Weekly Series — Developing Young Thinkers The goal for working with emerging learners is to help them develop mental tools that develop higher mental functions. The new students were sitting on the carpet. The teacher facing them, asks who can tell me which shape is...
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“Specialized, not Special”
Weekly Series — Developing Young Thinkers He has Special Skills. I felt my anxiety rise as we were called into the meeting. We were sitting at the end of the table, surrounded by the professionals bracing ourselves for the report to follow. Much of the rest of the...
A Picture Paints a 1,000 Words
A Picture Paints a Thousand Words Game 1 “A picture paints a thousand words,” is a well known phrase. But a picture can also inspire a thousand words. This is another fun activity that utilizes the understanding that 80% of the free write is the pre-write. And the...
Harness your Child’s Superpower with the Pygmalion Effect
Weekly Series — Behavior Made Easy “Assume the best with a positive expectation and you will see all the good around you.” Kindness is my Superpower — what’s yours? Stop. Close your eyes, think of one thing that makes your child a “superhero”. Do it now! What did you...
Developing Young Thinkers – Mastering Written Speech
Weekly Series — The five ways to help children master written speech. “Tell me about it” Drawing is the beginning of writing. Learning letters is not the beginning of the writing process, but does supply the final component to move a young learner from drawing speech...
Parents and Home Learning – Reduce your stress in 3 simple steps.
Weekly Series — Behavior Made Easy “Mom, can you help me with my math assignment?, It is due tomorrow. Oh’ and I forgot about the project I needed to do for Science, can you help me with that too?”, “Susie, I’m on a conference call right now, can you schedule...
Make Writing Meaningful for Kids with the Dear Mr. Hatch Game!
During the pandemic, it is key that we incorporate as many opportunities as possible for kids to connect with others. Writing letters is a great way to do this, especially if the recipient writes back! Materials: Paper and penEnvelope and stamp Directions: Think...
Kids Become WRITERS with the Add On Game!!
Now, when we mention writing to kids, the frequent response is “Ugh.” Well we can change that response to “Yeah!” Here is an activity guaranteed to entertain your kids while enhancing their writing skills. As a family, one of our favorite activities was Add On. You...
Developing Young Thinkers
Developing Young Thinkers Weekly Series — “Written Speech” What is he trying to tell us? In the previous article of Developing Young Thinkers we outlined the importance of private talk as a way to begin the foundation of thinking. The research of Russian...