![Boy Mama Teacher Mama Real World Word Search](https://cdn.statically.io/img/boymamateachermama.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Boy-Mama-Teacher-Mama-Real-World-Word-Search-150x150.jpg?quality=100&f=auto)
Real World Word Search I did something today with my son that I have been wanting to do for a while. Today, we went on a Real World Word Search. You may now be wondering–What is a Real World Word Search? … Continue reading
Real World Word Search I did something today with my son that I have been wanting to do for a while. Today, we went on a Real World Word Search. You may now be wondering–What is a Real World Word Search? … Continue reading
Happy Mother’s Day to All Boy Mamas! Just a little something for all you boy mamas out there who read our blog. Being the mama of a boy is a wonderful, unique and fantastic journey. I hope you are enjoying … Continue reading
My boys love those signs they put up in stores and restaurants when the floors are wet. You know the ones that say, “CAUTION WET FLOOR” with the little person falling down? They will often see them in a shop … Continue reading
Around the Table ABC Last night I cut out some letters for my son and threw them on the table. I was planning on thinking of a few activities we could do with the letters to practice his letter … Continue reading
Ideas for Teaching Your Child the Alphabet I recently had a dear friend ask me for some suggestions for helping her son recognize the letters of the alphabet. I proceeded to write a lengthy email with all my best ideas … Continue reading
Alphabet Hop Game I wanted to create a game that I could use with my son to practice letter recognition AND letter sounds. I made this simple game and it was a hit! Alphabet Hop Materials Needed: game board pages … Continue reading
We do A LOT of take-out and most of that take-out seems to be either Chinese and Thai food. As you may know, when you get take-out from these places, you almost always get wooden chopsticks. Over the last year, … Continue reading
As a student training to be a teacher in the 90s, it was absolutely the most horrible thing for teachers to talk about using workbooks let alone use them in the classroom. Everything was to be authentic or real world. Activities were to be teacher-made and/or child-made. But, after teaching for 14 years I have come to believe that workbooks really aren’t as evil as I was taught. In fact, workbooks have their place in teaching, but should not be the only means by which a teacher teaches her students. As a parent, I actually welcome a workbook or two. I should preface that comment with the fact that I am pretty lucky that my son loves to work in a workbook and finds joy in completing each page and moving on to the next. Some parents do not have it that easy.
Why do I like workbooks? Well, there are several reasons. First and foremost, it offers a structure that I do not have to come up with on my own. Let’s face it, we are all busy people and those with children are even busier. Who really has time to sit down and map out your child’s mathematics instruction for the year? Workbooks do this for you. They know what a typical kindergartener learns in a school year and they provide practice with those skills. Next, it is a great way to see how your child is doing. Basic skills are practiced in workbooks and it is fairly easy- even for the “untrained” person, to look at what the expectation of each page is and see if your child can do it or cannot. You can see if they are “getting it” or are completely off base. You can see if your child is mostly grasping the concept, but has some holes that you can easily help fill. For instance, I was working in a math book with my 5 year old tonight. I knew that he he could count to ten and his work in the book showed me that. I knew he could write the numbers 1-5, but learned that 6-10 are a little iffy. Easy fix- we are now working on writing the numbers 6-10. This is pretty basic, but there is a whole lot more you can learn about your child by simply doing a few pages in workbook. Yes, you skeptics, you can accomplish the same thing with some other methods, but why reinvent the wheel when you have 5 loads of laundry to fold, a screaming toddler and dinner to make? Here are just a few basic things you can learn by using a workbook.
You knew this was coming, right? Warning! How NOT to use a workbook with your child. First, do not hand your child a pencil and a workbook and leave the room. Big mistake! First off, you are placing a child in a pretty stressful situation especially if he or she is not yet a reader. Secondly, chances are she is going to do it wrong. Don’t get me wrong, I am not denying that your child is a genius, but even the “smartest” kids do workbook pages wrong when left unattended. Then what? Either you have to have your child redo it- can you say frustration? or you let it go and you have reinforced some bad habits. But, if you sit down with your child, you can help her avoid those mistakes while teaching some valuable lessons. Second, DO NOT make your child color in the lines. This is so wrong on so many levels. Think- what is the goal of this page? Making it look pretty or teaching or reinforcing a skill. I choose the latter. So, if the directions say, “Color in 10 apples” and your child doesn’t want to color all 10, let them put an “x” in each apple or a checkmark. Then ask yourself- did we accomplish the goal of the page? And, yes! will be your answer.
Finally, do not expect your child to sit down and complete 10 pages in one evening (let alone the whole book). Depending on your child’s age, developmental level and interest level, the number of pages completed in one sitting varies. With my son, I aim for one page a night, but he is motivated and wants to do more so we do, but when he is done, we are done! I want him to enjoy learning not dread it. Third, do not try to force your child into the next level workbook. Take your time. If it is too easy, well great! Your child is practising some skills. If it is too hard, well then you know you have some teaching to do. Do not let the words on the front cover rule you. If it says ages 4-6 that is a suggestion not a hard and fast rule. Next, don’t worry about spelling in a math book and don’t worry about handwriting in a reading workbook UNLESS that is the goal of the page. You will find some pages in a math book that are intended for practicing the formation of the numerals, but be very clear on the goal of the page and do not add another layer of possible frustration where it does not need to be. Finally, don’t “grade” the book. Give your child a star or happy face no matter how “well” or “not well” he did. It is about effort, learning and time spent together.
Creating Sight Word Books One of the best ways to teach children to read is, of course, to have them read. When they are in the very early stages of reading, there are not that many books out there that … Continue reading
Short Vowel Flip Book This is one of my very favorite short vowel activities. I will preface that by saying I did NOT invent this idea. You will find it all over the web in variety of forms and formats. … Continue reading
A Beginning with Short Vowels So I am sure you have all read our post, Teacher Mama: A Phonics Primer, and are eady for some concrete, hands-on activities that you can do with your child at home. So here we … Continue reading
A Phonics Primer I have had a few people ask me for some good activities for working on phonics skills with their child. This, as you may know, is a HUGE topic with tons and tons of information available both … Continue reading