Why Story Starters are Helpful for Kids

Crafting the beginning of a story can be challenging for children. The pressure to hook the reader while introducing characters, settings, and conflicts can feel overwhelming. Story starters alleviate this pressure by offering pre-written openings, allowing children to focus solely on building upon the provided foundation.

Here’s why story starters are beneficial:

1. Spark Creativity: By presenting intriguing scenarios or dialogue, story starters ignite the imagination and inspire unique narrative ideas.

2. Reduce Writer’s Block: The fear of a blank page is real, even for young writers. Story starters provide a starting point, eliminating the intimidation of beginning from scratch.

3. Encourage Writing Exploration: With various story starters, children can explore different genres, perspectives, and styles, broadening their writing repertoire.

How to Use Story Starters to Get Kids Writing

Incorporating story starters into your child's writing routine can be both enjoyable and educational. Here are several ways to utilize them effectively:

1. Writing Station: Create a dedicated writing space at home where your child can freely explore their creativity. Introduce story starters through activities like story bags or opening line cards to add an element of surprise and choice.

2. Story Planner: Use story starters as prompts within a structured writing lesson. Incorporate them into story planners to help children grasp plot structure and character development while providing a starting point for their narratives.

3. Warm-Up Exercises: Kickstart writing sessions with a quick warm-up using story starters. Encourage your child to free-write for a few minutes based on the provided prompt, priming their creativity for the main writing activity.

4. Skill Development: Tailor story starters to focus on specific writing skills your child is working on, such as using descriptive language or developing characters. Provide prompts that challenge them to expand their vocabulary and storytelling abilities.

5. Collaborative Projects: Engage in collaborative writing projects where multiple children contribute to a story based on a shared story starter. Encourage creativity and teamwork as they collectively shape the narrative.

6. Longer Writing Challenges: Challenge older children to connect multiple story starters into a cohesive narrative. Prompt them to plan a story with each starter serving as the beginning of a new chapter, fostering continuity and storytelling innovation.

7. Visual Prompts: Explore storytelling through visual mediums by using images as story starters. Encourage your child to write a narrative inspired by a captivating picture, allowing their imagination to roam freely.

Cultivating a Love for Storytelling

Story starters are powerful tools for nurturing your child's storytelling skills and instilling a love for writing. By providing a starting point for their creative endeavors, you empower them to explore new worlds, express their ideas, and develop their unique voice as writers. So, next time your child faces a blank page, introduce them to the magic of story starters and watch their imagination soar.

Enhancing Your Child's Reading Fluency: The Power of Reading Aloud Together

As a parent, you play a crucial role in helping your child develop reading fluency. By engaging in daily read-aloud sessions, you provide them with a model of fluent reading that they can emulate. Here are some tips on how to support your child's reading fluency:

1. Model Expression and Speed: Demonstrate how to vary expression and pace while reading. Show them how to adjust their voice for different characters and situations in the story. Encourage them to match your expressions and speed as you read aloud.

2. Choose Appropriate Books: Select books that are at the right level for your child. Ensure that they can comfortably read most of the words in the book with only a slight challenge. This prevents frustration and encourages confidence in their reading abilities.

3. Provide Feedback: Encourage your child to move beyond "robot reading" by giving them constructive feedback. Help them understand the importance of infusing emotion and rhythm into their reading. Offer specific guidance on areas where they can improve, such as pausing at the end of sentences.

4. Repeat for Perfection: Practice makes perfect when it comes to reading fluency. Encourage your child to repeat sentences until they sound just right. This helps them develop a natural flow and expression in their reading.

5. Engage in Chorus and Echo Reading: Practice reading together as a chorus or have your child echo sentences after you. This interactive approach helps improve fluency and encourages active participation in reading.

6. Explore Poetry: Encourage your child to re-read their favorite poems regularly. Poetry provides opportunities for them to control their voice, tempo, and expression while enjoying the beauty of language.

7. Encourage Performance Reading: Turn reading into a performance by acting out scenes from books. Let your child take on different roles and use props to enhance their storytelling experience.

8. Utilize Audiobooks: Listen to audiobooks together and follow along with the text. Hearing skilled storytellers read with expression can inspire your child to adopt similar reading habits.

By implementing these strategies and emphasizing the joy of expressive reading, you can help your child develop strong reading fluency skills that will serve them well throughout their academic and personal lives.

Using Roll a Dice Activities to Build Writing Stamina

Ever hear your child say, "I don’t know what to write about!" during writing time? It's a common frustration, and believe me, they're probably not just making excuses. So, how can we help them break through this creative block?

Let's talk about story starters. These nifty tools can work wonders for unlocking your child's imagination. Whether they're working on a narrative fiction unit in class or just doing some independent writing at home, story starters provide the essential building blocks of a story: characters, setting, and problem. With this basic framework in hand, your child can start brainstorming ideas and watch their stories come to life. Plus, the more they write, the more confident they'll become as writers. Who knows? They might even surprise themselves with the stories they create!

Now, here's where it gets exciting—Roll-a-Story writing. Picture this: your child grabs some story templates and a dice, and with just a few rolls, they've got the foundation of their story all set. It's quick, it's easy, and it's a ton of fun! All they have to do is let their imagination run wild and get those ideas down on paper.

But the best part? Roll-a-Story isn't just about having a good time—it's also a fantastic learning opportunity. Your child will pick up all sorts of writing skills without even realizing it! From understanding story structure to practicing their reading fluency by sharing their stories with others, there's so much to gain.

So next time your child is feeling stuck, why not give Roll-a-Story a try? Who knows what kind of wonderful stories they'll come up with!

Guess Who Games Help Build your Child’s Vocabulary of Adjectives - Here’s How.

Let's talk about Guess Who—a game that's not only loads of fun but also packs a punch in terms of learning and skill-building for your elementary school kiddos.

Many therapists love incorporating this game into their sessions, whether it's speech/language or occupational therapy. But guess what? You can easily bring all that therapeutic goodness right to your kitchen table.

Here are some awesome ways you can use Guess Who to help your child grow and learn:

• Social Participation: This game is like a ticket to improving communication skills! By asking questions back and forth, your child gets to practice engaging with others and feeling comfortable in conversations. If your little one feels a bit nervous, no worries! Give them some prompts to boost their confidence and get the chatter flowing.

• Handwriting: Who knew Guess Who could also be a handwriting workout? Encourage your child to write out their questions, descriptions, or opponent's responses. Not only does this help with penmanship, but it also flexes those cognitive muscles as they strategize their moves.

• Negation: Get ready to flip the script! Instead of just asking questions, try describing your character by what they're not. It's a fun twist that keeps the game fresh and challenges your child's deduction skills.

• Descriptive Vocabulary: Time to get descriptive! Guess Who is a goldmine for building up your child's vocab. If they need a little boost, brainstorm some descriptive words together before the game starts and make a handy reference chart. Pictures or words—whatever works best!

• Question Formation: From "Is your person a boy?" to "Does your person have blue eyes?", this game is a playground for practicing question-making skills. It's like a mini language lesson disguised as fun!

• Articulation: If your child is working on their speech sounds, Guess Who is a secret weapon. Whether it's practicing the /s/ or /r/ sounds in questions or comments, there are tons of opportunities to sneak in some speech practice while having a blast.

What you will find in this workbook?

This workbook holds 12 activities to give your child opportunities to develop the skill of using adjectives to articulate information in the form of sentences, paragraphs and essays and, ultimately. analyzing and discerning the world around him/her.

I have found that , as a third grade teacher, I notice many students are ‘stuck’ when it comes to be able to describe a scene, a person, an adventure that they have been on in their own lives other than in very BASIC terms. I want to help your child become a better writer but also be able to really deepen their understanding and awareness of all of the amazing discoveries and opportunities they can have the chance to experince in life.

I truly hope you will find value in the pages of this workbook. DOWNLOAD HERE

Why should we encourage kids to play I-Spy?

Engaging in Hidden Pictures puzzles with your child isn't just a fun pastime—it's a valuable learning opportunity that offers a multitude of developmental benefits.

1. Promotes attention to detail: Hidden Pictures puzzles encourage children to pay close attention to the details of each scene, honing their observational skills and fostering a keen eye for detail that extends beyond the puzzle itself.

2. Increases vocabulary: By deciphering picture clues to locate hidden objects, children expand their vocabulary as they become visually familiar with the names of various objects within the puzzles. This exposure to new words enhances their language development and comprehension skills.

3. Instills good work habits: The immersive nature of Hidden Pictures puzzles captivates children's attention, promoting concentration, persistence, and determination as they work through each challenge. Moreover, relying on picture clues fosters independence and problem-solving skills, empowering children to tackle tasks on their own.

4. Develops self-confidence: Success in completing Hidden Pictures puzzles isn't limited by age. Young children often demonstrate an impressive ability to spot hidden objects, boosting their self-esteem and instilling a sense of accomplishment. This confidence extends beyond puzzle-solving, positively impacting various aspects of their lives.

5. Improves visual perception: Searching for hidden objects within complex scenes enhances children's visual perception, enabling them to recognize and interpret figures in diverse contexts. This skill refinement supports academic learning and everyday tasks that require visual discrimination.

By engaging in Hidden Pictures puzzles with your child, you're not only fostering their cognitive development but also creating joyful bonding moments filled with laughter and learning.

Check out my FREE I-Spy Workbook: CLICK HERE

A Note to Parents of Third Graders

As a parent myself, I know how homework can be a bit of a nightmare.  Some kids love to work on homework while others cannot even fathom picking a pencil to do MORE of what they have been working on at school.

I have been a preschool teacher, kindergarten teacher and this year was the first year I got into the older grades.  I always knew third grade was a big year for students which State testing and all.  But what I did not realize is that third grade is the year that many children made decisions about whether or not they like school.  Third grade is the year where homework gets very challenging.  In fact, until I was a third grade teacher I did not fully understand that third grade calls for a rigor to those moving from second grade might not be ready for.  And if you child is missing little fundamental pieces of the puzzle,  it will show up in third grade.

There is this saying that educators know: k-3rd grade, students are learning to read and when they go to fourth grade, they are reading to learn.  What does that mean?  It means if your child has issues with reading fluency, decoding words, understanding prefixes and suffixes, reading for context clues, comprehending what they are reading, they will not be able to keep up.

I take the role of the parent very seriously.  I know as a teacher that if you as the parent are not on board to help support what we are doing in the classroom, it will be very difficult to keep your child on track.

I want to help you.  Please sign up for my newsletter to get access to my resource library for materials created by me to help support your Kindergarten to 3rd grade student.  

Let me know if there is anything you are struggling with currently that I can help you with.

If you had to choose your favorite Montessori practical life lessons…

The practical life section of a Montessori classroom is designed to help children develop practical skills and foster independence and I love the way students come into a space and feel connected instantly by the structure of this work.

Let’s discuss some tried and true favorite activities:

1. Food Preparation: Simple food preparation activities, like slicing fruits or spreading butter on bread, teach children basic kitchen skills and encourage independence in preparing their own snacks.

2. Lacing and Sewing: Children practice lacing and sewing on provided materials, such as cards or fabric, improving their fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and concentration.

3. Care of Animals: Children engage in activities like feeding fish or caring for classroom pets, learning about empathy, compassion, and responsibility towards living creatures.

4. Grace and Courtesy: In this category, children learn polite greetings, table manners, how to take turns, and other social skills that promote respect and positive interactions with peers and adults.

It's important to note that the specific activities may vary depending on the materials available in each Montessori classroom, as well as the preferences and interests of the children.

A List of the Most Popular Montessori Practical Life Activities: part 2

1. Care of Plants: Children learn to care for plants by watering them, removing dead leaves, and observing their growth. This activity nurtures responsibility and a connection with nature.

2. Care of the Environment: Children engage in activities like sweeping, dusting, and wiping tables, fostering a sense of order, cleanliness, and responsibility for their classroom environment.

3. Polishing: Using child-sized brushes, children polish various objects, such as shoes or silverware, learning the technique and gaining a sense of accomplishment from making objects shine.

Have I listed your classroom’s favorites yet?

Let’s Talk about Favorite Montessori practical life activities: Part 1

The practical life section of a Montessori classroom is designed to help children develop practical skills and foster independence. Here are ten popular activities in the practical life area that children often enjoy:

1. Pouring Water: Children practice pouring water from one container to another, developing hand-eye coordination and concentration skills.

2. Transferring Objects with Tongs: Using child-sized tongs, children transfer small objects, such as pompoms or beads, from one bowl to another, refining their fine motor skills and focus.

3. Buttoning and Snapping: Activities that involve buttoning and snapping buttons or fasteners on fabric pieces help children develop fine motor skills and self-dressing abilities.

Come back for more activities that are part of the top ten favorites or sign up for my email.

What makes for a great math program in preschool?

Welcome to part 3 in our series: What makes for a good preschool math program.

Here are some features to consider:

1. Problem-Solving Skills: A good math curriculum should foster problem-solving skills and critical thinking. Children should be encouraged to explore multiple strategies, make predictions, and find solutions through trial and error. Open-ended questions and real-life math scenarios can stimulate their problem-solving abilities.

2. Assessment and Progress Tracking: The curriculum should include ongoing assessment strategies to monitor children's progress and inform instructional decisions. Informal observations, checklists, and anecdotal records can be used to assess children's understanding and identify areas that need further support.

3. Parental Involvement: A strong preschool math curriculum should encourage parental involvement and provide resources for parents to support math learning at home. Parent-teacher communication and home activities that reinforce math concepts create a collaborative learning environment.

Ultimately, a good math curriculum in preschool should foster a positive attitude towards math, build a strong foundation for future mathematical understanding, and instill a sense of confidence and curiosity in young learners.

What Makes for a Good Math Curriculum in Preschool: Part 2

What makes for a good Math curriculum in a Preschool classroom?

Consider these features:

1. Concrete Representations: Preschoolers benefit from concrete representations of math concepts. Using visual aids, manipulatives, and real-life examples, such as counting objects, using measuring tools, or exploring shapes in the environment, helps children grasp abstract math concepts more easily.

2. Integration with Other Subjects: Math learning in preschool can be integrated with other subjects like literacy, science, and art. This interdisciplinary approach helps children see the relevance of math in different contexts and promotes a holistic understanding of the subject.

3. Individualized and Differentiated Instruction: Preschool math curricula should allow for individualized instruction and accommodate different learning styles and abilities. Providing opportunities for children to work at their own pace and offering challenges for those who are ready to go further supports each child's unique learning needs.

4. Language and Vocabulary Development: Math concepts should be introduced through rich and age-appropriate language. Teachers should use mathematical vocabulary and provide opportunities for children to use and understand mathematical terms through conversations, songs, and stories.

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What Makes for a Good math Curriculum in preschool: part 1

A good math curriculum in preschool should focus on introducing foundational math concepts in an engaging and developmentally appropriate manner. Here are some key elements that make for a good math curriculum in preschool:

1. Hands-On Learning: Preschool math should emphasize hands-on, experiential activities that allow children to manipulate objects, explore patterns, and engage in concrete experiences. Manipulatives like blocks, counters, and puzzles can be used to facilitate understanding of basic math concepts.

2. Play-Based Approach: Incorporating math into play activities helps make learning fun and meaningful for preschoolers. Games, puzzles, and interactive activities should be included to promote mathematical thinking and problem-solving skills.

3. Developmental Progression: The curriculum should follow a developmental progression, introducing math concepts in a logical sequence that aligns with children's cognitive abilities and readiness. Starting with basic concepts like counting, sorting, and comparing, the curriculum should gradually progress to more complex ideas like number recognition, patterns, shapes, and measurement.

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