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Reading Incentive Programs

Jun20

UPDATED 6/20/12

Do you have a student who needs a little incentive to read? How about food? Pizza Hut has a national reading incentive program for the summer and academic school year for grades 1-6. The summer reading program is called Summer Break Reading Challenge. There are online games, recipes, and activities to do throughout the summer. Any student that reads 5 or more books can enter a contest to win A Dairy of a Wimpy Kid package. During the academic year, Pizza Hut awards students with a free personal pizza. Yum! click here

PizzAchievemnt is a delicious school year reward program is open to home school teachers in areas that have LaRosa’s Pizzerias. This includes Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky; Middletown, OH; Beavercreek, OH; Centerville, OH; Englewood, OH; Huber Heights, OH; Kettering, OH; Mt. Orab, OH; Oxford, OH; Southeast Indiana (Batesville & Greendale). For more details click here

Not wanting to have food be an incentive? Sylvan Learning has a program called Book Adventures that helps students  K-8 pick books, take quizzes, and earn points for rewards. Find out more about the program by clicking here.

Interested in reading for helping others? I love this! Heifer International has a reading program where students help with the feeding and training of families less fortunate. Each reader finds people to sponsor each book they read and then collects the money and help with gifts of livestock and training.  This is a fantastic idea to get your student(s) involved with serving and helping others. click here

Berean Christian Stores has a reading program this summer. Here are the details from their website: read 8 age-appropriate books between May 16th and August 18th to earn one $5 Gift Card! Pretty easy, right? Next, if you read your Bible for 15 minutes a day for 50 days this summer, you can earn another $5 Berean Gift Card! Pick up your $5 Gift Cards on August 18th, 2012 on KID’S DAY ! Bring a friend who has never been to Berean and they will get a $5 Gift Card too! OR if you’re an online only customer, mail the form to our offices, postmarked by August 17th to get your $5 Berean Gift Cards online! For more details click here.

Barnes & Noble’s reading program allows children to earn a free book after they have completed reading 8 books. Click here for more details.

Half Price Books gives students 14 and under the opportunity to earn two $5.00 gift cards for reading in their Feed Your Brain program. How awesome is that? click here

LIBRARY PROGRAMS

I love the programs the library has to promote summer reading. I have listed several within the greater Cincinnati area.

If you live in Hamilton County there is a reading program for preschoolers through adults called Reading Rocks. Check it out!  click here

Do you live in Butler County? There is a summer reading program for ages preschool through teens. See more details

Perhaps you live in West Chester, Middletown, or Trenton? Here are the details for the Midpointe library system.

Mason’s library program began in late May, but it’s not too late to sign up.

Happy reading to all!

~Lisa~

Technology in your Homeschool? Educational apps reviews

Jun18

Technology is a wonderful tool to use in your classroom, but it can be overwhelming too! Today I thought I’d give you some websites that can help you make informed decisions about what games you’d like to let your children use for school and free time. There are so many fun and innovative apps for your children to use that can enhance and reinforce learning.

Common Sense Media The link I have given you is for the educational apps reviews, but the website has reviews for more a variety of media. Common Sense Media is a non-partisan organization that gives information about media so that you can make good choices for your family.

Here is a review site for educational apps for children 0-12 for your iPad and iPhone. Best Kids Apps  ** As a side note** Bookworm is recommended as a game for all ages and I concur. I have it on my iPod and iPad and play it when I can. I really enjoy it. Keeps the ol’ gray matter challenged.  🙂

OHMommy has written reviews of some of her favorite educational apps for preschoolers. I have seen a few of her recommendations on different websites as well and since she has some of her own testers. I am sure her recommendations would be worth looking into.

Do you have a child with Special needs? I found a website that will be helpful to you. I tutor several autistic students and this has given me ideas to use with them. Apps for Children with Special Needs

Have you found any websites or apps that your children enjoy? Please share!

~Lisa~

Legos: A Fun Tool for Math

Jun16

UPDATED WITH NEW INFORMATION 6/12

Do you have a child who is interested in building with Legos? Did you ever consider using them for various subjects such as math, science, language arts, social studies, and art? Here are a few benefits of playing with Legos.

MATH

  • Developing spatial intelligence
  • Visualizing mathematical concepts
  • Teaching /reinforcing mathematical operations such as counting, sorting, adding, multiplying, subtracting, and dividing.
  • Constructing geometric shapes. (square, rectangle, triangle)
  • Estimating
  • Following directions
  • Reading a diagram
  • Teaching area
  • Designing
  • Graphing- Graph the results of the science or the sorting activities

Now that I got you thinking about Legos, why not incorporate them into your school day or use as an after school activity? 🙂 Here are ideas to help you.

SCIENCE

  • Buoyancy- How long can your model float? Hold a regatta, invite other home school friends to join you, and give a little Lego set as a prize.
  • Velocity- How fast does your model travel? (airplane, space craft, race car)
  • Simple machines- inclined plane, wedge, screw. Inclined planes- How long does the plane need to be in order to construct your creation? Try different lengths and angles. Check out this website. It has a variety of models of simple machines.
  • Ecosystems- Build a habitat for your models to live in such as a jungle, a garden,
  • Volume- How much liquid can your model hold?
LANGUAGE ARTS
  • Writing/giving a description of the creation
  • Writing/narrating a story including the model
  • Writing/ telling step-by-step directions on how to construct the model
  • Write to Legoland and ask for a map of the park and any other materials. (One of my students was going there and had a map of the park before he went since he had written and requested one. How fun was that for him?)
SOCIAL STUDIES
  • Build a model of a settlement or town of the time period you are studying.
  • Construct a catapult while you are investigating the Middle Ages
ART
  • Draw a picture of the model
  • Color the picture of the model
  • Draw designs of future projects
  • Design new Lego characters
  • Create jewelry using Lego blocks

I am tutoring a 6th grade student who loves Legos. I find it interesting that he can easily make these complex models. He is amazing at not only building the models that were purchased, but being able to create his own. His mother has told him that he has to wait until I come to the house before he can program his robotic Lego since this is part of his school time with me. I love it because he always looks forward to me coming. The funny thing is that I was under the impression that he and I  were going to build this complex model together. We sat on the carpeted floor and he began to open up all these packages of small pieces of Legos. All I could think of was that we were going to lose the pieces. All he could think of was the robot.

At first I sat there worrying about how he and I were going to find the correct piece, read the directions, and try to assemble this pile of several hundred pieces (more likely thousands of pieces) into something like the picture that was featured on the kit. My worry changed to astonishment and then admiration as I watched him construct this robot from the directions that were provided. He didn’t need my help at all, and in fact, I was pretty much in the way. He showed me which piece was needed and how the pieces fit together. I wasn’t the tutor that day, but rather the student. This was a wonderful way for him to not only build, but also explain and demonstrate what was occurring. Don’t you love how this activity is not only for math, but language arts as well? My student was kind to me though, and let me feel useful by giving me the task of assembling some wheels and holding some of the tiny parts that I was concerned about losing.

NEW INFORMATION

Bricks4Kidz is a homeschool owned and operated company providing learning programs that teach elementary school aged kids principles of science, technology, engineering, math and more using LEGO® components.  Their programs provide an extraordinary atmosphere for students to build unique creations, play games, and have loads of fun using LEGO® bricks. Check it out!

Websites

Do you have a student who has been playing with Legos and is wanting a challenge? Why not have them enter a Lego contest? The whole family can be involved in this project since it involves creating a 2.5 minute video.  Have fun and post a picture of your creations that you enter for the contest.

Here is a website that has activities for younger students to work with Legos, but you can adapt these to students of various ages. littlebrickschoolhouse

Have you seen legoquest yet? This is a blog that is sure to inspire your creative builders. A challenge is given, models are built, and pictures can be sent to the blog for all to see. There are tabs on the side for further exploration as well.

Check out First Lego League The intent of creating Lego teams is to foster an excitement for science and technology. There are teams that compete from all over the world. You can go to this website to lean more about it.

Have you thought Legos are just for young students? Look at this website. Your senior high student will benefit from this if (s)he is interested in engineering and/or math.

Has anyone used Legos for school and would like to post an idea? I’d love to hear about it. Does your Lego engineer  or artist need an audience to view their masterpiece? Post a picture and I’ll be sure to comment. Now, what to do with all those pieces that are on the floor…

Free Devotional Magazine

Jun5

Looking for something to help you teach and reinforce the  bible? Keys for Kids is a devotional magazine has been around for a long time and I have used them in the past with my sons. I am pleased to announce that they are offering a free 1 year subscription. You may also send them a donation (suggested $18.00). 🙂 You can download a sample copy to see if you would like to have this resource sent to your home. To find out more about the magazine click here.

Spelling

May30

One concern that I hear voiced by home school moms is the issue of spelling. How do you help a poor speller become a better speller? I have read many articles about this and the general consensus is that you are either a natural speller or you aren’t. It’s similar to a person who has a natural tendency toward math or science. This doesn’t mean that you give up and don’t do anything about it. There are methods that will help them improve.

First, be certain they know the sounds each letter makes. Does your student “hear” the difference between the vowels? The short /e/ and /i/ sound similar so be sure and provide a great deal of practice before moving forward. Also teach a simple rule that each syllable must have a vowel.

Secondly, teach the phonics rules and patterns that make the sounds. Write lots of words that are examples of that rule and have your child copy the words while saying each letter out loud when writing it. For example: /a/  as in cat, bat, rat, tack, flat, etc. Review and quiz before moving on to the next spelling rule.

Third, some words do not follow a set of rules and are easier if memorized. There are 220 words and 95 nouns used in 50-70 percent of our everyday reading and are known as Dolch sight words. Have your speller practice these each day- beginning with 5 words and then adding 5 more the next day if s/he is ready. Have your student do 10-20 words a week, depending upon their ability. Don’t rush the process as it is like anything else that is being learned; it takes time. Here is a link for the Dolch words with flashcards that you can print. click here. Once your student has finished one list, move on to the next until they have mastered reading and spelling them.

Lastly, practice, practice, practice! We retain 90% or higher when we say aloud what we are learning. So, spelling words out loud while writing each of them, having spelling bees (competitions), or jumping rope while spelling are all great ways to reinforce what is being learned. Here are some games to make and play as well.

Bingo Games

Wordsearches

Summer Spelling Pages

Looking for a curriculum or want some help in choosing one? Happy with your spelling program, but are looking for a supplement? Here is a list and a review of products from The Old Schoolhouse magazine. I have also added some choices to the list. This is by no means an exhaustive list so if you have a curriculum you like and find beneficial to your family please post a comment about it for others to read. Thanks!