Love Learning

Images and body motions help active children connect with learning

A month ago, we received the following email from a customer who believed that her son was bright even though he was struggling in school.

“My son is 6 and in K, the staff is suggesting he suffers from auditory processing, however; my belief is that he is smart and right-brained... I know he is smart so I am frustrated at this point and will not let the school give him a label that does not fit or isn't even age appropriate at this time. In addition, my son has great comprehension skills and pays very close attention to detail. He states he gets 'bored' in school.”

After trying the SnapWords™ cards with him, this mother was able to explain so well how her active child responded to the images and body motions included with the SnapWords™ sight word cards.

“My sister printed off the try before you buy SnapWords and [my child] responded very well to the pictures and the motions. I explained to my son why he is smart and explained the camera to him. He looks at the SnapWord, explains what he sees, takes a mental picture, and then closes his eyes to recall the picture. Then we go through the SnapWord cards again. When I turned them over today to do the side without the pictures, he had a bit of a struggle. I then reminded him to do the motion and that was helpful. For instance, when he sees "laugh" he will say "funny," then I remind him to do the motion and then he will say, "oh, it's laugh!"

Then yesterday the customer updated us about her son’s progress.

“I purchased the first pack of SnapWord cards and find them very effective! My son enjoys the pictures on the cards and continues to take pictures with his camera in his mind. I have another meeting with the school staff tomorrow morning and I anticipate a positive meeting this time as my son has been bringing home tests with high scores and has recently received a 100 percent!”

I love that this mother was able to articulate so clearly how her son learns and was willing to try something different and nontraditional to meet him where he was.

Update: "The meeting went much better than the previous meetings. My son had completed an individual test that was not timed, he only missed one or two questions. They did not mention auditory processing again and admitted that the only issue was on the web test that is timed with only 60 seconds to answer. I showed the teacher the SnapWord cards and she stated she tries to include motions when teaching the class, but she then explained that she has to do so much testing during class time that she has very little time left to actually teach. The plan for the summer is to continue with the SnapWord cards, I plan to eventually have the entire set, I also plan to purchase items related to math. We will continue to practice over the summer and hopefully 1st grade will be a different experience...The entire experience was stressful, but I'm thankful that it encouraged me to do research on learning that led me to your website. Thank you for all of your help and time!!"

Kudos to this mother for standing up for her son and his learning strengths/needs!

Teaching strategies and resources that meet the needs of kinesthetic learners

Children who are active and learn most easily through movement need to have some helps since it takes a lot of concentrated focus to get through the tasks usually associated with reading. Snippets of information, learned through visuals and movements, prove most successful. Kinesthetic learners typically prefer hands-on learning and activities that let them make things. Their attention will follow their hands. Child1st addresses the needs of the kinesthetic learner by incorporating hand and body motions in every concept taught.

Is my child a kinesthetic learner?

Kinesthetic learners learn best when they are moving. If they are using their hands and bodies in learning, their attention will be focused right on the learning they are doing. Conversely, if they are expected to sit very still and pay attention and listen, success will not follow. The more they have to sit still, the less they can focus and learn! 

Read more.

What are the strengths of the kinesthetic learner?

Common Strengths of Gestalt Learners

• Learns best through movement

• Will focus on whole picture

• Learns best with 3-D / hands-on

• Needs to move while processing new information, but with very little external stimulation that would distract

• Needs to learn kinesthetically (using their hands) to process learning

• Is often highly intuitive

• Needs to physically process what he is learning

Read more.

What are some good teaching strategies for kinesthetic learners? 

A small study of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder last year found that walks outdoors appeared to improve scores on tests of attention and concentration. Notably, children who took walks in natural settings did better than those who walked in urban areas, according to the report, published online in August in The Journal of Attention Disorders. The researchers found that a dose of nature worked as well as a dose of medication to improve concentration, or even better.

(Taken from a NY Times article by Tara Parker-Pope)

I was very happy to read about this study.  I think the topic cannot be emphasized enough. At some point, however, you have to bring the child back into a formal classroom, and there will still be difficulties around focus.

Read more.

Using Movement in Learning

When I was in graduate school, excited to learn how to teach in a way that would result in a better learning rate for children, I kept hearing people talk about incorporating movement in learning activities in order to benefit tactile and kinesthetic learners. I was curious about that, so I kept my eyes and ears open to see what I could learn.

Read more.

Why is a multisensory teaching approach best and what does one look like?

What does it really mean when we say multisensory? The accepted, traditional teaching techniques typically used in the classroom meet the needs of (left-brained) sequential learners. Concepts are introduced in a step by step sequence and are practiced and reviewed using drill and memorization; children must also show evidence of their learning in a particular time frame. This is all very good for children who are left-brained or sequential learners. The problem is, of course, that while the approach to teaching is great for those children who are sequential, every learner is taught this way and this traditional approach is ineffective at best for all the non-sequential learners.

Read more.

Try before you buy: FREE SnapWords™ to download

We have free samples of our sight word cards available for download on our website. Try them out with your students before investing in the complete resources!

Try them out.

List of sight words for kindergarten (and up) to download

We’ve created an index of which sight words are in each of our lists so you can compare to which words your child already knows or your district requirements and see which lists would be the best fit for you.

See the index.

Resources for parents/teachers of active learners:

Your Active Child by Rae Pica

A Running Start by Rae Pica

Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World by Jeffrey Freed

Beyond Memorization: How to teach math concepts memorably

I did horribly in arithmetic when I was very young. For many years I thought it was because I just had no math ability, but a decade or so ago, I realized the issue was not with my brain, but rather with the fact that math is usually taught in a way that requires a lot of memorization. And while I historically have done okay with short-term memorization, for long term recall and actual use of the math concepts, memorization just doesn’t work for me. I have learned in the interim that if I truly want to save a lot of time and frustration, rather than trying to just remember something, I need to make myself a hook of some kind (most of the time a visual hook) so that recall is automatic.

Two effective teaching tools:

Using hooks in teaching is incredibly important when teaching right-brain-dominant children, or what we might call visual or kinesthetic learners, or even children who have been labeled with a disability of some kind. Another very important concept that makes learning more meaningful is to teach a concept in context and apply it to as many different scenarios as possible.

For instance, let’s take the concepts of “whole,” “half,” and “quarter.” When I hear those terms I immediately think of their relationship to fractions. But rather than just teach fraction concepts, let’s see how we can use those terms across the board.

Teach the concept of “whole”:

Park on this concept until you are positive your child grasps the meaning behind the word. Use the term in conversation, not just when you are teaching math. You might say something like, “I see you ate the whole thing!” Or “I don’t think we need to slice the whole loaf of bread for dinner.” Or “I will bet the four of you can eat the whole pizza.” Or “I will give you a whole dollar for your allowance after you rake the leaves.” Or while looking at an analog clock face, “It takes the minute hand a whole hour to go all the way around the face of the clock – starting at 12:00 and ending back at 12:00.”

Teach the concept of “half”:

Along with helping your child get a rough idea of what “half” means, also introduce the idea that “half” means EQUAL parts. Half can be a really fun concept to teach in or out of the classroom! Give your child a paper clock face and help him or her divide it in half by folding carefully at 12:00 and 6:00. Draw a line on the fold, and then ask him or her to color HALF of the clock face. Say that this is half an hour.

Another idea is to select a pair of socks and identify one sock as half of the pair.

You might also share a bowl of grapes between you, using two smaller bowls, one for each of you, and meticulously divide the whole bowl of grapes evenly  in half by saying, “One for you and one for me…” until all the grapes are divided into the two smaller bowls in equal number.

Another idea is to show your child how to get half a sheet of paper by folding it carefully in half, creasing the fold, and then carefully cutting on the crease. He or she could finish the activity by drawing a picture of a daytime activity on one half of the sheet, representing the daylight half of a day, and a nighttime activity on the other half sheet of paper to represent the dark half of a whole day.

You might also take your child shopping and tell him or her that you have a whole dollar that you are going to share with him or her. Each of you will have half a dollar. Take the time to find two half dollar coins to exchange for the dollar bill.

Teach the concept of “quarter”:

Go back to your paper clock face and this time after you fold it on the 12:00 to 6:00 line, fold it again so that you now have a quarter of a clock face. Unfold the clock face and point out the fold lines. Say, “The clock has four quarters!” Ask your child to color each quarter a different color. With the clock face to one side, lay a dollar bill on the table. Put two half dollars under it, and then take four quarters and show that while the 50 cent pieces are half of a dollar, 2 quarters make up two halves of a 50 cent coin and a quarter of a whole dollar.

Relate the quarters to the clock face your child colored by placing one quarter of a dollar on each quarter of an hour.

This concept of quarters can carry over to the activity of dividing a whole bowl of grapes into quarters – by counting equal numbers into four small bowls.

Show a quarter of a pizza next time you have one, or cut a pancake or a pie into quarters. The options are unlimited.

Another fun idea would be to carry these ideas into measurement using rice or water and measuring cups. If you have access to a sand box, take the measuring cups and bowls out there to practice whole, half, and quarter.

Most of all, have fun! This will ensure your child loves learning!

Why the Easy-for-Me™ Reading Program works so well with both new and struggling readers

I just had a long conversation with a new customer this morning – let’s call her Margaret. She works with special education students in her county and she was in the market for something new in hopes that this new thing would make for success in teaching reading this year.

Margaret recounted some of the challenges she has encountered when using new programs; the last program she used required three months of grueling training and she said that program currently lurks in the trash can in her office. Training for this program was difficult; the program was difficult for the kids. Basically, what teachers and parents want when they begin a search for a new program is one simple thing: something that will work because what they used before did not work!

Margaret asked me to describe our Easy-for-Me™ Reading Program, which started a nice conversation about approaches to teaching children who have trouble learning to read. Margaret definitely knew already what wouldn’t work with her students!

Here are some of the hallmarks of the Easy-for-Me™ (note the name!) Reading Program:

1.    The Easy-for-Me™ Reading Program is simple. The lessons are spelled out so there is no need for teacher training. Teacher reads the lesson prior to teaching it, locates the supplied materials and resources needed for the lesson, and then follows the elements of the lesson.

2.    Elements in the lessons include specific practices that help various types of learners learn to read successfully. For visual learners, we include all symbols embedded in images. For tactile/kinesthetic learners, there is body motion. For those who are primarily auditory, we include elements in the lesson in which the child(ren) hear themselves speaking or sounding out words. The best thing is that all these approaches are combined so that they offer multiple pathways to the brain at one time. This provides a much stronger learning experience for brand new learners as well as for children who have struggled to learn to read.

3.    The Easy-for-Me™ Reading Program is free of any activities or details that could be construed as busy work or as not directly advancing the child’s progress in learning to read. Nothing is included that is unrelated to learning to read. Follow-up activities are designed for either one child being taught at home, or by a handful of children working in an independent station/center that allows for quiet time to deepen learning concepts and allow them to be stored in long term memory. Follow up to many of the reading skills involves art in some form. This is perfect because while children are creating, their minds have time to store away the ideas they learned. Little children can paint the letters and sounds they just learned, or they can recreate the SnapWord™ they just learned. Anyway, the follow-up activities are provided for the adult/teacher.

4.    In Easy-for-Me™ and with SnapWords™, SnapLetters™, and in fact, all Child1st materials, one of the magic bullets for learning is that we are strengthening each child’s visual capacities and minimizing the need for plain old memorization. Look at the image above for “hour” and notice that each element in the word is a part of the story/picture. The H is the tall man holding the soup ladle. The O is the lid to the soup pot, the U is the pot itself, and the R provides a surface on which to eat. The clock and watch provide a visual also for what an hour would look like on a timepiece. If you want to extend learning of this word, cover up the H-man and point out that what is left is the word “our” which sounds exactly the same as “hour.” You can use this sentence to reinforce the difference between the two words: “OUR soup will be ready in an HOUR.” After you have talked over the image and analyzed the letters used, ask the child to close her eyes and SEE the word in her mind. Ask her to describe what she sees. Finally with eyes open, see if she would like to replicate the word and image on paper. What is happening here is you are teaching the child to rely on her very special visual sense and are bypassing the need to memorize how a word is spelled. As the frosting on the cake, the child has learned also how to spell HOUR without trying to memorize it!

5.    The Easy-for-Me™ Reading Program is unhurried, but super-effective. Because it is skill-based, the goal is all about acquiring skills, NOT about hurrying through lesson after lesson whether or not ALL the kids have truly acquired the skills. Each lesson specifies exactly what the child will need to learn in that lesson. Then, conveniently, there is a skills tracking chart for each child with all the skills detailed on it, with spaces for you to add dates for each skill assessed. The nice thing about the skills based program and the tracking charts is that you can simply keep a notebook or clipboard with all the students’ tracking charts on them, and then when it is time to report to parents on their children’s progress, you can photocopy (ie: take a still shot of where the child is at that moment) and give the parents the report. Easy-pacheesy.

6.    Finally, while we have simplified the process of learning to read (and teaching children to read), the goals we put in place that we want children to reach are not lowered at all! They are, in fact, reflective of raising the bar for learning. We are so confident that children will learn to read more easily because of the teaching approach, that we have raised the bar much higher for what we believe children can learn! This brings to mind a slogan that hung over my door when I worked with Title 1 children: “Work Smarter, not Harder!” Easy-for-Me™ is just that; easy for the teacher, and easy for the student.

True multisensory teaching… what does it look like?

A couple of days ago I had a phone call from a first grade teacher who wanted to discuss a child in her class she is concerned about. Let’s call him Oliver. She shared with me various observations she had made as she puzzled through how best to help Oliver learn.

• He benefits from hearing himself talk through the concept he’s learning, which signals an auditory learner. So she fashioned an auditory amplification tool for him out of a PVC joint, to which Oliver responded happily. If you want an auditory amplification device and don’t feel like using PVC, we do carry two versions of this product. It will not only amplify the child’s voice, but will increase focus by helping the child hear his own voice more clearly than background noise.

• This teacher uses SnapWords™ sight word picture cards (and SMART files) in her classroom, and she noticed that when Oliver read her the plain words during assessments, he was doing the body motions he’d learned from the backs of the SnapWords™ cards. Because so many children benefit from the multisensory elements of the SnapWords™ we have designed more words and now we have 607 SnapWords™ encompassing 220 Dolch, 500 Fountas & Pinnell, and 300 Fry words and more. This product is a valuable and irreplaceable tool to add to your arsenal! 

• Oliver also seemed to be helped by having a visual embedded in the symbols, which is a mark of a visual learner. In addition, his teacher said that when he took traditional spelling tests, he was unable to succeed unless she chose words that had a sound spelling in common, at which point he was able to pass the spelling test. She said he seems to need to be able to find a pattern in learning in order to succeed. Again, a global, visual child.

I found the conversation very interesting because of the particular combinations of strengths/needs this child displays. It is pretty common to find children who enjoy both the body movement and the visual elements, but rarely have I come across a child that also required the auditory piece as well as visual and kinesthetic elements in learning.

My discussion with Oliver's teacher then went to our resource The Illustrated Book of Sounds & Their Spelling Patterns and how this approach to teaching spelling, phonics, comprehension, etc., is very multisensory as well. The approach is simple and frankly entertaining, but the power behind the simplicity of the approach lies in the multisensory aspects of the lessons. Here are just some of the multisensory elements:

• Pattern-seeking. Each lesson focuses on one sound spelling, and every target word in the lesson contains that letter combination so the child can naturally see that element in every word with one glance at the sheet.

• Color-coding. The child uses a yellow highlighter or crayon to color only the letters that use the sound spelling (for instance “OW” or “AI”) and when they have finished coloring the target spelling, you can tell them, “Each time you see yellow, just say ‘OU’ (or ‘AI’). The color makes the sound spellings pop from the page visually.

• Hooks. The words are arranged in sentences to tie them together in a way that is easy for the child to remember. Imagine handing your child 10 puzzle pieces that have no connection to each other. Will it be easy for him to remember what each one looks like? Or what if you handed him 10 puzzle pieces that when joined together showed the image of a river? Which would it be easier for him to remember? The sentence is the glue that connects all the words that use the same sound spelling. Example of a group of words hooked together: “Say, I may play in the spray all day.”

• Visuals. Each sentence is illustrated with a cartoon that shows the meaning of the sentence which contains the words with the spellings we are teaching. The visual draws in the visual learner, provides yet another means for embedding the learning in the child’s mind (but in a different region of the brain from the auditory).

• Auditory. The child reads the sentence to you or with you.

• Tactile. The child writes the words as you dictate them.

• Multisensory – it happens all at one time. The child sees the color-coding, the illustration, and the global collection of words containing the sound spelling. He hears himself reading the words and sounding out the words as he writes them. He writes, watching himself write, hearing himself speak and sound, all of it a combination of pathways to the brain and to learning that is occurring at one time.

While no one child is a purist, we can generalize that some children are strongly visual, others are strongly auditory, while still others are predominantly kinesthetic learners. It is good practice, however, when teaching any young child to use as many pathways to the brain as possible. This is true multisensory teaching/learning. What will happen if you do this is that the child will have a richer learning experience. There will be fewer chances for something to slip by him, or for him to not understand a concept. If you are teaching a class full of children, it makes no sense to try and teach specifically to one type of learner. You cannot teach the same lesson in multiple ways; you just won’t have time to do that! So it makes perfect sense to teach to the modalities and have the child’s experience be multisensory as well.

Child1st has done so much for you by the very design of our products. We combine visual, kinesthetic, and auditory elements in our product design, and the process of learning becomes more effortless for so many children. Children can enjoy the color, the activity, the humor, the sense of accomplishment and competence that they need to fuel even more success in learning!

Let’s help our children love learning!

How to design units that access each student’s giftedness…

…and turn on their excitement for learning

It would be amazing to take a protracted field trip and visit the schools across the nation, walk the hallways, and peek in the classroom doors to see what we can see. Doubtless what we would witness would be incredibly varied. We would see everything from classrooms in which students are engaged, participating, and energized, to classrooms in which children are passive, indifferent, and checked out. In some of these latter classrooms, behaviors are out of control, while in others, students are silent.

What makes the difference in classrooms?

I have a theory: if we access each child’s area of giftedness, we will turn them on to learning. In reality, the brain is already wired to learn. What remains is for us to figure out how to create a learning environment in which brains can learn, want to learn, and do so without a ton of effort on our part as teachers.

How can we do this?

Some ideas need to be in place before successfully designing units of instruction that engage students and access their best abilities. We should assume that:

• All children are gifted in varying ways.

• Students don’t all learn the same way.

• The ultimate best means of conveying what they have learned will vary from student to student.

• Lecture/verbal instruction is the least effective way to teach.

• Listening to verbal instruction is the least effective way for students to learn.

• It IS possible to teach one lesson and reach all the students in a classroom.

• Children can perform far beyond what we view as their ability level.

• Children rise to the occasion when they are given control over their own learning.

• Children don’t always learn concepts in the order we view as “the correct order,” be it sight words or math facts.

• Most children learn by sorting through a wealth of ideas and making order out of them in their own minds.

Planning a unit

As an example, let’s use the topic of European influences on the settlement of North America – 6th grade level.  The unit includes the history of the first European visitors and settlers to America as well as what animals and plants were introduced from Europe. I actually prepared this unit back in 2001 and taught it to two sixth grade classrooms in a rural, at-risk population of students with marginal home support. Suffice it to say, the topic was not on the list of “burning issues I need to know about” for my students. Decide ahead of time exactly what you want all the students to come away knowing and understanding, and be prepared to share this with the students.

Prepare your unit in ways that speak to the modalities of the students. It is not the time to say “read pages 225-228 and answer the questions at the end of the unit.” Speaking to the modalities of the students means that you will show more than you will tell. As you are sharing the food stuffs that originated in Europe, create a huge map (on the whiteboard or smartboard) showing images of the various foods/animals; use arrows or put the items in little ships that are headed towards the new world. Use rhyme and color-coding. Encourage the students to use their hands to reflect the lessons you are presenting, even if it is to draw the map in their notebook and draw or cut out images of the influences from Europe.

At the end of the unit, share that you want to find out what they each understand. There will not be a test to study for; there won’t be a certain way for them to show you what they know. Each of the students will be able to choose a way to share what they have learned with you and the class.

Give them the list of concepts or questions you want them to be able to respond to. At the same time, give them some ideas for options they can choose from just to prime the pump.

1. Verbally gifted students could choose to do a TV news report or write an article. 

 

2. Interpersonally gifted students could do a TV or radio interview, do a game show where the host asks questions and the contestants answer the questions, etc.

 

3. Intrapersonally gifted students might choose to create a diary from the point of view of a young person traveling over to the colonies for the first time, recounting their experiences. Or, they might choose to make a scrapbook with cut outs illustrating their entries.

 

4. Visually gifted students might choose to collaborate on a mural/map complete with key, illustrations, etc. They might elect to create a product using color-coding to show source countries of different plants and animals or customs.

 

5. Rhythmically gifted students might make up a song or chant or  poem or ditty about various aspects of the lesson.

 

6. Kinesthetically gifted students might create a choreographed play and act out the content of the unit.

 

7. Logically/Mathematically gifted students might recount the events, focusing on the challenges of the expansion into the Americas and the way these challenges were overcome. They might be interested in the data and numbers surrounding this period in our history. They might create graphs and other numerical charts as a way of sharing data.

The rubric

The teacher’s rubric must focus not on the means of conveying learning but on whether the substance of the unit was understood and communicated. Did each student show they understood the unit? Did they convey the concepts that were central to the unit?

Consider having a simple rubric for students to use to rate each presentation, prepping them ahead of time to focus on content more than on the means of presentation.

The structure of the rubric should include the major concepts and have a place for rating maybe from 1-4 the excellence of communicating each concept. The student rubric should be simpler and focus on the main elements and the extent to which they were communicated.

Taking it further

As you teach more and more frequently using this model, encourage your students to learn all they can from each other about what each child finds easiest to do. Encourage collaboration, not by teacher-led grouping, but instead by giving the students the liberty of planning future presentations drawing on the skills and gifts of students who are different from themselves. For instance, a visual spatial student could team with a verbally gifted child to create a presentation that showcased both of their abilities. The mathematically gifted child might team with a body/kinesthetically gifted child. The resulting projects would be so diverse and amazing for the class to enjoy as their learning and their understanding expands with each new presentation.

The result?

Your students will love learning. I can guarantee it! 

Tips for Helping Active and Spatial Children Remember Numbers and Other Abstract Concepts

The reason I so clearly identify with our visual/spatial and active learners is because I am one of them myself…albeit a middle-aged version. How these children learn and remember are not just things I have studied; I live them, so they're very real to me.

There is a particular four-digit number that factors into a lot of our paperwork at home. Because I tend to do much of our paperwork, it is incumbent upon me to learn and remember this number. It is a number my husband came up with, has no trouble remembering, and has patiently reminded me of more times than I can count. Something really interesting having to do with this number happened the other day. I needed it in order to unlock a keypad, so once again I asked him for the four digit number.

That time, because I keyed it in on a number pad, I was able to remember it. If you were to ask me what the number is, however, I would first have to visualize the keypad and then because of the shape of the movement as I keyed in the four digits, I would be able to tell you that number. The significance of this to our understanding of how visual/spatial and kinesthetic children learn and remember is huge.

I still cannot memorize a random string of numbers, but I can remember a number forever if I have seen its shape on a keypad. I remember the layout visually, and I can see the shape the sequence of numbers makes. I have visualized a body motion that mirrors that shape.

Here is the keypad:

Say the number I need to remember is 2139. The shape that number makes on this keypad is a backwards L.

And this is the hand motion I attach to that number:

The knuckle on the thumb represents the starting point or the 2. I then go to the tip of my thumb, then to the base of my thumb and finally to the tip of my pointer finger. Voila. Never to be forgotten.

If you happen to bump into me in the airport, just ask me for the number and I will now be able to tell you!

So what does all this have to do with children and learning and remembering? Simply that it's easy as parents and teachers to spend a lot of time beating our heads against a brick wall telling and reminding, and drilling, and flashing cards…to no avail. What often happens when trying to teach an active children through drill and verbal instruction is that we become frustrated and the child winds up feeling a bit dim and very discouraged.

So, taking this to the practical level, what are some ways to utilize the visual/spatial and kinesthetic learner’s strengths in learning? Here are some ideas:

1.    Relate the concept to the child’s body whenever possible. For instance, when teaching a child how to correctly form letters of the alphabet, ground the various letters to her body. The capital E is her upright form, with the top bar being a table coming out of the top of her head, the middle bar being a table that comes from her belly button, and the lowest bar being a table that comes out of her feet. Capital K is her upright body, her arm and leg extended to make the slanting lines. (See Writing the Visual, Kinesthetic, and Auditory Alphabet for more alphabet ideas.)

2.    Use the child’s hands to mimic the ideas they are learning. A powerful tool in learning sums to 10 is the child’s own pair of hands. Sums to 5 of course can be done on one hand.

The illustration above is taken from Kid Friendly Computation: Addition & Subtraction. When a child maps out the sums to 5 on his own hand, he is seeing the sums as tangible objects (his own fingers). He is feeling the pull of his fingers as he makes the sums, and his mind will tie those facts to what he felt and saw on his own body.

3.    Use a visual as often as possible. Oh I say this every day, don’t I? But visuals are so powerful, and for children who are visual/spatial, supplying them with a visual that is directly embedded in their learning is magical.

4.    Basically for anything a child would simply need to memorize, find another way to link learning to memory. It is what we do at Child1st; what we are here for. If you need ideas for teaching difficult concepts, feel free to comment below or email me at info@child-1st.com. I'd love to chat with you!

Teaching with Body Movement Results in Enriched Learning Experiences

I can still remember when educators were beginning to talk about using movement in lessons as a way of enhancing learning for active children. The first night of a graduate class, the instructor invited us all out into the hallway. Our introduction to each other was an activity that was also meant to show us the value of using movement when learning new material. The theory was that if we did a body movement during the process of learning each others’ names, we would more easily acquire the names of our classmates. We stood in a circle and one by one we introduced ourselves. Once we’d been around the circle once and everyone had said their name, the instructor produced a ball and gave it to a lady. She was supposed to bounce the ball to another class member and say their name at the same time. The bouncee was to then become the bouncer, bouncing the ball to another member of the class while saying his name. This went on for a while. Finally, our instructor stopped the exercise and had several members of the circle see if they could accurately name every class member. Everyone was very pleased with the exercise.

Another activity was aimed at showing us how movement can help active learners learn high frequency words. A student laboriously cut out a stack of footprints from construction paper and wrote a sight word on each paper foot. Then she arranged the feet into a long path down the corridor. The game was played by asking a child to hop on each paper foot and simultaneously say each word as he hopped on it.

In many classrooms, active children are encouraged to bounce quietly on big balls while studying, or are allowed to swing their feet while doing their seatwork. We do understand that movement is helpful to many children, but is it just moving that helps? Or is it most helpful when movement is specific to the material being learned?

What the activities I described above have in common is that the body movement for each part of the lesson is exactly the same. When we bounced the ball during our learning-each-others’-names activity, the bounces were identical. In hopping-on-paper-feet, each word received a similar hop.

What I would like to explore is whether or not our students would gain far more if they were encouraged to mimic their learning with body movement. When learning the word JUMP, for instance, if the child sees the word and jumps as she reads it, she is reinforcing the meaning of the word with her whole body. Later, when she sees the word JUMP, she will likely make a little hop in place, and most certainly she will remember not only what the word says, but what it means. She will have absorbed the meaning of the word in her body in multiple regions: eyes, ears, and whole body. Gesture or body movement that reflects the concept being learned will deepen the meaning for the child, show that he understands the concept, and become a means of recalling that concept later.

Let’s look at some other examples. When teaching the meaning of addition, you could print the following equation on paper in a large size:

                        4 + 3 =

Have the child point with her left pointer finger to the 4 and to the 3 with her right hand pointer finger. When you say “Four PLUS three,” have the child move her pointer fingers towards each other, signifying the numbers will come together and combine to make a new, bigger number.

                        7 - 3 =

In the subtraction equation above, again have the child point to each number with pointer fingers of each hand. Say, “Seven minus three” and when you do, have the child move his right pointer finger decidedly to the right to signify that the 3 is going away from the seven, leaving a new, smaller number.

The ÷ sign can be acted out in a way that helps the child understand the action of division. Put 10 round plastic math counters on the table. Look at the problem 10 ÷ 2 = and push the counters into two groups. You can then have the child draw an imaginary line on the table in between the two groups, using their hand palm open, with the edge of their hand running along the table to mimic the line in the “divided by” symbol.

Finally, a whole body motion that shows the action for + is simply to bring both arms up and cross them tightly against your chest. You can make the action more to the point if you pick up some objects in each hand before crossing your arms over your chest to mimic the plus sign. This is the action of taking two groups and pulling them together to make a new total.

Use body motions for the math functions as you teach word problems. Teach your child to listen to specific words and do the related body motion when your child reads a word problem; this will help him understand which function to use for each problem. Example: “Jane had two apples. She picked five more. How many does she have now?” Have your child act out the problem. 1. Jane has two apples: The child will pick up two plastic math counters. 2. She picked 5 more: The child will pick up 5 more math chips and then with chips in both hands, he will cross his arms in the plus sign when he hears the word “more.”

Your students can become their own best helpers as they learn to create and use body movements that reflect the concepts they are learning. Let’s try it today!

How to Teach a Right Brained Learner to Tell Time

Or, learning to tell time if you are a visual-spatial or active kinesthetic learner

In this age of digital everything, children can usually avoid struggling to read an old-timey analog clock. They can see a display such as 9:15 and glibly read the numbers to you. But do they really understand the meaning behind the pair of numbers, and will they be able to skillfully use time in their daily lives without gaining the meaning behind the number pairs? Using time is a necessary skill, but many children struggle to learn how. Why not make learning to tell time kid friendly by making it into a right brained activity?

Following are some ideas for making learning to tell time a more kid-friendly activity. For the examples, let’s imagine a child named Oliver. Oliver will need to be familiar with counting by 5’s for this clock activity.

Make a clock and a pointer

First, find an old sheet or shower curtain and make a huge circle on it with a magic marker as tall as Oliver with his arm reaching above his head. If you hang it on a wall, he should be able to "step inside" the clock (face the clock), with his feet in front of 6, the 12 above his head, his right extended arm pointing to 3 and his left extended arm pointing to 9. Next mark the clock face with the numbers 1-12.

Then, find something to use as a pointer. A wooden dowel would make a great one. You can even get an old knit glove and stuff it lightly so that the pointer has a real pointer finger.

Practice time-telling terms

When the giant clock is ready, ask Oliver to "step inside and be the clock" to practice time-telling terms. Oliver will need to hold the pointer in his right hand.

"O'clock" signals the top of the hour, and Oliver will point straight up when he hears that term.

"Quarter after" is the signal for Oliver to reach straight to the right, pointing at the 3.

"Quarter ‘til" will prompt him to point to the 9.

"…thirty" means bending over and reaching for his toes.

Practice counting by 5’s around the clock face

Before mixing it all up, have Oliver practice counting by 5’s around the clock face. Each set of 5 minutes will be marked by a large number. Be sure he understands that each time he touches a big number as he progresses around the clock face, 5 more minutes have passed.

Practice minutes after and minutes ‘til

After Oliver has practiced counting by 5’s, it is time to practice minutes before and minutes after. Tell Oliver to step into the clock again with his pointer in his right hand and get ready to play. Prompt him to move his arm to point to the minute you specify as you play the game.

To begin, say, "5 minutes after" and prompt Oliver to extend his right arm to the 1. Next say, "5 minutes 'til" and prompt him to move the equal distance from o’clock on the left side of the clock using his pointer.

Then say, "10 after" and let Oliver point to the 2. "10 'til" will be a mirror of "10 after" on the left side of the clock.

Continue systematically saying the number pairs in this way until he is familiar with where the various numbers are in relationship to o’clock, quarter after and 30 after.

After practicing doing the minutes before and after in order, try mixing it up a little by asking for 15 before and after, then 25 before and after, etc. By pointing to the pairs of numbers in a random order, Oliver will begin to relate the number pairs on the clock:

1 and 11

2 and 10

3 and 9

4 and 8

5 and 7

In addition, what will be happening as he practices finding these pairs of numbers is that the movements will be stored in his body as Oliver stretches to point to various minutes. Some minutes will be easy to reach, while other minutes will require him to stretch around quite a bit.

Practice telling time

Once Oliver has become very familiar and fluent with minutes before and after and can readily find the minutes you ask him for, move to reading the clock whole body. Oliver will use his pointing stick in his right hand to represent the minute hand. The hour hand will be Oliver’s left arm without a pointer. Make sure Oliver relates his long pointing arm to the longer minute hand on an analog clock and his left arm, of course, to the shorter hour hand on the analog clock. When you say "10 minutes after 9" Oliver will use his right arm to point to the minutes and then will identify the hour (9) with his left hand.  Continue calling out times for Oliver using the same terms until he’s very familiar with finding those times on the clock.

Practice quarters

Make a clock face with construction paper in Oliver’s favorite color. Next make another same-size circle in a new color and fold twice, horizontally and vertically. Cut the second circle on the fold lines so that you have four quarters. Give these quarters to Oliver and teach him that when you say "quarter after," he can place the first cut-out quarter so that it lines up with the o’clock and the 3. If you say "half past" or "30," Oliver will place another quarter next to the first one. Now the right side of the clock is covered with 2 quarters. If you say "45 after," Oliver will place the third quarter next to the last one so that the entire clock is covered except for the space between the 9 and the 12. Doing this tactile, visual activity will help Oliver understand that 45 after and 15 'til are the same spot on the clock. Use the whole body clock to practice quarter after, thirty, and 45 after, and finally quarter ‘til.

Relate the analog clock to a digital version

To complete this activity, use 3" x 5" cards with digital times written on them with a big marker (such as 6:10, 3:50, etc.) On the backs of the cards, simply write the hour as an o’clock. For example, on one side of the card you will write the specific time with minutes included: 6:10. On the back of that same card, write just the hour: 6:00. Continue making a nice stack of cards in the same fashion. Now, ask Oliver to step up to the whole body clock. Show him the o’clock side of the card first. For example, show him the card that says 6:00. He will locate the 6 with his left arm and show o’clock with his pointer. Next, flip the card over to show 6:10. His left hand will stay on the 6, but his right, minute-hand-pointer arm which has been pointing straight up while waiting will then swoop down to point to 10 minutes after.

The absolute key for success with this whole body learning activity is to teach in comfortable increments, allowing for plenty of time for Oliver to gain fluency with each step before moving on to the next. Remember that we are relying on the body to learn and remember, and it takes practice to learn and gain fluency with a physical activity.

Q: My child has trouble concentrating and sitting still. Which materials would you recommend?

A: Our stylized signt word cards (SnapWords™) are one very effective tool for teaching active children to read. The back of each card includes a body motion to deepen learning and give kinesthetic learners something to tie the meaning of a new word to. The visuals on the front of each card also make learning instant, enabling active learners to glance at the stylized word and pick up the meaning in a snap instead of having to sit through tedious drill and practice. One short look is sometimes all the attention an active learner may be able to give, so instantaneous learning is important!

Our stylized alphabet cards are designed in the same way to tie the shape and sound of each letter together, and include body motions for deeper learning connections.

The Illustrated Book of Sounds & Their Spelling Patterns and the supplemental Sound Spelling Teaching Cards are also great for active children since the materials group all the sounds in the English language together by sound pattern so that a global learner (a category many active children fall into) is able to easily grasp the word patterns. The Illustrated Book of Sounds & Their Spelling Patterns replaces ineffective memorization of words and phonics rules with kid-friendly patterns and visuals. Students are engaged in listening to sounds, finding patterns, and learning through cartoons and story bytes. The Illustrated Book of Sounds & Their Spelling Patterns demystifies reading by giving students the tools they need to decode unknown, difficult words with ease.