How to Encourage Children's Interest in Writing

Writing is important. Being able to write well, is an indisputably valuable skill that every person should have. Whether is it completing assignments throughout the course of education, writing letters/emails, putting together reports at work, or simply journaling, writing is essential.

Success at writing - AKA effective communicating - begins with early preparation. The earlier the better. The following article was originally published in November 2010.

Getting Kids Interested in Writing

The best way to get primary school kids interested in writing is to spark their interest in reading and storytelling.  The earlier this can be done, the better their interest will be. Children are naturally curious and enjoy being given the opportunity to be creative and exercise their imaginations. Writing is a natural outlet for expressing their inventive thoughts.

Children who are readers are more likely to become good writers, but even those who are just learning to read enjoy having stories told to them and making up stories of their own. When given the opportunity to share these stories and entertain other students, kids can then experience a sense of pride in what they have accomplished. Though some kids are shy about sharing, most are excited to show off what they have done and the self-esteem boost they get from doing so is what will help them feel confident about writing and sharing more stories.

It is important, particularly with creative writing, that more emphasis be placed on story creation than on spelling, grammar and punctuation. Those things can be addressed at a later time after the stories have been completed. (Think of it as reverse engineering.) If students can get excited about writing early on they will be more likely to maintain an interest in it throughout their school careers.

Children as young as Kindergarten students can be introduced to writing at the very basic level by creating their own alphabet books. As they learn simple words they can be encouraged to create more books. They can also orally make up stories collectively as a class that the teacher can write down. These stories can be bound in simple books that the students can take home and read with their families.

Second grade students can work as a class or in teams and take turns adding parts to round-robin stories. Most children love to draw and will want to create illustrations for their stories. As their writing skills improve they can be encouraged to create stories individually. Stories can be a single paragraph or take up an entire page. The important thing is that the students learn how to give their stories a beginning, middle and end, and that they at least answer the who, what, and how questions of storytelling.

Making up their own stories is only one way to get students excited about writing. Exercises that allow students to write reflectively, particularly with students who may be having behavior issues, allow them to see how writing can be a useful tool that helps them to put the things that happen to them in perspective and even to feel better.

Third and fourth grade students should be able to interview each other and write short journalistic style stories that allow them to get to know each other better. As their skills improve they can interview family members or neighbors and learn about oral history.

As primary school students begin to think of writing as something that is useful and has value to them it will become increasingly easy to foster their interest in it.

Teacher Tips: Respect for Others

Kids often use the word respect without any actual understanding of what it means. They hear the word tossed around frequently by adults, but quite often the concept of what it is to be respectful is completely foreign to them. 

A discussion of respect at the primary school level is completely different from one at the middle or high school level. In order for young children to understand what it is to respect themselves, their class/playmates, and the adults around them, parents and educators have to tap into their sense of empathy. Kids may not yet understand intellectually, but they feel emotionally and -unless there is something wrong - they don't like to feel bad or see others hurting.

The following article was originally published November 6, 2009

How to Teach Respect for others

The key in teaching children to have respect for others is in getting them to first understand what respect actually is. Young children regularly hear adults say "you have to show respect," but for them it is just a word. They don't really understand what that means as a concept. They need to be told very specifically how to show respect for others and they need the adults in their lives to model respectful behavior for them to follow.

To teach primary school children to have respect for others begin with lessons in caring and why caring is important. Children can relate to caring because they understand what it is to be mean as well as what it is to have your feelings hurt. When they understand that not showing respect is having bad manners and that they might even hurt someone's feelings they are more likely to want to show respect for others because it means they are nice when they behave well towards others.

Reading and discussing story books on how to be a friend is a good way to begin to get children to understand what it means to show respect for others as well as for themselves. By looking at the different ways in which friends behave, children will begin to understand the respect concept as being nice, showing manners, taking turns, and never using rude or mean words. These concepts can later be expanded on to show how they apply to the classroom. For instance, taking turns can be compared to not talking when it is the teacher's turn to talk.

Students talking out of turn is a common problem teachers face while they are trying to give instructions or relay information. The response from the teacher to the student is usually to call the student out and admonish the behavior in some way. Instead, a teacher could use this situation as an opportunity to reinforce the respect concept by saying something like: "Jane, you are talking while I am trying to give the class their spelling words. That is rude and disruptive and it is very disrespectful to me and your fellow students. I would appreciate it if you would give me your full attention when I am speaking."

Helping children to understand that rude behavior is inappropriate is the next step in getting them to grasp the concept of respect. When someone tells a child they are disrespectful it doesn't make an impact on them until they understand just why and how the behavior is disrespectful. When a child realizes that behaving rudely towards someone (i.e., cursing) is being disrespectful towards them they can begin to connect the concepts they already know to make the connection that mean words equal rude behavior which equals disrespect.

One key factor in teaching children to have respect for others is self esteem. If a child does not feel good about him or herself or has significant anger issues, this child is not going to care about being respectful. Misery loves company and because this child has a reason to feel bad they will feel it is their mission to make others feel bad too. To address this problem have students engage in individual and cooperative activities that are designed to improve self awareness and self esteem.

Another key factor in having children behave with respect for others is having others, including the adults in their lives show respect for them. It is impossible to never become impatient in the classroom, but it is extremely important to not turn nasty or sound mean when addressing a child. Sarcasm or talking down to a child in any way is never appropriate and will certainly not get them to respect you.

There is no one specific means for teaching respect, however, to successfully address the respect concept with primary school students it is extremely important that students see teachers, administrators and other staff members modeling the behavior of showing respect for others at all times. Children learn what they live and they will always emulate what they see the adults around them doing.

Teacher Tips: Getting Costumes For The School Play

Remember back in the day when the moms got together and made their kids' costumes for the school play? Back when participation was what was important, as opposed to keeping up with/doing better than... or even having the perfect Instagrammable moments?

Not everything has to be fancy or flashy, and sometimes you just have to do the best you can with what you have. Here's a brief article with some suggestions on how to get costumes for a school play when you have limited resources.

The following article was originally published December 26, 2010

How to get Costumes for a School Play

Putting on a school play can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a lot of work. Choosing a play (or writing one); casting the performers; directing the action; staging rehearsals; coming up with the sets, props and costumes; and perhaps hardest of all, drawing an audience, all require a lot of organized effort.

When it comes to getting the costumes for a school play, there are a few different options to consider. Costumes can be rented, purchased or they can be made by someone such as a staff person or a parent or even the students themselves. Deciding which option is best will depend on the size of the play.

For a simple production with little kids (i.e., K-1), it may be enough to have the kids wear masks. They could also wear leotards or long-sleeved T-shirts with sweat or dance pants in a solid color to coordinate with their mask. Or, to make things simpler, they could all wear black.

For older groups of students (grades 2-4) who can learn and recite enough for a full one- or two-act play with multiple scenes, clothing, jewelry and accessories could be purchased in appropriate sizes from a thrift store to create costumes. The advantage of purchasing thrift store clothing is that it is cheap in cost and, because it’s already “made”, the items are easier to adapt for costumes than creating wardrobe from scratch.

Thrift store clothing can easily be cut down, dyed or painted to suit the needs of the production. Students can wear ballet, character, jazz, or other suitable dance shoes to complete their costumes, and quite often parents will be willing to pay for these.

When mounting a school play with middle and high school students, art and home economics classes can be a good source of potential costumers and even set-builders. Coordinating with other teachers to have their students participate in play production will help to delegate some of the responsibility, and if the school has a music teacher, enlist his or her help as well to find music students willing to participate.

Making costumes for a school play is a great way to get students involved in other aspects of play production and allows students who do not have a speaking part to be involved. Having original costumes also adds to the play’s uniqueness, particularly if the script is not original. If students are too young to make costumes, try enlisting parents or volunteers from church groups or college service organizations.

If making costumes is not an option even with adapting clothing purchased at a thrift store, the next best option will be to rent costumes. Your local telephone directory or a quick Internet search will help you determine where the nearest costume rental company is that may have what you need. Whichever route you choose for obtaining costumes for your school play, enlisting at least one other person to help with the work load will help things go smoother.

Halloween Craft Ideas For Teachers

Author's Note: The following piece was originally published you-know-where without any images because the platform wasn't set up for them at the time. Looking through the articles I salvaged just now I realized the timing was good to re-publish this one right now. Perhaps an update with pictures will appear in the future...

Originally published September 2009

Halloween Craft Ideas for Teachers

Crafting at Halloween can be a fun time for teachers who are particularly creative, but for those who don't see themselves in quite that light coming up with crafty ideas in the classroom can sometimes present a ghoulish challenge, particularly with little hands. Whether it is crafts for decorating the classroom, or projects for students to do, Halloween crafts need not be daunting.

Everything from templates to coloring sheets can be found online with a quick Google search of Halloween printables. Crafting with young children need not be complicated to be engaging. All you need is a simple project that can be completed in ten to twenty minutes in between your academic lessons.

When creating Halloween crafts with kindergarteners, you will want to keep things simple without too many steps. Keeping things simple also means you will have an easy time of cleanup as well. You may want to reserve activities that require the use of paint for days when you have extra time for setup and cleanup.

One fun and easy classroom craft for little hands requires only a pumpkin coloring sheet, squares of orange craft tissue and glue. Cut the tissue into 2 inch squares and have the students wad the individual sheets into balls and glue them onto the pumpkin. Alternatively, black tissue or even yarn can be used to create facial features and other details before adding the crumpled orange tissue. This tactile craft is great for improving hand-eye coordination.

Another quick and simple craft for small hands is to have students color their pumpkins with orange markers and then put green glitter around the edges. Minimize the mess by drawing a line of glue around the edge of the pumpkins and giving students small amounts of glitter to sprinkle over it. Older kids can cut their pumpkins out and paste them onto black construction paper with glue sticks. Alternatively students can make collage pumpkins by tearing or cutting colored tissue or other paper and gluing it onto a pumpkin printout.

First graders can make cute Halloween crafts by pressing their thumbprints on paper and then using a pencil to create legs or wings for spiders or bats. The pencil lines can then be traced over with fine tipped black markers. Older students with more drawing ability can turn their thumbprints into black cats. The students' thumbprint creatures can adorn greeting cards or be placed in a mat for framing. To add a language arts component to your Halloween crafting have students create their own comic strips by placing words above their thumbprint critters.

For second and third grade students who are able to skillfully cut out shapes with scissors try making paper doll style chains of Halloween themed figures. Make a sample first by accordion folding white paper wide enough to accommodate the chosen figure and then trace the desired shape on top so that the side edges of the figure are up against the folds of the paper. Carefully cut out the shapes leaving a bit of the sides intact against the paper folds so that when you open up the paper the figures will be linked together as if holding hands.

Printable coloring sheets can also be used to create puppets, garland, mobiles or even custom Halloween trick or treat bags. Simply print out the coloring sheet or other printable and enlarge or reduce the designs on a copy machine as needed to create your desired project. Crafts from paper supplies are not only inexpensive, they are easy to organize and execute.

For older children, Halloween crafting doesn't have to mean ghosts and goblins. Friendship bracelets in orange and black or beading projects made with those colors is more than sufficient. Kids love wearable art projects and they provide the added benefit of helping to develop self esteem. To allow for more individuality, provide students with additional white or gold beads and floss for more color variety.

In keeping with the idea of non-traditional Halloween crafts, students can create their own one-of-a-kind pair of socks using tie dye techniques and seasonal colors. For an even quicker simple, wearable craft, give students orange and black sharpies and let them create their own shoe laces. Be sure to protect desks or work surfaces before beginning to protect them from becoming stained by the sharpies.

Halloween crafting in the classroom can be smooth and easy with a little planning. Always create a sample project ahead of time to be sure of the difficulty level and the amount of time it will take to complete. Plan on it taking almost twice as much time for some students and less for others. Have a supply of coloring sheets, puzzles or other printables on hand for early finishers.

Teacher Tips: Passive student discipline

The following article was previously published in July 2009.

Using Passive Discipline in the Classroom

Teaching is a challenging task that is simultaneously as frustrating as it is gratifying. Even on a good day it can leave you feeling drained after just a couple of hours, especially if you have to spend a large amount of precious instruction time managing behavior.

Passive Discipline may sound like an oxymoron but if properly used it can be an effective classroom tool. Whether they realize it or not, students are already attuned to body language and hand signals. Non-verbal communication is a lot less likely to end up in a battle or control struggle.

Often times when students are chattering away amongst themselves and not paying attention a teacher will simply stand (or sit) calmly and wait for the students to notice he or she is waiting. At least one kid will notice and alert another creating a ripple effect around the room. If there are any holdouts a combination of eye contact and a raised eyebrow will usually do the trick.

The reason passive discipline is effective is that visual reminders serve as instant memory activators. It also creates a means to developing awareness so that students will be more accountable. Often a mere look will cause a student to stop and say "what?" If you continue to look expectantly at them quite often something will trigger and they will say "Oh!" and correct or adjust the behavior without you having to utter a word. They may even smile at you in the process.

Using non-verbal communication in the classroom has the added advantage of not disturbing students who are quietly working and the offending student can not succeed in baiting you into a non-productive verbal exchange while drawing attention to themselves and disrupting the lesson.

A Few Gestures and Hand Signals

Holding a hand (or both hands) up with the palm facing outward generally means stop, especially if you look downward while doing so. Unfortunately this gesture is also seen by some to be negative, perhaps because of the popular "talk to the hand" expression that was prevalent in the nineties. For an alternative gesture hold the hand out to your side with the palm facing downward.

The palm facing downward is a great gesture because it is multifunctional. If used in motion by lowering the hand slightly it can mean "slow down and walk," when a student is running in the hall. The same motion can also tell a student to bring the volume down when they are talking too loud.

Moving the hand across the throat vertically is universal for cut it out. A finger to the lips combined with eye contact reminds a student it is time to be quiet. The same finger against the lips combined with shaking the head "no" tells a student they are not following procedure when talking out of turn.

Often when you are assisting one student another will impatiently call your name over and over demanding your attention. Instead of responding with equal impatience holding up one hand with your index finger pointing up tells the student you will be with them in one moment.

If the impatient student persists you can combine the gesture with shaking the head no and holding the palm outward to say "stop" and then holding up the index finger again to let the student know you will be with them momentarily. If they continue to persist, stop what you are doing and look at them impassively while making eye contact and repeat the gesture.

Another non-verbal way to tell a student you want them to stop what they are doing is to place both hands in front of your body with one slightly above the other and move the hands outward to either side. Even if you have to repeat the gesture or combine it with another, the student will usually get the message without you having to speak a word.

Other Non-Verbal Options

When a student is off task and out of their seat, merely pointing from the child to their empty chair sends the message "please return to your seat." It is better to repeat the gesture than to plead with the student for several minutes in an attempt to get them to do what you ask. Not every student will comply easily, however and additional steps will be necessary.

Some schools use a mark system to manage behavior. Writing a student's name on the board can be a warning signal that some stronger form of disciplinary action such as the giving of a mark is about to be taken. If the student doesn't take the warning to return to their seat, for example, the letters OS can be placed next to their name. This is also a warning to the rest of the class not to join in to the behavior.

If the mark is ignored the next step will be to send the student out for disciplinary action. Most students do not want to serve detention or have their parents telephoned and once they see the situation is serious they will not want to be the next to be sent out. Having a step by step procedure beginning with a warning gives the student a chance to make the decision to comply before serious action is taken against them.

From the very first day, the class rules and expectations should be clearly outlined and if possible, reminders should be posted visibly around the room so that your non-verbal gestures serve to reinforce the behavior the students have already been told they should be exhibiting.

Passive discipline is an important tool that can often save valuable time in classroom management. Engaging with a student verbally can often lead to confrontation. Using gestures and body language appropriately to correct students can save you a lot of grief in the long run.

Teacher Tips: Putting An End to School Bullying

Originally published November 2009 with the headline Ending Bullying in Schools

School bullying is a widespread problem of epidemic proportion that is shared by educational institutions serving students from Kindergarten through High School across all kinds of communities. Ending school bullying is possible through programs that address creating a specific school culture that nourishes students and teaches them responsible behavior through social and emotional development. It won't happen overnight, but it is possible to curtail and maybe even completely eliminate bullying on school campuses.

One reason bullying is such a problem is that quite often the adults involved in children's lives are not taking the issue seriously enough. Kids who are victims of bullying are often told to shake off incidents or toughen up, sometimes even by their own parents. When left unchecked bullying can result in permanent emotional scars or other more serious consequences such as suicide or retaliation through large-scale violent acts.

The key to ending school bullying is in developing a school culture that helps students attain higher self esteem, anger management, improved communication skills and the ability to make better choices. Even without specifically addressing bullying behavior schools can begin to develop kinder students by creating an environment that inspires students to aspire to personal excellence that includes developing good character as well as academics.

No one sets out in life deciding to be mean. Children are often growing up in extremely difficult situations where they are powerless to effect change in their circumstances. This inability to change their environment and control the things that happen to them creates a sense of helplessness that will often manifest in their acting out negatively. Sometimes the response is subtle and may be directed inward, but quite often it is directed outward either verbally or physically and before long a bully will be born.

In some instances children may have a bully at home who is either consciously or unconsciously modeling this behavior for them and may even be encouraging them to bully others. Even teachers can be guilty of bullying in subtle ways by the language they choose when addressing students, especially in those moments where they begin to lose patience.

Children learn early on that bullies don't get picked on, they get to have their own way, they get lots of attention, are sometimes popular, and most of all, they are "respected" or feared by many, including adults. From a child's perspective this can seem like a pretty good thing.

Putting an end school bullying requires a comprehensive approach that addresses all of the root causes of bullying either directly or indirectly and, through school culture, sets out to resolve the problem by creating an environment in which individual students will choose not to bully others.

While appropriate consequences are important punishment is not the most effective way of redirecting a child's behavior. Character education, etiquette classes, enrichment programs that provide exposure to music, visual art, creative writing, dance and theater, as well as cooperative activities, are all effective tools in helping children find positive ways of expressing themselves while learning to get along with others.

Addressing the problem of bullies in schools is not solely the job of teachers and administrators. Parents have to take an active role in shaping who children ultimately become by reinforcing the lessons taught in character programs. This responsibility also extends into neighborhoods and communities at large.

Education Topics: Subjects To Enhance Students' Lives

For a brief period, I had a blog titled Engaging Kids, Enriching Lives. I was teaching enrichment classes at a charter school at the time and contributing education articles to Helium. I started the blog to address some of the issues I saw in and out of the classroom and with the education system in general.

After a while I decided to delete the blog. Too many blogs, too little time; also, I had the platform for publishing at Helium (little did I know how soon that would end...), and I was no longer in the classroom. Some of the same topics are still relevant for me, though I don't get to spend as much time on those subjects anymore.

Engagement is still important, and I hope I am still enriching young lives in my role as a docent at the Ogden Museum, where I've been leading tours for school children since 2007. The arts are a great way to engage children and get them interested and involved in learning. The article below addresses some of the ways in which to do so.

Originally published on Helium.com as "What subjects should be taught to children as enhancements to their lives," in April 2009.

Enhancing Children through Education

Holding the attention of today's children long and well enough to keep them not only interested in a particular subject but excited about learning is a tremendous challenge. Traditional education is basically a low-tech endeavor that hardly competes with the modern multi-media excitement of Wii, X-boxes, Playstations and the like.

It is indisputable that every child needs to learn to read and write and to be able to perform basic arithmetic in order to effectively communicate with others and to function in the adult world, as well as be able to hold a job when they grow up. This is only part of the picture however; it is also important for schools to incorporate enrichment and character education.

A Kinder Classroom

When teachers spend the majority of their time managing behavior there is very little learning taking place. Students have to be able to sit for extended periods, pay attention and be good neighbors to their classmates. They need to learn the concepts of teamwork and sportsmanship and to develop speaking and social skills and they need these concepts continually reinforced beyond the limits of what little of these is provided through their scant physical education classes.

Children need to be taught about responsibility and respect and forgiveness. While many may feel this is the job of parents, the reality of the situation is that today's kids spend the major part of their waking hours at school under the influence of teachers, administrators and most of all, their peers. The use of non-competitive games and cooperatives such as the ones found in Bernie Badegruber's "101 Life Skills Games for Children" can be incorporated into classroom routines to help to encourage emotional maturity and further develop skills of observation and concentration, while reducing aggression and encouraging social awareness.

Looking at Education Another Way

While subjects like Social Studies provide a broad concept of history and social systems they do little toward teaching children to honor diversity and appreciate the differences between themselves and other members of their community. Schools that provide Spanish or French language instruction at the elementary level also include culturally relevant lesson plans that address aspects of the cultures that those languages come from but these programs usually reflect the cultural makeup of the cities in which they are used and are not necessarily wide spread.

Schools, teachers and even parents are aware of the deficits within their educational programs but are not always in a position to address them. Fortunately, there are a number of resources on the web to assist teachers in supplementing their out of date textbooks with creative approaches to augment the classroom experience. One of those resources is Edutopia.

The George Lucas Foundation established Edutopia (www.edutopia.org) to address the challenges of learning and educating in today's world of continual technological advances, where in many instances, students who are barely literate have to hurry and catch up with the digital age in order to be able to be competitive when they enter the workplace. They have provided a forum for educators to share and distribute information with each other via an assortment of media. The core concepts of Edutopia are Project Learning, Social and Emotional Learning, Technology Integration, Teacher Development, Comprehensive Assessment and Integrated Studies. Teachers all across the United States are posting information and learning how to use hands on projects and other methods to enhance their classroom lessons.

In order for students to be well rounded and develop into creative, critical thinkers they need to be exposed to a variety of interesting and stimulating activities that cause them to ask "what are we doing next?" Project based and experiential learning lesson plans provide the approach while specific programs to provide enrichment classes to students provide the means.

The Arts

Just as Liberal Arts contribute to the well-rounded adult student, supplementing the basic subjects in elementary education with electives and extended day enrichment classes offers a vital opportunity to shape young minds early on and foster interest in learning and scholarly habits. These classes allow for the introduction of important concepts that the traditional lesson plans don't leave room for.

It is extremely important for students to participate in and develop an appreciation for what the arts disciplines have to offer. Even if they never become dancers, painters or musicians there is much they can learn that will later come in handy in the adult world that will be applicable to social settings as well as the work world. Developing this appreciation also helps insure the future of the arts for other generations.

The documentary film "Mad Hot Ballroom" is a great example of how partnered social dance has been used in schools to improve self-esteem, manners, communication and consideration for others resulting in fewer discipline problems. Children love music and they absolutely love to dance and once they get past the issue of having to touch a boy/girl and potentially looking silly they completely embrace Salsa, Merengue, Tango and Swing. The also enjoy teaching it to other students, and performing and showing what they have learned to their parents.

Extended day enrichment classes not only provide a better alternative to aftercare and late pickup the use of nontraditional approaches like Hip Hop classes that foster the appreciation for poetry and ethnic dance classes for African and Brazlian forms add an additional cultural element while allowing students to get up an move, which is a plus after they have spent the better part of their day confined to a desk. Classes like yoga promote calmness and good posture while encouraging students toward healthy lifestyles. Schools with garden programs have found that children love to watch things grow as well as prepare their own foods and have connected this interest to science and math curriculums.

Education is a challenging enterprise that can also be deeply gratifying. No matter what changes take place in the world around us some things are constant: children learn best when they are fully engaged in what is happening.

Teacher Tips: How to use Simon Says in the Classroom

Classroom management is a living entity of sorts that evolves with both the teacher and their students as the term progresses. Class rules, seating charts, character development programs, etc., are good starting points, but in the absence of established teacher-student relationships, engagement is key in maintaining a safe, healthy, and productive learning environment.

Using games such as Simon Says in the early education classroom is a simple method for re-focusing students, keeping things light, and bringing an element of fun into the learning environment. The following article was previously published in the education channel on the Helium publishing web site in November of 2009.

How to Play Simon Says

Primary school aged children love to play Simon Says and the game is a great way to hold their attention and keep them from being restless during periods where they have to sit still and wait for several minutes. But the game is useful to teachers in many other ways as well.

Almost everyone understands how to play Simon Says. The leader says "Simon says touch your nose," and the group does it. After a couple of other tasks the leader says "clap your hands." Because he or she didn't say "Simon says clap your hands" any child who clapped is now out of the game.

Simon Says in the classroom teaches children to pay attention and follow directions while having fun. They see remaining in the game as not getting tricked by the teacher into doing something. This means that the teacher leading the game has to be quick on the draw with the "Simon says do this" tasks. If there is any lag in the game it allows children to think about what you have said before they respond.

A rapid fire of Simon Says commands that are repetitive followed by one that doesn't include the words "Simon says..." is the key to keeping the game moving and tricking up crafty students who think they won't make a mistake and respond to the wrong task.

Here is an example:

Simon Says touch your nose.

Simon Says put both hands on your hips.

Simon Says put your hands on your head.

Simon Says put your hands or your hips.

Simon Says put your hands on your head

Put your hands on your hips.

When dealing with hyper kids Simon Says is an opportunity to move around a bit and get rid of some of their nervous energy before getting back to the academic lesson. The game is also a good idea for days when the weather prevents children from enjoying recess outdoors. Because the game allows children to move around you can use Simon Says as a means to low scale physical education.

Here is an example:

Simon Says reach for the sky

Simon Says touch your toes.

Simon Says stand up.

Now touch your nose.

Simon Says look to the right.

Simon Says look to the left

Simon Says point to the sky

Point to the floor.

The idea is to use Simon Says to allow your students to get a little exercise without knowing that is what they are doing. When they burn up a little energy playing the game over five or ten minutes they are more likely to sit calmly, pay attention and stay on task.

Simon Says can also be used to get children to transition from one activity to another or from working to lining up. In this instance, you are not trying to "trick" them or catch them off guard. You are getting them to respond positively to being asked to do what you want them to such as standing, pushing in their chairs and walking to the door to lineup. Of course, you can always spend a minute or two just playing the game for fun first.

Using games with active play like Simon Says with your students helps keep coming to school interesting and fun when mixed in between periods of academic learning. Kids have a hard time sitting still in their seats for long periods of time so the game also gives them an opportunity to move around a little and get the fidgets out of their system.

One of the things I'm proudest of is my collection of articles on education topics written to Helium titles. While I was teaching enrichment classes in New Orleans area schools post Katrina, I had the opportunity to reflect on a great many things that were good and bad about the way education is approached now as well as my own experiences as a student growing up.

Those reflections are neither here are there, but for a short time I had a blog I titled "Engaging Kids, Enriching Lives. By the time I left teaching and ended up with my first ever grown-up day job, I'd also been involved with YES, the YMCA's adult literacy program. That led to another short-lived blog, Literacy is Important.

Because the demands of "real world" (as in not artist world) life (day job, moving out of the house for yet more post Katrina .renovations, etc.) once again got in the way, when I finally got back to blog posting I decided to narrow it down and deleted the ones I wasn't as focused on (Music that Makes Me, The Writing Life...).

If you look at the dates of my posts, it's obvious that time management is still one of my greatest challenges, and life is still throwing obstacles in my path. I am choosing to look at the closing of Helium as an opportunity to breath much needed new life into the blogs I have left, and for every article that doesn't fit into those (travel, wine, art/crafting, and New Orleans) Let Me Say It Well should more than suffice.

The first education topic article to transcend here is How to Choose the Right After School Club for Your Child. In some instances, an after school (or enrichment) class will be the option instead of a club, but the how of choosing is still the same.

If you're a parent, I urge you to keep in mind that while it's great to expose children to things with a sort of Liberal Arts kind of approach, it's also great to just let them be children. If they don't show an interest in something after a reasonable amount of time, let them move on to something else.

The article:

How to Choose the right after School Club for your Child

After school clubs are a great resource for working parents as well as for students. In addition to the social aspect, clubs provide an outlet for kids to engage in everything from art and drama to chess, and clubs keep kids occupied with something constructive until parents are done with the work day.

When it becomes time to choose a club for your child you’ll want to do so with his or her specific interests and aptitudes in mind. It is also good to consider your child’s current social skills as well as their strengths and weaknesses in order to pick a club that can help them grow or address any challenges.  

A child who likes singing might enjoy being in the glee club (especially with the success of the hit show, Glee), but if he or she is already in the church choir, you might instead choose to place them in something like a poetry club that might one day help them become a song writer.

While it’s obvious that an outgoing child could benefit from being in a drama club, there are many great benefits when you choose this option for a shy child. Being a part of the drama club can help kids develop or improve their self-confidence and become more comfortable speaking in front of groups. The vocal exercises help kids to become better, more articulate speakers, and mumblers can learn how to project and be heard.

Imaginative young children in kindergarten and first grade would benefit greatly from being part of a storybook club. Those in second, third and fourth who struggle with reading, could also benefit from some type of book club, particularly one where students take turns reading out loud and engage in discussions about the books that they have read.

Parents of creative students will want to choose clubs that allow them to express themselves and grow at a particular craft such as art, writing, and photography. These types of clubs will help students become more observant of the world around them as they learn about perspective and composition.

Every child should have the benefit of being a part of a service oriented club at some point in their academic career and when young children participate in service clubs they learn about important life skills and concepts such as compassion. Service clubs are also an opportunity for children to begin to develop leadership skills.

Academic clubs such those centered around Science and Math help children with an aptitude in those areas go beyond the book and the classroom to explore fun with numbers and interesting experiments. These clubs are ideal for children who might otherwise get bored during the school day when the majority of their classmates are working on a different level.

Game clubs are not just all about fun and play. Parents may want to choose one of these for a child who is still struggling with turn taking and fair play, or for kids with quick wit who enjoy a challenge. Games offer a variety of benefits and contribute to improved critical thinking and problem solving. Clubs that include strategy games such as chess help students develop skills they can use later in life.

More and more schools are offering parents and students fantastic options for a wider variety of clubs than have ever existed in the past. This means that parents can pick and choose based on their kids’ current interests, or expose them to something completely new. The benefits of clubs is far-reaching and all parents and students should take full advantage of any after school enrichment offered.