I have another giveaway sponsored by the folks at education.com. If you want some great encouragement and overview of some educational and creative summertime activities, read their article on Surviving Summer. Janice has already shared some of the activities that she and Jackson will be trying out this summer in her post Imagine. I thought I would focus on some ways that I hope to reinforce Amanda’s skills this summer.
The first thing that I did was set some goals. She needs to get her multiplication and division facts down pat so that she will be able to tackle the more advanced math that she will learn in 5th grade. I was SO happy to find the rules for this simple card game, Bulls-eye, listed in the 4th grade section (I just went to the Browse Activities by Grade and Subject, selected 4th grade, then searched by topic–Math). Playing this game will fulfill two of my goals for the summer — math reinforcement and spending time playing games with the kids.
Last summer, Amanda and I tried swapping a notebook back and forth to write a story, but it didn’t get very far. I love this suggestion from education.com, which combines the old fashioned art of letter-writing an
d story-swapping with a twist. This method suggests enlisting a relative, and I think that her grandparents would love to participate with her. The additional benefit is that they get to witness her creative writing skills (and see them improve as the project continues).
Education.com has donated a special prize pack designed to help fuel your child’s creativity this summer:
- Alex Toys “Happily Ever Crafter” includes the supplies to make more than 9 different projects, or the materials to create on your own. It’s great for ages 7 and up.
- Magnetic Poetry Kids Storymaker contains words and phrases to fuel the writer in all of us (and I do mean all of us–this is fun for all ages).
If you’d like to win both of these prizes, click over to education.com and look at the Reference Desk sidebar on the left. This is where you will find articles grouped together by subject. Which of those topics jumped out and made you click it and read what the subject grouping of articles? Leave a comment telling us which subject in the reference desk compelled you most.
This prize can ship to U.S. or Canadian addresses. The winner will be posted on June 24 with the other Creative Summer Days winners.
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{ 193 comments… read them below or add one }
Learning Personalities looked interesting!!
The Kindergarten Readiness jumped out at me because we have just finished making our decision to start our son in kindergarten instead of first grade this fall. I was surprised at how many articles there were in that section!
Gifted Children – though I agree Learning Personalities also looks pretty interesting!
Is my Child on Track? stuck out and so did Learning Personalities.
Please enter me in the contest. Thanks!
Learning Personalities is very interesting for me.
Thanks so much for the opportunity.
“Is my kid on track” struck my interest. Thanks for the chance to win such a great prize!
Parenting style was the one that drew me in. Thanks for the giveaway!
I looked at the age group the 3 to 5 one!
Great giveaway
I would love to win these! When I visited the site the Learning Personalities section definitely stood out to me! Thanks for another great contest!
Gifted children is where I went. Thanks for bringing this us.
Gifted Children jumped out at me. I will be reading several of the articles pertaining to it. Thanks for the link! My 6 yr old sped through kindergarten, impressing his teachers, leaving us wondering just how smart he is.
The learning disabilities and Standards and Testing articles really appealed to me. Thanks so much for this informative series of posts and giveaways.
I was a gifted and talented teacher for awhile, so gifted children was what I clicked on – there is definitely some great info at that site. Thanks for the contest.
Melissa Neece
http://melissaneece.blogspot.com (lots of pregnancy and natural living links)
http://melissasreviews.blogspot.com (holistic reviews for the practical person)
http://bookretrospects.blogspot.com (book reviews by a voracious reader)
Homeschooling Gifted Students: An Introductory Guide for Parents jumped out at me the most since I have really been battling if I should homeschool or not.
I am a teacher for the gifted students at my school, and my daughter is gifted as well. So that is the section that interested me the most to click on and find out more about it!
I clicked on gifted students – hm, I see I’m not alone there! – and was pleased to find an article on Homeschooling Gifted Students, which had some interesting points to ponder.
I love this site, I’ve been here several times since last time it was brought up. I like to go to Your Parenting Style. Peaceful Parenting has a lot of info for me, since I’m working really hard to avoid the yelling and fighting.
Keeping Your Kids Healthy and Learning to Read
Cool!! My kids would love it!!
Learning perosnalities as we are a family of Briggs-Meiers believers
Learning personalities piqued my curiosity. I have three girls and they all seem to pick stuff up in a different way.
“Learning to Read” jumped out at me. My daughter is 5, she has the ‘know-how’ to read. I’m just waiting for the day when she gets it!
Thanks for the giveaway. I am new here.
Learning to Read would be where I started.
parenting style
The one that interested me was “Your parenting Style”. Thanks for the great giveaway!
Is my child on track got my interest but then so did several of the others.
I have a first and third grader, so all the topics under those grades stood out to me. Particularly the grade one reading, and third grade math (my girls ‘problem’ areas)
Several topics jumped out at me. In particular was “gifted children,” as we worked through our gifted daughter’s placement through much of this school year.
Kindergarden Readiness stood out to me, my youngest is starting this fall and I want to make sure he is ready by then!
I’m so glad you posted about this website, I have it to my Favorites now so I can go back and browse some more!
I love the information given on learning disabilities. We had discovered when our son was 3, that he had learning disabilites. He is now 8 and thriving in special programs. We were fortunate to get a lot of guidance, mostly by some really caring educators, but we did find that at times not all our questions were easily answered. This section of articles is wonderful. I’m really happy to see that a lot of information is available for parents that are in the same position as we were, when we first found out.
Thanks for this great giveaway.
I liked the look of Learning personalities and learning disabilities.
Special Needs stands out for me as my little nephew is autistic.
Learning personalities stood out as well as gifted children
being a teacher i noticed the special needs and gifted children. i have a classroom that includes children with both of these labels.
thanks!
moore.g at insideconnect.net
Learning Personalities looked interesting!!
Kindergarten readiness. My daughter is heading to kindergarten this year.
The Kindergarten Readiness article jumped out at me the most because my little girl will be starting Kindergarten in the fall. Thanks for the awesome giveaway!
Is my child on track? really jumped out the most to me. With the school year just finishing up, it’s good to see what I need to work on during the summer.
The Kindergarten Readiness article caught my eye right away. My son starts this fall and my daughter the year after.
gkstratos @yahoo.com
Learning personalities has some really interesting topics…
Oh wow! I clicked on “Gifted Children” as my son is gifted. Funny, I wrote about this on my blog last night; gifted children are just as much of a challenge as any other child!
I am so glad you pointed us in that direction; I have bookmarked that site and cannot wait to go back and read! Thank you!
with 7 kids, I need to read all about Learning Personalities and how this can make a difference in their learning
The Keeping Your Kids Healthy definitely stuck out to me.
Special Needs as my son has several “issues”. Thanks!
daily life and recipes
“Your Parenting Style” is what most interested me.
Gifted children. My 3rd grader just finished Twilight, it’s a 10th grade book. He read it in a week. he’s a whiz at EVERYTHING and we have no gifted program at our school.
There were a few topics that stuck out at me. The first being Leraning personalities.
Is My Child on Track? and Gifted Child caught my eye.
Learning Personalities and Keeping Your Kids Healthy both jumped out at me. Thanks!
learning to read interests me.
Is My Child on Track? is the one that caught my eye.
“Keeping Your Kids Healthy” is the topic I clicked on first.
Thanks!
Megret
Kindergarten Readiness…I guess because I am getting ready to HS my oldest in Kindergarten this year.
I clicked on Gifted Children because of course I think all of my grandchildren are gifted.
I clicked on Learning Personalities, because my daughter is a smart girl, but sometimes things seem like they don’t get through in the traditional way.
I read up on Learning Personalities. I’d heard about this before so it was great to get some more information.
Learning Personalities interested me.
I was most interested in the “gifted kids” category.
Learning personalities
Learning personalities and the 3-5 year old age range jumped out at me. This looks like a terrific site. Thanks for sharing.
owatz (AT) telus (DOT) net
my choice is gift children!!!!
kindgergarten readiness
Actually there were a few that caught my eye!!
) I clicked on Gifted Children, Parenting Styles and Is my Child On Track. This is a great resource! Thanks for offering this – it’s a great giveaway!
~Tanya
the4moyers(at)msn(dot)com
The topics that jumped out at me were “Kindergarten Readiness” and “Is My Child on Track?”
I went to “Is My Child On Track?” and I’m glad I did. My son is 3.5 and has been rather challenging lately. Many of the behaviors that have been “annoying” me lately, I came to read, are very normal. This is an excellent resource for parents, I like the tips they provided. I’m happy to say he’s right on track, I’m relieved he’s not just a brat!
Under the topic of Extracurricular Activities, the article “Should your Preschooler Play Sports” gave me a new perspective on whether or not my 4 year old son should start playing a team sport. As much as I try to not fall in the pit of “Keeping Up with the Jones’” as a parent I want to provide my children with opportunities to learn and develop in to capable human beings. Thank you for all the work you do on 5 Minutes for Mom to steer parents like me to reliable resourced (like education.com). We all know there is a tangled web of info out there!
Gifted Children. Absolutely. When I was growing up, gifted children, and with an IQ above the 99th percentile and reading and writing since age 3, I qualified as gifted, were not allowed to learn at their own pace, given more challenging material, allowed to skip grades, or otherwise be encouraged or allowed fulfill their abilities to learn more/better/faster. It was supposed to be better for us to slog along with the rest of the class. It is so important for each child to be challenged and rewarded at her/his own ability and pace, and knowing what is now available in that field is of great interest to me.
Learning to Read. I love that literacy is ongoing topic.
Learning personalities look very interesting!
Kindergarten Readiness. We just enrolled DD for the fall.
Okay, there were several!!
Is My Child On Track
Standards and Testing
Learning to Read
Learning Personalities
I’m going to read through the first one mainly for my toddler. I’ll read through the second category because I’m teaching my five year old to read right now. I’d read through the third one because we just finished testing my 2nd grader, and I’ve kinda got testing on the brain. And I’ll read through the fourth one because that sort of thing interests me and I try to consider learning personalities while teaching my children.
I clicked on Life Skills. These skills aren’t taught in school and I want to make sure I do a good job of teaching my children these very important skills.
Learning to Read. My niece is 4 and is really getting into reading and wanting to know what everything is.
What a wonderful prize!
is my child on track? interesting to know if the kids are where their suppose to be.
The Extracurricular activities interested me most. My son is only entering 1st grade (homeschooled), but I am trying to figure out how we will balance life and any activities he may be interested in. I just don’t want to become like a chicken with her head cut off (and I mean it- we have chickens!). Thanks for the giveaway!
Early reading support. I am a prek teacher and I am always looking out for improvements in my teachings. I always want to know ways to get the children ready for reading. Thanks for the contest and for showing me that website. Love it.
thanks
Is My Child On Track?
I’m going to read it after I enter this contest.
Definitely keeping my kids healthy! This is the one that I think about a lot.
I would love this cause I have a sunday school class at church this would help me out
First grade for us because our son will only be 5 for the first month of first grade. I want to make sure he’s as ready as the 6 year olds. Thanks for the chance!
A fantastic prize package. The “Life Skills” has my name written all over it. I have two sons and they do well academically. That is important, but I think having life skills is just as important. Sometimes, the most intelligent people I have known haven’t any social skills. Thanks, Cindi
This would be perfect for my two kids who are bored already.
I liked Learning Personalities!
love the information given on learning disabilities. We had discovered when our son was 3, that he had learning disabilites. He is now 8 and thriving in special programs
Every bit of information helps. Thanks
Homeschooling gifted children. It is really scary when your kids are smarter than you are.
The Kindergarten Readiness jumped out at me because my son who technically will be old enough to start kindergarten this year is just not ready socially yet not to mention he would barely be 5 when school started so I think that would be perfect for us to get him ready for next year
‘Your Parenting Style’ really caught my attention.
The topic that I was most interested was “Types of Schools”. My oldest son just finished elementary, and it’s time for junior high. Unfortunately, all of the junior highs around here are pretty scary (I’m a teacher and work around here, so I know). So, I’ve been battling where to send him, since financially private school is not an option, but all of the schools in this entire city are very tough!! So, I enrolled him in a charter, so I guess we’ll see!!
Learning Personalities seems really interesting.
Learning to Read
Learning Personalities looks interesting
Learning to read stood out for me. As a teacher I know how important it is to take away all the mystery and stress from that process for both parent and child.
What first off caught my eye was “Is My Child On track” , I think as parents thats something we always worry about with each child, as each child is very different!
I loved the endless amounts of information on each age group! I’m signing up!
Both prizes are wonderful ! Individual personalities at any age have always fascinated me , I’d have to go with “Learning Personalities”
Kindergarden readiness jumped right at me since we have 3 kids in the house starting this september!!
Learning to read, Because my son is having some trouble.
I checked out Special Needs, hoping to see something on food allergies. Alas, the only food-related articles were on eating disorders.
SharingMyStory at yahoo dot com
“Keeping your kids healthy”
This is a neat, neat site and I’ve bookmarked it for now and for a few years down the line. What grabbed my attention were these two subjects: Is My Child On track? and also Learning To Read.
Parent – School Connection really caught my eye. I really believe that if parents put the amount of time into public schools as parents of private school students did, parents wouldn’t feel a need for Private school . . .contraversial, I know. . .
Learning to Read caught my eye because I’m particularly interested in Literacy and early childhood development.
“Your Parenting Style” jumped out at me. Sometimes I wonder if we’re doing the “right” things with our daughter. Thanks for the opportunity!
Is my child on track? stuck out to me.
Gifted Children – because gifted children are exceptional learners too. Thanks for the chance!
Kindergarden Readiness popped out at me right away because its a topic I’m dealing with right now. Little Bear is about to start kindergarten in the fall, and since she didn’t go to preschool this year, I am trying to get her ready for kindergarten myself, at home! I want so bad for her to enjoy learning, and when her older brother entered kindergarten he was NOT really ready, and as a result had a horrible time in kindergarten and never really did manage to catch up.
Well, if I had to choose only one, I’d say “Is My Child On Track” would be my choice. But having taken a look at a few of the other subjects, I can say that this is a site I’ll be returning to often.
My Child On Track is my choice
Learning Personalities
gifted students
I would have to say the Is my child on track and standards and testing.
Is my child on track was the first thing I clicked on. Thanks for the info and giveaway!
nice toy
Looks great!
Learning to Read- I hope I win:)
“Thinking About College” jumped out at me since the kids are rapidly approaching that time.
Am going to recommend Keeping Your Kids healthy to my kids, ‘cuz I worry about my grandkids nutritional needs.
Kindergarten Readiness for sure.
Learning Personalities and Life Skills
Learning to Read stuck out the most to me. I want to have my son reading before he heads of to school. Count me in for the giveaway…thanks!
I checked out the extra curricular activities
Is My Child on Track? Learned a lot too!
I’d love to win this! Teaching my son Gabriel to read, by reading everyday , plus we plan on homeschooling so this would be great!
My son Gabriel would love this, he’s a bit young but he loves anything that includes him!
Gifted children caught my attention. Education.com is really a quality site.
enter me
I browsed through a few areas – esp enjoyed paren-school connection overview – thanks.
Learning Personalities jumped out at me because my son had a difficult time this past year and began to dislike school. The articles offered helpful advice on how to help him succeed next year and feel better about school.
Gifted Children stood out the most for me. My daughter was reading before Kdg. and didn’t go to preschool so this is interesting to me.
cool gift!
Learning Personalities!
Thanks
A couple of things stood out to me (were we only supposed to pick one!)… here they are:
“Kindergarten readiness” (I have a 4 year old)
“Learning personalities” (I think it’s important to know)
and “Is my child on track” (Something we’re always wondering… is my kid advanced/average/behind etc.)
I liked reading about 2nd grade reading ideas for home.
I liked reading about gifted and talented.
Keeping your kids healthy…this is my passion!
Thinking about college. Children today are never to young to think about their future!
I liked the following: Learning personalities, learning to read (I want my son to be able to read before he gets to school), Is my child on track (something we are always curious about) and Kindergarten readiness (want to make sure that he is more than ready for this next step of his life). Thanks!
Learning Personalities caught my eye. I think all 4 of my kids have their own style of learning.
Keeping your kids healthy. We all can use a little help
The standards and testing one — we are just starting to homeschool, so I am interested in learning the different ways, I can make sure we meet and stay ahead of the curve!
Kindergarten/Preschool. What a great prize.
extracurricular activities is what caught my eye I really like the learning a second language
The Special Needs section jumped out at me, since I have children with special needs. Thanks for a great resource!
Learning personalities
Is my child on track? caught my eye, but actually, the whole SITE thrills me to bits! I’m all about finding things for my boys to do to keep their brains working this summer, and as a teacher, this can be a great resource! Thanks so much!
I like the kindergarden readiness section is very informative.
Learning Personalities piqued my curiousity!
I clicked on Keeping your kids healthy, they got alot of good, helpful resources!
special needs section was good
Your Parenting Style
Types of schools – we have several options (magnet schools) in the area I live in.
Learning to Read jumped out at me because I believe there is little more important in education than good reading skills and a love of reading.
I like the kindergarden readiness section is very informative. ty 4 the great contest!
gifted children is always an area that I find interesting….
love this prize! Hope I win.
This looks like fun!
What topic don’t I want to read more on….. WOW!! I really will come back to read the “IS My CHild on Track?”, “Learning to Read” and “Parenting Styles”!!!
The poetry prize sounds like something I’ll have to invest in when my kiddies start reading. I was soo bad at poetry and I want my kids to really like it:) Plus they love magnetics and it keeps them busy in the kitchen when I cook:)
Your Parenting Style
I really enjoyed the learning personalities section!
All the subjects were very compelling to me but I clicked on Learning Personalities first! Thanks!
so fabulous!
Is my Child on Track? This is always my question!! Thats why it stood out!!
The Learning Personalities section was my favorite, enter me please.
The section on Learning Disabilities interested me since we are dealing with this.
Learning Personalities jumped out at me.
kindergarten readyness
this is really a great toy
Is my child on track caught my eye
count me in please
Learning Personalities. I have always thought that there were different learning personalities.
Learning to Read! I love encouraging literacy.
i would love to win this..Good luck to all who entered.
Moms need all the help they can get.
Learning Personalities seems extremely fascinating to me.
Is my child on track?
Please enter me! I like the Gifted Students section.
As I’ve just begun saying ‘No!’ to my 6 month old, parenting styles interested me most on their site.
“is my child on track?” because i’m always concerned if he is or isn’t.
Kindergarten activities jumped out at me, as I teach kindergarten, and am always looking for new resources and ideas to use in the classroom. Thank you!
nice prize
special needs is always my topic
learning Personalities; many thanks SW
Both “Is My Child on Track?” and “Gifted Children”. I’m a homeschool teacher, and even though I can tell you where she is academically (ahead in many areas), they don’t have a curriculum for life skills, and it’s nice to be able to read up on articles to make sure that she’s doing fine.
Gifted children is certainly intersting, but there are others as well!
I love this kind of stuff!
Learning Personalities caught my eye- my 3 kids all have very distinctive learning styles and preferences, so I found this interesting. Thanks for the giveaway!
Gifted Children, having one myself, I am always looking for resources. My son is in a wonderful public program, and it never crosssed my mind that he should have a right to a gifted education.
Life Skill is a must. We have our children for such a short time before they start to become independant and need to know they will become a community giving,getting involved person for the life they will have. We need to teach our children ,they grow so fast and these skills are instilled for life
keeping kids healthy is the ultimate goal
Your Parenting Style interested me.