education » Bookworm Broadcast

Toddlers are full of energy. For them the whole world is just one big adventure. So just how do you keep these little explorers busy?

Here are a few fun and educational activities you can share with your toddler:

Draw a Giant Picture – Buy a large piece of cardboard (poster size) at your local arts supply shop and have fun drawing a huge picture with your toddler. You can use finger paints, crayons or markers. If your toddler is young just let him scribble or dab paint onto the poster board. Talk about the different colors as your drawing, for example say “Wow, your orange tree looks really nice. Mommy’s going to draw a red balloon now”

You can even take turns lying on the sidewalk and draw a body outline of each other using chalk. Once you have the outline draw in the face and features.

Make a Mask – Using paper plates help your toddler cut out eyes, nose and mouth and paint in the colors of your toddler’s favorite animal. He can be a cat, tiger or even a mouse. Once you finish with your masks, put them on and pretend to be animals. Toddlers love pretend games and this activity will help build their creativity.

Go on a Field Trip – Nothing fancy, just go to the local pet shop and show your toddler all the different types of animals or fishes. You can also go on field trip to look for bugs around your neighborhood. A field trip to the supermarket is great fun too. I’m not talking about your weekly shop but just a special field trip where you buy only a few items but your toddler can help you choose, weigh and even pay for them. This usually works great with fruit and vegetables since there are so many different types.

Show your toddler the different types of fruits and name them. Talk about the different colors and textures. Let them be just like you and place the items in your shopping cart and on the checkout counter. This is a great way for even young toddlers to start learning about their environment and the foods we eat. You can even make a special fruit salad when you get home.

GO READ A BOOK!

What?! I didn’t get a perfect score??? They didn’t even tell me what I missed…Oh, sure – Mrs. Lisa “Mama Bookworm” herself – missed one?!

I bet they’re just making it up! I was gonna do this quiz, and then come on here and brag to ya’ll – see, why I’m such a good reading influence on your children? But noooooo….

(Yes, I know – you’re not supposed to start a sentence with ‘but’, either. Ugh.)

Your Language Arts Grade: 90%

Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know “no” from “know.” Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).

Are You Gooder at Grammar?
Make a Quiz

I’m gonna go sulk in a corner, you guys go…

GO READ A BOOK!

Well – I had a great conference with my daughter’s teacher – she had very lovely things to say about my little one! And she completely explained the TOPS Reports to me as well as the Accelerated Reader Program – and let me tell you – that program is awesome! I really like it!

They start out the year assessing each child’s reading level – which is really cool to know. My daughter is in the fourth grade and she tested at 5.9 or 5.2 – which would mean either 5th grade, 9th month or 5th grade, 2nd month. We talked about a lot of different numbers – so I got them a little confused, that’s why I am not sure which one – but noone has ever told me exactly where my children’s reading levels are at before – so I thought that was really cool!

I wish I could get my boys tested to see where they would fall.

All in all, it sounds like a great program and she gave me some good ideas for working on comprehension with my daughter at home.

And sometimes getting my kids to do schoolwork, especially extra stuff that the teacher didn’t specifically assign, but, they need to brush up on – can be tough.

But I ran into a blog today that has some great tips for dealing with that – it is Aurelia Williams’ blog, and you can find the post here: Tips to Stop the Homework Battle in Your House.

GO READ A BOOK!

I ran across a great blog by two moms this morning – and it is, in fact, called…Two Moms In A Blog.

The blog is by Heather and Crystal, who have a lot of great stuff to share for moms and families.

And the post that really piqued my interest was about, you guessed it! Education!

Crystal found some really great products recently to get all our little bookworms busy, and keep them happy, as well!

Read all about it here:

Bright Minds Mind Benders – just for teens?

And please don’t forget to:

GO READ A BOOK!

Well, this week the kiddos in Texas all have more state testing (TAKS) that they are taking.

Yesterday, my third and sixth grader took math and reading, respectively.

I am actually a bit worried about my third grader and her math test – not just her, really. Quite a few of the kiddos in her class were having trouble grasping the word problems that will surely be on the test. In fact, on the benchmark a few weeks ago, the majority of the class scored in the 70′s.

I feel fully confident in bringing her up to speed at home, and over the summer. I am not worried that she is going to drastically fall behind in her schooling.

No, actually my worry is focused a bit more ‘on the homefront’. When she scored a 97 on the reading test, I was so happy for her. And the reason I was so happy for her was that she was going to get to tell her brothers, specifically the 6th grader, that she got a 97, missing only one problem.

You see, these boys, specifically the 6th grader, love to torment her, as any good brother must. She is frequently bombarded with questions way above her comprehension level and mocked upon not knowing the answers. I actually once heard the sixth grader say to her, “I bet you don’t even know the square root of pi”!!

Yeah, because every good third grader knows the square root of pi! Heck, I’m probably not even spelling it correctly!

So on the glorious day we received her test score, I couldn’t wait for them all to pile into the minivan and be enlightened with the news!

And oh, how ANTICLIMACTIC it was! Would you like to know what Mr. Sixth Grader said to sweet little Miss Third Grader?

*cue snotty voice*

“When I was in third grade, I got a 100 on the TAKS!”

ugh.

I will definitely have to lecture him, perhaps adding in the threat of losing video games, before these test scores come in. Life – and school – are hard enough without the humans in your house giving you grief over what they perceive to be your failures!

Sheesh!

GO READ A BOOK!