Native American and Thanksgiving STEM Challenge

October 31, 2018
by Evan-Moor
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STEM Challenge: Build a Native Shelter

This STEM challenge arrives just in time for Thanksgiving celebrations and fall lessons. Children use their problem-solving skills in a creative way while developing a better appreciation for the challenges that colonists in the New World faced 400 years ago.

Children learn how Native Americans taught colonists to build homes in the 1600s using only what they could find in nature. Children design and build a model version of their own.

Download the STEM challenge unit here.

Duration: approximately 3 hours (can be over several sessions)

Grades: 2–3; Age range: 7–10

Background information, challenge guidance, and a list of materials are included.
Hands-on activity increases children’s involvement.
Collaborative challenge gets children cooperating and communicating.
Open-ended format helps all children feel successful.
Cross-curricular activity mixes science with social studies and engineering.
Higher-order thinking is encouraged as children analyze properties of materials, visualize and draw ideas, apply knowledge to a new situation, problem-solve, and create.

Optional extensions:

Get active! Get some fresh air, exercise, and appreciation for nature by having children help gather materials from a park or forest.

Get expressive! Have children write a story, poem, or skit about colonists building their first home in the New World.

Get inventive! Discuss other items that colonists would have needed to make in order to live, such as clothing, tools, or items for food preparation. Have students make one of these out of natural resources.

For more history activities, see these resources from Evan-Moor:

History Pockets: Life in Plymouth Colony, Grades 1–3

History Pockets: Native Americans, Grades 1–3

For more STEM projects, check out Evan-Moor’s STEM resource, with 15 hands-on STEM units in each grade level:

STEM Lessons and Challenges, Grades 1–6

For additional Native American Activities and Lessons check out:

Native American Activities and Lessons on Teachers Pay Teachers

Subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter for more free printables and lesson ideas.

Kathy Jorgensen has been an educator most of her life, starting as a peer tutor in second grade and tutoring her way through high school and college. After teaching grades 2 through 12, she spent two decades editing standardized tests. Kathy happily returned to her teaching roots, providing instruction and practice in Evan-Moor’s math and science products. When she’s not polishing words on the page, Kathy is flitting down the dance floor indulging her passion for Scottish country dancing as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher.

October 16, 2018
by Evan-Moor
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How to Incorporate Cursive Handwriting in Your Homeschool Curriculum

Back in the day, cursive handwriting was always part of a second or third grader’s curriculum at school. It was something the kids always looked forward to, as it was thought of as a big responsibility, and that they would be seen as more grown up once they mastered it. When I taught both of these grades, the excitement and enthusiasm was great in the beginning, but would dissipate over time as the repetition of letter practicing and learning the more advanced letters would cause hands to become tired.

When I began to homeschool my older child, knowing I would make cursive handwriting a part of the curriculum, I knew I would like to go about the instruction somewhat differently, making it as enjoyable as possible!

To provide insight for other homeschooling families who are beginning to prepare for this part of the curriculum, this is what worked best for me both as a teacher and homeschooling parent:

Lowercase letters should always be taught first, with the easiest in the beginning and the most difficult at the end of instruction.

The order in which I taught the letters was c, a, l, t, d, g, a, I, p, j, q, u, w, e, h, f, r, s, k, o, v, b, m, n, y, x, and z.
Appropriate paper will need to be furnished for the child to practice many times. I used the lined paper that children write stories on and then moved onto wide-ruled loose leaf paper.
One to two letters should be introduced a week unless the child has quickly mastered and he or she is ready to move on. (You will notice some letters are much easier than others.)

Uppercase letter instruction comes next, with the same position as lowercase, with the easiest in the beginning and most difficult at the end of instruction.

The order in which I taught the letters was A, C, O, U, V, W, P, R, B, X, Y, Z, T, N, M, H, K, I, J, L, D, E, G, S, F, and Q.
I would suggest following the same process as the lowercase letters.

Hands-on practice helps improve fine motor skills. You will recognize right away that this is a fine motor skill that takes patience and persistence at times! To keep the child engaged and interested, the following tricks worked wonderfully for me:

Shaving cream on a cookie sheet
Tracing with sand on a cookie sheet
Bathtub crayons during bath time
Finger paints with paper
Cotton swabs dipped in paint and applied to paper
White crayon on paper then paint over with watercolors
Fill a zip-lock bag with paint and tape it to a cookie sheet

Progress to practicing writing words and then sentences. Once all lowercase and uppercase letters have been covered, the child may move onto words and then sentences.

Sample page from Daily Handwriting Practice

For homeschooling, I used the Evan-Moor Daily Handwriting Practice book. Daily Handwriting Practice was a great book that took the pressure off of coming up with words and sentences to practice. It was a simplified way of tracking progress of what letters needed to be re-visited. I highly suggest purchasing this book as a weekly resource for your curriculum!

For more handwriting ideas check out Why Teaching Cursive Is Important and Tips to Teach Your Child Cursive.

Emilie H. is a former elementary school teacher who currently homeschools her children. She has a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education (K-5) and Learning and Behavior Disorders (K-12). She is very passionate about planning and mapping curriculum and creating meaningful experiences for her children!

October 15, 2018
by Evan-Moor
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How to Teach Figurative Language: Similes and Metaphors for Grades 3–6

Teaching similes and metaphors is the first step in moving your students beyond literal meaning and teaching them to mature as writers. Students need to see and hear figurative language many times before they will use it in their own writing. Transferring these skills into writing is a long process, and your students will need frequent exposure to concepts such as similes for happiness throughout the school year to learn to identify and label this type of writing.

Here are a few tips and resources to help you build a simile and metaphor unit for your ELA lessons. These resources are intended for ELA lessons for grades 3–6, but adaptable for younger students.

Step 1: Identify and Define the Terms: Create Anchor Charts

Begin your lessons on metaphors and similes for kids and students of any age by defining figurative language, similes, and metaphors.

Figurative language describes something in a creative way.
Similes and metaphors are a type of figurative language.
Writers use similes and metaphors to compare things and create more interesting images for readers.

Have you considered using a figurative language anchor chart? I love using anchor charts in my classroom to convey a skill or concept that students can reference. Create an anchor chart that demonstrates the difference between similes and metaphors. Limit the text and images on your chart so that you only focus on defining the terms and demonstrating the differences. Choose images that convey very clear meaning, especially if you teach language learners.

A simile compares two things using like or as. For example: The waves were as big as dinosaurs.

Click on this chart to download.

A metaphor compares two things by saying they are the same thing. For example: The waves were dinosaurs, pounding the shore.

Metaphors are more difficult to teach than similes. They often use fewer words and do not have the signals of “like” or “as.”

Click on this chart to download.

Step 2: Model Similes and Metaphors in Literature

When introducing a new topic, include a few stand-alone examples from well-known authors. Demonstrate to students that their favorite authors use similes and metaphors in their writing to convey vivid imagery. After reading each passage, ask your students what the words are comparing and what they mean. Poems are also a great way to introduce examples of similes and metaphors.

For example:

In the Caldecott-winning book Song and Dance Man, Karen Ackerman describes Grandpa’s dancing and singing:

“His feet moved slowly at first, while his tap shoes make soft, slippery sounds like rain on a tin roof…(He) does a new step that sounds like a woodpecker tapping on a tree. Suddenly, his shoes move faster, and he begins to sing. His voice is as round and strong as a canyon echo…” (Simile)

The words are comparing his shoes tapping to rain on a tin roof and a woodpecker tapping a tree.

Patricia Polacco uses them in I Can Hear the Sun just as the geese return to Lake Merritt:

“Then they hear a sound in the darkness. At first, it was a soft distant symphony of rushing wind, but it builds like summer thunder, low, deep, and grand.” (Metaphor)

The author is comparing the wind to a symphony and a storm.

Step 3: Practice Identifying Smiles and Metaphors

Provide multiple opportunities for your students to practice identifying similes and metaphors.

Simile and Metaphor Practice Worksheets: When beginning, choose practice pages that focus on one concept rather than both. This teaching strategy can help students concentrate on and absorb a single concept thoroughly before moving on. Listed below are examples of practice activities from Language Fundamentals grade 4. Click here for your free simile practice page and metaphor practice page (from Language Fundamentals, grade 4).

Simile and Metaphor Drawing Activity: Use a simple drawing activity to help your students understand similes and metaphors. Give your students a list of examples of similes and metaphors and ask them to draw an example of each. Your students will enjoy being creative and this simple exercise will help reinforce the use of figurative language.

Step 4: Apply Similes and Metaphors in Writing

Once your students have practiced identifying similes and metaphors, your lessons can progress into writing them. Model the creative process of writing a simile or metaphor for your class and practice writing them together. Here is an example of how to help students make the jump from identifying similes and metaphors into writing them.

Before asking students to write their own similes and metaphors, it is helpful to prepare them with a prewriting guide to help them brainstorm a topics and ideas.

Prewriting Guide

Think of the first time you did something. Plan a description of that event. Answer the questions to help you.
ex: The first time I went snow skiing.
Write a simile that describes how you feel before the event.
ex: nervous, excited
Write a simile that describes how you felt.
ex: I felt like a kid on her birthday, wondering what’s inside the biggest present.
How did you feel during the event?
ex: a little scared, uncoordinated
Write a metaphor that describes how you felt.
ex: I was a baby learning how to walk, falling for no reason.
What verbs could describe the event or how you felt?
ex: zoom, crash, fall
What adjectives could you use to describe the event?
ex: cold, dangerous, thrilling
Write an example of personification that describes the event or how you felt.
One leg wanted to go right, but the other insisted on going left.
Remind students to check for subject-verb agreement.

Writing Prompt:

Write a description of the first time you did something exciting or scary. Include similes and metaphors. Use your prewriting guide for inspiration.

Additional ELA resources for similes and metaphors:

For additional practice with identifying similes and metaphors, check out:

Language Fundamentals
(available for grades 1–6) covers grade appropriate language and vocabulary skills.

You can also find individual simile and metaphor units on TeachersPayTeachers:

Daily 6-Trait Writing Bundle Weeks 1-5 grade 5

Metaphor Poetry grades 3-6

Grade 5 Take It to Your Seat Reading and Language Centers: Similes and Metaphors on TeachersPayTeachers.

Grade 6 Take It to Your Seat Reading and Language Centers: Similes and Metaphors on TeachersPayTeachers

Note: Daily 6-Trait Writing is a great resource for students’ writing. This weekly unit on similes and metaphors gives your students practice transferring their understanding of similes and metaphors into their own writing. The lessons slowly progress students into writing their own similes and metaphors.

For more fun tips and lesson ideas, subscribe to our Evan-Moor Education E-Newsletter.

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Lesson ideas were taken from Evan-Moor’s Writing Fabulous Sentences and Paragraphs, Language Fundamentals, and Daily 6-Trait Writing.

Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.

October 3, 2018
by Evan-Moor
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New to homeschooling and uncertain of which next step to take?

When you have made the decision to homeschool your child(ren), it certainly comes with many emotions, including feeling excited, nervous that you might not feel capable, happy that you get to be part of the basis of your children’s learning, and most importantly, what will be taught and what materials will be used.

You will meet many families who have varied opinions and beliefs when it comes to their methodology for homeschooling. Some belong to co-ops where the children go to a classroom once or twice a week for specific classes or to experience an all-day class environment (while the rest of the week is instructional time at home). Many families develop their own curriculum for at-home instruction and attend weekly social get-togethers for the kids. Other families believe in an unstructured curriculum and let the children lead with what interests them and what they would like to learn about. If you’re new to homeschooling, begin with these steps to organize your homeschool curriculum:

Step 1: Outline your state’s academic benchmarks

Having been an elementary school teacher, I immediately outlined my state’s academic benchmarks for each subject and grade that would be taught for the school year. While a perk of homeschooling is endless options of how and what curriculum is presented, I wanted to ensure I was covering state guidelines. Many states have different guidelines and requirements on homeschooling such as sending in a letter of intent, keeping an attendance log, and not teaching a lesser amount of days than the public school calendar, per state regulation. You simply need to look up your state’s Department of Education webpage and locate the homeschooling link. There is usually a link provided for the people who are in charge of homeschooling for the state. Once you get the paperwork completed, then the curriculum mapping can begin! Don’t worry, this is part of WHY you have chosen this awesome adventure with your child(ren)!

Step 2: What will be taught and how often?

Once I have written down the benchmarks for each subject (language arts, math, social studies, and science), I decide how often each subject area will be taught each week. For example:

Everyday lessons:

Math
Spelling
Reading
Phonics
Grammar

Weekly lessons:

Social studies (3 times a week)
Science (2 times a week)
Word study (2 times a week)
Writing workshop (2 times a week)

9-week terms:

I break down the topics into nine-week terms. Breaking the benchmarks down into terms like this makes planning so much easier and lets you prep units ahead of time—organization and preparing ahead of time saves a lot of time and headaches!

For example:

Term 1 – Government/Civics and Economics
Term 2 – Native Americans
Term 3 – Geography
Term 4 – Cultures and Society

Step 3: Materials to choose

Now begins the part on deciding what material to use for instruction. You can easily research a topic and be overwhelmed in a matter of minutes because of all of the options! You can find yourself sitting there perplexed at which one would be best for your child(ren), wondering if the material is too easy or too hard, is too expensive to purchase. Even as a teacher, not everything that I chose was a “slam dunk” with my students, so I would go back and re-teach the subject and revise as we proceeded with the lesson, which would wrap with much happier and confident kiddos (always, always take the time to do this, if need be!). Ironically, when I began to homeschool, I immediately turned to some of the materials that I used in my classroom! I wanted to start with some materials that I knew were tried and tested and gave me great results.

Suggested Evan-Moor materials for homeschooling

Two Evan-Moor products that I used many years ago and now use in my homeschooling are:

Daily Language Review

Daily Language Review is used every day as a warm-up to language arts. This book does an excellent job of keeping students aware of sentence structure and correct grammar.

Read and Understand with Leveled Texts

Read and Understand with Leveled Texts features a set amount of stories (usually 20–21) where students will need to read the story and complete many different skills such as comprehension questions, vocabulary, part of speech awareness, text features (compare/contrast, cause and effect, summarizing, and many more).

When I taught in the classroom, I would pick a story each week based on what skill was being covered in the classroom. We referred to it as the “LA Packet,” and it would be assigned on Monday and due on Friday. For homeschooling, I use it very similarly with matching a certain story to the skill that we are covering that week, but it is a daytime assignment, not homework (I can already hear my former students voicing their opinions about this!).

Two other books that I have begun to utilize and have incorporated into my lesson plans are:

Evan-Moor’s Take It to Your Seat Reading and Language Centers

Take It to Your Seat Centers are wonderful. Each center is a review game that the children can complete independently—a major perk when you are managing more than one child with instructional time! We have used some of the same centers over and over again as review!

Vocabulary Fundamentals

Vocabulary Fundamentals covers very important topics such as compound words, synonyms/antonyms, homophones, and prefixes. This book has quickly become a staple in my curriculum planning!

One benefit that most homeschooling families agree upon is the flexibility and freedom of matching the best level of work. You might have a child that excels in a subject area while one needs more attention in another. All of the materials mentioned above can be utilized in different ways according to what serves your child the best way. As you continue on this journey, you will gain more confidence and identify quickly how some things would work better than others based on the child’s needs.

I certainly hope this has been beneficial and helpful to some who have recently decided to take part in this journey. It is a great commitment, but know that the memories and experiences that will take place are irreplaceable!

October 2, 2018
by Evan-Moor
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10 Tips to Help Your Child with Homework

Homework is a pain point for children and parents. Although frustrating, homework is assigned by teachers and schools as a teaching tool to review concepts your child has learned in class. It also teaches your child how to organize, process, plan, and develop responsible study habits. Reduce the homework frustration and help your child learn valuable study habits with these homework tips.

1. Be Involved

Be aware of what your child is studying in school and what the teacher’s homework policies are. Attend school events, meet your child’s teacher, and read the handouts sent home with your child. If you don’t understand the homework your child is bringing home, then email your child’s teacher or schedule a meeting and ask for help.

2. Set up a Homework Station

Set up a quiet area in your home for doing homework. Provide pencils, paper, erasers, crayons, glue, and scissors. Completing assignments is always easier when the right tools are at your fingertips.

If your family is always on the go, pack a portable homework station.

3. Provide Snacks

Provide healthy snacks after school that will give your child the energy and brain boost needed to complete homework assignments. It is difficult for children to concentrate when they are hungry, thirsty, or tired. The most powerful brain food combines protein with a carbohydrate. Try to stay away from sugary snacks and drinks that will give your child a surge of sugar and then an energy slump. Offer water for hydration.

A few examples are:

String cheese and apple slices
Peanut butter toast or celery sticks
Veggies and dip
Quesadilla and avocado dip
Rolled turkey and cheese slices

4. Schedule Time for Homework

Children respond well to predictable and scheduled times. Decide when the best time is to complete homework and set that time aside every day. Some children work best after school, while others need a little rest before beginning their work. Try not to push homework late into the evening when your child is tired and more likely to become irritated. Sometimes it is difficult to do this every day with activities, but try to create a weekly schedule that works for your family. It may be helpful to post a schedule in your kitchen or homework station as a visual reminder.

5. Limit Distractions

Minimize distractions by turning off the television, video games, or loud music, and putting cellphones away. Keep toys and technology (unless they need it for their assignment) away from the homework station.

6. Make a Plan

Not all homework assignments are created equal. Review the daily homework with your child and make a plan to tackle the most difficult assignments first and leave the easier ones for later.

7. Ask Questions But Don’t Do His/her Homework

Make sure that your child is the one completing the assignments and not you. Otherwise, your child won’t learn the skills and concepts necessary to learn. Help your child by guiding him/her through assignments and checking the work. Here are a few techniques to try:

Ask questions:
- What do you think?
- How do you think you can come to the answer?
- Ask your child to try to find the mistake. Correct your child’s work but don’t give the answer.
Show an example
- Recreate a problem or skill your child is struggling with and guide your child through solving it. Then have your child use those techniques on the homework.

8. Take a Break

If your child is showing signs of frustration or anger, take a five-minute break to refocus. Rather than allow your child to turn on technology, take him/her outside for a quick game of tag or a short bike ride. Physical exercise is the best method to help children focus their energies. Communicate that you are taking a short break and will resume the homework. Teaching children how to cope with difficult tasks is one of the best life skills you can teach them.

9. Seek Extra Help

Know when your child needs extra help. Although it is the teacher’s job to monitor and provide assistance to children in the classroom, it is important to be realistic with your expectations. In a class of 30 students, many teachers find it difficult to provide all the support they would like for each student. If your child is struggling in a specific subject, ask your teacher to recommend a support program online. Most teachers know which free programs work well with their curriculum. Many will even provide extra work in a specific subject area for you to work on at home with your child. You may also ask your local library if they offer homework help/ tutoring.

10. Monitor Time Spent on Homework

Keep track of the amount of time your child is spending on homework. For example, spending an hour and a half on a math assignment in elementary school is too much. If you are finding that your child is unable to complete the homework he or she is required to do, schedule a time to meet with your child’s teacher to discuss options for minimizing the work.

Typically, time spent on homework each night should follow this guideline:

Grades 1–3 should spend no more than 20–30 minutes a night on homework.
Grades 4–5 should spend no more than 40–50 minutes a night.
Grades 6–8 should spend no more than two hours a night on homework or roughly one hour per class per week. (These times do not apply to advanced placement classes.)

If your child is struggling with homework, some ideas to discuss with his/her teacher include:

Completing only even or odd problems
Choosing one subject to work on each day
Turning in homework on a Monday, allowing extra time to complete it over the weekend

For more ideas to help your child learn, sign up for our monthly education e-newsletter.

October 2, 2018
by Evan-Moor
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Homework Tote Bag: How to Make an Easy Portable Homework Station

Homework can be a struggle if you are constantly running from one activity to another after school. Whether you are headed to afterschool sports activities, music lessons for a sibling, or errands, a portable homework station will give your children the tools they need to complete their schoolwork on the go.

On-the-go homework tote bags work best when they don’t have to be checked every day. Every weekend I clean out our car and homework bags and update them for the next week. I like to include a healthy snack and a water bottle to prevent after-school energy dips. (Non-perishable snacks work best if you leave your homework bag in your car during the week.)

Reduce homework stress and prepare ahead of time by creating a portable homework tote bag. Your children will always have the supplies they need, and you will be prepared when appointments or activities go longer than planned.

What to include in your homework tote bag:

Pencils and erasers
Plastic pencil sharpener
Crayons or colored pencils
Scissors
Glue stick
Notebook paper
Clipboard (include extra notebook paper clipped in)
Water bottle
Healthy snack: fruit, granola bars, nuts
Headphones (These are great for children who are easily distracted.)

Organize your homework bag by placing loose objects in zip lock or pencil pouches. I like to organize pencils, erasers, and sharpeners in a separate pencil pouch. I place colored pencils, scissors, glue sticks, and other art supplies in their own small bag.

Additional activity ideas for your homework bag:

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends reducing children’s screen time. Encourage your children to find alternate activities if they finish their homework early. Include a fun activity book or reading book as an option! If you have younger children, include “homework” for them to complete in the form of colorful workbooks.

Some of my children’s favorite after school activity books are:

Skill Sharpeners: Geography
Skill Sharpeners: Critical Thinking
The Never-Bored Kid Books
At-Home Tutor: Reading and Language

Some additional non-media after school activities are:

Write a story or funny cartoon and draw a picture.
Write and solve your own word problems using the math strategies in your homework.
Red pen challenge: write two sentences with grammar errors. Correct them with a red crayon or pencil.
Choose three math facts to memorize. Write them down and memorize them. For example:
8+7=15
12-3=9
7×7=49
Design a new invention and label the parts. What problem does the invention solve?

For more homework help, check out 10 tips to help your child with homework!

Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.

September 6, 2018
by Evan-Moor
0 comments

Fall Apple Art Classroom Activity: Preschool and Kindergarten

A colorful paper apples craft is a great way to introduce autumn into your classroom. Once the apple art is finished, place the apples on your bulletin board for a fun fall theme. The simple apple patterns are easy to assemble and are great for practicing fine motor skills such as cutting, coloring and pasting. Incorporate a little math practice into this art activity by counting and drawing apple seeds in each apple.

Here are the materials and directions for this apple art activity.

Materials
Apple pattern
Red, yellow, light green and white construction paper
Crayons
Scissors
Glue
Apple seeds (optional)

Download these free reproducible apple patterns from All About the Farm for PreK and kindergarten here!

Directions

Copy the first apple pattern onto different colored construction paper and the apple stem, leaf, and core onto white construction paper.
Children choose an apple color from the apple pattern and cut out the apple.
Then they color the other apple parts (stem, core, and leaf) and cut them out.
Children glue the apple parts to the construction paper apple.
Children either draw apple seeds in the center of the apple or glue real seeds in the center.

Extend your lesson by asking the children to describe their apple. I have a green apple. It has black seeds in the middle. Green apples taste good.

For more apple art lessons and ideas check out this Apple Activities Pinterest board.

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August 30, 2018
by Evan-Moor
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How to Teach Your Child to Read Using Phonics Games

Teach your child to read by introducing phonics games and reading activities at home. Phonics plays an important role in teaching children to read. It helps children understand that certain letter combinations make specific sounds. Once children understand a specific phonics pattern (word family) they can identify new words that use that same word pattern. Practicing phonemic awareness at home helps children decode words and increases their word recognition, which ultimately increases their reading fluency.

Here are a few fun phonics activities and resources to try at home with your preschool, kindergarten, and first grade child.

1. Phonics Flip Book

Phonics flip books can be a fun way to teach sound and letter combinations. All you need is a wire-bound index card notebook, scissors, tape, and markers. You may design your flip book to practice three-letter words and sounds, blends, or word families. Word families help children identify common spellings and sounds in words. Tip: If your child only recognizes capital letters use capitals only. Incorporate lower case letters with uppercase letters when your child can identify them.

To make a blending flip book:

Divide and cut the notebook into three sections.
Label the first, second, and last sections with letters A–Z. Place consonant letters in the beginning and end of the word and put a vowel in the middle.
It is OK if your combinations don’t all make words. The purpose of this technique is to teach blending of sounds.

To make a word family flip book:

Divide and cut the notebook into two sections.
Label your first section with a blend such as: “fl, bl, cl, st, wh, ch, dr, or gr”
Write your word family in the last section using patters like “at, ig, ake, ight, ing, ock, eep, or est.”
Choose letters that form words with your word families.

2. Rhyming Phonics Game

Gather sets of rhyming objects to play the game “rhyme in a bag.” The objects should be small toys, stuffed animals or items you have around the house and in your toy bins. Place half in a paper bag and half on a table (pre-sort your objects so you have rhyming pairs in both places.) Have your child reach into the bag, pull out an object, and match it to an item on the table that rhymes. You can make it more advanced by adding word cards to pair with each object. Some examples of things you might find are:

Pen, hen
Sock, rock
Cat, hat
spoon, prune
Rug, bug
Glue, blue
Tape, grape

Rhyming can help children understand that words that share common sounds often share common letters.

3. Phonics Hopscotch

Count word syllables with a hopscotch game. Using chalk or blue tape on carpet, outline the numbers 1–4 in the squares. Have children take turns counting out the syllables of a word using their feet. Understanding that words can be broken apart into syllables makes it easier for readers to decode as well as spell correctly.

4. Alphabet Hunt

An alphabet hunt is a fun and interactive way to teach letter and sound combinations. For beginning readers, matching objects with the same beginning and ending sounds reinforces this concept. Assign a letter of the week and have your child find objects in the house that have the same beginning sound as the weekly letter. If you use the letter C, have your child identify items that start with the hard “C” sound such as: couch, cushion, cat, carpet, calendar, clock, and candle. (The letter C can also make the soft “C” sound as in price and ice, but that is a lesson for first grade.) If your child chooses words that start with K, that is fine, too. This exercise is not about spelling words but about listening to the sounds they make.

5. Phonics 3 x 5 Card Games

Make your own phonics games with 3 x 5 cards (or post-its), markers, paper clips, and paper bags.

Spell It:

Cut up a 3 x 5 card into 3 even squares. (You may also use post-it notes.)
Pick a short three-letter word such as: cat, sat, bat, big, fig, pig, wig, rug, bug, hen, pen, men, mop, fox, box. Write one letter on each of the three squares. Give your child the pieces of the card with the letters mixed up.
Have your child put the letters in order identifying the beginning, middle, and end sounds.

Tip: Work on words in the same word family such as the “at” family to help your child remember each letter pattern. Then, mix up word families so you pair “bat,” “rug,” and “mop” one right after the other. This will help you assess whether or not your child understands the “at,” “ug” and “op” word families. Clip your words together with paper clips and store them in a paper bag. (If you are using post-it notes you can stick the words together without the paper clips.)

Syllable Count:

Using a 3 x 5 card, write a word with one, two, or three syllables such as goat, globe, snake, apple, dinosaur, lion, baby, balloon, pig, shoe, leaf, pajamas. (You may also draw or glue a picture of the word to the card to help your child learn the new word.)
Label three paper bags with one syllable, two syllables, and three syllables.
Pull out one of the words such as “goat” and read it with your child. Ask him or her to count the syllables in the word and put the card into the bag with the correct syllables. “Goat” is one syllable, so it should be placed into the bag labeled “1 syllable.”
For a quick video lesson on syllables view this video from Scratch Garden.

Tip: Use clapping hands to teach your child syllable counts. Once your child has mastered these simple words you can make it harder with two-, three-, and four-syllable words such as tiger, flower, radio, calendar, tornado, potato, magazine, pencil, toothbrush, jacket, alligator and watermelon.

6. Phonics and Reading Activity Books

Include colorful phonics activity books, flashcards, and worksheets to reinforce your child’s learning.

Learn the alphabet with colorful activities, audio read-alouds and creative activities! Smart Start: Read and Write activity books for PreK-1 are a great way to introduce beginning reading activities.

Listen and Learn Alphabet for grades PreK-1 includes fun alphabet activities to help children learn alphabet letters and sounds. The audio read-alouds on each page help pre-readers listen and follow along with activities.

Learning Line: Short Vowels: This resource is a great stepping stone for young children who have already learned their alphabet letters and sounds and are ready to work on blending.

Learning Line: Word Families: After your child can read simple words and sentences, you may begin to tackle short word families such as “ick” “ake,” and “own.”

Smart Start: Sight Words and High Frequency Words for PreK-1 includes creative activities and audio read-alouds to help little learners practice and learn important sight words. Since many sight words and high-frequency words are not phonetic, children need repeated practice to recognize these words on sight.

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August 28, 2018
by Evan-Moor
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STEM Activities for Kids: Preschool, Kindergarten, and First Grade

STEM education encourages children to connect information about the world around them and promotes integrated thinking practices in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math. While practicing STEM, children learn how to be investigators, creative thinkers, and problem solvers. Lay the groundwork for your child’s future in STEM and develop his or her STEM learning with these simple activities at home.

5 Ways You Can Support STEM Skills at Home

Children are natural scientists. They are constantly observing the world around them, experimenting with anything they can get their hands on, and asking A LOT of questions. These are attributes that can help with higher education and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) related careers later in life. Because you are your child’s first teacher, it is important to inspire, nurture, and support your child’s learning. Here are 5 ways you can support STEM skills at home.

STEM in the Kitchen—Cooking Up Science with the Kids

For some kids, the kitchen is a pit stop to refuel on snacks and drinks. But did you know that the kitchen is the perfect place to do STEM activities with your children? You can make learning fun by exploring everyday items found in your kitchen. These fun activities will help you and your children discover science, technology, engineering, and math in your very own kitchen!

What Is STEM Education and Why Is It Important?

By now, you’ve probably heard the acronym STEM from every child, teacher, and school in your neighborhood. But what is STEM education and why is it important?

Lessons grounded in STEM support curiosity, teamwork, and creativity. It also invites children to think critically and solve real-world problems. Involving children in STEM lessons at an early age not only sets a foundation for higher learning, but allows them to develop necessary skills for successful careers in the future.

STEM Activity Books

If you are interested in more STEM activities for kids, check out Evan-Moor’sSmart Start: STEM activity books for grades PreK–1!

The fun STEM challenges and activities encourage your child to think creatively and explore different ideas to solve problems. Watch this short video to learn more.

More STEM Activities for Home

Practicing simple activities at home helps wire children’s brains to become integrated thinkers rather than passive observers. Include STEM education in your home activities and help your child develop his or her skills in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and math.

Are you a pinner? Take a look at this: STEM/STEAM Activities Board.

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August 17, 2018
by Evan-Moor
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Why Teaching Cursive is Important and Tips to Teach Your Child Cursive

Many feel that cursive instruction is a skill of the past, but before it is forgotten completely, it is important to remember what it offers us in the first place. Discover why handwriting is an important skill and learn the steps for teaching your child cursive.

Why Cursive Is Important
In every era of rapid technological advancement, there is a tendency to “do away with the old.” It happened in the 1950s after World War II when the desire for “all things new” led to the removal of many historic city halls, courthouses, and train depots. Later generations asked, “What were they thinking?”

With the light-speed development of computer processing and iPhones, a certain sector is espousing that cursive handwriting is now obsolete. Not so. There still remains a daily need to be able to write, jot, note, and record thoughts to paper through the use of a pen and pencil. Class notes, meeting notes, love notes, project lists, checklists, letters, applications, and countless other pen-to-paper tasks will continue even in the digital era. By removing cursive from the curriculum, we relegate future generations to primary manuscript chicken scratching for all of these essential recordings. They, too, will one day ask, “What were they thinking?”

More importantly, it must be remembered that everything – all documents, deeds, wills, letters, inventories, census, contracts, certificates – were done in cursive until the early 1900s. That means that to read any original ‘primary source’ from the first 200+ years of our country’s history, one needs to be able to read cursive.

So, let’s get to the nuts and bolts of teaching cursive. It’s not any more complicated than learning to ride a bicycle. Both are all about muscle memory and practice.

Tips to Teach Your Child Cursive

1. First step is to THINK BIG
Get a big roll of unlined white butcher paper, at least 24″ wide. The main strokes of cursive should be practiced with a pencil on this large paper for several days before ever opening a workbook or using small lined paper. This allows students to ‘feel’ the large muscle rhythm of cursive with their entire arm. Adding a little verbal tempo, “da-dum,” helps them understand the almost musical flow of the cursive process. This large movement process is key to the transition between choppy manuscript printing to flowing connected cursive.

For each stoke, it is very helpful, if possible, to model the large motion by lightly holding the child’s hand as he or she writes at a whiteboard or on butcher paper. Once they ‘get it,’ they won’t forget it, just like that bicycle. Remember, cursive is more of a kinesthetic ‘feeling’ task than an intellectual one.

2. Practice lowercase letters
After practicing the large stroke on big paper, the student can then transition into practicing the letters formed by that stroke, still on the large unlined paper. For example, after learning the tall loop stroke ‘l,’ the short loop stroke ‘e,’ and the tall wave stroke “t,” the student can practice a large, flowing “let,” and “tell.”

It is more effective to learn all of the lowercase letters according to their stroke rather than in alphabetical order. Each day, review the learned strokes on the big paper before adding new ones. After several days of practice on the large butcher paper, more words are added until the student is fluent. Once the student grasps the flow of cursive, he or she can transition to lined paper and a workbook. Then it’s all about practice, practice, practice.

For short easy-to-manage lessons, check out Evan-Moor’s Daily Handwriting Practice: Contemporary Cursive. Each letter in this book is introduced before children are asked to use it.

3. Introduce capital letters
Capital letters are introduced according to their beginning stroke only after all of the lowercase letters are mastered. For example, a ‘candy cane’ stroke is common to starting capital H, K, M, and N.

Basic Strokes
So, “What are the basic strokes,” you ask? The organic names help the student to visualize them.

Wave stroke: i, s, r, u, w Tall wave stroke: t
Curved wave stroke: c, a, d, g, o
Short and tall loop stroke: e, b, l, f, h, k
Hill stroke: m, n
Combinations of above: q, j, p, y, v, z, x

Warming up with strokes on the big butcher paper before each cursive lesson is like stretching out before running. Keep cursive fun by adding music, interesting quotes to copy, and letter writing to parents and grandparents!

Resources: Local paper companies sell wide rolls of blank white paper stock, untreated. ELMERS 75′ long, 25″ wide roll available Amazon.com and local office and craft retail stores.

Evan-Moor’s Daily Handwriting Practice: Contemporary Cursive

Connie Pillsbury graduated from the University of Redlands with a B.A. in English Literature and earned her Lifetime Credential through the University of Southern California (USC) Honors Intern program in Elementary Education. She has over 15 years of experience as an Elementary teacher and Resource Specialist. She is currently dedicating her time to teaching cursive to students of all ages through “Connie’s Cursive,” a community service program on the Central Coast of California.