Will you be celebrating Cinco de Mayo?

Many people have a misconception about this day.  They think it is Mexican Independence day.  This is not true.  Mexican Independence day is on September 16th.

Cinco de Mayo marks the victory of the Mexican Army over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.  The city of Puebla celebrates this holiday, however not all of Mexico commemorates this day.  For more history on this holiday check out: Cinco de Mayo

Idea of the Day:

Do a few Cinco de Mayo activities with your children today.

- Make homemade tortillas

- Make homemade salsa

- Color Mexican flags

- Print out various Cinco de Mayo activities

apples4theteacher

Coloring Pages

Kaboose.com

Crafts and Activities

Do you know Latin?  Will you teach it to your children?

As a language teacher, I would love to say that I am fluent in a number of languages.  However at this time I only know English and Spanish.  Yes I can count to ten in a few others but that is as far as it goes.

I am about to begin learning Latin.  Why?  Because my 7 year old son thinks we should start.

I would love to say that he wants to learn as many languages as possible at a young age.  This would be a lie.  So why does he want to learn Latin?  He feels that in order to be Indiana Jones and search for treasures one day, he needs to know Latin to read the clues.

If Indiana Jones can motivate my son to learn Latin, then we will start learning Latin.

Idea of the Day:

Check out these sites for free basic foreign language learning.

- Watch Know: This is a great site to find educational videos on learning most languages.

- You Tube: Search through videos on various languages.  Some are better than others so take time to listen to the audio and read the comments on the videos before using them.

Do you have any good language sites you recommend?

Sorting through language learning sites can be difficult.  Often times the free sites do not provide good sound quality to pick up the accent.  The sites that require a membership or subscription fee can be too expensive for your needs.

Yesterday I was preparing my Spanish lessons when I stumbled upon a Spanish site.  It is called Spanish Flashcards. I was more interested in the vocabulary content than the actual flashcards.

The site is very basic and does not look that great at first sight.  However once you go through it, it is not bad if you are looking for the basics.

What I really like about it is that the learner can move his/her mouse on the vocab word and it says it in Spanish.  The audio is clear and the accent is decent.  On this site, there is the option to become a member and pay for additional activities but the free access seems fine to me.

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Are you looking for a new educational site for your children?

Since we do not give our children a great deal of time on the computer, I do not actively search for new sites.  Our kids have a few educational sites which they enjoy and therefore they simply go to those sites when they have computer time.

Lately I realized it was probably time that we added some new sites to the mix.  Like I said I don’t typically search out educational sites.  However if a parent recommends a site that their own children enjoy, I usually take a look at it.

The most recent sites I was made aware of are iknowthat.com and starfall.com

iknowthat.com has activities for preschoolers through grade six in a variety of subject areas.

One thing I do not like about this site is the advertisements on the side.  I do not like having to worry about what my child may click while playing.

Starfall.com is designed for beginning readers.  The activities work with letter recognition and phonetics to help preschoolers and early elementary aged children develop and/or strengthen their reading skills.

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Is your preschooler getting tired of playing Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders?  Are you?

There will come a time when you and your preschool aged children can’t seem to find a game to play.  They will tell you that Candy Land is a baby game yet they cannot seem to find the patience to sit through an entire game of Sorry.

This is when it is time to search out games that are a little more advanced, yet not too time consuming.  At our house we recently found success with two fun games: Guess Who and Operation.  Our seven year old had received these games for Christmas and his birthday.  The recommended age on the box says for ages 6+ but our three year old is able to play both of them (with a few modifications).

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