Play Dough Fractions!

I ran across another idea on social media: Play Dough Fractions. Let your kids make play dough.  I use tempera paint instead of food coloring because it’s cheaper.  See if making the play dough helps them own the fractions.  You can add a bit of tech, too. Have your kids take photos and label the fractions in a slideshow.  Google Slides are free.

Olympics Actvities!

 In horoscope of the Olympics, here are some elementary and middle school ideas.  Take a look!

Great Post about Visiting Washington DC

 One of my favorite bloggers just posted about budgeting for her family’s trip to DC here.  Take a look at the cost breakdown—especially if you want to use public transportation.  Look at the list of attractions! Here is the website for admissions at the Smithsonian.  N.B. the rules for admissions change frequently.  Here is information about the MARC train.  Here is the website for the DC Metro.  Here is the website for the Fairfax Connector, with a map.  Here is the site explaining how to get to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum, which is outside DC, close to the Dulles Airport.  (There are three airports near DC: Dulles, Reagan, and BWI.  Reagan has direct Metro access.  Here is advice about connecting between Dulles and Reagan.  BTW, it’s a hassle.)

Our family lives outside DC.  I like to visit the museums and take groups.  Go during the day and stay near the Smithsonian museums and the monuments.  Use the Metro during the day.  We usually drive and park at Union Station’s underground parking lot.  Both the trains and Metro connect through Union Station.  The monuments, the Capitol, the White House and Smithsonian museums are about three miles from Union Station.  When I take a big school group, we walk.  Yes, this hike involves a great deal of griping.  

Read the blog post.  What a terrific trip!

Quotes on Objects

The kids are remitting pix of their objects covered with their favorite quotes.  Below is another example.

 

Brit Lit: Shakespeare

 We are reading Hatrack Romeo and Juliet in class.  (Take a look at Hatrack Taming of the Shrew.). The kids take parts.  Remember our class is meeting remotely.  Acting out parts really brings the play to life.  Purists will disagree with my choice to use Orson Scott Card’s interpretations and No Fear Shakespeare for Brit Lit.  Fine.  I want the teen’s to both experience and understand Shakespeare with more modern language.  The kids are working independently to compile character analyses, Elizabethan timelines, a list of quotes, and another list of ten insults.  One on-going project is to write their favorite quotes on a found object.  See the quote pig below and examples below.  So far, we are having a ball.

Let’s start Shakespeare!

 The Brit Lit class just started Shakespeare.  Here is the slideshow with assignments.  Each kid was reading a different play.  I made a decision to read Romeo and Juliet in class.  I need to teach what I know.  I know Romeo and Juliet pretty well.  The class is creating timelines, writing Shakespearean insults, andnoting expression still commonly used today.  We’ll do character analyses, too.  The links are in the slideshow.  We’re reading Orson Scott Card’s script adaptation of Romeo and Juliet first and using this website, which has notes and definitions, to read the original play.  The class is acting out the play.  Hopefully, this process will help us tackle Shakespeare and still have some fun.  

Tech at the Library

 Have you checked out the tech available through your library?  Our library offers loads of tech materials: equipment loans, apps, online classes, etc.  Our family has trained on the digital drawing program and 3D printer.  The library lends Chromebooks in addition to the computer stations in the library. Our system offers free training.  Increasingly, staff are expert in a variety of media.   Additionally, there are a number of online courses, such as Great Courses.  Look here at the number of resources available at our library under ‘Learn at Home’.  Ask your librarian about the resources available at your local library.  Here is the latest newsletter with some of the apps, virtual groups, and tech available.  We make free copies of handouts.  A young friend with learning differences uses Talking Books all the time.  See what your library offers.