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

**interview by Bruce Deitrick Price** Experts say there are tens of millions of functional illiterates. What are the schools doing to our children? Kim Latta runs reading clinics named Exceeding Reading in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She wrote me a note about her experiences with dyslexic children; and I thought, "This is the perfect person to tell us what's going on in the reading wars. She's in the trenches every day."  BDP: So you run two clinics. Who comes to them?  Kim Latta

The more I study Whole Word (also known as look-say and sight reading), the more I feel compelled to shout: this thing has no redeeming features. It must be stopped.The problem comes in explaining this verdict to the average adult. Most are fluent readers; they can’t identify with the horrific difficulties faced by children. My lawyer, a man of the world, knows everything. But when I try to tell him about the dangers of Whole Word, his face becomes bored and blank. “What...?” This essay is ad

by Janet Twyman Ph.D Learn to Read #1: Facts and Myths for Parents Part One: Read to Succeed Series. What Parents Need to Know to help their kids learn to read. We all agree that "Read to Succeed" is more than a marketing slogan. It is truth in today's globally competitive world for our children. Yet we as parents still suffer from learning to read myths, perhaps passed on from our parents, perhaps propagated by society. If we as parents truly want our children to "read t

by Anneke Forzani Many parents and teachers are concerned about cutbacks in funding for foreign language programs at the elementary school level. Is there anything a parent can do to support early childhood language education in their communities? Yes! I recently attended a presentation given by Janis Jensen, the NJ Coordinator of World Languages and the President of the National Network for Early Language Learning. During her talk, she made these suggestions for parents and teachers who

By Peg Herring Plays are great for an after-school project, but classrooms are the perfect platform for drama as well. There are many ways to incorporate drama into subject matter that may capture the attention of even the most apethetic students. · Scriptwriting: what better way to bring a subject to life than to let students make a skit to teach or demonstrate it? There are several advantages to skits in the classroom: · Depth-Students can be required to do some digging to make their

by Marie Rippel Have you ever had to read a book on a topic that you didn't care about? We all have. (Think back to those dry history books filled with a series of dates, or overly technical science tomes.) And sometimes that is part of life - at times we have to read, even if we aren't inspired by the topic. But boring books don't inspire our children to read. A case in point: I was talking with the principal of a local school recently. She lamented that the children just didn't like to re