Category: Teachers

Educational Preschool Crafts: Shape and Color Chart Plus Activities

4/6/2015

by Lyn Lomasi, Staff Writer

Image by Joybot via Flickr.com

Charts are a great way for toddlers to learn. When combined with crafting for a hands-on lesson, the benefits of this method can be greatly multiplied. Here is a fun and educational shape and color chart craft along with some daily activities to do with your toddler once the chart is completed.

Shape and Color Chart

This chart will represent these shapes: circle, square, triangle, rectangle, diamond, and heart. Make each shape a different color to also make this a color chart. The colors you should represent are: red, blue, yellow, green, black, and white. If you want to add pink, purple, and brown, make an extra each of the circle, square, and triangle, since those are three of the main shapes.

Before you do the craft with the children, cut out enough shapes in their designated colors for each child to have one of each. If you're doing the extended colors, make sure you have enough of those as well. Sort out the shapes by putting them in a zippered plastic bag for each child. Also, be sure your shapes are an appropriate size to fit onto a 12x17 piece of paper all together and spread out from each other slightly.

First, you'll need a 12x17 sheet of light blue construction paper for each child. This will be the surface the shapes will be glued onto. Place them in front of the children.

Next, give each child their shape bag and a glue stick.

Instruct (and probably help) the children to glue on each shape one at a time as you call them out by shape and color. The children can place the shapes wherever they'd like.

Once that is done, let the charts dry. Then, laminate them or cover them in clear contact paper for prolonged use.

Keep in mind that there should also be a chart for each teacher or parent as well. A master chart can and will come in handy later.

Activities

For full benefits of the chart, there are many activities that can be used with it to enforce and re-enforce the lesson of shapes and colors. Below, I will outline two to get you started.

Me, Then You

For this activity the parent or teacher should stand in front of the children with his or her chart and point at and say the shape and color. For example: The teacher says "red square" and points at the red square with a pencil. The students then say red square, pointing at their red square. Continue this activity for about 15 minutes.

Shape and Color Mayhem

This activity requires more than one student, preferably a group of at least three. However, with a little thinking and modification, it could be fit for use with less students.

First, the teacher places the master chart on a blank wall with sticky tack or plasti-tak, which can be found in most art or craft stores, even at Wal-Mart or other discount department stores. It's a gummy clay-like substance that adheres thin paper and plastic items to the wall without damaging them or the wall, so they can be removed quickly and easily.

The teacher should have a hat or container full of folded papers with each student's name on them. Have another hat or container with the shape/color combinations on the folded papers. Start the game by drawing 3 names from the hat.

Those three students need to stand next to each other about three feet from the chart. The teacher then draws a shape/color paper and says it. For instance, if the paper says, "yellow triangle", the teacher says "yellow triangle". The first student to place his or her finger on the yellow triangle has won that round. Then, the other two students get back in the straight line again. The winning student goes back to his or her seat. The names need to be set aside, not placed back in the hat. A new name is drawn and the game continues until each student has won a round.

Hint: Don't tell the students that they will all win. It may ruin the good feeling they will get when they win a round.

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Teaching Elementary Kids About Healthy Living

4/3/2015

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Tips for Teachers and Homeschoolers

by Lyn Lomasi, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff

Image by Michael Stern via Flickr.com

You're in the school cafeteria and you see yet one more elementary-aged student grab those chips, cookies, and chocolate milk. How can you get him to choose healthier snacks without a hassle? Teaching elementary kids about healthy living and nutrition involves more than just telling them their choices are unhealthy. As a homeschool teacher and health nut, I have been known to come up with creative ways to get kids to think healthy.

Tell them what foods are healthy and explain why. Don't just tell the students to eat more fruits and veggies. Show them why they should. Pictures and stories can help drive home the point. You can also have each kid act out the parts of various fruits and veggies to show what they do. This keeps things lighthearted and entertaining, which is a great strategy for elementary students.

Adopt an exercise plan and explain the benefits. Use dance, active play, or other kid-friendly exercise to make healthy living fun for elementary kids. Explain how each move is beneficial to the body. But also make it an enjoyable experience so the kids will want to continue. If you can incorporate a routine in your daily classroom activities, that's great. Switch it up now and then, too so the kids don;t get bored.

Explain why certain foods are unhealthy using pictures of what it does. Children are very visual. You don't want them to think they need to be as skinny as a rail. But at the same time, let them know that being overweight can have damaging effects on the body. Show them age-appropriate pictures of what the body looks like on the inside and outside from certain diseases. Showing them pictures of the effect food has on their bodies will be much more effective than just telling them. Seeing is believing, right?

Use fun and catchy songs and rhymes to teach healthy living. Music is fun for kids and it's also easy to remember. Make up some fun songs to illustrate the points you make about nutrition. You may be surprised at the impact it will have. Let the kids make up their own songs and dances, too. They'll be proud of themselves and also be absorbing the info.

Give each kid their own weekly wipe-off charts for their home fridge. Giving the kids something to use to take home and track their results helps keep the lesson active. Healthy living is not something to just learn one day. It should be a way of life. Show the elementary students how to track what they are eating and see if they are making the correct choices. It could even help the rest of their family too.

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Write W.A.V.E. Media Blogging as Part of Your Student's Writing Curriculum

3/12/2015

Teaching Kids to Write for the Web Using Write W.A.V.E. Media

by Lyn Lomasi, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff

Looking for something different and useful to add to your student's writing curriculum? What about web writing? More specifically, how about using guest blogging at Write W.A.V.E. Media (WWM) as part of that instruction? There are no age requirements for posting on these sites, only certain access restrictions (an adult account is required for those under 13, due to usage rules related to hosting and creation tools). There are also several sites within the network, covering just about any topic. This can be adapted into a traditional classroom curriculum or for homeschooled students. As a seasoned homeschool parent and a long-time web writer, I've done this with my own children in various ways.

Getting Started

In the beginning, give your student a chance to get familiar with how the process works. Most importantly, allow him or her to learn how the publishing system works. The first submissions should simply be whatever the student feels like writing. This could be poems, articles, or even school papers. Let him or her feel comfortable with using the sites, learning a few things, and gaining a readership. Also, remember to allow for some of this in between assignments as well. Keep the experience fun and not just a chore.

Potential Earnings

Many ad and affiliate companies require an account holder to be 18 or older. However, it can still be a learning experience and will help ensure they are knowledgeable when they do qualify for payments. You also might choose to sign up for one or more of these and simply transfer any earnings to your student. If your student chooses to publish in other places around the web or to publish books (or sell products or services) that can be linked to from their posts at Write W.A.V.E. Media, links to those might also help them earn. Also, reprints of content are sometimes purchased by clients. In this case, we always give the writer 100% profit from their own content (minus any processing fees by PayPal).

Teaching Web Writing Using Write W.A.V.E. Media

There are many great tips on web writing at the Write W.A.V.E. Media blog, as well as the Article Writer For Hire blog. The WWM forum and the WWM Facebook group also might be useful. Let your students read up on those and implement the lessons into their writing. A very useful tool to combine with lessons learned from those sources is the Yahoo! Style Guide. We also provide submission guidelines and other instructions. Gauge the success of your student's web writing skills by constantly examining their work to see which techniques are applied.

Benefits of Web Writing Skills

No matter the career choice of your students, web writing skills can be a plus. These lessons can be useful in college, as well as in the workforce. Web writing can be used in marketing, journalism, business ownership, business management, editing, and much more. Pretty much any business or company should have a website and web writing skills can be useful in creating and maintaining it.

Grading Based on Performance and Quality

When grading your student on lessons learned, look at both quality and performance. Are the pieces written well? Grade web writing similar to other school papers as far as grammar and spelling. But don't forget the various aspects of internet text, such as SEO and ad alignment. Have they followed our submission guidelines or are they at risk of getting their content edited or removed? Are they getting decent page views on WWM? Is there mostly positive or negative feedback? How much interaction are they getting? What are the readers saying? Is their content being shared by others?

Ten Steps to Becoming an Effective Teacher (Guest Post)

2/9/2015

by Monica Langley, Teacher and How-To Specialist

Image by Lars Plougmann via Flickr.com

Do you desire to be a truly effective teacher? This advice can help to transform your classroom style from tired and tedious to dynamic and engaging. These few steps will guide you on how to be the best teacher.

Step 1: Set an Example for Your Students to Follow

As the teacher, the example that you set will set the tone for your classroom. Students will pick up on your demeanor, attitude, words, and actions. Project an attitude of calm, confidence, professionalism, and respect. This will earn you the trust and respect from your students that you desire.

Step 2: Define Rules and Consequences

Define rules and consequences from your first day in the classroom. Then, when the clearly defined rules are violated, make sure that you consistently follow through on consequences.

Step 3: Remember to Show Consideration

The way to build lasting relationships with your students is to demonstrate interest in them as individuals. This does not mean that you slack on enforcement of rules, but that even when you do need to take disciplinary action, it is done with a gentle (though firm) attitude. Be responsive to each student's unique needs.

Step 4: Incorporate Variety in Your Classroom

Try to incorporate variety into your classroom by using different teaching methods. Every learner is different. Not every student has the same learning style. The more variety that's in the activities you incorporate into the classroom, the less likely students will be bored – and the more likely you will be to reach each type of learner in your class.

Step 5: Be Willing to Search for Unknown Answers

Even if you have to go out of your way to search for an answer, make sure students know that you care about helping them find answers to their questions. If they see expressing diligence and determination to discover the unknown, that attitude will often be imitated by your students.

Step 6: Find Out What Your Students Understand

Ask questions to find out what knowledge the students may already have obtained about a topic you are starting to teach. Pretest on the topic, letting them know that the test will not receive a grade, but that you are just assessing their knowledge. This will give you an idea on which areas of the topic you will need to discuss more thoroughly than others.

Step 7: Allow for Friendly Competition

For some students, competition can be a great incentive for learning. Make sure that students are never allowed to put one another down. These competitions can come in the form of spelling bees, group projects, or review games involving different teams. Allowing for friendly competition can liven up the learning environment and help prepare students for the competition they will one day face when entering the work force.

Step 8: Plan your Lessons Carefully

Each lesson should have three main points reflecting the main objective.

• Lesson - This is where you present the new material (and any review material) in front of the class. Follow the above steps to make sure the lesson is relevant, the environment is conducive to instruction, and students are properly engaged. This is also a time to allow brief questions and class discussion.

• Group Work - This is a time for students to work together applying the lessons that have been taught. They can work on a variety of projects. This step allows the students to learn cooperation and peer mentoring. At the end of this portion, allow time for the groups to report to the class.

• Individual application - Students should have an opportunity to quietly sit at their seats and work on an individual worksheet or lesson related to the material that was taught. This will give you time to be able to see which students have adequately learned the material and which ones need help and reinforcement.

Step 9: Teach Time Management Skills

Show students how to list their assignments and various tasks so that they have a good understanding of what they are expected to accomplish. This list can include reading and work assignments, along with due dates and suggested amounts of study time. Or you can simply use a to do list template or task list template along with a description and task titles.

Step 10: Stay Organized

Do not get up in front of the classroom without being prepared and organized in advance. To do so is to invite chaos into the classroom. Make sure that you are well prepared and ready to stand in front of your classroom with confidence. That confidence comes from keeping organized and having materials set up and ready to go.

It takes dedication to be an effective teacher. These helpful steps can give you the tools that you need to succeed and inspire success in your students.

About The Author:

Hi, this is Monica. I am a teacher who has spent the last 3 years in an awesome school. Within the last year, I have become very excited about blogging on how to do anything. =)

You can connect with Monica at HubPages.

Use Basketball to Enhance Study Time

12/2/2014

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by Lyn Lomasi, Staff Writer

When you think of basketball, studying may not be the first thing that comes to mind. But, the sport can be a useful tool in helping shape a child's academic success. As a home-school teacher and innovative mom, I often come up with unique ways to teach the kids. Here are some of the ways to use basketball to enhance study time.

Enhancing Math Skills With a Basketball

Some kids just do not find math enjoyable. To be sure they learn their skills, making it fun can help. Did you know that you can use a basketball to help enhance math skills? We play several learning games with the use of a basketball. Here's a simple one most kids can do. All you need is a basketball and 2 or more players. The first player says a math problem and bounces the basketball to the next player.

The next player solves the problem upon catching the ball. That player then states a new problem for the next person and so on. If the kids haven't mastered asking each other problems yet or are at varying levels, the parent or teacher can call out the problems. Do this for twenty minutes or more daily for the best results. If children are learning to count, they can also pass the ball back and forth and count to the desired number.

Basketball Trivia

Basketball trivia is similar to the game played above for math. But, instead of math problems, the child can be quizzed on spelling, vocabulary, geography, science, and more. You can even mix up all the subjects together. I have found this to be an effective study method when done regularly. In addition to a regular study tool, this can also be a great way to study for upcoming quizzes and tests.

Basketball as an Extracurricular Sport

I promised actual basketball too, so here it is. Numerous studies have shown the benefits of physical activity when it comes to academic achievement. Playing sports helps to increase endorphins, relax the mind, and bring focus. All of these and other benefits combined can aid in enhancing study skills, and in turn raising overall performance. Your child can play basketball with the family in the backyard or on a competitive team. Either will be sufficient. The physical activity chosen, be it basketball or something else, should be done regularly for the best effect.

*I originally published this via Yahoo Contributor Network

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Educational Preschool Crafts: Shape and Color Chart Plus Activities

Teaching Elementary Kids About Healthy Living

Tips for Teachers and Homeschoolers

Write W.A.V.E. Media Blogging as Part of Your Student's Writing Curriculum

Teaching Kids to Write for the Web Using Write W.A.V.E. Media

Ten Steps to Becoming an Effective Teacher (Guest Post)

Use Basketball to Enhance Study Time

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