Educational Inspiration

'Tis the Season...for wondering what gifts to buy.  You want to get your kids something fun.  But you also want to sneak a little educational purpose in without them noticing.  Check out the new gizmo called Moonlite .  It's a story projector for your iPhone. It's got all the right stuff.  It easily hooks up to technology - your iPhone.  It's also high interest.  Now, stay with me just a minute while we flash back to the 80s.  Insert time warp sounds here..... Remember those old Viewmaster projectors? I got one of those when I was a kid and that was just the coolest.  Lay out the blankets and pillows, bring in the popcorn, turn off the lights, and shine that Viewmaster projector on the wall.  Instant movie.  But the best part for parents? It's got guilt-free educational purpose! Ok, enough of the good old days.  Back to our holiday shopping dilemma.  Similar to the classic  Viewmaster , Moonlite uses the flashlight of your phone and story "reels&

Spelling has always been the scary part of reading instruction.  It's always the thing we don't have time for because we are avoiding it at all costs.  People tell us spelling doesn't make sense or that learning to write is becoming obsolete with increasing technology to do it for us. In schools, teachers have focused less and less on spelling instruction.  Many schools even quit teaching it at all after third grade.  Parents whose children struggle to read are often in favor of ignoring spelling.  After all, there's spell check for that, right?  And memorizing those spelling lists each week seems like cruel and unusual punishment for a struggling child.  I've even heard professionals tell people that it's OK to ignore the spelling lists.  So let's talk about that. Get ready. I'm going to use the word " research ."  Brace yourselves.  I'll be brief so stick with me.  Here goes.  The research tells us that kids can more easily read