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5 Fun Literacy Activities for Valentine’s Day

5 Fun Literacy Activities for Valentine’s Day

Activities for Valentine’s Day
Photo Credit: latteda

Tired of the same old Valentine’s Day for your kids? Why not make this Valentine’s Day a new exciting experience for your children by incorporating fun literacy activities to do with your kids throughout the day!

Here are some kid-friendly literacy activities for you to try.

1. Homemade Valentine’s

Instead of buying pre-made valentines, have your children write their own Valentine’s Day cards. They could send a thoughtful Valentine to a parent or grandparent that uses more descriptive adjectives and complex words that explain why they love them. These also extend to their classmates, siblings and friends! Remember, homemade cards ALWAYS mean more to the recipient than store-bought Valentines. 

2. Writing poetry for Valentine’s Day

The classic poem “roses are red, violets are blue, sugar is sweet and so are you…” can be easily adapted to teach kids about rhyming. The last two phrases can be re-written with just about anything that rhymes with blue. You can help your kids write their own Valentine’s Day poetry to give to their friends and family.

3. Love-themed word games

This one is surprisingly easy: simply use the letters from your Scrabble game to arrange love messages – you can even use square bits of paper to substitute for Scrabble pieces. You can make up your own rules for what to do with the letters. For example you could set a timer and try to assemble 5 words that begin with the letter “L” for “love” or “V” for valentine within the allotted time. You could also work together to use all of the letters to build a crossword of words that are all connected.

4. I “LOVE” the alphabet

Children who know their ABC’s and have a basic understanding of letter sounds will love this entry. The way to play is to say a word that begins with the letter “a.” For a Valentine’s Day theme you could start the game with the word “adore” and the next person could say “beautiful” then “cute,” “darling,” “envelope,” “friends,” etc. See if you can make it all the way to the letter “z” and if you need to get creative and stretch the rules a bit, that’s okay! The letter “x” can be a difficult one, but you could use the symbol for hugs and kisses “xoxo,” which is perfect for Valentine’s Day! To make the game more complex you can also repeat all of the previous words from “a” up to the current word. This causes kids to not only be creative with words but also remember up to 26 words in a row!

5. First Letter, Last Letter (Valentine’s Day themed)

This activity is simple, and the best part? Like entry 4, it does not require any props or pieces. The game starts when someone says a word related to Valentine’s Day. The next person has to say a love related word that begins with the last letter of that word. For example if the game begins with the word “kiss” then next word could be “swoon” and then next word could be “nice” and so on. This literacy activity is great for kids in grade 3 and up, or who can read and are comfortable spelling words on their own.

Valentine’s Day doesn’t just have to be about candy, it can be a wonderful opportunity to work with words and even expand your children’s vocabularies! Hopefully, you can try out some of these fun literacy activities this Valentine’s Day!

Defeat School Stress! 10 Stress Management Techniques for Students

Students walk to high school

It can be stressful to be a student in high school or secondary school. There are so many things they’re trying to juggle: school, work, family, social life, finances, and so much more. However, if they don’t work on mental health coping skills, your kids can quickly become overwhelmed. When this happens, they won’t be able to give their best. Moreover, you they start to see your grades slip, causing pressure, which only leads to more stress. [Read more…]

Temple Grandin: An Example of How To Teach Kids Based on Their Way of Thinking

Kids Based on Their Way of Thinking

In her popular TED Talk, Temple Grandin, a person born with autism who succeeded in life, presents her learning experience with autism. We’ll spend this article learning about her central beliefs on teaching children with autism and how to apply them to your own kids.

First and foremost, it is empowering to truly understand your student. Grasping how your child thinks and learns will revolutionize your approach to teaching them. This goes beyond just their social skills. It’s about being attuned to any sensory issues they may have, as this will shape their learning environment. For instance, they might be sensitive to certain lighting or sounds. But most importantly, what kind of thinker are they? Temple Grandin’s insights on the three thinking styles prevalent in children with autism can be a powerful tool in your hands.

1. Visual Thinkers

Photo-realistic visual thinkers, as Temple calls them, are learners who can think in detailed pictures. Temple recounts her own experience of being asked to picture a church steeple. While most people would picture a fairly standard generic steeple, she sees a specific steeple on a particular church and has a detailed image in her head. These kinds of thinkers place sensory-based information into specific categories.

2. Pattern Thinkers

Although Grandin talks extensively about visual thinkers, she points out that “not every autistic kid is going to be a visual thinker” (5:01 of TED Talk). Pattern thinkers are those who have minds geared toward Math or Music. They may have trouble reading or writing but excel in seeing patterns of numbers. One thing Grandin noticed is their ability to create intricate origami.

3. Verbal Thinkers

Finally, there are the minds that are word-based. These thinkers can memorize facts about nearly anything and often make excellent journalists. In addition, Temple mentions that many children with autism who are verbal thinkers are good actors, due to their learning social skills like being in a play.

Once you’ve gained a deeper understanding of your learner’s thinking style, you can guide them to develop their interests. For instance, a pattern thinker with a passion for planes can be taught math through the lens of aviation. Harness their interests or fixations to motivate their learning. And don’t forget the power of mentors, tutors, or experts in their field of interest. These individuals can ignite the spark of curiosity and passion in your students, making learning a truly inspiring journey.

We’ve written about examples on this blog, including:

Teaching kids math with cars

Teaching kids math with baseball

Teaching kids math with bowling

Teaching kids math and meteorology with barometers

Teaching kids history and science with tea

When different, specific minds like these work together, they can complement each other’s abilities to solve a problem in a thorough way. But it all starts with understanding your learner and how they think. This knowledge can be the key to sparking their interest and guiding them towards their potential.

 

Kid’s Health: Helping Kids With Colour Blindness

Helping Kids With Colour Blindness

As parents, we have to understand that there are a variety of hurdles children face in school, and one of these potential obstacles in the classroom is colour blindness. While it might not be as high-profile in the media as learning challenges such as autism or attention deficit disorder, colour blindness can be a problem that parents and teachers should be aware of. So today, we’ll discuss some ideas on how to help kids with colour blindness.

Why should we be concerned if our child is colour blind?

We often don’t notice it because we take it for granted, but colours are often a key tool used for learning in the classroom. Many images, notes and charts often have a colour key or use different shades of colour to demonstrate a lesson. For example, subjects such as biology can be quite reliant on using diagrams to communicate complex concepts. A task as simple as creating labels for a science project can become a daunting and complex exercise for someone who is colourblind. If children are following along with a set of colour-coded instructions, they can easily fall behind if they cannot differentiate between colours; that is why it is a good idea to lend an extra hand to kids with colour blindness.

It’s wise to receive training that will help you spot kids with colour blindness

That’s because you may be the only one on the lookout for this condition. According to colourblindawareness.org, most teachers do not receive any training to spot colour-blind children. In fact, the same article says it is probable at least one child per classroom in the United Kingdom is colourblind, averaging about 450,000 students in that country.

How to spot colour blindness in children

Try examining the areas in which your children might be struggling. For example, if you notice that one of your kids seems to always be behind in a class that is heavily reliant on visual learning, you may want to observe him or her more closely. As a quick side note, we’ve covered learning styles before in this blog, so you can check that out if you want to know exactly what we mean by visual learning.

Also, keep in mind that there are different types of colourblindness, which you should be familiar with. We suggest reading the above article to get familiar with the different ‘families’ of this condition which include — but may not be limited to — red-green colourblindness, blue-yellow colourblindness, and complete colourblindness. This knowledge will help you understand that depending on the colours being shown, your child may or may not exhibit signs of colourblindness.

There are also online tests which can help you figure what, if any, type of colourblindness your child may have. However, please keep in mind that these tools are not intended to replace professional advice from a family doctor or optometrist. If you suspect your child has this condition, do not diagnose him or her yourself. See a professional.

What are the next steps if your kids have colourblindness?

If you have children diagnosed with this condition, it would probably be best to consult with the school they are attending. For instance, on their website, the provincial government suggests asking teachers to seat students who are colourblind in glare-free spots in the classroom. Another idea suggested by the site is to use chalk that will ‘stand out’ better to a person with colour blindness. Perhaps most important is to realize that the difficulties that colourblind kids encounter can be alleviated by adapting their environments. For example, written instead of colour-coded labels would be of better use to a colourblind child.

6 Study Habits of Successful Students

Successful Students Habits

Effective Study Habits for Academic Success

Students face several common study challenges for many reasons, including poor use of time, distractions, no motivation, or not engaging with the material. It is critical students adopt successful study habits to get the most out of their study sessions. These include time management skills, organization, reducing distractions, and using active learning techniques. [Read more…]

Our 5 Favorite Tips for Raising Critical Thinkers

5 Favorite Tips for Raising Critical Thinkers - SIE

Unlocking Critical Thinking to Empower Your Child’s Future

Parents want the best for their children, and one of the things you can do to secure a bright future for your kids is to make critical thinkers out of them. A critical thinker is open-minded, curious, and can respect diverse perspectives. At School Is Easy, we’ve seen the difference critical thinking skills can make in a child’s life and learning process. [Read more…]