mom sectionmom section
To aid your child’s math understanding and retention, you can incorporate lessons about numbers into real life situations. This strategy will show him how math concepts have real applications. According to an article published by the National Association of Elementary School Principles, a hands-on approach such as this helps elementary students understand basic ideas, gain a greater depth of understanding, become more willing to participate and ask questions better than conventional instructional methods.
Inferring requires students to construct the meaning of a book beyond what is literally stated in it. Students have to use the text in the book and personal knowledge to draw the inference. While many teachers, according to a report published by the University of Rhode Island in April 2007, find it difficult to teach the concept of inferences especially to young children, using clues and fun activities may facilitate the learning. Choose a book that is easy to read, understand and infer. “Number the Stars” is a fictional work written by award-winning author Lois Lowry. It is used among…
As a parent, teaching your children penance and reconciliation helps them to understand sin and forgiveness, and deepens their relationships with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. As your child ages, he will have a greater understanding of the concepts of penance, and so the activities you use to help teach them will evolve.
Elementary school education is designed to help children learn how to learn. During those formative years, they'll learn the basic math, language, science and interpersonal skills that will equip them for lifelong learning. These fundamentals can be approached in many ways, usually combining a degree of rote memorization with instruction in the underlying principles. It's easier for kids to retain information if it's presented in an enjoyable way, so experienced teachers often rely on activities and games to help children master concepts such as spelling rules.
Adjectives describe nouns, and adjective agreement refers to the appropriateness of the adjective that is used based on the quantity or gender of the noun being described. Adjective agreement is a grammar concept that applies to the English language as well as to foreign languages, such as Spanish and French, which both rely on noun genders to determine the appropriate adjective agreement. Teaching adjective agreement can be more effective with activities that stimulate and engage students.
While some children naturally process information, others lack processing skills, needing guidance from parents and educators. Students with sensory processing disorder have difficulties using their senses to process information and need further intervention to strengthen their processing skills. By promoting the four thinking skills -- focusing, information gathering, remembering and organizing -- teachers give students the necessary tools for information processing. Activities based on these skills should engage children in the learning process.
Teaching the instrumental portions of language, including writing, reading and research, is a way of instructing students on how published works are created. One element of research and writing is a bibliography, which is used to list the sources utilized for fact-finding. Both the creation and formation of a bibliography are rooted in standardized methods, which are best taught through practice, explanation and activities geared toward explaining the reasons behind the need of a bibliography.
Civics classes teach students about the importance of citizen involvement in government and encourage them to understand and advocate for their constitutional rights. These lessons can encourage community involvement, voting and service when children become adults. Civics also helps students to understand and critically assess the things they read and see on television. Because civics plays such an important role in daily life, civics lessons should be engaging and easily understandable for elementary schoolers.
Recognizing shapes is an important math skill that kindergartners will use as they reach successive grades. Many children at this age know basic shapes, but class work that introduces other shapes reinforces the topic and prepares kindergartners for geometry, algebra and trigonometry in later grades. Making the learning process fun allows students to learn the material without getting bored or frustrated.
The English language uses 26 letters to create 44 different sounds. To help children learn how to read, teachers not only should teach the letters of the alphabet, but also the various sounds that people can create with the alphabet. Even more confusing, certain letters don't produce the same sounds when put next to different words. Children can become frustrated when they realize that the English language has many rules that constantly change. Fortunately, fun activities can help kids memorize sound and alphabet rules.
Understanding logical inference can make the difference between comprehending and misunderstanding text. Students must infer cause and effect, main ideas, problems and solutions, comparisons and contrasts and visual cues to be effective readers. When you conduct inference activities in your reading class, students learn interpretive understanding — even when facts are not presented in text, they recognize what makes sense. This skill carries over to subject areas such as social studies, math and science.
When used properly, supportive co-teaching can increase student comprehension, foster classroom community, and heighten academic performance. When used improperly, professional expertise can go untapped or students can feel stigmatized. The activities that you and your co-teacher choose to engage in to create your supportive co-teaching environment will determine the direction that your classroom takes.
Students often make errors involving dangling participles, and these types of errors can be difficult for young writers to recognize. A dangling participle occurs when the participle modifies the wrong word -- a situation that can lead to misunderstandings that are sometimes silly. Fortunately, the silliness created by many sentences with dangling participles makes teaching these common mistakes easy. Introducing some fun into your lesson can help students remember where to put their participle and can make these misplaced modifiers a thing of the past.
An important, character-building skill that all people should acquire is the ability to accept constructive criticism, which is judgment or assessment of a person's performance or personality that intends to build upon or improve that person or their work. You can practice both delivering and accepting constructive criticism by conducting one of several activities.
Story elements cover a broad range of literary detail. At the sixth grade level, students must understand basic elements including major characters, minor characters, setting, conflict and major plot events. Students should also start looking at more complex elements, such as theme, and should learn how individual elements play key roles in the story.
The quatrain is a stanza of poetry that contains four lines and typically follows one of four end rhyme patterns. Many poems make use of the quatrain, so understanding the quatrain is an important step for students first learning poetry. Build a basic understanding of the quatrain using simple reading activities before moving onto writing activities and more advanced reading activities.
Electron configuration refers to the arrangement of electrons in orbit around the nucleus of the atom. The interaction between the various "rings" of electrons, the nucleus and the rings of electrons around neighboring atoms determines the behaviors of chemicals studied by chemists. Their are various models for explaining how electrons are arranged around the nucleus, but at the high school level it's best to stick to the Bohr model, which can be explained fairly simply using of concentric rings that want a full compliment of electrons. Students of an age where learning is done through activities will also likely stick…
Rereading is an important skill for young readers to develop. In addition to improving reading ability, it improves students’ ability to remember details, recognize words, and helps to building confidence in reading skill. Teachers can help develop students' rereading strategies through a variety of activities that will enhance both understanding and enjoyment of the text.
Today's libraries are much different than those from decades ago, offering digital media and Internet access in addition to the tradition print materials. Many students still rely on libraries to provide credible sources and a quiet place to learn. There are a number of activities that teachers can use to promote a lifetime of positive library skills and study habits among students.
“Sebastian Lives in a Hat” is a children’s picture book written by Thelma Catterwell and illustrated by Kerry Argent. The book relates the story of a baby wombat that is found on the roadside next to his mother’s body. The narrator nurses the baby wombat back to health and cares for him until he is ready to return to the wild. The story is thematically rich, making it a useful text to teach in the preschool or early elementary classroom.
Teaching children about diversity at an early age can help make them more tolerant of the differences among people that they'll invariably come across as they grow. Lessons about diversity also encourage children to become more observant. Glass stones are inexpensive and available in a wide variety of colors. Therefore, they are an ideal prop to help children recognize that everyone is unique.
Gravity is an essential force in the universe, responsible for holding the solar system together and keeping people's feet firmly on the ground. Gravity is also the weakest force, far weaker than electromagnetic pull or the force holding the nuclei of atoms together. A series of fun interactive activities can demonstrate the force of gravity to children.
Prepositional phrases are phrases that begin with a preposition and end with a noun, and there is often an adjective or other modifier in front of the noun to describe it. Prepositions include words such as “in,” “at,” “from” and “with.” Prepositional phrases function as an adjective or adverb. When they act as adjectives, the prepositional phrases answer the question “which one?” When they act as adverbs, the prepositional phrases answer the questions “how,” “when” or “where”? Students must learn about prepositional phrases, and doing activities may help drive the lessons home.
Learning how to make effective decisions is an important concept in life. Many people struggle to make decisions or make poor decisions they end up regretting. Activities done in the school setting can help teach your children the importance of making positive decisions and also how to bounce back from a poor decision. Games and role plays are a way to help children learn without experiencing negative consequences.
Point of view refers to the way a person sees and understands an object, incident or the world around him in general. Realizing that people have different points of view and respecting those perspectives is a precondition for successful relationships. Teachers can help young students understand the concept and build better relationships with their friends and family through a series of classroom activities.
Classroom activities and entertaining reading passages help engage your students in the learning process and develop their reading comprehension abilities. Reading comprehension is a skill including specific techniques that enable readers to fully understand texts. Design classroom activities and select the right reading materials to help your students develop into effective readers.
Parallel and intersecting lines are all around you, on city streets, road maps and even in your home. You may recall learning about them in the fifth and sixth grades. As you learned then, there is much more to these seemingly simple mathematical concepts than you first thought. If you are a math teacher or are simply helping your child grasp these ideas, you should try some activities to make them easier to understand.
Proper pronunciation of words is the key to being able to accurately articulate. People learning to read or learning a new language have to focus on how each word is pronounced to understand what they are reading and allow others to understand what they are saying. While proper pronunciation of new words can be a challenge at first, there are creative ways to teach pronunciation that will help students learn and have fun.
Students can choose from a number of interesting activities to better understand the somewhat complicated phenomenon of tectonic plates and their movement. Activities that show how the Earth’s interior is constructed can be important tools to introduce the subject of tectonic plates to students. Students can become involved in various activities suitable to all age groups.
The activate stage of teaching is the third step of the "ESA," or engage-study-activate method. This method of teaching can be used as a model for various subjects, but it was designed specifically for use in English acquisition courses for speakers of other languages. The reason the ESA style of teaching works so well is because it can be used repeatedly throughout different lessons taught by teachers in order to make students feel comfortable with using English on their own. In addition, this method helps students of all ages.
Sensory details add imagery to an author's work, helping the reader to visualize action in a story when no pictures are present. Sensory details involve using the five senses: taste, touch, sight, sound and smell. Authors use sensory details to help the reader feel what the characters in a story feel.
Elementary pupils are often introduced to the study of ancient Greece. Reading popular myths such as the story of King Midas can help deepen children’s understanding by creating a connection between social studies and language arts lessons. Offer activities about this myth in which children compare versions of the story, create a modern retelling, find out more about the characters or stage an in-class performance.
Writing has little meaning if the reader is unable to discern the tone of the written message or even tell when one sentence begins and another one ends. Among other things, capitalization separates sentences and highlights proper nouns and names. Punctuation helps the reader understand the emotions and feelings behind the statements. Activities teaching capitalization and punctuation help students recognize that the correct use of both is important so communication is not hindered or misunderstood.
When Lorraine Hansberry wrote her award-winning play "A Raisin in the Sun" during the 1950s, it was the first work written by an African-American woman that was produced on Broadway. The play centered on a hard-working family striving for better than the Chicago tenement and poverty in which they lived. While many have been in the play since that time, in 1961, a movie based upon it starred Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands and Louis Gossett Jr. The play touched on topics including injustice, bigotry, segregation and love, bringing civil rights issues out of the shadows. In 2005, the…
All too often, students learn at a young age to be passive readers. They read quickly without asking questions, wait for teachers to explain a book's meaning and end up missing the main point. Help your young students develop active reading habits that will serve them throughout their middle school, high school and college or university careers. Active readers start reading a book with a plan in mind. With your help and instruction, your young students can become active readers who understand a book after one reading.
Rounding can sometimes be confusing for students. Visual manipulatives, such as those used in interactive rounding activities and games, can help students learn about rounding in a fresh, entertaining way. Interactive activities can be useful tools, assisting teachers as they instruct students to practice estimating and rounding money, fractions or decimals. Teachers can introduce age-appropriate rounding activities as a math class warm-up to promote focus, or as a cool-down to reinforce information covered. Games, SMART Board lessons, rounding worksheets and online interactive activities can boost student self-confidence and rounding skill.
Prefixes are one of the building blocks of vocabulary. When a student masters the use of prefixes, she begins to understand how the meaning of words can be changed with the addition of just a few letters. Although prefixes are important to learn, they aren't always easy to teach. To hold your students' attention, use prefix activities that instill a sense of confidence and purpose.
The seven sacraments of the Catholic church are Baptism, Eucharist Confirmation, Penance, Matrimony, Holy Orders, and Anointing of the Sick. Catholic babies are typically baptized in infancy, before they have learned the sacraments. Childhood is an ideal time to memorize and learn these holy rites, as the sacrament of the Eucharist and Confirmation are usually completed before Catholics reach adulthood. The Church proclaims that the sacraments are necessary for salvation, even though many Catholics will not receive every one. Because the Catholic Church alone dispenses the sacraments, it calls itself the "universal sacrament of salvation."
Introduced in 1993 by Jacqueline and Martin Brooks, constructivism in education places the student at the center of the learning experience. This pedagogy highlights active learning and students' involvement in their own education, changing the role of the teacher to that of guide and facilitator. Constructivism in the classroom requires a new curriculum and a new way of teaching.
Teaching elementary students about ancient Egyptian civilization helps them to understand the differences and similarities between cultures and people, both in the past and now. Use lots of interesting activities that engage and motivate students; making the activities enjoyable and relevant will help students to understand ancient Egyptians and could foster an enjoyment of studying history and people.
Understanding the parts of speech and learning how to identify them can be a difficult concept for some children. Because this is an important concept, you want your children to fully understand what a noun is and be able to identify nouns in a sentence or in a group of words. A great way to make sure your children understand and can identify nouns is to use games or activities because your children will be having fun while they learn, which makes them more likely to remember what they're learning.
In "EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Success," emotional intelligence is defined as the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional meanings, and to reflectively regulate emotions in ways that promote emotional and intellectual growth. EI is divided into five main categories: intrapersonal, interpersonal, stress management, adaptability and general mood. Developing emotional intelligence at an early age can contribute to a child's ability to perform well in school and build coping skills that will serve the child well throughout his life.
The teenage years are a time of self-discovery for most people, and that stage of life can be difficult to navigate for some people. Teenagers can be quite self-absorbed, so it is good to show them that there are other things in life that are important. Plan some character-building activities for the teenagers in your life, whether they are your children or your students, so that they can learn some important life lessons.
Helping your young child memorize her house address and phone number is an important safety precaution. According to Joshua Foer, U.S. memory champ in 2006, anyone can be taught the techniques of memorization. Employ the techniques used by the ancients; setting material to music, chunking the information, inputting the data into silly imaging, and practicing regularly, to help your child learn her address and phone number.
Although children are naturally curious, they need to channel that quality to learn more effectively. As parents, when you teach your children to think, you are imparting critical problem-solving skills that will help them excel not only in academics, but in every aspect of life. To awaken this spirit, you need to learn activities that encourage thinking skills. When you understand and practice these critical thinking processes, you can create activities that will help you pass these skills to your children.
Teaching children about their personal boundaries and the boundaries of others can help them understand when an individual's behavior may be inappropriate or dangerous. Children with well-defined boundaries tend to establish a strong sense of self, and understand how they deserve to be treated by others. By educating children on the importance of boundaries, parents can ensure their child remains safe, while respecting the personal space of others. Activities that help teach boundaries to children require parents to stress the concepts of personal space and respect for others.
Telephone etiquette is something that isn't taught as often as it used to be. However, it is important that children learn to talk properly on the phone, as those skills will carry with them throughout their lives. A few simple activities can help children learn how to answer the phone and take messages.
Everything that a child is exposed to when he is young plays a role in his development later in life. If you want your child to be successful, it is up to you to try to give him every possible advantage. One of the most important skills that can be applied in any walk of life is the ability to think critically. Doing a few exercises with your child on a regular basis can help him develop the critical thinking skills that will aid him immensely as he grows older.
Motherhood is so much more than a woman and child. Parenting takes different skills at different times. Motherhood takes the different aspects of being a person and a parent and melds them into a cohesive whole.
As with many activities, participation in sports can have many effects on your children, both positive and negative. While sports can teach your child about teamwork and focus, it can also lead to accidents and injuries. The effects that sports have on children reaches outside of the ball field and into other aspects of their lives.
Teaching children about respect can provide a fun learning process. According to the U.S. Department of Education, children learn about respect and character when parents and other positive adults model this behavior in their lives. Adding enjoyable activities to the practice of teaching respect helps ingrain the information in the child's everyday life.
Character comes with experience. Children develop good character through activities and direct learning from adults. According to an article in Happy News by Craig Harris, values are generally caught, not taught, so our children will catch values and ethical character through modeling the adults in their lives who demonstrate traits and behaviors backed with a sense of morality. Activity-based lessons can go a long way in teaching children about desirable character traits that can last a lifetime when properly instilled.
Parents have the responsibility of cultivating in their children important values that will help them grow and prosper. Such values include honesty, responsibility and loyalty, but one value---courage---will help to form a strong backbone in children so that they are able to stand up for these other values that they are taught to cherish. Here are some activities you can do with children to help them develop courage.
Without motivation, very little would get done. Motivation is the driving force behind human behavior, even when we are not conscious of it. Children begin to understand the basics of motivation from a very early age. Seeing a desired toy from across the room motivates a baby to crawl. Learning to understand our motivation can help make us more productive human beings. You can teach children how develop motivation with a few simple activities.
Most teenage girls struggle with independence, boys, insecurities over their appearance and weight, and communication issues with family and friends. However, sometimes the pressure becomes overwhelming, and teen girls turn to alcohol, drugs or sex to fit in. Parents might decide to send their daughter to an all-girls boarding school, where she is removed from the social pressures of boys and will draw closer attention from teachers.
Teaching children how to brush, floss and rinse their mouth in order to keep their teeth clean and prevent cavities is important. Oral hygiene is an important contributor to overall health. Teaching good hygiene when children are young can prevent dental problems down the road. According to the American Dental Association, 28% of 2- to 5-year-old children have dental caries, also called tooth decay. Luckily, good oral hygiene can prevent tooth decay.
Stimulating your child's mind is a great way to keep the brain active. There are great ways to stimulate different parts of your child's brains for better learning. Stimulation of a child's brain should start at an early age. By learning ways to do this, you can create a foundation for future growth and learning.
