Pinterest Educational Ideas and Activities

For those of you who aren't familiar with Pinterest, it's a quick and easy way for you to bookmark photos and web content that you want to remember.

As a Pinterest member, you "pin" photos or web content, and then you create thematic categories, or "boards," to organize your pins.

(Some of the boards I've created)

For me, Pinterest was initially a place in which I could create those "inspiration boards" people sometimes use. No printing, no cutting, no cluttered boards on my walls - I loved it!
Recently, Pinterest has become more of a web resource than anything else. Looking for a good recipe for eggplant? Want to know how to make your own cloth diaper? Looking for helpful activities around grammar rules? Want to know the latest fashion trends? Pinterest has a wealth of information! Just type in the search box and see all of the pins every member has every created related to your search!

(The first 7 of many results I found for "homophones")

Pinterest has become particularly popular with teachers! Gone are the olden days when you had to sneak cameras into other teachers' rooms in order to steal their ideas! Nowadays, a lot of educators proudly post "pins" of their ideas on Pinterest, making them available to the rest of the world!

There are increasingly a lot of activities parents are pinning that relate to summer fun, toddlers, early childhood education and other goodies!

Check out my "Teach" board on Pinterest for fun educational activities and tools!

Reading Help: Long Vowels, R-Controlled Vowels and Digrpahs

Hey, Parents!
Is your primary student having a difficult time with long vowel spellings? When he or she sees 2 vowels next to each other in a word, does he/she sound them out individually? Is he or she struggling to read word with the ar, ur, ir, er spellings?

Here are some helpful online tools to help your student with these specific challenges!!

First, you have some resources from Starfall.com. Starfall is a wonderful reading site with activities that are geared toward improving specific phonics challenges!

Starfall Website (www.starfall.com) (Once on the site, choose the "Learn to Read" section!)

Learn to Read: Play (Left Column)

Long A (#6): http://www.starfall.com/n/make-a-word/silent-e/load.htm?f

Long E (spelled “ee”) (#7): http://www.starfall.com/n/make-a-word/long-e/load.htm?f

Long I (spelled “i_e”) (#8): http://www.starfall.com/n/make-a-word/long-i/load.htm?f

Long O (spelled o_e) (#9): http://www.starfall.com/n/make-a-word/long-o/load.htm?f

Vowel Teams (“ai” “oa” etc.) (#11):

 http://www.starfall.com/n/make-a-word/long-o/load.htm?f

R-Controlled vowels (#12, 13, 14):

http://www.starfall.com/n/make-a-word/control-ar/load.htm?f,

http://www.starfall.com/n/make-a-word/control-or/load.htm?f

                                    http://www.starfall.com/n/make-a-word/control-r/load.htm?f

Long Vowel/R-controlled vowel review (#15):

http://www.starfall.com/n/make-a-word/control-r/load.htm?f

Learn to Read: Book (Center Column)

1.     Jake’s Tale - Long A

2.     Pete’s Sheep – Long E

3.     Sky Ride – Long I

4.     Soap Boat – Long O

5.     Car Race – ar

6.     My Horse Glory – or

7.     Surfer Girl – er, ir, ur

Learn to Read: Skills (Right Column)

1.     Movie: Vowels

2.     Movie: Silent E

3.     Movie: Vowel Team

Next, you have some fun (and funky!) videos from PBS Kids' Between the Lions site! These videos offer students some fun tunes to help them remember phonics rules! 

PBS Videos (http://pbskids.org/lions/videos/)

1.     Two Sounds Made by G

2.     When Two Vowels Go Walking

3.     Two Sounds Made by C

4.     The a-r Song

5.     Double e, ee

6.     Double o, oo

     

    Know of other sites! Do tell!!!

Summer Break: Opportunities for Learning

Summer Break is soon approaching! What plans do you have for your student? Having some academic activities or routines will greatly benefit your student once the school year begins again.

#1 - Be proactive about your student's academic challenges.
At the end of the year, ask your student's teacher(s) about any challenging areas your student should work on. Get a list of those California Standards to be clear of what your child must understand. (If you are not a California resident, your state's Standards should be found in the web.)
If possible, ask a teacher in the upcoming grade what kinds of academic tasks your student will be expected to complete at the beginning of the year. Are there beginning-of-the-year assessments? What will they cover? You want your student to be as prepared for next year as possible.


#2 - Develop a plan
Work with your student to map out the learning routine or schedule. How many times a week will your student study? How long will each study session last? I highly suggest at least 3 study sessions a week. For primary students (K-3), the session should be between 30 minutes to an hour. For older students (4th and up), the session should be at least an hour.


#3 - Incentivize

Sample Incentive Chart
(Find them free online, or cheap
from Oriental Trading or Target's
Dollar section.)

Discussing the significance of studying is really important. Emphasize to your student that practicing the skills he/she learned over the past year will make the beginning of the next year easier. A student who does not study over the course of Summer Break will experience difficulty during the first weeks of school.


Offering incentives for studying may be helpful in motivating your student. 
Use an incentive chart. For every session your student successfully completes, he or she can make a mark on the incentive chart, working toward completing a pre-determined number of sessions. (For example, after completing 25 sessions successfully, Juan filled his incentive chart and earns some sort of incentive.) 
Determining what the incentive is should be worked out between yourself and your student. 


#4 - Stick to It
Summertime is filled with travel plans, lazy days and spontaneity! Sticking to a study plan can be really difficult, but KEEP AT IT! Every successful session is your student's way of remembering important academic content and practicing those hard-earned skills!


In addition to setting up a learning routine or schedule, consider these options:

• Getting your student a tutor (older student, college student, active teacher on break, retired teacher, student teacher)
• Purchase Review Workbooks (You can find them at Lakeshore Learning, on Amazon.com or other retailers. Some sites offer worksheet pages for free.)
• Bookmark academic websites that feature online activities or academic games (for example, Starfall's reading games are great for younger students).
• Enroll your student in a summer program
• Your city's Parks and Recreation department may offer programs that combine academics with fun activities
• Research some Math, Science or Reading camps in your area (Because these programs tend to be pricey, ask to see an outline of the academic concepts your student will master upon completing the program. This will help you determine whether the program is legitimately academic or not.)

Bay Area Summer Programs:

• Camp Galileo - Specializing in technology, art and science
• Super Camp (UC Berkeley and Standford University) - Focuses on strengthening social skills, study habits and self-esteem
• Check out Bay Area Kid Fun and Berkeley Parents Network for more ideas!

Have questions? Comments? Additional resources?? Don't be shy!!!!!