Mrs. Thorp’s Third Grade Blog

School is almost out for many schools and summer vacation will begin.

Many conscientious  parents wlll ask, “How can I help my child over the summer?”   A great question.

One of the best ways is to have your child read, but reading can be more than just sitting a reading a book.

Try some of these ideas with your child:

1. Read and carry out a kid-friendly recipe.
2. Read the comic section of the newspaper.
3. Have your child write out the shopping list for the week and then when you go the store, your child can read off the items that need to be purchased.
4. Play board games where reading is involved, like Monopoly, Scrabble, Clue and Life.
5. Make your games.  Here is a wonderful web stie that lists some games that you and your child can make and play together.

Let me know if you have other ideas that work with your child.  Then I can share them with others so that they can benefit from them.

The outside is one of the best classrooms for children.  The outdoors is a natural place for children to learn.  It fits them well:  no desks to sit in, lots of fresh air, lots of movement and things to see and hear and smell and touch.

But where do you start?  Where do you go?

I came across a great website on helping your child learn about nature. Check it out.  It has resources to download like a nature scavenger hunt list,  bookmarks and book plates.  It gives fun recipes and books to use.  It will even give a list of parks in your geographic area by plugging in your zip code.

These are some of pictures of birds that my husband and I saw at  Sleepy Hollow State Park here in Michigan this past spring.

State and County Parks are great places to go to help your young learners enjoy nature at its best.

We heard much of the increase of obesity in chldren in America.

Does your child get enough exercise?

How much recess time does your child get at school?

I have been in schools where children get three recesses a day and in some where they only get one 15 minute recess at noon.

Parents, is this something you should check out at your child’s school?  Could the amount of recess affect your child’s ability to work productively  the rest of the day?

Let me know what your experience with recess has been.

Music does so much for our lives.  It can relax us or energize us.  But it also can be a tool that teaches us.

I always enjoyed teaching with music.  For children who are auditory learners songs are a great way to learn subject matter that may be hard to learn in other ways.

Here is an excellent website that offers songs that teach just about everything, from math to science to history. It is called Furiously Curious.  You can download the songs to i-tunes one at a time or buy the cd.

I highly recommend it!

Here is a fun way to learn or review the capitals of each state in the United States.  It is the game of Sequence.

Many of you may have seen or played the game Sequence (it is one of our family’s favorites).  Now there is a version called States and Capitals Sequence.

In this game you have to match a card with the capital to the state on the playing board.  The first to make a sequence of five in a row is the winner.

I bought it at Target, but I am sure other stores that carry toys will have it also.

Let me know what you think.