I would like to share beliefs I have about learning and children over the next few weeks, beginning with my certainty that
All Children Can Learn...They do so in their own style.
Figuring out your child's (student's) interests and learning style will help the student be successful.
Howard Gardner offered breakthrough reasearch defining at least 8 ways we are smart.
*Math Smart
* Reading Smart
* Music Smart
* Body (Movement) Smart
*Spatial Smart
*Interpersonal Smart (Social)
*Intrapersonal Smart (Intraspective)
* Nature Smart (Added more recentally)
Observing, listening to and questioning is the best way to discover what a child is natural at and most interested in. Knowing this will keep the excitement about and interest in learning . We can be smart in more that one way.
One of my favorite books is The Big Orange Splot (Ages 5 and up)
By Daniel Pinkwater
The story is about Mr. Pinkwater who lives on a street where all the houses are the same. (Everyone liked it that way.) One day a bird flew over his house and dropped a can of orange paint on his roof, making a "big, orange splot." All the neighbors wanted him to paint his house back to be like theirs, but he painted his house to look like "an explosion," "a jungle," "a rainbow." "My house is me and I am it. My house is where I like to be and it looks like all of my dreams." Could Mr. Plumbean be Daniel Pinkwater, the author?
Discussion: If you could paint your house any way you wanted to, what would it look like?
Why do you think the people who lived on Mr. Plumbean's street wanted the houses to be the same?
Do you know an example of a time when it was hard to be different? What is it?
Do you have any friends who do things differently than you? Example? Can you still be friends?
Activity: Draw or paint a picture of a house that reflects your dreams or loves.
Build the house out of blocks, pattern blocks, Legos, etc.
Copy the house you built.
Take a photo of the house you built.
Take a photo of the house you live in.
This could be a good time to observe addresses on homes and businesses and to learn their own addresses. Why do we need an address?
Ask the "artist" to sign his/her work and date it. Is this work good enough to save.
Next Week: Portfolios...Begin at a young age.
Here's to happy learners!
We had a very interesting speaker at the Denver IDEA Cafe last Friday, a professional photographer. One of the things he does is photography of kids holding family photos, teachers then do writing projects, kids talking about themselves and the family photo, they are mounted together and then mounted on the wall of the gym, cafeteria or other large space. See some of the photos at http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=2049374&id=1273154499
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! Thanks for already providing some questions to ask! I'm looking forward to your ideas about a portfolio too.
ReplyDeleteI have one of my daughter's kindergarten years in Germany. Simply delightful to revisit.
Unfortunately, back in the U.S. much of the work she produced were boring worksheets!