Benefits of PUZZLES

Why incorporate the use of puzzles into your child or students' day?

There are plenty of benefits!

- mental exercise

- visual-spatial reasoning

- attention to detail

- improve memory

- increase your IQ

- improve problem-solving skills

- better collaboration and teamwork

- increased productivity

...and the list goes on!

Currently, my kiddos at ages 2 and 9 months, use wooden puzzles almost every day. They love them! My 2 year old has also graduated to 70-100 piece puzzles. Our favorites are the Mudpuppy brand of puzzle. She has Mudpuppy puzzles about the USA (She has learned a lot of states this way), animals in the African Savannah, woodland animals, rainforest animals, and more. I highly recommend these puzzles. They are beautiful, engaging, and an excellent learning resource. They come with information sheets on the animals.

So, go grab some puzzles on Amazon or a local yard sale! They're great for purposeful play!

Magical Milk

THIS IS AN AWESOME ACTIVITY!

You will need:

-Milk (whole is preferable, or 2%)

-Food coloring

-Shallow dish or bowl

-Dish soap

-Toothpick or q-tip

Pour milk into the shallow dish or bowl so that the bottom is completely covered. Next, add a few drops of food coloring, about 2-4 drops of each color.

You can add the dish soap right to the center of the milk, or you can dab a toothpick/q-tip in soap and then gently touch the middle of the milk with it.

Watch as the colors DANCE and move quickly across the surface of the milk. Continue to swirl the colors. Eventually, it will no longer work.

Violet literally wants to do this experiment DAILY. Multiple times a day! (Check her out down below, doing the experiment with me last weekend.)

Also, for the older kids, you can definitely go into MAJOR science details about the surface tension, how the soap and milk interact because the soap is attacking those fat molecules in the milk (AKA why whole milk works best), and more!

Here is my link for the experiment, if you want more structure for students or kids.

Happy experimenting!

Mentor Text Alert: Jabari Jumps

Jabari Jumps by Gaia Cornwall is an amazing picture book! It is great for teaching skills such as persevering through a challenge, facing your fears, and supporting each other. The text will lend itself well to discussions around fears that kids may have and how they can overcome those fears either on their own or with support.

In this book, the boy is so excited to jump off the diving board, but then he realizes that he is quite frightened. The book explores how he overcomes this fear and ultimately has success. It really does demonstrate to kids that they can do anything.

Common themes include: courage, perseverance, supportiveness, and so on. Remember, any theme can work as long as you have evidence from the text to support it!

Included below is a sampling from this text. I highly recommend adding it to your library ASAP! (Also, my version is from First Book marketplace. Check it out for discounted texts for teachers in Title 1 schools. It is the best!)

Mentor Text Alert: Field Trip to the Moon

WORDLESS PICTURE BOOKS ARE MY JAM!

Yes, I said it. I love them. No matter the grade level I was teaching, I relied heavily on wordless picture books for teaching many comprehension strategies. Most notedly, questioning and retelling. Also inferencing. Really, anything!

I love John Hare. His other wordless picture book that I am obsessed with is Field Trip to the Ocean Deep. These books are gorgeous. Beautiful pictures, intriguing stories, and they really get kids thinking. My 2-year old is completely engaged and rereads them over and over. Teachers at school are using them for questioning strategies during virtual learning. Check them out! 

Below is a sample from Field Trip to the Moon. I ordered this through First Book marketplace. I teach in a title 1 school, so I am able to sign up for a membership through First Book and order wonderful texts and supplies at a steep discount. If you have not visited this website, it is dangerous but amazing. I routinely order giant boxes of books for a fraction of the price!

Piccolina Kids Trailblazers Shirt

Piccolina Kids is my new favorite place to shop for Violet. Check out the Malala shirt I am planning on putting in her Easter basket this year, along with a few texts to read together! They can be a little more expensive than I tend to spend on kids clothes, so here is a referral link. Full disclosure, if you spend $40 you get $10 off, and so do I. Also, there are some killer sales going on right now!

Click here for $10 off Piccolina Kids!

Versatiles: A Photo Essay

My previous post talked Versatiles in the classroom, but also with your own kiddos. Here is some more photo evidence of a real life child loving learning and how they work!

In the photo below, my daughter is using them for beginning reader practice. She places the plastic case on top of the questions (top of the page) and answers (bottom of the page). 

We line up the tiles in number order on the carpet (Also good practice for 1:1 correspondence, counting, and identifying numbers, for our littlest ones). 

As she answers each question and finds the correct answer, she puts the corresponding tile on the correct answer. 

When she finishes the page, she locks the plastic case, flips it over, and checks the answer key on the bottom of the page. If she's right, there is a pretty design on the reverse side. If she's wrong, she will notice that he picture does not match the answer key and need to fix something.

BY the way, Piccolina Kids is my new favorite place to shop for Violet. Check out that RBG shirt she is rocking while learning her initial sounds! They can be a little more expensive than I tend to spend on kids clothes, so here is a referral link. Full disclosure, if you spend $40 you get $10 off, and so do I. Also, there are some killer sales going on right now!

Click here for $10 off Piccolina Kids!