http://spaghettiboxkids.com/blog Strategies, Tips and Activities for Learning Fri, 10 May 2013 14:17:20 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en "A good story-teller can turn busy bodies into listening ears." Everyone bends their ear to a good story. Kids in particular will give you their full attention. Why? Maybe because kids have unusually powerful imaginations, and storytelling is the stuff of imagination. Or maybe because they know ... http://spaghettiboxkids.com/blog/telling-stories-to-kids-easy-technique/ It’s that time of year. The holidays are over and you’re probably asking yourself, again, how to get rid of a Christmas tree without dragging it through doorways. Of course, not everybody has a tree. If you don’t, you can still examine the math puzzle that follows. ... http://spaghettiboxkids.com/blog/math-puzzle-how-to-get-rid-of-a-christmas-tree/ If you’re looking for designs on how to make a catapult, here’s a simple design that’s easy to make. It's surprisingly powerful and easily accommodates variations. Best of all, you can make this simple catapult out of household items. Here's how to get started: Materials: -Coffee cup with handle -Pencil -Teaspoon -Rubber ... http://spaghettiboxkids.com/blog/easy-to-make-catapult-coffee-cup-design/ In the midst of the Chicago Teachers' Union fight for better quality education for ALL students, a ratios lesson plan has emerged. It so happens that many forces--teachers, students, Chicago Police, nurses, national and international labor unions, a variety of local unions, numerous teachers' unions, professors of education--have joined ... http://spaghettiboxkids.com/blog/chicago-teachers-union-strike-offers-ratios-lesson-plan/ In addition to a variety of other styles, Spanish painter Joan Miro (1893-1983) practiced a style of art known as automatic drawing. Automatic drawing is a process whereby the artist makes random marks on a surface. Then the artist adds colors, or possibly pursues the suggestion of familiar ... http://spaghettiboxkids.com/blog/miro-art-project-for-kids/ Nothing energizes thinking like using metaphors. In Poetics, Aristotle says, "But the greatest thing by far is to have a command of metaphor. This alone cannot be imparted by another; it is the mark of genius, for to make good metaphors implies an eye for resemblances." So what can you ... http://spaghettiboxkids.com/blog/metaphors-for-kids/ The question has been asked plenty of times—which do you prefer, Kindle or book? For many, the question is completely irrelevant. They prefer a maximum dosage of television. Period. Well, maybe not period—there’s the gaming systems, too. But you get the idea: they don’t read. ... http://spaghettiboxkids.com/blog/kindle-or-book/ Every once in a while it's time to replenish your menu of around the house activities. New activities offer creative zeal to your household learning environment. They restore motivation, enthusiasm and cooperation. Here's some fresh around the house activities that supplement these Around the House Activities for Kids ... http://spaghettiboxkids.com/blog/around-the-house-games-for-kids/ Teachers and parents often use storybooks to inspire art projects. Let's face it, it's an easy transition from storybook to art project. Yet, despite the common appearance of wind in stories (even as a main character in the often re-told fable, The North Wind and the Sun) you ... http://spaghettiboxkids.com/blog/kids-art-the-wind/ In the movie Good Will Hunting the main character, Will, uses math trees to solve a problem on a hallway chalkboard at MIT. It is doubtful that math trees had anything to do with a complex problem that took several professors two years to solve—the structure just provided a ... http://spaghettiboxkids.com/blog/good-will-hunting-math-trees-for-kids/