Read + Write + Report
Home | Start a blog | About Orble | FAQ | Blogs | Writers | Paid | My Orble | Login

Age 6-8 Computer Based Reading - Always Learning

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

28
Vote
Comments (1)Comments (1) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
   


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!

We found a lot of Scholastic and Disney titles and there were purchases that kept both my daughter and I very happy.

Stores like Value Village (Canada) also have a 50% off day so it is worth popping in just to see what they may have in stock. Cheap is good but cheaper is better!

43
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
   


Speakaboos

June 2nd 2009 02:38
The Speakaboo website served a great purpose this week as it gave us an online version of The Ugly Duckling to read and view as well as a follow on activity, but the site itself holds an interesting premise.

Coming soon, as the site announces, is a record your own story section which will allow kids and parents to record their own voices reading (or singing!) their favorite story, song, or nursery rhyme. Anything that aids in the improvement and creation of kids wanting to read or listen to stories is a great idea.
54
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
   


Ugly Duckling Week

May 31st 2009 07:02
This may sound like some poor joke but it is the book to which my daughter has chosen to base all of her crafts and activities this week. Again being a popular story like The Three Liltte Pigs, there is no shortage for either crafts or activities we can do together.

We have various Ugly Duckling and Swan pictures to cut out and glue together, although my favourite is this 3D duck. We are unable to source the plastic eggs although are going to amend it slightly by using small paper cups which should do the trick just nicely!

Paper plate crafts are so easy to create, especially for the little ones, so we are going to do this fun duck paper plate craft with handprint tail. For variety on a similar theme, Dannielle's Place also features a similar paper plate craft.

These cotton ball ducks are just adorable and the ducks in a pond craft from Crayola includes both painting and gluing.

We are going to try our hand at origami - the swan for beginners - is a great place to start and the black and white sock craft is a great way to show the transition from ugly duckling to beautiful swan.

There are a myriad of duck pictures to colour in and the Scholastic site features a printout whereby the children can create their own animal tale.
58
Vote
Comments (2)Comments (2) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
   


Send In The Clowns

May 24th 2009 02:59
Admittedly I am not a fan of clowns, preferring to see them at children's parties rather than adorned all over my wall. So the inclusion of Clown Week into our schedule took me a little by surprise to say the least.

Loonette and Molly from the Canadian Series, The Big Comfy Couch, are a particular favourite in our house so at least I had a starting point on which to base our activities. And in particular I love the concept of a 10-second tidy which we are going to incorporate with a clown based cleaning chart.

Craft wise - cardboard megaphones, bow ties and clown hats will be a feature and face painting and juggling will no doubt be a daily occurrence this week.

Focussing on expressions and feelings this week, this blank faced clown drawing is a great place to start as well as the easy paint activity of just drawing simple faces onto paper plates.

First School again came to our aid with numerous clown pictures, simple clown crafts and a number of easy clown related jigsaw puzzles. And we found a number of sites which provided us with counting, addition and pattern activities to build on our number skills.

The Dr Seuss story, If I Ran The Circus, will be introduced this week and the online children's library comes to our aid with The CIrcus Procession and The First Circus. For the younger readers, Cbeebies features an easy story for children entitled Where's My Hat? and a song entitled The Funniest Clown.



58
Vote
Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
   


BBC Stories

May 14th 2009 00:50
CBeebies, the children's BBC website, has a great range of stories to watch and read along with and will easily inspire your children.

Currently my daughter's favourite, she enjoys listening to the stories and selecting her own depending on her mood. The stories are excerpts from the children's programs featured on the BBC channel such as The Tweenies, The Story Makers and Charlie and Lola


[ Click here to read more ]
51
Vote
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
   


The Three Little Pigs

May 12th 2009 04:39
From one classic fairytale to another, this week's activities surround the ever popular children's tale, The Three Little Pigs.

Being such a popular story, it seems that there is no shortage for inspiration on the web covering all kinds of activities, colouring pages and ideas to complement the story


[ Click here to read more ]
63
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (4)Comments (4) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
   


Jack And The Beanstalk

May 3rd 2009 10:22
My daughter was very excited that today marked the first day of Giant Week aka Jack And The Beanstalk Week. Having changed her mind at the last minute from her original choice of The Ugly Duckling, she had me do some last minute website searching in order to come up with some creative ideas.

Thankfully the BBC had an online adapted story about Jack and The Beanstalk which she enjoyed watching which led us into a discussion about Real or Make Believe. Tina's fun little online game came to our aid just to refamiliarise her with our discussion


[ Click here to read more ]
62
Vote
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
   


The Golden Egg Book

April 24th 2009 09:21
Whilst we may be a little late for Easter, next week's topic is "bunny week" as my daughter now constantly refers. We are basing our activities on or around The Golden Egg Book originally published in 1947, written by Margaret Wise Brown.

The story tells of a little bunny who stumbles upon an egg. The bunny becomes curious as he can hear something moving inside the egg. His imagination runs wild and the impatient bunny tries to shake, push, and even jump on the egg in his attempts to break it. But all his efforts go in vain as the stubborn egg refuses to budge. The mystery unravels when the egg begins to hatch and much to the bunny's surprise, a little duck comes out. The bunny and the duck then become friends


[ Click here to read more ]
64
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (2)Comments (2) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
   


Free Online Children's Books

April 13th 2009 02:26
As an expat abroad, I am always searching for new stories to share with my daughter.

The Children's Library is a non-profit organisation offering a wide variety of free paper books to be read online including stories such as Axle The Freeway Cat, Blinky Bill, Cinderella and Mother Goose


[ Click here to read more ]
64
Vote
Read MoreRead More Comments (2)Comments (2) Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
   


Word Search Creator

March 3rd 2009 02:09
I used to love word searches as a child and use them often in my ESL teaching classroom but they are also a great activity for the children at home during work time or play time.

For a free and easy to use word search creator, I recommend the one at Design Your Home School. It really doesn't get any simpler than this.
[ Click here to read more ]
66
Vote
Read MoreRead More Add CommentsAdd Comments
[ Link ]
   




[ Always Learning Home ] [ Create A New Post ]

Sylvie Branch's Blogs

8130 Vote(s)
31 Comment(s)
102 Post(s)
4262 Vote(s)
8 Comment(s)
60 Post(s)
Moderated by Sylvie Branch
Copyright © 2012 On Topic Media PTY LTD. All Rights Reserved. Design by Vimu.com.
On Topic Media ZPages: Sydney |  Melbourne |  Brisbane |  London |  Birmingham |  Leeds     [ Advertise ] [ Contact Us ] [ Privacy Policy ]