Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: November 5, 2009
If you want to help a struggling reader but don’t know where to start, an article on struggling readers at ReadingIsFun.me will give you a good starting point.
Hope it works!
Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: October 23, 2009
I’ve set up a new blog / website and have imported all my Kids Read articles.
Please visit me at www.ReadingisFun.me
Happy Reading:)
Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: October 21, 2009

After seeing kids play many learning game systems, I must say that Leap Frog’s Leapster2 is the best, most entertaining, learning game system out there. Your child will play fun games and learn math without even knowing. And isn’t that the goal of educational tech? Leap Frog offers a great variety of learning games, from Disney Princesses, Star Wars, Wall-E, Up,… The selection is great. This is a great buy for any occasion or just for fun.
Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: October 11, 2009
Where The Wild Things Are –
This great children’s story has been turned into a movie and then into an IPhone / IPod Touch app. This free app lets you play with Carol, explore characters, photos, watch trailer, listen to music, etc. This is great if you are deciding whether or not to take your child to see the movie in the theater, or if your child just loved the movie and can’t wait for the DVD.
The kids will love it!
Let the wild rumpus start!
Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: October 4, 2009
Math Drills Lite App - great for kids 6 and up. The app is FREE and you child can have great math practice in addition, subtraction, division, and multiplication. The graphics are great and the child will benefit from the number grid visual as well.
I personally don’t like to call math practice a drill
, but it’s so important for your child to have a daily math practice, which solidifies the knowledge of numbers for good. A great app and it’s FREE. You can’t go wrong. Plus your little one will really like it.
Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: October 1, 2009
Friend or Fiend? by Judy Blume-
If you where looking for a great first chapter book for your child, this is the one. The stories are about a brother and sister, the Pain and the Great One. Unlike many other first chapter books, in which kids are badly behaved, Blume’s characters are just adorable, funny, and interesting. You will enjoy reading these chapters as much as your child.
Happy Reading!
Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: September 29, 2009
Best IPhone/IPod Touch App for Kids
1. Doodle Buddy- This is a free app and it’s great for kids! They will spend hours drawing, placing stamps, combining pictures, drawing, and stamps.
2. Veggie Tales Just For Me - little Veggie Tale fans will love this one.
Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: September 29, 2009
Best TV shows for kids 3 and up
1.
Blues Clues- This show is great. It teaches your child problem solving skills in a fun and engaging way. Perhaps the best thing is that kids learn how to infer the clues to solve the problem. It’s just great! A definite buy/rent/keep.
2.
Veggie Tales- You can’t go wrong with Veggie Tales. Each episode/show is a treasure on its own. It’s hard to decide what is better, the story or the music in it. As a parent, you will find yourself singing the most funniest songs along with your kids. The story plots and the dialogue are as interesting to adults as they are to kids. Just a great show that teaches kids problem solving, values, and outstanding music sense. Brilliant!
Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: September 22, 2009
Hop on Pop -by Dr. Seuss is one o the best books for early readers. First graders tirelessly reread this book with everlasting enthusiasm. Like other Dr. Seuss books, “Hop on Pop” is full of funny rhymes and interesting illustrations. Words are easy enough to for an early reader and text is full of high frequency words, which are great for kids to practice.
Happy Reading!
Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: September 11, 2009
Tacky the Penguin- by Helen Lester- Something To Make Kids Laugh
Tacky is an odd bird. He does not blend in with other penguins. He has his own style, his own way of greeting and marching and splashing… And when he sings, others wish that he’d stop, but one day when the hunters come to hunt for penguins, Tacky saves the day. You’ll have to find out how.. This is a perfect story for 4-8 years olds. They will laugh and ask for a reread.
Happy Reading!
Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: September 7, 2009
Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: September 7, 2009
Wemberly Worried – by Kevin Henkes
Wemberly worries about everything, little things, big things, and things in between. She worries all day and all night long about all kinds of things, like, the crack in the wall, the radiator noise, her doll, having no friends, etc. Wemberly worries very much, but at the end she seems to become better able to manage her worries. To find out about the end, you’ll have to read the story. The kids will like it, and it will definitely make them laugh. Being worried and fearsome is a normal part of childhood. I found that this story really hits home with second grade students. Second graders are constant worriers. They are kind of like Wemberly
. This is also a perfect story for a child who is about to go into a new school or start a new grade.
Hope you enjoy it!
Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: August 30, 2009
Rooster’s Off to See the World – by Eric Carle
Eric Carle’s books are just brilliant. They are inspiring, fun, and educational, and they are books that parents enjoy to read as well. In this story a rooster decides that he wants to go see the world, and as he starts his adventure he invites his other animal friends. And as cats, frogs, turtles, and fish join him, a child is able to visualize addition of animals, and then subtraction, as animals return to their homes. In addition to being a great first math concept book, this is often one of the first books that your child can read independently. It is a wonderful story that will be read many times over.
Hope you enjoy it!
Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: August 17, 2009
”Learning Outside the Lines” by Jonathan Mooney and David Cole is a must read for every teacher and parent of students who learn differently. As we all know our school system treats all children the same. It teaches them the same. It tests them the same. Students learning is highly impacted by their teachers opinions on who is smart and who is not. Our schools use textbooks that are two or more years above student’s reading level. And of course there is teachers whose classes are so dull that even the most successful students have trouble enduring.
Mooney and Cole’s book is not only a guide for parents whose children have ADHD, dyslexia, or LD. It’s also a must read for every college student. The book is full of great ideas on how to successfully complete college work and get good grades.
Hope you like it as much!
http://www.jonathanmooney.com/frames.pl?path=/learningoutsidethelines.html
Happy Reading!
Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: August 10, 2009
Let the children laugh and be glad.
O my dear, they haven’t long before the world assaults them. Allow them genuine laughter now. Laugh with them, till tears run down your faces – till a memory of pure delight and precious relationship is established within them, indestructible, personal, and forever.
Soon enough they will meet faces unreasonably enraged. Soon enough they will be accused of things they did not do. Soon enough they will suffer guilt at the hands of powerful people who can’t accept their own guilt and who must dump it, therefore, on the weak. In that day the children must be strengthen by self-confidence so they can resist the criticism of fools. But self-confidence begins in the experience of childhood.
So give your children – give them golden days, their own pure days, in which they are so clearly and dearly beloved trhat they believe in love in their own particular worth when love shall seem in short supply hereafter. Give them laughter.
Observe each child with individual attention to learn what triggers the guileless laugh in each. Is it a story? A game? Certain family traditions? Excursions? Elaborate fantasies? Simple winks? What?
Do that thing.
Because the laughter that is so easy in childhood must echo its encouragement a long, long time. A lifetime.
Little Lamb, Who Made Thee?
Walter Wangerin, Jr
Posted by: greatchildrensreads on: August 1, 2009
There is something about primary grade math that is very confusing to young children. I am not saying that teachers are not doing a good job teaching math, but there seems to be a lack of understanding on how children process math and what concepts are they ready to grasp. It is important for teachers to understand that children do not transfer knowledge the same way adults do.
I am not sure what causes math confusion in first grade. It should be simple, teach the fundamentals and let the children grasp concepts and build on it. But hey, that would be just too obvious. We teach our first graders abstract thinking. We present material in non-sequential order ( ex.- Everyday Mathematics) . We expect them to already know what we are teaching. Assessment, assessment, assessment.
Kindergartners and First Graders are rushed through the numbers. Counting by twos, fives, and tens is taught through rote memorization. And if you ask any of these kids what comes after 10, they will often say 20.
We need to teach children the way they learn. Fundamentals of math, and they need to be presented in sequence.
Here is a great site with good downloads. Hope that you find it useful. It has a number of math activities that will help your child learn math in a fun engaging way.
http://www.center.edu/NEWSLETTER/newsletter.shtml