Hi friends,
How are you today? Today’s Education Blog by DUO Inspirations is about patterns, specifically in teaching patterns. We see patterns every day. Some we like and appreciate and some we don’t. Some patterns are simple and some are complex. Some patterns are man-made and some patterns are God-made. Noticing, identifying, and appreciating patterns are all important skills in life. They will lead to a greater understanding and appreciation of things around us. The ability to find and understand patterns often helps us to learn faster or appreciate more. So, how do we teach patterns? Often we start by helping students understand a simple A-B pattern. The pattern could literally be A, B, A, B, A, B…. and on and on. It could also be any alternating pattern. The A-B pattern could be a number pattern, such as 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2…and on and on. It could be a color pattern, such as blue, red, blue, red, blue, red, blue, red…and on and on. It could be a sound pattern, such as snap, clang, snap, clang, snap, clang…and on and on. It can be a movement pattern, such as clap, jump, clap, jump, clap, jump, and so on. Some may think that patterns are monotonous, boring, or even frustrating. However, it doesn’t have to be so. Teaching and learning patterns can be a very exciting experience. It is all in the presentation and in the attitude. It may be tempting to just give students a piece of paper with patterns on it and ask the students to finish the patterns. This may be helpful at times, but it isn’t the only exercise in teaching or learning patterns. Paper pattern activities are most helpful in practicing and assessing pattern recognition skills. Ask the students to come up with a pattern for others to complete. Choose some patterns that students can act out. Choose patterns that might sound like a tongue twister, especially if they are said quickly. Maybe have the pattern being a speaking pattern and let the words be slippery slippers. (This gets even more exciting when the pattern gets more complex than A-B.) Once students learn to recognize and identify and A-B pattern, maybe go on to other patterns such as an A-A-B pattern, and A-B-B pattern, or an A-B-C pattern. While we are on the subject of teaching and assessing pattern recognition, I want to tell you about the "Introductory Pattern Pack". The “Introductory Pattern Pack” includes three simple fill in the squares to complete the pattern activities as well as a blank template, so you can make your own patterns. Use the “Introductory Pattern Pack” to assess whether students understand pattern recognition. Pattern recognition activities such as in the “Introductory Pattern Pack” not only assess pattern recognition understanding, but also encourage early problem solving skills. To browse DUO Inspirations' selection of Educational Resources, click here. Now, it is your turn. I appreciate you being here. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Do you teach pattern recognition? Are you looking for educational resources? How can DUO Inspirations help you in your educational journey? Please, comment your thoughts, ideas, questions, and suggestions below or feel free to contact me. Thank you. Also, if you haven't already, please consider signing up below to get the Education Blog by DUO Inspirations and other education content sent directly to your inbox.
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 Hi friends, How are you today? I hope you are well. Mental health is important to knowledge and learning. Often a student finds it difficult to learn if he or she is troubled or has some sort of emotional or learning obstacle. It is sometimes for people, especially children, to explain how or what they feel and why they are finding things difficult. This often leads to frustration or even giving up on things. This is one of the premises of writing one of my children’s books, “Clarinda Cloud". Yes. For all those who didn’t know, I am not only a life-long learner and educator, I am also a children’s book author and illustrator. “Clarinda Cloud” is known as my “signature” character. It is the first book that I both wrote and illustrated. “Clarinda Cloud” is a concept book that teaches not only color identification, but also emotion identification. Not only that, but because of it’s repetitive text and whimsical illustrations, it is a great early reader to help children in learning to read. Clarinda Cloud, the title character, changes colors as her feelings change. For example, one page says, “When Clarinda Cloud feels angry, she turns red.” That same page depicts a red Clarinda Cloud with an angry face.  After each “feeling page” there is a page that states, “When she shares her feelings, she always feels better. Do you share your feelings?” This is meant to encourage children to share their feelings and not keep them bottled up or act out inappropriately.
I have a nice little story for you concerning the book, “Clarinda Cloud", I was substituting in a local elementary school once, filling in for the school guidance counselor. As I was reading the lesson plans, I was blessed to see the name “Clarinda Cloud". I had always hoped that “Clarinda Cloud” would be used as part of a lesson or as part of counseling for children, but this is the first day I found out that it was used for such. It was a blessing for sure! The lesson plans featuring “Clarinda Cloud” was for a first grade class. However, it could have been just as effective for a preschool, kindergarten, or possibly even a second grade class. I enjoyed reading “Clarinda Cloud” to the class. By the end of the book, the students were “reading” it with me. Well, they weren’t really reading it. They remembered the repetitive text and would say it with me. When I did, I said, "There is a picture of the author on the back. Do you want to see?" They did. So, I turned it around and they noticed that it was a picture of me. They were excited. The children and I both enjoyed the lesson that day. P.S. - - I also wrote and illustrated the “Clarinda Cloud Activity Book”. It has all the same colors and emotions as “Clarinda Cloud”. It can be used in conjunction with “Clarinda Cloud” or separately. You can check them both out on my Amazon author page. (Signed copies can be purchased directly from me, by contacting me, as supplies last.) Now, it is your turn. Do you use “Clarinda Cloud” to teach color recognition, emotion recognition, or early reading skills? Have you read “Clarinda Cloud” to your children? I would enjoy hearing your thoughts. Please, comment below or contact me. Thank you. 
Hi friends,
How are you today? I have been trying to provide a writing prompt about once a week. I think they are a great way to get your thoughts started, especially if you don’t have writing topic ideas already. Since it is November and getting close to Thanksgiving, I thought it would be a great time to have a Thanksgiving Day writing prompt. I could give the “old standard” asking you to write about your favorite Thanksgiving Day and you are more than welcome to do that. However, this time, I thought it would be nice to research a little about how other people celebrate Thanksgiving. Learning about other people and trying to find similarities is a great way to make new friends and facilitate acceptance as well as understanding. I also find it interesting to learn about other people and get to know them. So, this week’s writing prompt is: Choose someone or a group of people and research how they celebrate Thanksgiving. Some examples might be friends, classmates, acquaintances, or people from other cultures. You can research on the internet, in books, or by interviewing people. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. Then, write a bit about the other person or people celebrate Thanksgiving and a little about how you celebrate Thanksgiving. Compare and contrast the two and write at least one thing you like about both. This can be as little as two or three paragraphs or as long as you would like. Thanksgiving is usually rich in smells, tastes, sights, and feelings. Something Thanksgiving celebrations are also big on rituals, customs, or traditions. It has so many things about which to write. Include as much of it as you would like. Now, it is your turn. I hope you enjoy this writing prompt and learn something different. If you use it, please feel free to let me know. You can comment below or contact me. Please, feel free to contact me about anything whether asking a question, requesting a product, giving feedback, or anything in between. If you find value in what I write, please share it with your friends and family. Also, if you haven’t, please consider signing up to receive the Education Blog by DUO Inspirations and other educational content in your inbox. Thank you. 
Hi friends,
How are you today? I hope you are well. Today, I would like to talk about homework planning and organization. I don’t know how it was for you, but I had a separate little notebook that I wrote assignments in back in the day. It was helpful, but didn’t do enough. It wasn’t big enough to see the whole picture and I wasn’t always good about looking back to see if I had any big projects due or anything like that. How did you write down assignments? How do your students write down assignments today? Do they write down assignments? Organization and planning are important skills that students will use not only in school, but also for the rest of their lives in all that they do. Yet, they are skills that are often overlooked. Do you teach your students homework planning and organization? DUO Inspirations created a “Homework Planning Packet” that is meant to encourage organization and planning, as well as the completion of homework. It comes with a “Homework Planning Chart” page where students can write down class, date, assignment, due (date), materials, and progress. It also comes with a “Homework Project Planner” page that can be used to plan bigger projects. The latter entails class, project name, date given, date due, materials needed, and steps with a place to check off the steps as they are completed. The “Homework Planning Packet” can be used in many ways. Print enough pages as necessary to use for the entire school year. Use the “Homework Planning Chart” day-by-day or class-by-class. If you want to save paper, print only a few of each, laminate them, and fill them out with dry erase pens. Teachers can use the pages of the “Homework Planning Packet” to teach a class on organization and planning. Discuss the importance of planning and organization with students, and then walk them through the steps. This is particularly helpful when planning bigger projects. Teach students to break bigger projects down into manageable steps and work on them gradually instead of leaving everything for the last minute. You can check out the “Homework Planning Packet” here. It will be a helpful resource for you and your students. Now, it is your turn. I look forward to your feedback and input. What are your thoughts? Please, comment below. If you have an idea or suggestion, please feel free to let me know. If you don't want to comment below, you can contact me directly. If you find value in what I write, please share it with friends and family. I really appreciate it. Also, if you haven't already, sign up to get the Education Blog by DUO Inspirations and other education content to your inbox. 
Hi friends, How are you? Last week, I gave a shout out to educators. I know from experience that teachers put in more time, energy, and care into teaching their students than most people know. This week, I am giving a shout out to parents and particularly homeschooling parents. Many parents also put a great deal of time, energy, and care into educating their children. Some of them aren’t schooled or experienced in teaching. Yet, love and circumstance prevails. So, this week, I give a great big shout out to parents and particularly homeschooling parents! You are doing great! Keep up the great work! I homeschooled for a while and value what you are doing! I know that many people don’t understand homeschoolers or why they choose to homeschool. However, parents choose to homeschool for many reasons. Some parents choose to homeschool so their child will get more attention and experience educational things that a public or private school can’t provide. Other parents may choose to homeschool because of their schedule, their child’s abilities or needs, for the joy of it, or for religious reasons. Some people don’t take homeschoolers seriously. Those who don’t homeschool may think that homeschoolers just stay home, skip school, and fool around all day. Yet that isn’t the case. (Yes, I am not so naïve that I don’t think there are some who do similar in the name of homeschooling. However, that is not usually the case.) Even if you don’t see a book, paper and pencil, or a computer anywhere in sight, doesn’t mean that homeschoolers aren’t teaching and learning. Often homeschoolers do hands on activities, take nature walks, go to museums, or even have assignments in shopping and other daily living skills. Yes, they learn most of the same skills as students in the public and private schools learn, yet most go above and beyond those skills. People may hear that homeschoolers don’t spend as much time during the day on schoolwork. Sometimes, that is not always true, because often a homeschooler is learning no matter what he or she is doing. Although, in all reality, it may be true for many days, because it just isn’t necessary. Things take longer to teach in a school setting, because you have many students for which to plan, to address, to quiet down, and to transition from one activity to another, and for which to care. When, you are trying to teach one, two, or even a few children, it doesn’t take nearly as long. When I homeschooled, there weren’t nearly as many resources as there are today for homeschoolers. Today, there are online schools, online homeschooling groups, and local homeschooling groups, as well as educational materials, local classes, and other activities marketed with homeschoolers in mind. DUO Inspirations even creates and sells educational resources and welcomes homeschoolers getting in touch to request specific materials to meet their needs. So, if you meet a homeschooler, instead of looking disdainfully and questioning what he or she may be doing, give an encouraging word. Ask if there is anything he or she may need? It isn’t just homeschooling parents that I want to commend. All parents who care about and put effort in encouraging a good education for his or her child should be commended. Knowledge opens so many doors and is key to obtaining many things in life, sometimes in life itself. All who encourage it and help their children learn in anyway possible is to be commended. So, today, DUO Inspirations gives a great big shout out to homeschoolers and all parents who encourage and help their children learn. Yay you! Keep it up! Now, it is your turn. Are you a homeschooler? Are you a parent? Are you an educator? No matter who you are, I am interested in your thoughts. Please, leave a comment below. If you are finding value in what I write, please share it with friends and family. Also, if you haven't already, you may consider signing up to receive the Education Blog by DUO Inspirations and other educational content in your inbox. If you have any requests, please feel free to contact me. Thank you. |
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