by Freda J. Glatt, M.S. With more and more Halloween celebrations taking place in the classroom, at home parties, or at community events, here are some cross-curricular Halloween activities for you to enjoy. 1. Read a Halloween poem or song and find rhyming words, similes, metaphors, nouns, verbs, onomatopoeia, and so on. 2. Find Halloween-related words in the dictionary by using guide words. Divide them into syllables, write the accent mark, tell the part of speech, give the definitio

                                             A Master Teacher Proves Phonetic Rock is the way!      Those of you who’ve read my other two articles, and follow the education paradigm  are aware of problems with No Child Left Behind. It’s been noted recently that the NCLB

  Decipher that Code & Read Part Two Phonics: We'll review Two important Reading Programs But first, a review of what is Phonics is appropriate at this point. What exactly is phonics? Phonics s the method by which children learn the letters and the sounds associated with these letters at the same time“ Phonics is knowing that sounds and letters have a relationship — it's that simple, and that complex. It is the link between what we say and what we can read and write. &q

Solar Energy with Kids Back in 1970, thanks to the Whole Earth Catalog, I discovered Farrington Daniel’s book Direct Use Of the Sun’s Energy which was first published in1964. It not only recounted solar energy history about turn of the century hot water heaters and distillation plants, but told how to make solar ovens, cookers and hot water heaters. I was worried about the greenhouse effect so it captured my imagination. I remember running down to the thrift store to buy an umbrella in July.

I have been studying the Reading Wars (phonics vs. Whole Word) for several years. The crime mystery of the century, if you ask me. One thing that makes research difficult is that educators in the USA slip around in secrecy. Remember, they’re embracing philosophies, and promoting policies, that nobody ever voted on or even discussed in public. If you look back over the last 100 years, you’ll see a sludge of bad ideas that seem to bob in on the tide. John Dewey set the tone around 1900 with his

One of the most rewarding activities I’ve done with young children is taking things apart. Together we have disassemble flashlights, record players, vacuum cleaners, faucets, blenders, drills, VCRS, drills and lawn mower engines--almost everything except television sets, which are quite dangerous. Little did I realize that what began as an attempt to entertain my son would evolve into teaching a “shop class” at Montessori school and woodworking for the local parks department. It was my son who f

Three Mechanical PuzzlesThe Faucet, the Lock and the Lawn Mower Engine The kids in my summer class loved to take apart VCR’s, record players and typewriters, but I didn’t want them to come away with the idea that you only took things apart. I began looking for simple mechanical devices kids could take apart, see how they worked, and then put back together. Then the obvious occurred to me: how alike puzzles and mechanical things are. Many people like puzzles but are intimidated by machinery.

By Claudia T. Thomas   Phonics: An Overview By Claudia T. Thomas With the “No Child Left Behind” Law in somewhat chaos, it underscores the problem of teaching reading. In any plan for Teaching Reading one must remember that there are only four ( 4) basic methods of teaching Children to read 1 Phonics,  Is the method by which children learn the letters and the sounds associated with these letters at the same time. Learning 1 letter per day or at a time cuts down on boredom 2

by Kate Marie Ryan SAVOURING THE TASTE A Reading Autobiography by Kate Ryan I love quotes. One of my favourite books of all times is a book published in 1926 entitled Many Thoughts from Many Minds. Salvaged from the dump by my father in his university days, it has now been handed down to me. Its red leather bound cover and gold etched pages reek of many previous owners. I can pick a subject, any subject and discover opinions of great minds expressed in words from centuries passed. Their ideas va

by Kate Marie Ryan How effective is the strategy of drama in teaching extended written text within the English classroom? This report is divided into three parts - What, Why and How; 'What' identifies the significance of this inquiry for English teachers, it also contains the definition of extended text and its link to the English in New Zealand curriculum. 'How' identifies the strategies English teachers currently employ when teaching extended text, it also describes the shift towards using and