Reading Eggs: Try it for free you might like it!

reading eggs 2

Are you looking for a unique, fun, interesting way to help your child learn how to read? Reading Eggs were a hit with my family! The girls loved learning how to read, playing the games, earning “eggs” or points and creating their own world. What was especially fun for my youngest was “writing” her own books using either the suggestions offered or creating it straight from her very active imagination. After we tried it we know several other families that tried it too. It seemed like our who play group was hooked!

My Readers receive a Free Two-Week Trial Offer Register now for a free two-week trial of our program – no credit card required!

Here are a few hightlights about Reading Eggs:

  •  The Reading Eggs program has been developed by a highly experienced team of teachers, educational writers, animators and web developers.
  • Reading Eggs focuses on a core reading curriculum of skills and strategies essential for sustained reading success and is suitable for children aged 3 through 12.
  • They have over 500,000 subscribers and have presented over 15 million lesson in North America.
  •  You can read my entire review  to find out even more!

I know that there are a few reading programs out there that you may have wanted to try, but hesitate because you don’t want to provide your creidt card.  You also don’t want to set up an auto payment plan or anything else.  Reading Eggs has taken all that out of the equation.   My Readers receive a Free Two-Week Trial Offer Register now for a free two-week trial of our program - no credit card required!

 

reading eggs

 

Disclosure:  I was given the opportunity to review this product from Reading Eggs. However, any thoughts, opinions and/or testimonials expressed in this post are solely my own. 

 

 

Free Titantic education guide: Learn at home and away at the Titantic Musuem

free titanic education guide

We had an amazing time at the Titanic Museum in Branson.   We spent several hours there enjoying the interactive exhibits, beautiful recreations and learning more about the stories behind the people on board.   It is an amazing place for both children and kids, and honestly one of our favorite attractions while in Branson, MO with the grandparents during spring break.

Read our full reviews here — one from mom and one from dad.

But what we didn’t know until we got home was that the Titanic Museum also offers a free education guide online!   Using the Titanic Guide you can study the topics of language arts and social studies, science, geography, math, and religion.  There is even a special section for homeschooling as well as resources for teachers and parents.  Each one of them offers facts and figures as well as prompts to help you make learning these topics using the Titantic as a base.   For specific learning activities Continue Reading …

Woman’s History Month: Fast facts about Pocahontas

pocahantas

Image courtesy of Wikipedia Public Domain images

Indian princess and legend Pocahontas led an interesting life. From a young tomboy who loved to run and shoot arrows to a kidnapped teen who learned a new language and culture to a traveling ambassador who met the English royal family, the biography of Pocahontas is fascinating. Here are 15 interesting facts about the life of Powhatan princess, Pocahontas.

Let these fast facts become the basis for a writing prompt, research project, or poster board assignment or even a diaroma. 

1. Pocahontas was Continue Reading …

Black History Month activities, reading and lessons for elementary

Ella Fitzgerald – Image courtesy of Wikipedia Public Domain

Gigi came home during the week of Martin Luther King Jr with some wonderful stories to tell us about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. This was just the beginning of her introduction to Black History Month. These lesson plans, readings and activities are intended for primary grade students.

Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa is an excellent example of a quality book that conveys black history in kid-appealing way. Ella’s story is told through the perspective of a cat, “Skat Cat Monroe,” who pulls in readers in with rhythm and rhyme: “Got my name from knowin’ Ella. Ella Fitzgerald. The Queen of Skat. What’s scat? you ask. Skat’s the sound that don’t hold back. Ella’s sound- that was skat. Singing so supreme. Music’s velvet-ribbon dream.” Continue reading Black History Month lesson plans featuring Ella Fitzgerald.

These plans are written with first through third graders in mind, but can easily be modified for younger or older learners.

Besides timing and consistency, quality of resources is another consideration when planning for black history month. Avoid choosing books that are not appealing or are not age appropriate just because they include black history. I found and fell in love with the book Dizzy by Jonah Winter. When I saw how well children responded to this book, I developed these lesson plans around it. As a teacher, I love to begin my planning around a quality, kid-attractive book. Continue reading Black History Month lesson plans on Dizzy Gillespie.

Teaching writing with SillyBandz

Thinking about buying SillyBandz as stocking stuffers this year? There not just trendy jewelry if you use these ideas for Using SillyBandz to teach writing.

SillyBandz, those little rubber band like bracelets that hold their shapes after you wear them, may seem really silly but kids are crazy about them. Some schools banned Silly Bandz, arguing that they are a distraction. The biggest thing I don’t like about Silly Bandz is the same thing I dislike about Barney the purple dinosaur; that I didn’t think of it myself.

My kids have fallen into the SillyBandz craze too. I decided if there were going to be hundreds of them in my house and on my children’s wrists, they might as well make themselves useful.

I started thinking about how SillyBandz could be used in an educational way and how I could use my children’s love of SillyBandz to inspire learning. Continue Reading …

Easy Thanksgiving Day Crafts & Activities

Looking for an easy Thanksgiving craft for that won’t just hang on a wall but will get kids dancing? Try “Turkey Tail Feather Belts!

You can make turkey tail feather dancing belts with items you already have at home. You can use cardboard (that can be cut with scissors), poster board or construction paper.

Older children can draw feather shapes, Continue Reading …

The advantages of reading online for children

Nothing can replace that cuddle up time with our kids and a great book. Visiting the library to check out a variety of quality books and enjoying them together is so important. Many things we used to do the old fashioned way can now be done online and that includes being able to read books online. The great news is that reading books online doesn’t have to replace our time with a book in our hands but it can supplement it very nicely. Kids enjoy having books read to them online too and like listening to books on CD in the car, it’s one more way to have to kids listening and reading along everyday. The bonus of listening to stories online  is having that print that corresponds to the reading right in front of them. I’ve been very impressed by the quality of book readers and how great they use expression that captivates by young readers. When my kids have finished their homework or completed their chores, they think finding books online is a treat and I know that it’s really beneficial too.

What are some websites your children enjoy reading from?

Thanksgiving Lesson Plans: Parts of speech turkeys

Parts of Speech Turkeys Thanksgiving Bulletin Boards

Teaching grammar and parts of speech can be, well as dry and bland as overcooked turkey. You can make parts of speech lessons more fun with a turkey bulletin board that features parts of speech turkeys. Give each
student a studied part of speech such as nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs. Teachers won’t be left out here, they can create a turkey with only three feathers, featuring the articles, a, an, and the.

Let each student create a Thanksgiving turkey craft and add assigned parts of speech on each feather. For example, a noun parts of speech turkey will say “nouns” on the body and will have feathers that each have a noun written on them such as pilgrims, ships or feast.

Once all of the parts of speech turkeys are displayed on the bulletin, the fun and learning can continue. Challenge students to create a funny sentence using one article, one adjective, one verb and one adverb from the list of words on the Thanksgiving bulletin board. Either read each example aloud or let students read thier own. You may find sensible sentences like the “The tired pilgrims ate slowly,” or you may find silly sentences like “A mean pumpkin sang badly.” Either way, this Thanksgiving bulletin board will allow students to gobble up a language arts lesson without the heartburn of boring work sheets. Cute turkeys adorned with colorful tail feathers often perch on Thanksgiving bulletin boards. Why not give the process some meaning and some math skills practice too? Choose numbers for denominators. For example let’s use 9, 10, 11 and 12. Create strips of paper with fractions such as 3/9, 5/10, 2/11 or 9/12. Now choose a magical math color such as red. Give all students a math fraction and have them create a Thanksgiving turkey craft that will illustrate their fraction.

For example, a student who is given the fraction of 3/9 will create a turkey with 3 red feathers and 6 feathers of various other colors. Under each fraction turkey that hung on the Thanksgiving bulletin board, have the students write a number, one through (how many ever turkeys there are).

Now you have a fun math lesson as well. Let students number their paper and write down the fraction for each turkey. You have an interesting Thanksgiving bulletin board, a hands on fractions lesson, an art project and finally a written fraction practice review that’s much more fun than another work sheet. Everyone can be thankful.

Thanksgiving Lesson Plans: Fraction Turkeys

Soon classrooms and hallways will host bulletin boards with a Thanksgiving theme. Thanksgiving bulletin boards should be attractive and adorned with a bounty of fall colors and Thanksgiving symbols, but Thanksgiving bulletins boards shouldn’t be a cornucopia of work for teachers or take as long as it does to defrost a frozen turkey. Thanksgiving bulletin boards, like all others, should offer students a chance to participate and practice worthwhile skills and show off their own creativity. Ideally a bulletin board will also offer learning for the students who admire it as well.

Here are some Thanksgiving bulletin boards from an experienced and creative teacher that offer learning opportunities across the curriculum. This is turkey business, not monkey business, so forget the busy work of everybody’s is the same coloring pages and give kids a chance to enjoy a feast of learning and creativity while they create unique Thanksgiving bulletin boards.

Fraction Turkey Thanksgiving Bulletin Boards

Cute turkeys adorned with colorful tail feathers often adorn Thanksgiving bulletin boards. Why not give the process some meaning and some math skills practice too? Choose numbers for denominators. For example let’s use 9, 10, 11 and 12. Create strips of paper with fractions such as 3/9, 5/10, 2/11 or 9/12. Now choose a magical math color such as red. Give all students a math fraction and have them create a Thanksgiving turkey craft that will illustrate their fraction.

For example, a student who is given the fraction of 3/9 will create a turkey with 3 red feathers and 6 feathers of various other colors. Under each fraction turkey that hung on the Thanksgiving bulletin board, have the students write a number, one through (how many every turkeys there are).

Now you have a fun math lesson as well. Let students number their paper and write down the fraction for each turkey. You have an interesting Thanksgiving bulletin board, a hands on fractions lesson, an art project and finally a written fraction practice review that’s much more fun than another work sheet. Everyone can be thankful.

Elementary: Language arts exercises for November featuring turkeys

Let’s talk Turkey 

Your child draws their hands on a piece of paper, making 2 “turkeys” with eight feathers, and two heads.  They then write on each feather a spelling word from the week.

Word finds 

Have your child draw a picture or use a printable coloring page about Thanksgiving.  Inside the picture using a black fine tip marker write a selection of spelling words and then lightly color the picture.  You can even turn it into a game (my daughter’s did) taking turns trying to find the spelling words.  To make it a little harder for the more advanced or older student include words that are NOT spelling words and see if they can find only the spelling words in this word find exercise.

Silly sentences

Write a selection of silly sentences using the spelling words.  Older students can even make a contest out of it to see how many spelling words they can get into one silly sentence and it still (almost) make sense.  You can theme this by asking them to write sentences about Turkeys or Pilgrims or any other Thanksgiving Day topic.

Example: Turkeys wearing vest played in the ocean with green ducks.  (Spelling words bolded)

Constant Consonants/Very Vowels  

Write out the spelling words on a piece of paper or if at home save the paper and use the chalk board or dry erase easel.  Using a crayon, colored pencil, colored pen, highlighter, colored chalk or colored dry erase marker have your child 1) either circle or the consonants or 2) they can circle the vowels.

Storytime

Write a story about Tom the Turkey, Penny or Paul the Pilgrim, or even a Fall theme using the spelling words.  Underline the words in the story.

Not only are these activities fun, but it reinforces many language arts skills like spelling, vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, story telling and memory skills.

Have a special time spelling!