Everything you need to know to safely view the Eclipse, even without glasses

A collection of tips on safely viewing the eclipse with young children and students.

My breath came a bit short just thinking of the cosmic events that had to perfectly align. Witnessing the tiny moon block its massive benefactor, the sun was an event I never forgot. Next week, my own kids have the chance to watch their first eclipse. To be honest, I'm a little scared.  Our district chose to send the children home so that we parents could keep a close eye on their viewing. It's a serious responsibility. Retina damage from the sun is an irreversible injury. This amazing collaboration in the heavens could easily turn tragic.

The good news is that you and your kids can watch the eclipse safely. Here's what you need to know.

Low Stress Guide to an Animal Themed Kids Party

When I first had kids my plans were to limit the number of large kid parties we threw. Then life got rolling and by the time my second child's sixth birthday came around last month, the only question was what kind of party she wanted to throw for her entire class. 

How to Practice Writing Sight Words for Kids Who Love the Dirt

After years of living of renting, hotels and apartments, our family is thoroughly enjoying time in our own backyard.  I have dreams of a beautiful natural play space, but right now, my kids are most interested in this little dirt patch.  T-Rex just brought home a big set of sight words to review, and I thought we could use a new backyard activity for learning sight words.

I set up the activity by clearing a small patch of dirt and writing the word "should " with a small stick. I purposely found a short stick to encourage a good pencil grip, and left it with the word.

T-Rex actually saw what I was doing and asked to try it before I had a chance to invite him.  I asked him to say the word "should" and coached him to use the correct strokes as he traced the letters in the dirt.

This activity uses the naturalist intelligence.  Activities like this one are not just about making learning fun, although any good teacher knows kids learn better when they are having fun.  Using multiple intelligences to connect learning activates more of the brain and helps children remember what they have done.  

If you have access to dirt where you live, give this activity a try.  You might also like to check out my new sight words Pinterest board, where I am collecting active ways to review sight words that I think my kids will love.

Happy Reviewing!

You May Also Like:

Word Well: How to Use a Pulley to Make Sight Words Easy

The Surprising Truth about Why Your Child Makes So Many Messes

How to Teach Algebra with Leaves

Last week, I posted a lesson idea for sharpening students understanding of multiplication and estimation using leaves.  This post is an extension of that same idea, moving it into algebra and allowing the students to get a taste of real world mathematical modeling.

Use Algebra to Analyze Leaves

Start your lesson just like I suggested in the post, How to Teach Multiplication with Leaves.   I would recommend having your students work in groups of 2-4 to accomplish these tasks.  If you are working with more advanced students, you should be able to move quickly to the point of setting up the multiplication equations to find the number of veins in each leaf.

Next, point out that rather than repeating the process for every leaf, it would be faster to make an equation that would work for every leaf, then just plug in the numbers to the equation.  Challenge your students to come up with the equation.  

You may want to have them work out some mini-equations first.

          #tiniest veins = (tiniest veins/small vein) * #small veins

         # small veins = (small veins/medium vein) * # medium veins

The mini-equations can be added together, and the final equation will look like this....

Total = (#Tiniest veins/small vein) *(#small veins) + (#small veins/medium vein) * #medium vein . . .

Of course, this equation can then be simplified.  When the equation is simplified, it becomes apparent that, mathematically, the unique feature of each leaf is the ratio of small veins to larger veins.  Each leaf can be described quickly as a unique set of numbers corresponding to these ratios.  The final step is to describe each leaf as a list of these ratios.

Real World Application

Log into a map program and pull up several maps of cities.  Include your own town, and the nearby cities best known to your students.  Ask your students to compare the highway system to that of the leaves you have just been analyzing.  If all your examples are similar to the leaves, you may want to pull up Washington D.C. as a contrast.  Washington D.C. has a traffic pattern that is radically different from the pattern seen in a tree leaf.  It also has horrible congestion, which illustrates the importance of following natures patterns.

Discuss in class, or assign a short essay on the topic:  "How should the highways and streets of a city be laid out for most efficient traffic flow?"  Ask your students to base their reasoning on the assumption that nature gives us an effective blue print for movement of large number of units, and to use actual numbers in their answers.

I hope this idea is helpful to you in engaging your students in math and making helpful connections with the natural world.  I would love to hear how it works out for you!

Other posts you may enjoy:

Word Well: How to use a Pulley to make Sight Words Easy

Every week T-Rex's teacher sends home a list of sight words.  This weekend, I knew that T-Rex could benefit from some more review, but he was not interested, until I told him how we were going to do it.  T-Rex named this activity Word Well, and  I was amazed at how enthusiastically he participated.

Each week, I ask T-Rex to read through the site word list, then I write the words that he cannot identify on index cards to use in review through out the week.  This particular activity also called for a string, a bucket, and a tree.

WARNING: String in a tree creates the possibility of strangulation.  Please, make a wise choice for your family. I would never allow ropes unattended, when the children involved are not inclined to follow directions, or when I cannot physically remove them myself if needed.

First, I tied a string to this bucket.

Next, T-Rex looped the string through a fork in the branches.

For our first round, I told him the word, then sent it up in the bucket.  He took the card from the bucket, read it and sent it back down.

For our second round, I sent two words up, and told him which word to send back to me.

For the third round, I would have sent up all the words and asked him to tell me which words he was sending back. Pony Artist wanted a turn though, and the afternoon moved on.  I am sure we will come back to this another day.

If you do not have a tree readily available, you might use a set of stairs or a high piece of furniture to get the same effect.

Why does this activity work so well? 

It is fun.  Any good teacher knows that the lesson is on track when the student enjoys it.  T-Rex's enjoyment of this exercise more than made up for the extra time it took, because he was engaged in the process. But why was he engaged?

It uses science.  Naturalist is one of Gardner's Multiple Intelligences just like Spatial and Kinesthetic, but it is often ignored in the lower grades.   Adding a little bit of science to a lesson makes it easier and more satisfying for many learners.  In this case it also provided Kinesthetic and Auditory stimulation as well.

Can you think of more ways to use science to make learning fun?  I would love to hear them!