I found this website when I was reading about the new Illinois Early Learning and Development Standards. It is from George Washington University in Washington D.C. and it has a really nice and concise description of why we have early learning standards for children, birth through age 8. If you scroll down you will find […]
I thought we should double-up this week since both of these Learning Standards are relatively brief and easy-to-understsand. Both of these can be found under State Goal 6 -Demonstrate beginning understanding of numbers, including names and numerals. Learning Standard C – Begin to make reasonable estimates of numbers. There is only one Benchmark for Learning Standard […]
Last night I began reading How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough. I am only about halfway through it but I am finding it incredibly interesting. The general premise is that children need more than “smarts” to be successful in school and in life. There are a variety […]
When I teach about Lev Vygotsky and his renowned theory of the “Zone of Proximal Development” I use puzzles as means of illustrating the principles in an understandable way. Remember this… As adults or more competent peers support a child’s learning, the child moves from one level in which he can complete tasks independently to […]
I love diversity. I love that is brings new ways of living and loving into our world, expands our understandings of humanity and provides us with new ways of thinking and being. This is good for everyone. The notion of the “traditional nuclear family” with 2 parents (a mom and a dad) and 2.5 children […]
Music is made up of elements. One of which, rhythm, we have looked at frequently over the past several months. Rhythm is made of time and movement. It is the aspect of music that makes you want to shake your booty. It includes the beat, which is the part that you feel in your bones […]
When I was little I loved to work on puzzles. To this day, puzzles make me happy- I love word puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, crossword puzzles, number puzzles, and any other puzzle you put in front of me. Since we have been thinking about puzzles as a great math manipulative this month, I did a search […]
Did you know that Thursday is “Pi Day”? I did not know that this was a thing, but I guess it is, bigtime. Schools all over the world will celebrate this magical day with mathematical excitement and geometrical good times. According to the Pi Day website Pi (π) is the ratio of a circle’s circumference […]
This morning, I received this update from ExchangeEveryday. I guess we are all thinking about puzzles and spatial awareness. Puzzling Results March 11, 2013 You must first have a lot of patience to learn to have patience. -Stanislaw J. Lec Susan Levine, Ph.D., from the University of Chicago, offered these insights on spatial thinking in […]
After looking at the Jumbo Knobby puzzles designed specifically for very young children last week, I wanted to take a look at the next type of puzzles you might introduce to your kids. Each small step children take with puzzles is a forward developmental movement both cognitively and physically, and oftentimes, socially. Once children have […]