Motivate Your Kids to Learn

Major parent complaint: 

"My kids just aren't motivated to (insert any verb here related to education)."

Most often expressed teacher plea,

 "If I could just motivate my students to (insert any verb here related to education).

What if there were a simple answer to create motivation for

 reading, writing, researching and presenting? Could it really be?

This year for Christmas, we got our boys a present they love and treasure. And it was SO simple.

A science kit.

Not the fancy dancy science kits that cost a lot and do only one or two different experiments. This was a science kit filled with the ingredients you probably already have on your shelves, like corn starch and corn syrup, salt and vinegar, etc. I remember the day I went to use my corn starch and it was all gone, having been the subject of science the day before. So... yes. We got them their own kit of materials to be used JUST for science. (See a complete list at the bottom)

It has been amazing to watch them try out the experiments, discuss the science behind each experiment, and.... (enter drum roll please)

...write and present about their experiments! 

(ok.. so it's still a bit of a challenge for the writing part, but if you require a written portion before they can video tape, Motivation.Is.There!)

What I love most?

Seeing the kids come up with their own experiments. Their favorite question is,

"What would happen if...?"

Actually what I loved even more, 

Seeing my 5 year old daughter come up with her own experiment and then sit down at the computer to type what it was she was doing. She asked for help to spell each of the items in her experiment. She proudly printed it out and showed Daddy. She then asked for it to be her turn to video tape and show her experiment.

See what's missing? No nagging. No arguing. Not even encouraging!

Simply guiding the genius that is already your child or student to emerge.

Asia Citro, MEd author of The Curious Kid's Science Book said,

"Children are born scientists. Young children are curious, observant, and determined problem solvers. Giving children a chance to make their own experiments allows these natural skills to grow and bloom."

Conducting science projects is now a favorite family activity looked forward to almost as much as movie or game night!

Are you a teacher and wondering, "Sure, that's great for the home setting, but that won't work in my classroom?" Stay tuned for my next post on ideas to incorporate experiential science into the classroom. It CAN be done!

Here's the Video!

Sticky Glitter: 

Starting Our Experience Books!

After visiting with my Early Intervention (EI) Specialist, who had brought me handouts on starting an Experience Book with  my toddler, I vowed I would start the very next week.

One week went by....

                                  then another..........
                                                            
                                                                and another.....
                                                                                        
Finally, I bought composition books and thought, "YES, We'll start next week."

One week went by....

                                  then another..........
                                                            
                                                                and another.....

I started saving brochures from places we visited, keepsakes from a hike, tickets, etc. They are in a pile on my shelf.  The books have stayed empty.

Fall organization hit. I started cleaning out my shelves to file all of the clutter that had added up.(I'm sure there's a blog post somewhere about de-cluttering and keeping things organized that I need to read!)

And I found them! I found the handouts my sweet EI Specialist had brought me.

And I read them!

And I realized I had this whole Experience Book thing wrong.

I had been putting it off until I could print out pictures, until I could have more time to make it look nice, etc. etc. As I read the handout and the mother talked of DRAWING pictures and TRACING toys and then describing them, as well as printing out pictures and gluing in tickets, etc, it became real to me.

                                                                 

We started the next day. 

              This was no beautiful scrapbook with carefully placed pictures with elaborate captions.

This was SWEET and SIMPLE. I started by sitting down at the computer, toddler in my lap and finding pictures in clip-art. We started with those foods that were her favorite things to eat.

I let her glue. I let her write. I even let her try to cut! After all, this is her EXPERIENCE book!

Our first page!

We have done pretty well, adding an additional page every other day or so!  There is so much more I want to do. My goal now is to SAVE, SAVE, SAVE things when we go out, and to look for ANYTHING we can add to our Experience Book!

We simply traced some of her favorite toys.

I found a way to make us both smile, even at 4:30 am. The pencil is a little hard to see. This entry was made when she woke up early in the morning and would NOT go back to sleep.

Are you ready to get started??? 

Here are some great tips for that great hand out! 

(handout by Kerry Dowling, parent of a deaf child)

• Find a special home for your Experience books. A basket in a well-used room is a good place.  (I have yet to do this one. After already misplacing it twice, I know it is essential to do this!)
• Keep a list handy for ideas: when you get an idea of an entry, jot it down. Save tickets, brochures, pictures, etc. to add in. That way on days when you can't think of what to do for an entry, you have your list!
• Involve the child. Let her draw, cut, glue. Ask her favorite things and put them in the book. 
• Use double-sided tape to put all the great stuff you have saved in easily.
• Involve others. Invite others to draw in the book. Label who it was and why they came to visit or why they drew what they did.
• Incorporate goals from your child's IFSP. If you are working on colors, do a page on that, etc. You can also focus on story telling or building vocabulary, etc.
• Focus on parenting goals. Find ways to teach how to be a good friend, have good behavior, how to help clean up, or wash your hands. (absolutely LOVE this one!)
• Colored pencils or markers work better than crayons. Markers sometimes bleed through the page. Pencil is hard to see. =)
• Use the Experience Book to generate new conversations and language. Don't hold to the words that are written on the page, but instead talk about what is on the page, the memory and the understanding your child has now related to the same objects or events.
• "Later on, it's all about reading." This will be a great reading tool as known content is matched to the exact print and learning of specific words can occur. 
• Have FUN! Make this a great experience for the WHOLE family to enjoy.

Our Sensory Table

"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood." - Fred Rogers

In classic 3rd grade classrooms, you probably would not find a sensory table, but for our home school that we share with a toddler and a 4 year old, we have decided it is a necessity!

Sensory activities allow creative and open-ended play. They allow for problem solving, pretend play, investigation, exploration and experiments. It's also great for a break between activities that require more focus, transition times, and times of stress and anger. For more information on sensory processing and aiding kids with anxiety and anger you can click here: Lemon Lime Adventures

A great resource for more activities (and where I found some of these below): FunAtHomeWithKids.com

Making Color Beans and Pasta

Materials:

jar with a lid or seal-able container

food coloring (we used neon)

beans (pinto or white worked best)

Macaroni or other pasta

wax paper

Procedure:

1. Drop the food color into the jar with the pasta. 

(15 drops to 1 cup pasta/beans)

2. Make sure the lid is on tight and SHAKE!!

3. Pour out onto the wax paper and spread out to dry.

Enjoy!

Add Educational Activities:

Sorting and Labeling: add objects related to your activity, or sort and label the different colors, beans and pasta, etc.

Language Arts: vocabulary and spelling practice, letter identification. Adjectives: make a list of words that describe what is in your sensory table.

Math: count the beans and noodles, group and compare, hide flash cards with math operations.

Science: create a habitat or world inside your sensory table. We're going to use the materials below for a pond/swamp world. We will learn about the animal groups that live there. 

Another great sensory table activity: Kinetic Sand.

Also known as "indoor sand," this is sand that holds together more than natural sand. It is very therapeutic. Adults love playing in it just as much as kids. We've already made sand castles and shapes and messes. Luckily, it's a lot easier to clean up than real sand too!

 

Wait! We're not finished! One more! These are water marbles.        

You can purchase them at Time to Play

They start out tiny!

Put them in a bin and pour water over them.

We had fun watching them grow!

Here they are at full size!

This is one of our FAVORITE sensory activities!***

                                            ***just make sure the little ones don't eat them!