Brain Breaks

 Hello again! I have been enjoying this spring, now summer, weather! Time to break out the capris!

But that's totally off today's topic. Kids tend to get bored when all you're doing in teaching, teaching, teaching.... especially the younger kids. For the six-year-olds, I have them read a little Bob Book, then draw a picture inspired by the story. This gives them time to do something fun and express themselves. I give them usually about five minutes to draw, but I'm flexible to a degree. Then I go back to a little bit more instruction, then we play a learning game like "Say and Spell," a board game I created on a piece of cardboard from a calendar. The kids play against me and we roll the dice and see if we land on a "say" or "spell" space. If the child gets a "spell" card, they have to spell the word that's one of the ones they've been learning. If they get to the finish line first (which they usually do) they earn a piece of candy.

But back to the drawing. I love art, so I give the younger kids a chance to do some of their own. It doesn't really help them with reading the words in the book, but it helps to give them a "brain break" so they'll be more likely to pay attention to the rest of the lesson and not get bored. So encourage your kids to draw pictures from the stories they read, or that you are reading to them. If nothing else, it gives them a chance to show their own perspective of the story, or what stands out to them. Happy drawing!