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First Aid, Safety and Fire Safety: Requirements in Ohio

May5

We are headed toward the end of the year and portfolio reviews have begun for many families.  Each year I have someone who asks me about the First Aid, Safety and Fire Safety portion on the notification  form. Yes, we are required to teach this in one form or fashion.  You don’t need to have a textbook to study these topics so I am including some ideas for you to consider.

First Aid

Prepare a first aid kit to put in your car. Include the following items: various sizes of  band aids, antiseptic wipes, antibiotic cream, sunscreen, Q-tips, and cotton swabs. Keep an extra set of clothes in the car for each member of the family. You never know when you might need them! Maybe someone will ask your kids to spend the night on the spur of the moment… Keep trail mix and bottles of water for those days when the kids and you are famished after swimming or hiking or need a quick burst of energy.

Safety There are so many different ways to meet this requirement! Some topics to discuss with your children are:

Household– hot stoves, knives, curling irons, kitchen cleaners, electrical outlets, not leaving things on the floor or the steps, etc. are all important topics to include.

Stranger safety– Discuss having a family code in case someone would need to pick up your children in an emergency. Discuss who is a stranger and when can you talk to them (or not).

Internet Safety– Consider investing in a family internet blocking software. There are quite a number to choose from and each one is a little different. There will be times, however, when your children are away from the house and may be on a computer. Review sites they are allowed to visit and ones they are not.

Bicycle and Road Safety– This is an opportune time to discuss the rules for bike riding since the weather is getting nice. Discuss wearing helmets; what side of the road to ride your bike if there are no sidewalks; and rules for being on the street if you are biking (hand signals, stopping at stop signs, being a defensive driver). Have your children try on their helmets to see if they still fit and check to see if there are any cracks in the helmets. One time the boys and I went for a bike ride and my oldest son was always one to go as fast as he could and put as much distance as he possibly could between him and us. Where we live is hilly and so you are either going up a hill or coming down one to get to our street. Ian tore down the hill with Malcolm pedaling as fast as his little legs could go. Malcolm was out of control as he tried to catch up to his big brother. and all I could “Watch out!” I screamed as I saw Malcolm head straight for the metal transformer box cover.

Boom! Malcolm went flying off the bike and his head hit the big green box. Malcolm was lying in the grass and not moving as I skidded to halt and looked down at him. All I could think of was a brain or neck injury because there is no give with those covers. The good news is that he was wearing his helmet and he was okay after lying still for a minute. That helmet really did protect Malcolm from serious head trauma because when I looked at the helmet, it had split in half!  I am so glad I had insisted that everyone wear their helmets.

Fire Safety I have covered this before, but just a quick reminder to have a home fire drill. Talk about different ways to escape, where to meet in case there would be a fire, and no going back in the house- no matter what! Practice stop, drop, and roll, and how to dial 9-1-1 and what to say to the dispatcher.

Be safe!
~Lisa

 

 

 

Teacher Resources: Electronic Lessons and More!

Apr21

womanEDSITEment! 

edsitement.neh.gov—This site is so much fun to visit! A project of the National Endowment for the Humanities,  also funded in part by Verizon’s Thinkfinity, I recommend this resource for developing a social studies curriculum. The topics seem virtually limitless, and each lesson plan includes guiding questions, learning objectives, instructions for how to prepare to teach the topic, assessments of student progress, and even tips on how to expand the lesson with additional reading or activities. Everything you need is contained in one clear, concise package of information. This is a tremendous resource, whether for school or simply for personal enrichment.

 Discovery Education 

www.discoveryeducation.com—With the same quality and commitment to respecting the wonder of nature as other Discovery mediums, Discovery Education has to be experienced to be believed. Their website explains their offerings as “award-winning digital content, interactive lessons, real-time assessment, virtual experiences with some of Discovery’s greatest talent, classroom contests & challenges, professional development and more.” And indeed it is so much more! There is an opportunity to subscribe to unlock additional resources, but with such an incredible amount of information available for free, I don’t feel like I’ve missed a thing by not being a subscriber.

Find access on the go to all of Discovery’s fantastic resources at www.discovery.com/mobile. Apps, games, mobile video, mobile web, and more can be accessed at this page.

 FREE 

free.ed.gov—Not only is it the name of the website, but it’s also the price tag on more than 1,500 learning resources from dozens of federal agencies all brought together in one easy to navigate website. FREE is actually the acronym for Federal Resources for Educational Excellence. The homepage is far less flashy than the other websites featured here, but don’t let its simplicity fool you. It is a straightforward portal into a vast array of information broken down by subject. It gives you a brief synopsis of the resource itself before you click through to the next website. This feature is particularly beneficial if you are exploring or brainstorming lesson plan topics.

 

 The Old Schoolhouse® Magazinetechnology resources 

www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com—If you are reading this article, chances are you are already a fan of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine and its auxiliary products. Their former online resource, Teacher’s Toolbox, has recently undergone a transformation. It has blossomed intowww.SchoolhouseTeachers.com, one of the most comprehensive web-based resources for homeschoolers available. As part of your subscription to the now completely digital monthly magazine (an extremely valuable resource in itself), you also will have access to the website and all its content, including printables, website links, devotions, a free E-Book each month, access to back issues of the magazine, webquests, units of study, and more. The site even has recipes! Plan dinner while delivering a quality education to your children, or incorporate cooking into your lesson plans and address math, science, international culture, and more (yes, there are suggestions for this too!).

The Old Schoolhouse® also has an app for Android, Apple, and Kindle Fire devices so that you can access the support and encouragement of their publication from anywhere.

These resources put a world of information right at your fingertips. There is no reason to feel overwhelmed or alone in the homeschooling experience. The numbers are growing quickly, as are the resources to support you and your children in your quest for a world-class education delivered on your terms. I encourage you to explore, enjoy, and utilize these tools. I am confident that they will enrich your homeschooling experience and demonstrate the role that technology can play in the quality education of our students.

 

Teacher Resources: Phone and Tablet Apps

Apr14

UnknownWhere do you begin to look for good apps among the plethora of apps that are available? I have found a few sights that have apps from preschool all the way to high school. Best Apps for Kids has a review for each app and offers educational apps as well as ones to entertain. Family Education also has a list of educational apps, many that are free. Best Apps for Kids even have a Free App Friday! Speaking of free apps, here are a few to check out:

  • Kids ABC Letters Lite Preschoolers will enjoy this jigsaw puzzle approach to letters. The light version only has letters A to H, but you can download the complete version if you like it.
  • Play 123 This won a 2013 Editor’s Choice Award from Children’s Technology Review and teaches preschoolers their colors, numbers, and shapes.
  • Fun Brain Jr. Looks like so much fun as it teaches number sense, alphabetical order, and pattern sets.
  • Stack the States This app teaches and reinforces the location of the United States with a fun colorful game.
  • Word Ball The Electric Company from PBS has a game that teaches spelling for children ages 6 to 8.
  • Brain POP Movie This extremely popular app has a new educational movie to watch each day. Kids view a short documentary and there is a quiz afterwards and each movie can be archived to watch later.  It received a 5 star rating from Common Sense Media.

Enjoy your day and I hope you find an app that will benefit your student’s education. If you have found some apps that you like, please share. 🙂

 

 

 

Lapbooks

Apr6

Italy lapbook coverI like looking for new resources that enhance my teaching. There are a few websites that I have as a “go to” when looking for ideas, so over the next few weeks I will share with you some of my finds. Today I am featuring lapbooks.

Unit Studies/Lapbooking

Home School Share is one of my favorites because the authors of these lapbooks have background information, ideas, and activities to accompany each of the lapbooks. There are several levels, beginning with preschool all the way through independent learners. There is a book that goes along with the lapbook, but if I can’t find the book at the library I have either substituted the book or not used one at all. Lapbooks are versatile and multi-grade leveled, which is perfect when teaching children of various ages and academic levels. I have used them with young students who cannot read yet all the way up to junior high students. If you are teaching several students, you can adjust the level at which you have them write the information and cut out the mini books. You will probably want to cut them out for your younger students and be their scribe. This lapbook was made by a 7th grader so you can judge accordingly to what you think your student is capable of completing. If it looks like too much, then use fewer mini books.

Italy lapbook inside

The above picture is the inside of the lapbook about Italy. Each of these pieces of paper has information the student has written inside of the mini book. This teaches summarizing and research, plus it’s a great way to have students write a report without all the fuss from them on the length of the paper. 🙂

Italy lapbook back

This is the back cover that has vocabulary words the students had to find. The following website is helpful to translate; give the definition of the word if you need it ; and the audio pronunciation of the word. Click here

Another nice aspect of this particular website is that it is FREE! The only cost will be ink and paper you need to print the sheets and a file folder that acts as your lapbook. You can download as many or as few of the templates as you like. I have written about lapbooks before and have other websites to explore. Check out these too:

Play Ball! (translated: Go Outside and Exercise!)

Mar31

1195445636200577762johnny_automatic_playing_ball.svg.medToday is Opening Day for the Cincinnati Reds and is a big deal to the city. There is a parade, former players come back to see the game and be involved in festivities, and some parents take their kids out of school to attend the game and be a part of the fun.  Opening day always signals the beginning of Spring to me. We are finally seeing glimpses of that season and I am happy to see the temperatures are going to be in the 60’s after seeing cold temperatures and snow for many, many months.

How about celebrating Spring by going outside and playing some ball? Maybe you don’t have enough children for a baseball team, but all sorts of other games can be played involving balls.

Ball Games to Play

Volleyball This may be difficult to play unless you invite some friends over and you have a volleyball net, but you can play a variation of the game. Draw a line on the sidewalk and see how many times the ball can be hit in the air from one side to the other without it falling to the ground. A point is scored when the opponent cannot return the ball or steps over the line, or the ball goes out-of-bounds.

Catch Just toss a ball back and forth. You only need two people to play this game, which is great if you have an only child.  Have your child count how many times s/he is able to catch it. An added bonus is that you can include math in there too!

Pickle A variation of catch, but is played with three people. One person is in the middle and tries to intercept the ball as it is being tossed back and forth by the other two players. You can keep score by seeing ho many times each person intercepts the ball if you want.

Two Square You can use the sidewalk as a dividing line or you can draw your own square on the driveway. The idea is to stand parallel to the line and drop a large rubber ball on the ground and then hit it to your opponent. If the other person doesn’t hit it on the first bounce, you get a point. The first one to 10 (or what number you decide), wins. Did you know you can even purchase a ball that is perfect for that activity? It is called a playground ball.

Four Square This is a variation of Two Square and you can bounce the ball is any of the other squares. This makes the game a bit livelier, since you have to keep alert. You can do “dropsies” where you get low to the ground and drop the ball in the opponent’s square.  You can also bounce it really high, trying to bounce the ball in the other person’s square and not giving them an opportunity to hit it before it goes out-of-bounds. Your opponent cannot catch the ball, but must hit it with their hand. Make up your own variations and moves with the game. Maybe the players have to hit it with their elbows instead of their hands.

Tennis If you don’t have a tennis court nearby, play driveway tennis.

Relay Races Why not use a baseball or a tennis ball and have the children balance the ball on the top of their shoe? The first player who completes an up and back lap wins. You can also have the players bounce a ball up and back, the winner is the one who crosses the line first.

Dodge Ball This is not one of my favorites because it seems like someone usually gets hurt, but if you monitor how hard the ball can be thrown, the kids love playing. Decide on boundaries before beginning as anyone who steps/runs out of the boundary sit sour until the game is finished. One person is the thrower and the other players attempt to dodge the ball until there is only one player left. The player who is left is the person who gets to throw the ball the next time.

Kickball This is played just like baseball, but you play with a larger ball and kick it instead of hitting the ball. This can be modified if you do not have many people to play.

Get out there and enjoy the weather! You will not only have fun, but the children are having physical education and you can burn off some extra calories too if you join in the fun!

~Lisa