Good luck brainiacs!

(tip: click on each puzzle to enlarge it if you’d like a closer look…)

Click on the image to Print.

So, start searching, and get your children in the Halloween spirit!

Get Your Friends in on the Search!

That's a printable, (adjective) picture of a mad lib.

To get started, print out the story template here.  Then, ask your child to provide each of the word types you see in white (adjectives, nouns, etc), and use their choices to fill in the blanks.  Read the story aloud with your child for lots of laughs!

(Feeling ending in -ed) what you saw?  Tell all your (plural noun)!

“Where are you going?” asks Jack SlothSprout.

“I am going to explore JumpStart,” Bugsy FlameCloud replies. “Follow me!”

JumpStart.com is taking children’s gaming to new heights with the addition of canned chat! Jumpeez can now communicate with one another using pre-selected words and phrases. We know kids love to chat online with their peers, and sometimes dance moves alone won’t cut it. We’re dedicated to keeping your little ones safe and happy, and we’re confident that the new canned chat function will do just that!

Canned chat is now available at JumpStart.com!

Here at JumpStart, we want to make sure your kids are both having fun and, of course, learning. The great thing about canned chat is that while your kids are socializing with their Jumpee friends, they’ll also be learning sight words that are important to their reading skills.

Edward William Dolch is famous for his creation of a list of important words that occur frequently in children’s (and indeed, all!) books. The Dolch words are now known as “sight words” because most of the time, they cannot easily be recognized by pictures or sounded out according to normal phonetic rules. There are 220 sight words and another 95 nouns that should be standard knowledge by third grade. A full list of the Dolch words and additional nouns is available here.

The words that appear in our brand-new canned chat function are based on Dolch’s research. As children use “sight words” repeatedly to communicate with other players in the virtual world, they will become more familiar with them and recognize them more readily. By including many “sight words” in the canned chat menus, we hope to advance the reading levels of our players and build their confidence in school!

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This year, as the final school bell rings and your kids leave their math books behind, be sure they don’t forget to bring the learning with them. Prevent the infamous summer ‘Brain Drain’ by creating daily learning opportunities at home. From learning on the go to planned educational activities, it’s easy to surround your kids with some scholarly summer fun.

Science

By simply exploring the world around them, your kids will enhance their science brains.

• Go on a nature hike or nature scavenger hunt. Collect or take pictures of specific items on a list. Observe and compare different types of rocks, animals, insects, and leaves.
• After watching the summer weather patterns, make forecasts and weather predictions together. Make a rain gauge out of everyday items you have at home. Then, predict the amount of rainfall during a certain day, week, or month.
• Plant a garden and watch seeds develop into plants. As a bonus, you’ll have some healthy summer snacks to munch on as well.
• Give your kids the opportunity to separate recyclable materials. Teach them why recycling is important and show them where all the waste ends up in your community.
• Have a treasure hunt at the beach. Discover shells, seaweed, fish bones, and beach glass. Bring along a field guide or go online to do research about your treasures when you get home.
• It will be a tasty and hands-on science experiment when you and your kids make a delicious summer treat in a Ziploc bag! With just a few ingredients and a super scientific explanation, ice cream in a bag will be a summer treat and a cool experience your kids won’t forget!

Reading

Studies have shown that reading above all other academic activities stimulates and sustains the brain, making it grow the most. Kids who read during the summer start the next school year leaps ahead of those who don’t open a book all summer.

• Encourage your kids’ interest in reading by letting them choose books to read about their favorite topics.
• Make a chart to keep track of all the books your family reads during the summer. Set goals or make it a competition.
• Visit your local library regularly and sign up for the summer reading program.
• Read aloud to your kids. Older kids can read to you or their younger siblings.
• Listen to audio books as a family while you’re on the road this summer.
• Help your kids write a letter to their favorite author or favorite character from a book.
• Cut out words from a newspaper or magazine and arrange them into a letter for a friend or family member.
• Help your kids write a storybook of their very own, complete with illustrations and the key elements of a good story.
• Start a family or neighborhood book club. Your club can be as simple as two people reading the same book and chatting about it afterwards.

Work Learning Into Daily Life:

• Talk with teachers and look ahead in the textbooks for what’s on your kids’ school schedule next year. Then, when you plan the family vacation, take this future learning into account. For example, if your kids will be learning about the Civil War, consider booking a trip to Gettysburg. Or, if they’ll be studying geological features next year, visit a national park. Trips to historical villages or science museums are also great ways to get the mind in gear and prepared for what’s ahead.
• Bust Boredom: When the chorus of “I’m Bored” bellows from the backyard, you’ll be prepared with some great educational ways to break down and beat the boredom blues.
• Going on a road trip this summer? Packing the learning along with you won’t take up a ton of space, plus it will make the car ride free from the never ending questions of “Are we there yet?”.
• Summer is a great time to get creative and crafty. From tissue paper flowers to origami and coffee filter butterflies, your home will become a gallery of creative learning.
• It’ll be magic to the mind when your kids learn while putting on a mystical magic show.
• The musical tones of summer will echo in your kids’ minds as their brain expands by creating a homemade rock band.

By secretly putting a note in your child’s lunchbox, you are doing so much more than simply reminding them that you care.  You are encouraging your child to read while filling the school day with encouragement.  Lunchbox notes are fun, educational, positive, and motivational!
Feel free to print either of the examples below, or to doodle your own (I always found that writing on a napkin worked great).

Lunchtime Learning

Sandwich Sayings

Another fun way to encourage reading is by writing a few words across their banana before packing it in your child’s lunchbox.  It’s simple! A banana peel bruises very easily, so all you have to do is use your fingernail to scratch a message across the peel.  Your message won’t show up right away, but by the time your child has lunch, the area you marked will be dark brown.  It’s a creative way to encourage your child to read while putting a smile on his or her face.  Your child’s lunchbox will never be the same again!

Banana Blabber

Stories are a treat for your child, and a great opportunity to spark a lifelong love of learning! By sharing books and tales with your child everyday, you can help build imagination, creativity and more. To get your child started on an adventure in reading and storytelling, try these handy tricks:

• Correspondence Captain – Help your child learn about storytelling by drafting an email to a favorite relative together. Have your child dictate a tale about something he did that day or create an imaginary story on his own, then read the response together. Your relatives will love hearing from your child and you are sure to get some fun responses!
• Sidewalk Stories – Stories don’t necessarily have to be told with written words. Take advantage of the spring weather to prove this point with some sidewalk chalk. Work with your child to design a mural or series of pictures, then ask your child to tell the story he has illustrated. To make the story immortal, take a photo of the sidewalk art, print it, then help your child write his tale down.
• Act It Out- You know that all-time favorite book your child reads over and over? Make the story even more real by acting it out with your child. Use your imaginations to dream up a set and costumes using items around your house and then bring the tale to life with a performance for the family.
• Library Love- Turn a library visit into a big event! If you treat library trips as exciting excursions (just like going to the movies), your enthusiasm is bound to rub off on your child. Make sure your child knows the layout of the library and work together to find and check out fun, age-appropriate books. Once your child is old enough, get him a library card of his very own, and celebrate the occasion! Also, be sure to check out special events at your local library – many hold weekly puppet shows, book readings and the like for kids.
• Reading Role Models- Kids love to try out things that they see parents and siblings enjoying, so be sure to set a good reading example! Let your child catch you reading to show that even grown-ups like a good story. Hunt for your own favorite childhood books and share these with your youngster. You can even consider scheduling reading time with your child – a few minutes each day where you sit down together and each read your own book quietly.
• Book Buff – Start a chart or wall where you can keep track of books you and your child read together. For some added fun, have your child draw a picture of each story read so you can have a collection of story memories. Choose prizes for certain milestones in your reading journey – maybe a trip to the movies when you reach 25 books – so that your child has motivation to keep up the reading.

Make learning fun by practicing spelling with the following tips. With practice, your child will become a better speller and reader.

• Word Search: Create a word search puzzle for your child (write ten letters across and five down). Include words that have the following vowel combinations: ai, ay, ee, ea, ie, oa, ow. Ask your child to circle the words. If your child needs assistance, say the word aloud, then ask him or her to repeat the word and find it in the puzzle. Below is an example.

• Tic Tac Toe Spelling: Draw a tic tac toe board. Instead of using an X or O to mark a square, create words that end with the following letters: ame, ake, ate, ave, ive, ice, ite, ine, one, ose, ail, eep, each, eat, oat, ain. Have your child write a word in one of the squares, and circle the word so you both know which ones belong to him or her. The first person who gets three in a row is the winner.
• Magnetic Spelling: Give your child magnetic letters and ask him or her to spell words with long vowel sounds that end in silent e—for example, rake, kite, hope, mute. Set a timer and see how many words your child can put together in one minute for each vowel combination.

My son is having trouble with writing book reports and I was never very good at it myself (he is in 2nd grade). Where can I get some help to help him?

Answer:

You might check with your son’s teacher for any specific instructions on writing a report. The teacher might have certain details that he or she is looking for. If there are no specifics from the teacher, here are some general suggestions:

• Choose a book carefully. Make sure it is a book you want to read. If you enjoy the book, you will find it easier to write about.
• Pick a place where you can read with as little distraction as possible. Of course, it is necessary to read the book at least one time, but if the book is not too long, it sometimes helps to read it more than once. If it is a long book that you need to read over a number of days, try to reread the important parts just before you write the report.
• If you do not have a form to fill out, there are four important things to tell about a fiction book.
  • The setting – Tells where the story takes place. If the book doesn’t specify the setting, look for clues that tell where the story is unfolding.
  • The genre – What kind of a book is it? Is it realistic fiction, a fantasy, a folktale, etc?
  • The main characters – describe the most important characters. Give details.
  • The plot – What are the most important events that happen in the story. Did the character have a problem to solve? Briefly retell the most important events.
• If you are reporting on a non-fiction book, you will need to write an initial paragraph about the general subject of the book. Then summarize the information you gathered while reading the book.

During writing:

• Be sure and start every sentence with a capital letter and end with the appropriate punctuation mark.
• Write complete sentences. Make sure that every sentence has a subject and a predicate.
• Proofread for spelling errors.
• Make sure a paragraph begins with a topic sentence and has supporting details.

Hello! I am tutoring a 7th grader who is able to read pretty well, but comprehends at a 3rd grade level. Do you have any suggestions on how to help her with comprehension? Thank you! Jessica

Answer:

Comprehension is just one of the components to reading. If children are not fluent readers and stumble on vocabulary, practice oral reading and play vocabulary games to increase those skills. Once children achieve some level of fluency and broad vocabulary they can involve themselves in understanding meaning. Probably the best activity for developing comprehension is for them to read a variety of genres, both fiction and nonfiction.

When you are dealing with informational books—such as school textbooks on science, social studies and health—there are several strategies that can help:

• Read through any pre-reading questions that the teacher has provided. These will give the student ideas to keep in mind as she reads.
• Preview the reading assignment. Take a look at the pictures, the headings and subheadings, any summaries that are provided, and the introduction.
• Talk briefly about the topic of the reading assignment. Ask the student what he already knows about the topic, and what she would like to learn about it.
• Read the first section together. You can do this silently or aloud, whichever seems more appropriate.
• Talk about any words or sentences that may pose problems, and then ask the student to tell you the key ideas from the section you just read.
• Work through the entire assignment this way. At the conclusion, talk about the most important ideas that the student has learned. If possible, she can highlight these in the text.