St. Patrick’s Day Art Activity

St Patrick's Day Shamrock

This beautiful art activity is a great way for your students to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.  They draw a shamrock and create the lines with a ruler. Then kids simply add tangle patterns. You can create a beautiful display or send the project home for some Irish appreciation.

Supplies

  • Markers
  • Crayons
  • Ruler
  • Pencil
  • Google images of tangle patterns

Demonstrate how to draw a shamrock.  Show how to draw lines using a ruler. Share some pattern ideas with the class. We usually draw some patterns on the board.  Your students might want to draw with a pencil first and outline with a black marker later. Don’t forget to have fun!

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5 Healthy Treat Ideas for School Parties

 

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We all love a treat now and then, especially on birthdays.  During each school year children will easily eat about 40 cupcakes. There are cupcakes for Valentine’s Day, Thanksgiving, fundraisers, just because, and everything in between.  All of these unhealthy treats add up and not in a good way.

Many schools have guidelines to stem the tide of sugary goodies.  However, the reality is that most of the time  well-meaning members of the community are all too happy to supply a classroom with treats.  After all, the tray of cupcakes is less than $5 and the kids are going to love it, right?

Don’t despair.  The Little Digital Schoolhouse is here to help! We have assembled a panel of top-notch educators to compile a list of healthy treats for your convenience. All of the treats are educator & mommy approved!

 

Butterfly Snack Bags

Butterfly snack bags from http://raisinglittlesuperheroes.com
Butterfly snack bags from http://raisinglittlesuperheroes.com
  • Carrots
  • Cheese blocks
  • Clothespins
  • Ziplock bags
  • Pipe cleaner
  • Googly eyes

Cut the cheese and fill a ziplock bag with grapes and cheese.  Pinch it in the middle with a clothespin and decorate with pipe cleaner and googly eyes.

 

Fruit Rockets

Fruit Rockets from http://www.eatsamazing.co.uk
Fruit Rockets from http://www.eatsamazing.co.uk
  • Strawberries
  • grapes
  • Blueberries
  • Glitter tassels

Even though you probably won’t be able to make a bonfire at your school, these rockets will still dazzle your young gourmets. Simply skewer the fruit and decorate with a tassel.

 

Apple Sandwiches

Nut butter sandwiches from www.wheelndealmama.com
Nut butter sandwiches from
www.wheelndealmama.com

Cut apples and garnish with Sunbutter and granola.

 

Cheese Monsters

Cheese Monsters from http://www.danyabanya.com/cheese-monsters/
Cheese Monsters from Aussie mum blogger Danya Banya http://www.danyabanya.com
  • Babybel cheese
  • Googly eyes

Even small kids can make these little critters. Just cut out different shapes and get creative with googly eyes.

 

Merry Berry Cups

Berries
Honey
Lime
Mint leaves (optional)
Clear cups with lids
This snack can be assembled by the kids. Put out bowls with berries, slices of lime, sprigs of mint, and honey. Students can choose their berries, squeeze a lime over it, and garnish with some mint. If the berries are too tart, some homey can sweeten the deal.

What do you think? Send us pictures of your wonderful classroom celebrations!

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5 Ways to Implement Finland’s Education Ideas

More breaks, more play, less testing, and no homework!

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You have probably heard about Finland’s success in the PISA study.  The  Programme for International Student Assessment or PISA assesses and compares 15-year-old students all over the world.  So what can be learned from one of the most succesful educational system in the world? When looking at Finland’s success it seems almost too good to be true. Why not try some of their educational ideals?  Join in by implementing these simple ideas into your daily routine.

Take Breaks!

Break up your day with several short breaks. Finnish children have more recess time.  Usually they get a break every 45 minutes.  If you teach in the United States you have to teach Physical Education.  Many districts even require you to certify your PE minutes.  These PE minutes can be used to bring a little bit of Finnish glory to your classroom right now.  Every 45 minutes take a 10 minute PE break. This way you get in your PE time and optimize your learning environment.  There are many studies supporting frequent exercise breaks.  If your administrator is worried, let them know about the importance of brain-derived neurotropic factor. You are not taking things easy. You are on top of it with cutting edge teaching techniques!

No More Homework

Put the homework package down and slowly back away!  Imagine how freeing this would be.  No more grading, no more hunting after missed assignments, you can do it!  Seriously, at least cut it to your district guidelines.  You might be surprised how little homework your school district recommends. Most guidelines recommend 10 minutes for each grade level.  This adds up to only 10 minutes for a first grader!

Bring Back Imaginative Play!

Allow room for imaginative play in your classroom.  You could have a doll house or stuffed animals.  Bring back a play kitchen and dress up center. This can be part of your classroom reward system or your Friday activity.  If you are using Writers Workshop in your classroom you can include imaginative play in your prewrite activity.

Take Your Breaks

Take your breaks! You need them.  No more copying during lunch and recess.  You need your breaks just as much as the kids.  Finnish teachers get lots of breaks and planning time.  Use the little time you have wisely. Go for a walk, watch a TED talk, or read a good book.  Teachers in Finland do and they are much more respected than their American counterparts.

Less Testing

You probably are required to use some standardized test.  They are usually very comprehensive.  Do you really need any more than that? There are many alternative assessments available as well.

Can It Be This Easy?

Teach PE every day, forget about homework, include playtime, take your breaks, and test less. Sounds great, right? Even if you might not be able to try all of these ideas immediately, start with one or two and see the difference it will make for you and your students.

 

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Teaching Creativity

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Logic can get you from A to Z; Creativity will get you everywhere!

~ Albert Einstein

This is a true story and a wake up call to anybody raising and educating children. Imagine a class of 6 year olds. Their acting assignment is to improvise using a scarf. One by one they take a turn, unable to imagine anything but items that can be made out of a scarf. No magic wands, no snakes, no swords are created. The students seem uncomfortable and unsure.

Why is it so hard for them to do what was second nature to previous generations? An explanation might be found in the way children spend their days. They are in school, or after school care, from 8 am to 6pm. During this time their activities are highly structured. They are told what to do and when to do it. No room for imaginative play. When they get home they have to finish their homework, maybe play on a device, and then it is bedtime.

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These days, there seems to be no time to ride their bikes, play in their yards, or to just a kid. Every minute seems structured and supervised. Children seem bored and disinterested in even the most exciting activities offered to them. Every minute is used to squeeze in one more enrichment activity.

Imagination is the beginning of any endeavor. Without imaginations there is no growth in a society. Steve Jobs had to imagine the apple computer before it could become a reality. Thomas Edison imagined the electrical light bulb before he spend ten thousand experiments to actually create one. Our Founding Fathers imagined a free America before the Declaration of Independence was signed.
Imagination is a skill that needs to be valued. A child playing by themselves is doing the work of childhood. Your little daydreamer might make all the difference in the world one day.
What do we value more, spelling skills or imagination? Most would probably answer imagination. Yet we spend all our resources and efforts on spelling and other skills like it.
Our children’s need for imaginative play needs to be defended. They need opportunity to play and caregivers need to be patient.

When your children come to you and tell you they are bored. Don’t just create entertainment for them, let them create it themselves. Build areas of unstructured playtime into a child’s day. At school as well as at home. There should be learning breaks where children can relax their bodies and minds. Imagination is the foundation of what it means to be human. It is up to all of us to bring it back to live. Bring back the unicorns, pirates, and joys of imaginative play.

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Read Across America Chalkboard Art

Lorax Quote

This is a simple art activity for Dr. Seuss Day.  It requires (almost) no prep and comes out great. You will be surprised how creative you class is!

Materials:

  1. Chalk
  2. Black Construction Paper
  3. Dr. Seuss Books
  4. Google Images of Dr. Seuss Quotes

Procedure:

  1. Read you favorite Dr. Seuss book.
  2. Share Google Images of Dr. Seuss quotes.
  3. Write your favorite quotes on the board.
  4. Demonstrate how to use chalk.

Have fun!

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Play With Nature

Play With Nature

How much time do your students spend interacting with nature?  Think about it.  What once was an everyday occurrence for kids is now rare and sometimes even non-existent.  Students used to walk to school, climb trees and even got dirty.  Today children only spend about 1% of their time outdoors. They are usually corralled behind a chain link fence on a  concrete surface.  We allow them to have a jungle gym and a ball but they are completely removed from nature…

Why does nature matter?  Nature allows children to play and interact with the physical laws of the world.  To play with a pillbug means to explore the world of crustaceans.  To observe water and sand is to get experience with erosion and how substance change when they are mixed. Sticks are great for building (and sword fights).  When we give children toys, their function and purpose has been predetermined.  Nature provides an open-ended game, wakes curiosity, and has a generally calming effect on the mind and body.

When children are allowed to experience nature it is often within the context of a park or other area altered by man.  We tell them, ” Don’t touch this, don’t pick the flowers, please don’t pick up the rocks.”  We get upset when they want to interact with their environment in a tactile way.  Children’s brains are still developing and so the elementary grade student has to touch her environment, just as much as a baby has to mouth objects, in order to establish the brain mapping of our three-dimensional world. It is a child’s job to make mud pies, throw rocks, and play with sand and water.

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Research has shown that playing with nature is an important contributor of healthy development in children.  The benefits of reconnecting with nature seem endless:

  • Increased concentration
  • Better performance on standardized tests
  • Reduction of ADD and ADHD symptoms
  • greater academic success
  • greater impulse control
  • stronger immune response

What can be done right now in our classrooms and homes to give children experiences with nature that are so vital to their well-being? One way to bring nature into your classroom is to create a nature center.  It could include shells, pinecones, sticks, pebbles , and other interesting things.  Allow children to build with the natures center. They will build little worlds of their own right in your classroom.  The center can be used for many academic activities but sometimes it helps to just use it as an area of play.  Even in our world of high pressure academics, our children sometimes need to be able to do what they were meant to do-play.

 

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Why Mozart Should Be Your Teaching Assistant

Albert Einstein playing his violin.

The secret is out, classical music has a positive impact on focus, learning, and mood. At the Little Digital Schoolhouse we like to call it the “Mozart Effect”.  It truly works. You simply turn on the Pachelbel Canon and the class relaxes and quiets down. As you monitor your classroom you can almost feel the sigh of relief as students are able to focus.

Science backs our experience that classical music can greatly enhance the quality and quantity of learning. Researchers in France have found that students, who listen to classical music during a lecture, scored significantly higher on assessments than students who listened to the lecture without background music. Another study at UC Irvine found that music also enhances memory functions in Alzheimer patients. Even plants seem to grow better with Mozart. In 1973 Dorothy Retallack showed with her experiments that plants grow better when classical music is played to them.

The proof is in the pudding however.  Why not try it? Here are some of our favorite selections for your listening pleasure:

  1. Bach, Suite No. 3 in D Major
  2. Pachelbel, Canon
  3. Schubert, Ave Maria
  4. Kreisler, Liebesleid
  5. Strauss, Blue Danube
  6. Mozart, Eine kleine Nachtmusik

Itunes also offers classical selections that have been compiled for this purpose.  Nice examples are:

  1. Classical Music for Meditation and Yoga
  2. Start Smart: Learning Tools For Your Child’s Mind
  3. Smart Kids: Invigorating Music for Young Minds

Enjoy!

 

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Chickens in the Classroom

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Here a chick, there a chick, everywhere a chick chick…

Incubating chickens in the classroom is a great science activity and easier than you might think. A lot of science curriculums include incubating eggs as an optional activity.  Are you ready?

Step 1

Determine who will take the chicks after they hatch.  Since it is impossible to know how many will hatch it is good to find several interested parties and establish a procedure who gets to pick first.

Step 2

Order an incubator, heating lamp, and chick starter from Amazon.

Step 3

Get fertilized eggs.

Step 4

On a Tuesday morning start incubating the eggs.  Make sure to follow the instructions included in the incubator.

Step 5

21 days later enjoy watching your chicks hatch!

 

 

evasahne