August 5th, 2020
Worry is like a rocking chair
July 29th, 2020
Never give up
Originally posted 2019-09-07 19:07:56. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
July 21st, 2020
Don’t let your problems multiply!
In the movie, Gremlins, Billy gets an interesting pet from his father with some specific rules. One of them is, “never get him wet.” Later Billy gets careless and his one pet Mogwai turns into six! And everyone who’s seen the movie knows how that turns out. If Billy only had solved his problem when it was small. He could have kept water far away. He could have told his dad about his screw up and got some help with all the extra pets. But instead, he tried to ignore the problem and pretend nothing had happened. Later, his one problem turns into 50 crazy Gremlins destroying his town!
Even though we won’t be fighting Gremlins anytime soon, our regular problems act the same way. We either solve our problems when they are small, or they will multiply! Turn in a library book on time, or pay a fine. Follow the speed limit, or pay a ticket. Get to work on time, or get docked some pay. Turn in your cursive on time, or use your recess to finish. Sometimes students have to learn this lesson the hard way as they ignore or miss a limit and have to pay a consequence. Eventually they will learn to be proactive and get after their problems before their problems get after them!
Gremlins (2/6) Movie CLIP – Multiplying Mogwai (1984) HD
Gremlins movie clips: http://j.mp/1COyNlk BUY THE MOVIE: http://bit.ly/2cenLE2 Don’t miss the HOTTEST NEW TRAILERS: http://bit.ly/1u2y6pr CLIP DESCRIPTION: Billy (Zach Galligan) and Pete (Corey Feldman) watch as a wet Gizmo spawns five more creatures. FILM DESCRIPTION: “Don’t expose him to bright light. Don’t ever get him wet. And don’t ever, ever feed him after midnight.”
Originally posted 2018-10-01 17:29:03. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
July 14th, 2020
For writing, do this, not this!
Parents often ask how to help with writing. It’s not as black and white as spelling or math. Here are some guidelines.
Bottom line: ask a bunch of questions (not telling your student what to do), and to let the student type everything. Read below for the specifics.
| Step | Do this! | Don’t do this! |
| Prewriting | Ask your student to think about special memories, events, or ideas to include. Ask them to make a list or web. | Try not to assign topics or say, “Just write about….” Instead, ask questions to prompt thinking. |
| Drafting | This is the time to write ideas. Continue to ask questions: What happens next? What do you have left to write about? What else could you write? How does it end? Read their writing and ask curious questions. Point out places that are hard to understand, seem to move too fast, or need more details. | Don’t type for your student. Let them type their own story. Don’t suggest entire sentences; let your student think of what to write. Point out parts that you had a hard time picturing, and ask questions: What did this look like? What did this character say? What else did you learn about this topic? Don’t focus on spelling or editing at this point. |
| Revising | This is the time to look at the story again and find ways to make it stronger and better. Ask more questions. Point out places where details are missing. Ask questions about the beginning, middle and the end. Help them notice if they are overusing words or if their sentences are short and choppy. Ask your student to think of parts to remove or add. | Don’t “fix” the story for your student by adding details or sentences. Just continue to ask questions wherever the writing is too short, hard to understand, off topic, or difficult to read. Ask questions so that your student will see for themselves the areas to improve. Still don’t focus on spelling or editing. This time is for revising ideas, and only the student should be adding new ideas or removing. |
| Editing | Help your student correct spelling, capitalization and other editing mistakes. Print out the writing and mark mistakes. Or mark the mistakes using the electronic tool we are using. | Don’t fix mistakes for your student. Instead, just mark the mistakes. Each student should correct their own mistakes and not have someone else typing their paper. Even better if you just make some marks in the beginning, and then have the student continue to find other errors on their own. The goal is for each student to be able to self-edit. |
| Publishing | Help your student think of any ways to make the writing presentable for the reader. | Please don’t type, retype, or change the story. Point out areas that the student could correct, if needed. |
See more on the writing page of the site.
For tech-savvy parents:
- Have your student share their writing with you at your Google account (don’t have one? Create one! It’s free. Let me know and I’ll show you how).
- You can add comments like I do and check your student’s progress.
Originally posted 2014-09-27 10:57:49. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
July 7th, 2020
How to get others to listen to you
It’s not too rare in 4th and 5th grade to come upon some students that are having a bad time and really wish other people knew about it. This usually involves the students talking, discussing, arguing, shouting, yelling, or name-calling in an effort to express their feelings.
What we adults know is that that method usually creates more problems than it solves. But we also know that even adults are tempted to speak harshly or lash out when we feel we have been wronged.
Love and Logic has a great, simple suggestion for boosting the chance that other people will listen to you. Phrase your concern like this:
“I’d like to share what I’ve been hearing and get your thoughts.”
This method gets the concern discussed without putting anyone on the hot seat. No one feels defensive, so the topic will get discussed and probably resolved.
This would probably solve a lot of problems for people that go to elementary school, or for anyone that has ever attended one.
The rest of the article is worth a read.
Originally posted 2018-09-06 17:22:58. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
