How To Teach Kids

Tips for helping a child get ready to read:

• Hopefully, the child will have been read to on a several-times-a-week basis starting during their baby years.  If not, parents should begin now reading to their child every day.
• Help develop a love for reading in the child.  Make story time special and in a special place.  It should be fun, with books that interest the child.
• Visit the library every week during children’s story time.  While at the library, let the child choose a couple of books to check out and take home.
• Play alphabet games with the child.
• Play games of what happened  “first, next and last.”  (Ex:  First, you brush your teeth.  Next, you put on your pajamas.  Last, you go to bed.)  You can do this with any activity the child does.
• Have the child watch “Word World” on TV.  It teaches alphabet letters and words in a cute, colorful format.  Our grandson absolutely loves that program and started watching it when he was a baby.  He’s 19 months old now, and it is the only show that will keep his attention the entire time.  He already knows most of his uppercase letters.  If you’ve never watched Word World, I highly recommend it.  It’s one of the best children’s shows on television.

When reading a book to the child:

(You will have to adjust the questions according to the age of the child.)

• Talk about the picture on each page first before reading the page.
• Run your finger under words as you read them.
• Play a guessing game of “What do you think will happen next?” as you are reading the story to the child.
• Ask, “Why do you think this happened?” when appropriate.  Accept their answer as valid and never put down a child’s answer.  If they don’t know why, suggest a possibility.
• Share what you like and what you don’t like about a story.
• Ask child what they liked and what they didn’t like about the story.
• Talk about what happened first, next, and last.
• Talk about what the story is mainly about.
• Have child draw pictures about the story.

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When I think of springtime, I think of pretty flowers blooming, lots of rain showers, rainbows, and all of the things associated with spring.  But I guess flowers are what I think of the most.   Pictured above are flowers that originally came from the parent plant in my grandmother’s garden.  Bulbs were passed on to my mother, then to me, then hopefully soon to our daughter.  When our two grandbabies get old enough, I plan to explain to them that these flowers came from the parent plant that was their great, great grandmother’s.  So with the coming of spring also comes a blooming remembrance for many families of their loved ones.  What a lovely tradition that appears every spring!

CHILDREN’S ACTIVITIES:

• Flowers: Have each child plant flower seeds in potting soil in a plastic cup.  Have each child water their own plant.  Great to incorporate with science.
• Flowers:  Art activity – use paper cupcake liners to use as the middle for construction paper  flowers.
• Flowers:  Art activity- using different colors of construction paper, have children trace around their hands and cut out the hand shapes.  Curl the fingers forward to make “flower petals.”   Add a green paper stem and leaves.
• Flowers: Art activity – cut colored gift tissue into long strips about 10-12 inches long and 3 inches wide.  Fold accordion style the length of the tissue.  Secure in the middle with a green pipe cleaner to make the stem.  Fluff out the tissue paper to make the flower.
• Rainbow:  Art Activity – using the construction paper the colors of the rainbow, have children trace around their hands and cut out the hand shapes.  Using the hands, make a large rainbow on the wall by stapling the same colors together to make each color band of the rainbow.
• Wall mural:  Art activity – have the class make a wall mural filled with different kinds of paper flowers that they have made.  Add the cut-out hands rainbow in the sky above the flowers.
• Rainbow:  Make a 9 x 13 cake.  Top with light blue icing.  Using M&M’s, make a large rainbow on top of the cake.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS:

• Caterpillar Spring, Butterfly Summer by Susan Hood.  Good for ages 2-5.  Charming story in rhyme about a caterpillar’s day.
• Spring is Here!  Fisher-Price Little People Lift the Flap Series by Carol Monica.  Good for ages 2-6 and early ESL.  Concepts include “spring,” colors, action words, counting, shapes, etc.  Enforces vocabulary building.
• Spring Peeps! (Peeps Series) by Cindy Eng.  Good for ages 2-5.  Has a yellow PEEPS candy chick as one of the characters – have the candy to eat after reading the book.
• Splish, Splash, Spring by Jan Carr.  Good for ages 2-6.
• Spring is Here, Corduroy! by Don Freeman.  Good for ages 3-6.
• That’s What Happens When It’s Spring! by Elaine W. Good.  Great for ages 3-6.  Spring seen through the eyes of a rural child.
• Oh, Yes!  Oh, Yes!  It’s Springtime!  (Little Einsteins Series) by Susan Ring.  Good for ages 4-6.
• Mouse’s First Spring by Lauren Thompson.  Good for ages 4-6.
• Spring is Here by Lois Benski.  Good for ages 4-6.  Has an old-fashioned charm to it.
• Magic School Bus Makes a Rainbow:  A Book About Color (Magic School Bus Series) by Joanna Cole, George Arthur Bloom and Bruce Degen.  Good for ages 4-8.
• Spring is Here, Grumpy Bunny! by Justine Korman.  Good for ages 4-8.  Reinforces the idea of early literacy by reading to babies from an early age.
• Spring by Nuria Roca, Dimitry.  Good for ages 4-8.  Beautiful illustrations.  Fun crafts and projects are provided at the end of the book.
• It’s Spring! by Linda Glaser.  Good for ages 5-8.  Includes suggestions for nature study projects.
• Poppleton in Spring (Scholastic Reader) by Cynthia Rylant.  Good for ages 5-8.  Easy chapter book.  Humorous story, beautiful illustrations.
• The Boy Who Didn’t Believe in Spring by Lucille Clifton.  Good for ages 5-8.  About two city boys who discover spring.

CHILDREN’S DVD’S:

• Children’s Favorites:  Spring Into Fun.   Features Barney, Bob the Builder, Angelina Ballerina, and Kipper.
• Spring for Strawberry Shortcake.  Good for grades PreK-1.
• Rain Showers and Spring Flowers.  Good for grades PreK-2.
• Nick Jr. Celebrates Spring.  Good for grades PreK-3.
• Stanley: Spring Fever (Stanley DVD Series).  Good for grades PreK-3.  About all the animals that come out in spring.
• Let’s Explore…Spring and Summer  (Let’s Explore DVD Series).  Good for ages PreK-5.  An activity guide is available online to with this.
• Weather for Children:  All About Climate and Seasons by Schlessinger Media.  Good for grades K-4.

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WHY WEAR GREEN?

Actually, “St. Patrick’s Blue,” a dark blue, was the original color associated with St. Patrick for a long time.  The phrase “the wearing of the green” became popular and was associated with wearing a green shamrock.  Also, green is the color associated with Ireland.  The popular phrase and showing allegiance to Ireland probably influenced the change from wearing blue to wearing green on St. Patrick’s Day which occurred around the 1750′s.  Today, if you are caught not wearing green, you will most likely be pinched!

As I was growing up, I would always try to remember to wear green to school so I wouldn’t be pinched!  I forgot one year, and the teacher pinned a piece of green paper on me.  When I got a little older, I realized, “Hey, I have green eyes so I always have on green!”  I was rarely pinched after that!  So…all of us who have green eyes can point to them if someone tries to pinch us!

ORIGIN OF ST. PATRICK’S DAY:

St. Patrick’s Day originated somewhere around the 400′s as a religious holiday in Ireland.  Nowadays, it is celebrated as a public holiday in the United States, Australia, Great Britain, Canada, and New Zealand to a large extent.  There are many parades associated with the celebration.  In the United States, the first public celebration took place in Boston in the 1700′s.

ACTIVITIES & CRAFTS:

• Have children cut out 3 green hearts, all the same size.  Glue the hearts together to make a shamrock.  Cut out a simple green stem and glue to the shamrock.
• Have children trace their hands on different colors of construction paper to make a large rainbow on a wall in the classroom.
• Have children use colored circle stickers to make a rainbow.
• Have each child paint a smooth stone with green paint and glue green felt on the bottom to make a Blarney Stone paper weight.
• Buy medium-large sized, plain sugar cookies or bake them.  Let kids decorate their cookie with a rainbow by using tubes of colored icing.  Or put a solid color of icing such as light blue to make the sky and then let kids make a rainbow out of M&Ms.
• Serve Rainbow Jello Dessert (actually called Ribbon Jello Dessert).  You could add another layer or two of color to make it look like a rainbow.
• St. Patrick’s Day Crafts by Carol Gnojewski.  Good for ages 8-9.  (10 easy crafts with pictures, directions, and traceable patterns)

CHILDREN’S BOOKS:

• Good Luck!:  A St. Patrick’s Day Story by Joan Holub.  Good for toddlers and preschoolers.  (illustrates concept of parades)
• St. Patrick’s Day Countdown by Saline Yoon.  Good for toddlers and preschoolers.
• It’s St. Patrick’s Day by Rebecca Gomez.  Good for ages 4-6 and ESL.
• St. Patrick’s Day Alphabet by Beverly Barras Vidrine.  Good for ages 4-8.
• Luckiest St. Patrick’s Day Ever! by Teddy Slater.  Good for ages 4-8.  (illustrates concept of parades)
• Shamrock Scare (Scooby-Doo!) by Courtney Tyo.  Good for ages 4-8.  (“Picture Clue” book that uses a rebus to teach words)
• St. Patrick’s Day by Mari C. Schuh.  Good for ages 4-8.
• That’s What Leprechauns Do by Eve Bunting.  Good for ages 4-12.  (great illustrations by award winning illustrator, Emily Arnold McCully)
• Fine St. Patrick’s Day by Susan Wojciechowski.  Good for ages 5-8.  (great story of generosity versus greed)
• Night Before St. Patrick’s Day by Natasha Wing.  Good for ages 5-8.  (story is in verse like Twas the Night Before Christmas)
• St. Patrick’s Day by Gail Gibbons.  Good for ages 5-8.  (the story of Patrick’s life, how this day is celebrated, and six legends)
• St. Patrick’s Day in the Morning by Eve Bunting.  Good for ages 5-8.  (illustrates concept of parades)
• St. Patrick’s Day by Carmen Bredeson & Don L. Curry.  Good for ages 6-7.  (Scholastic – gives a little history of St. Patrick’s Day)
• Green Gravy by Beverly Lewis.  Good for ages 7-10.  (great author)
• Shamrocks, Harps, and Shillelaghs by Edna Barth.  Good for ages 8-12.  (explains the legends and historical facts of St. Patrick’s Day)
• Let’s Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by Peter & Connie Roop.  Good for ages 8-11.  (question and answer format about the history and how St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated)

CHILDREN’S DVD’S:

• American Cultures for Children:  Irish-American Heritage by Schlessinger Media .  Good for grades K-4.  Presents Irish immigration to America, history and customs,  how to say some Gaelic words, Irish dances, how to make a Celtic harp, a folktale, a folk song for children to sing.  Features Phylicia Rashad (from the Cosby Show).
• Holidays for Children: St. Patrick’s Day by Schlessinger Media.  Good for grades K-4.   Gives history, brief biography on St. Patrick,  info on leprechauns and how to make a hand puppet, and festive celebrations.  A teacher’s guide comes with it and is also available online.

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