How To Teach Kids

We visited the Royal Gorge Bridge in Colorado with our teenage son a few years ago, and he was so impressed with the bridge that a couple of years later he chose it for a school project.  It is truly an awesome experience to walk across the lengthy bridge, look across towards the majestic mountains, look down into the immense canyon, and then ride the “world’s steepest incline railway” deep down into the canyon and look up at the tiny strand of a bridge that you have just walked across.  Pictures do not do it justice!  It is one of those “Wow!” experiences.

Here are a few facts about the bridge:

• History of the bridge
• Facts about the bridge
• Engineering facts

ONLINE VIDEO OF ROYAL GORGE BRIDGE:

• Royal Gorge Bridge & Park Video

SCHOOL PROJECT:

I wish I had taken pictures throughout all the steps of this project, but time was a factor and I didn’t.   Here are some of the few pictures I did take.   I am so glad I took these pictures beforehand because his project disappeared from the classroom and we never got it back.  It got thrown out with the trash by the janitor along with 20 other projects.   Our son received a high grade on this project so at least the teacher did see it!

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SUPPLIES NEEDED:  (and these can vary…be creative)

• A large, very sturdy foam (or wood) sheet to form the base for the project
• Large empty cereal boxes to form the brown walls on either side of the canyon
• Newspapers to make paper mache slopes and texture for the inside of the canyon
• Brown craft paint to cover the paper mache slopes
• Brown construction paper to cover the outside portions of the cereal boxes that are not in the canyon (and any part of the cereal boxes showing that are not part of the canyon) OR brown paint.  We found it easier and quicker to use brown construction paper.
• Popsicle sticks to glue together to make the base for the road part of the bridge
• Flat toothpicks to make the bridge slats over the top of the Popsicle sticks
• Wooden dowel rods and other small wooden pieces from a craft store
• Lightweight craft wire to make the cable wires for the bridge
• Silver Sharpie Permanent Marker or silver spray paint  (for the wooden pieces)
• Heavy duty tape such as duct tape
• Newspapers to make paper mache
• Glue

PROCEDURE:

• If you have never visited Royal Gorge, then I suggest watching the Online Video to give you a better idea of what the bridge looks like.
• Using duct tape or something similar, tape the cereal boxes in place along the two long edges of the thick foam or wooden base.  This forms the canyon.
• Make paper mache out of newspapers, glue and water.  Use paper mache to make the slopes on the inside of the cereal boxes to make the canyon walls.
• Paint the paper mache canyon walls and floor of the canyon with brown craft paint.
• Paint the outside of the cereal boxes with brown paint or cover with brown construction paper.  (we used construction paper)
• Use blue craft paint or blue plastic wrap to form the river at the bottom of the canyon.
• Depending on what wooden pieces you find at the craft or hobby store, look at the picture of the bridge and use your creativity to use items from the hobby shop to approximate the dimensions to scale in your model.  Color the wood with silver to represent the metal parts of the bridge.
• Glue the Popsicle sticks end to end and then lay “slats” made from flat toothpicks (cut in half or thirds) across the sticks to form the part of the bridge that cars drive across.  (This is very time consuming and you might come up with a different idea.)
• Use the craft wire to form the cables on the bridge.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS:

• Royal Gorge Bridge, “Building World Landmarks” Series, by Margaret Yuan.  Good for ages 7-14.  Describes the techniques and difficulties in building the bridge.
• America’s Top 10 Bridges by Edward Ricciuti.  Good for ages 7-12.  The Royal Gorge Bridge is included in the 10.

COUPON FOR ROYAL GORGE BRIDGE:

• Coupon for $2 off general admission ticket.  Good for up to six people.  Expires 12-31-2011.

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Guest Post by Tony, an experienced guitar teacher:

If you are thinking of giving your child lessons on an instrument, make certain that your young one knows that lessons require practice, and not just a little. In guitar instruction, this will mean sore fingers and tired arms and hands from reaching for and holding fingers down on the proper strings and frets with enough force to create a clear sound for
the duration of each note. Notes can last a long time, especially to a child, and that can cause little fingers some discomfort.

Discuss this with your little one and when they are insistent that they can handle it, go looking for their instrument. Be prepared to pay from $200 for a well-constructed guitar.  Why pay half that for a nominal instrument that also will warp easily from changes in humidity and temperature, when that extra money spent will also help them play clearer,
more in-tune, and thereby help them learn more easily? Shop around, but don’t trade down.  Make sure that the guitar you choose tunes well enough to play many different chords (A through G) in tune, as well as chords played high up on the fingerboard toward the sound hole.  Your child must have a guitar that is the correct size for his/her arms and hands for a lifetime of learning and enjoying guitar. Violins are sized as small as 1/16 and move up through full size, but guitars are not built in size increments; one must find one approximately the right size by simple searching. A good music store will measure your child and help you find one the right size.

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Credit: Free pictures from acobox.com

Writing can sometimes be a difficult subject to teach young students.  I have found that when teaching a new concept, it’s good to break it down into several steps.  I taught ESL students plus Gifted & Talented students in the same classroom for many years, and I found that most of them benefited from this.  There will be some students who grasp the concept easily or may already have the concept in place, and those students need to move on to enrichment activities.  But for those struggling with the concept of writing a paragraph, I have broken the concept down into smaller steps:

• PREREQUISITE: The students need to know how to write a sentence.
• DEFINITION: First, a child needs to understand the definition of a paragraph.  When we say that we’re going to write a paragraph, they may have no concept of that.  So, the first step is to explain and give examples of paragraphs.  Here is how I might explain it: “Today, we’re going to learn about paragraphs.   Can anyone tell me what a paragraph is? (I would say “good try” if they totally missed it, and if they got part of the answer then I would incorporate the correct part of their answer into my explanation.)   A paragraph is a group of sentences that tell about one thing.”
  
• EXAMPLE: Let me share some paragraphs with you.

1. Example of one paragraph:  “Kim’s favorite thing was to spend time with her dog. She played with her dog every day after school.  She fed her dog two times a day.  In the afternoons, they would go for a walk together. Kim liked her dog a lot! Questions: What did Kim like? (her dog)  What did she do with her dog? (played with it, fed it, went for a walk with it)  What is the paragraph about?  (Kim spending time with her dog)  This is a paragraph with a group of sentences that tell about Kim and her dog.”
   
2. Give example of a non-paragraph:  “Now listen to this:  Luke liked to play sports.  The tree was green.  The clock stopped working.  Lions like to roar real loud. Questions: What is this about?  (Luke, a tree, a clock, and lions)   Is it a paragraph? (wait for answers)  No, because it’s not about one thing.  It’s about completely different things.”

• WRITE A PARAGRAPH TOGETHER: “Let’s write a paragraph together about our classroom.” Have students tell facts about the classroom and formulate a paragraph on the board using their answers.
• STUDENTS WRITE THEIR OWN PARAGRAPH: Have students pick something of interest to them and write a paragraph about just that one topic.  Make suggestions for those students having trouble thinking of a topic.  Walk around the room and help those students who are getting off topic.

Praise their work and find something positive to say about it.  Make them feel proud and take ownership of their work.   Those who are fearful of writing should eventually get to the point where they can write their own paragraph.

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