularly in the way of kids educational computer games and books. We managed to make some great savings and many of the books and cds were priced at $2 or less!

The Little Bear Preschool Thinking Adventure normally sells for between $10 and $15 and we picked it up for $1. A definite bargain


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