Saturday, October 01, 2016

Daily Reading Time

Reading is the foremost, fundamental academic skill, and the importance of parents taking the time each day to read books with each of their children is well known.

Daily Reading Time is an opportunity for parents to connect individually with each child, and share with them a love of books and imagination. Reading periods needn't be overly long, but should be a regular, daily activity from the earliest possible age, conducted at the same time each day, if at all possible.

Mom and Dad can read to their children the books they most loved when they, themselves, were so young and impressionable. This is one of the thrills and joys of parenthood not to be lost among the rush of personal and family busyness that can easily overtake life with young kids.

Multitudes of fantastic story books are available to grace your children's early lives, but don't forget great kid-oriented nonfiction titles, too. Reading carefully selected early nonfiction nurtures a child's innate curiosity about the world and fosters a questioning mind that will be a valuable asset in later years.

Aside from the obvious benefits of making learning fun and developing critical academic skills at an early age, Daily Reading Time often remains a cherished, life-long memory of childhood, of loving time each day with Mom and Dad, of scintilating exploration of worlds both imagined and real.

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Thursday, September 01, 2016

Scratch Coding Resources



Scratch is a fantastic way to learn algorithmic thinking and develop basic coding and program design skills.

Simple enough for young children to master (rudimentary reading skills are required), a Visual Programming Language (VPL) like Scratch is all you need at first and will take early learners a long way before they'll want or need to start writing their own code in a traditional language like Python or Java.

Books and online resources abound for those interested in using Scratch to get started on the path toward learning to code. Below are some I recommend:

Monday, August 01, 2016

Balancing Algebraic Equations



The metaphor of a pan-balance is often used to illustrate the definition of "equation:"

A declaration that two things have the same value (i.e. A = B).

It's an apt analogy, and a multitude of virtual pan-balances exist online to model solving simple algebraic equations.

The idea is that treating both sides of the pan-balance equally (i.e. doing exactly the same thing to both sides) maintains balance while allowing users to isolate unknown numbers on one side and known numbers on the other, from which the value of the unknown can be easily obtained.

It's a lot of fun to play around with balancing equations using a virtual pan-balance manipulative. In doing so, students develop an instinctive sense of how "=" works, a requisite component of intuitive "number sense" required for successful mathematical study.

After learning to balance simple equations using a virtual balance, students can progress to recording the balancing steps on paper – using algebraic notation – rather than carrying out the steps online. Eventually, they can do the steps mentally, using their working memory in place of pencil and paper.

Voila! Mastery!

Following are sites and apps I recommend for practicing balancing simple equations:

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Sites

Math Is Fun: Balance When Adding and Subtracting

Hoodah Math: Algebra – Balance Equations

Math Playground: Model Algebra

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Apps

The Fun Way to Learn Algebra: Hands-On Equations (iOS)

The Fun Way to Learn Algebra: Hands-On Equations (Android)

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Friday, July 01, 2016

Early Math Toys, Aids, Activities

Math is all around, and the number of ways to enjoy and explore early math with your child are virtually endless.

Math is everywhere ... and it's fun!

Babies can be lifted by smiling parents high, higher, and highest on the count of one, two, three.

Infants who can sit can be taught how to count, patiently touching their index finger to each one of small set of objects while counting out loud for them, with a big silly grin on your face to make it fun.

Suddenly an entire countable universe opens up, and when kids begin to talk, counting objects first to three, then ten, then all the way to 20 and beyond becomes a cause for celebration and elation.

After learning to scribble, toddlers can be shown how do draw basic shapes, integrating dots, lines, crosses, circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles into art time.

Patterns can be illustrated, too (big elephant, small elephant, big elephant, etc.). Specialty graph paper can be used to assist young children in creating geometric designs of their own.

Stories drawn by kids and parents can be used to introduce addition, subtraction, and even simple problem solving and work with unknown numbers.

Manipulatives can be utilized to make "sense" of key ideas, clarify important processes, and make learning math a fun, engaging experience.

Eventually, puzzles can be tackled and thinking games played.

A few ideas to get things going:

Self-Correcting Wooden Number Puzzles

EAI Education Snap Math

XY Axis Board: Centimeter Grid

Dry-Erase Board: Centimeter Grid

Reusable Dry Erase Pockets

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.

Wednesday, June 01, 2016

Read Nonfiction to Kids, Too

The importance of parents reading to their young children is well known.

What isn't as well appreciated is the importance of reading non-fiction to kids as well as the usual fanciful, imaginative, well-illustrated fictional story books.

Kids love to learn about the real world around them, and will generally find carefully selected non-fiction books appropriate for their age level just as engrossing as Dr. Zuess, Where the Wild Things Are, Corduroy, Charlotte's Web, or Goodnight Moon.

Regularly reading fun, accessible nonfiction books (with great pictures, colorful engrossing diagrams, etc.) to young children will stimulate a faculty complementary to, and just as important as, imagination: that of curiosity.

Be prepared to admit your ignorance.

Once their natural curiosity has been sparked you may find your children asking interesting questions about the natural world (Why do clouds fly?), other societies (Why are some people so poor?), and different historical periods (What was it like before cars?).

At those times, straightforward honesty about what you don't know is by far the best response and models humility and respect for truth. "I don't know ... let's look it up!" is an excellent reply to thorny questions.

World Book's Childcraft How and Why Library is a fantastic collection of early nonfiction material for beginning readers (older editions on eBay are just as good and far less expensive).

Basically, kids love doing whatever parents do with them, providing Mom and Dad show genuine enthusiasm, offer plenty of affection, and make it fun ... including reading nonfiction together.

Below are more ideas to get you started:

DK's Big Ideas Series

Five Books Guaranteed to Make Kids Love Science

The Truck Book

First 100 Board Book Set

The Golden Book Encyclopedia

Castle (David MacCaulay)

Goodreads Best Children's Nonfiction

DK Kids Nonfiction

Amazon's Best Selling Science Books for Children

There's No Place Like Space

Children's Books for Teaching Math

Ruth Spiro's Baby Loves Science Series

Chris Ferrie's Baby University Series

The Trojan Horse: How the Greeks Won the War

Great Science Books for the Little Ones

Larry Gonick's Cartoon History Series

Place Books by Miroslav Sasek

Jill McDonald's Hello World! Series

100 Best Science Books for Kids

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Copyright © 2006-present: Christopher R. Borland. All rights reserved.