This was sent to me shortly after I posted the article about the Mom who wanted to serve detention in her child’s place. (She felt that missing extra-curricular activities would be damaging.)
Enjoy.
Oct 262009
Oct 162009
by Esther Jantzen, guest poster
This activity is easy and energizing! It helps children learn to look closely at the ordinary and amazing things in the world around them. The thing to do is to keep asking “I wonder” questions. It’s fun to hear what children say while you do this. Their answers may be surprising and unusual, and it’s okay if they don’t make total sense.
Here is one way to do it:
1) With a paper bag in hand, take a walk outside your house with your child. Together collect as many different kinds of leaves as you can, picking up only one of each kind. Ask, “What do you notice?” or “What do you see?”
2) When you get home, sort the leaves (or stones) into groups. For instance, you could put all the pointy leaves into one group and all the leaves with round edges in another group. Ask, “I wonder why some leaves have points and some are round?” and see what your child answers.
3) Then sort those leaves by some other category like by color, size, texture, or some other characteristic. Let the child choose another way to sort the leaves and say, “Tell me about how you sorted those.”
Ask “I wonder” questions often, such as, “I wonder how plants take water and brown earth and make colorful flowers?” We may not know all the answers to these questions, but it encourages thinking and creativity in children.
Esther Jantzen, Ed.D, is a mother, an educator and the author of Plus It! How to Easily Turn Everyday Activities into Learning Adventures for Kids available at www.plusitbook.com and the Way to Go! Family Learning Journal available through www.jantzenbooks.com
We like SHARING:
Oct 152009
What? If you asked “what’s a NaNo…?” you’re not alone. And I’m really glad I asked!
NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month — a challenge to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. A participant (and winner) for three consecutive years I am not (yet) among the truly obsessed who start at midnight (local time) and often go way past the 50,000 word goal. I can’t even manage to hang onto the same user name from year to year but I keep showing up.
Still, it’s October 15th and I find myself (already) wondering whether or not I will succumb to this particular form of insanity again this year….Why not? It’s fun… it’s free… and there’s a whole community of other people trying to get that ‘crappy first draft’ finished before the 30th!
Check it out at the NaNoWriMo site or in this article How to Participate in NaNoWriMo – wikiHow. But be careful while you’re looking around — you might just find yourself getting up early to get your 1667 words in before you start your day!
SPECIAL NOTE TO PARENTS AND TEACHERS – Be sure to take a look at the Young Writers’ Program. A fun (and sneaky) way to enhance literacy skills!