Making learning fun

Standards based learning has all but taken the joy out of learning.
Resist the temptation to put too much pressure on kids to perform well. If you find areas that are a struggle find fun ways to supplement. Standing over them yelling is not going to help. More dittos wont help either.

Here are some fun resources for assisting your children. You want ready to go lessons. They give you real world ideas to start a lesson, list materials, have the actual sheets to use with the child and activities to extend the lesson. One example: Asking and telling sentences. The lesson starts with you drawing a spider and placing it in a bag. You tell the kids they have up to 10 questions to guess what is in the bag.

After that we review what an asking sentence is (give example, ask them for examples) then what a telling or declarative sentence sounds like. You have this sheet where you read off sentences. Some are asking and telling. You ask them to put the correct punctuation. You should model the first six to ten, then do four or five with them and let them do a few alone. Later they cut out a spider pattern, already in your book, and place the questions sentences around, that look like legs, around the spider named question mark. I'm sure you get it.

This lesson came from The MAILBOX (Ready-to-go-Lessons). You pick the grade. I suggest getting the current grade, and the next two grades. Why? Curriculum differences. Some concepts that are being taught in first grade are really second and third grade concepts. This is true for Houghton Mifflin. The MAILBOX also has a wonderful lesson-planning book on Black history.

Another great source is made by American Educational Publishing. They offer complete curriculum. This means it is cross curricular (covers all subjects). Again, you will find this text spans for two grades. So if it says 2nd grade it addresses last semester first grade work and beginning 2nd grade work.

The more hands-on, real world examples and opportunities for movement the better. Avoid using materials rewards. Instead give high-fives, praise (as loud as you do everything else), take a walk around the block together, or other non-material things they like to do.

Please share any great resources that make learning fun.