Obstacle Courses

Obstacle courses are an ABSOLUTE BLAST! You can race through them, you can be timed, you can even use them for helping with academics. My daughter has begun the steps to learn to read. Her first mission was to memorize -AT words. So, we set up an obstacle course (one of her absolute favorite things) and stuck her -AT words all over it. She was reciting words and walking on the balance beam, jumping over words while reciting them, but more than anything, she was having fun and learning!

If you don’t have gymnastics equipment at home (typically people don’t), you can do this at a park or even with other things you do have at home! You can also make obstacle courses by setting up forts and using masking tape to create spots to jump on or over, even to create a balance beam! You can also use stuffed animals, toy cars or dolls as markers for racing from one point to another. Use pool noodles to jump over and you can even use crepe paper for a grand finale to break through! Place cards with questions throughout your course (or shout them out as your child is trying to get through each individual obstacle) and have fun!

*Make it more difficult by having your child return to the beginning for a wrong answer.

*Make it a family game by having siblings/cousins compete based on pop culture trivia.

American Sign Language (ASL) for Letter Sound Recall

One way that I like to teach reading concepts is actually through movement. I found that if you teach a student to sign the alphabet and when learning phonics, they will be able to recall each letter sound with a simple hand signal.

While it may not seem difficult to us, as adults, the ability to memorize each letter and their sound can be particularly difficult, never-mind actually sticking them together to form words. Using ASL, song and large movements has been a powerful tool in teaching something that may seem quite daunting.

With my preschool students, we begin circle time by singing the ABCs. When singing, we point to each individual letter. This helps the child to connect what the letter looks like to the letter’s name. Recently, I’ve gotten tricky with my older group and I will intentionally point to the wrong letter. They find this to be hilarious and INSTANTLY will yell for me to stop and will correct my mistake. Once we move past identifying the letters, I will ask them to identify a specific letter. When it is identified correctly, I will give them the hand sign for the letter and then we will make that hand sign with the corresponding sound it makes. We then try to think of a word that begins with that letter. Once we do, we will do a large body movement that acts out that word. For example, if our letter was T, they may have come up with the word train. At this point, everyone would stand up, arms at their side, moving them up and down to mimic the movement of a train. They will walk around the room like this, but instead of saying the typical “ch” sound that tends to go with a train, they will make the sound of the letter T. They can move fast and slow, but their T sound will need to correspond with their movement. This tends to be one of their favorite circle time activities. After completing one letter, we will review previous letters in the same fashion, simply spending less time because they have already memorized the hand signal, sound and are able to recall the large movement association from the weeks prior.

We also have phonics songs that we will sign to! To do these at home, check out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP1blVh1ZQM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2frjzrC5Jg

Have a blast with phonics! :)

Learning Differently

In all of my years of working with children, I know two things to be true: every child is different and not all children learn the same way. In understanding both of these truths, I learned rather quickly that when it came to teaching, I would need to be creative, innovative and enthusiastic.

I spent most of my academic years in a uniform, in a desk that faced the front of the classroom and in a row where we were seated boy, girl, boy, girl. The teacher lectured, wrote notes on the board, and we (as students) carefully copied down the notes and listened intently. Unfortunately, in this situation, not every child is actually learning the material. Some may be trying to listen, some may be writing notes down, but that does not mean that this information is getting stored in their brain in a way that they will be able to easily recall it or utilize it in the future. According to Tech News, 30% of students K-12 are considered visual learners, 25% are considered auditory, 15% are kinesthetic and 30% have a mixed learning style. What is even more interesting is when you consider a child’s type of intelligence and plan your lessons to reach their individual needs.

Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences states that there are many different types of intelligence: visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, interpersonal, linguistic and logical-mathematical. I am a believer that when you plan lessons to meet these various types of intelligence that your students will be more engaged and excited about learning. 

In my classrooms, it had become my mission to take the subjects that were the “least” favorites at the beginning of the year and show my students that those subjects were actually a great deal of fun! One of my students’ favorite parts of the day was “Muscle Math.” During this time of the day, my students would recite math facts while acting like a wrestler. They would scrunch up their faces, show off their muscles and in very silly voices find the answers to the random math facts that I would give them. They could not wait to present their math facts each day! When it came time to do math drills, my second graders were all able to do 100 mixed multiplication facts 0-12 in five minutes or less. My top three students were able to do them in less than three minutes. Of course we had more than “Muscle Math” to help us learn, I also did math art projects, rap battles, songs, and grade level competitions. I try to teach so that every child in my classroom looks forward to our next day together. 

My goal in teaching is not limited to teaching the content standards, but is in creating a lifelong learner. The students in my classes have grown with me. They are incredible young boys and girls and I am so fortunate to know them. My favorite part of teaching is learning. When I was completing my undergraduate degree, I had a professor pull me aside and ask, “If you could do anything, truly anything, and there were no limitations on money, what would you do?” I quickly responded that I would be a student. He looked at me dumbfounded, but it was true. I love learning. I have an insatiable sense of curiosity and sitting in a classroom brings me joy. After that conversation, I knew I was destined to teach. I realized in that moment that my excitement for learning could light a fire for the children I teach. That being said, I am not a perfect teacher. I have not always taught lessons that I am proud of, but I always challenge myself to learn more- learn about my students, about my profession and about the world we live in. Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world.” and I truly believe it. It starts with a lesson and builds a lifelong commitment to learning. 

One of my hopes in creating this blog is that other’s can learn from my research. My plan is to post my reactions to interesting articles, research on popular consumer products like sippy cups, and what I have learned from my experience in working with children and what my own children have taught me. I hope that it speaks to you and that we can learn together.