September Blog: Learning Together

Isn't Fall Beautiful?

Welcome to September! I know we are well into the month and I'm a bit behind in posting this month's blog so please excuse the lateness as we dive into it now!

Summer is winding down and many of us are enjoying some cooler days now, which I love as Fall is my favorite season! It is also my BIRTHDAY month (4th) so I love thinking about all the ways going back to school can be such a great new experience as a new school year begins.

Here's whats happening around the globe in September that deserves mention: the 5th is World Teacher's Day

8th is International Literacy Day

26th is National Family Day

Those days can be observed at school through many ways like reading, community service or doing a project that inspires acknowledging the people behind the learning and growing.

Part 1- Writing - "How to Make Writing a Collaborative Activity"

When writing in a collaborative way, there are several things to consider when story telling. Collaborative story telling is a great activity that involves a group of people who create a story together by taking turns, adding plots and new elements to the narrative as each person participates. It can be done in person or online. Doing a writing activity like this helps to foster creativity and listening skills and enhances team building in ways that can be structured using a prompt. Using a writing prompt can be helpful in sticking to a topic and here are some ideas you could try:

a family story, a vacation that went awry, an unexpected package that had no return address, going to your basement to find music playing on a record player but no one is there.

To keep the activity flowing smoothly, using a timer may also help to prevent participants from spending too much time on their turn.

In the attached template, a dice may be used to alternate the parts of the story and the collaboration turns into a game while writing!

This Roll-A-Story writing prompt creates an interesting story with each participant adding their selection to the narrative. The first person who begins the story follows the prompts in the column that corresponds to the number on the dice. Depending on the topic, there are lots of opportunities for each participant to add humor, or a serious spin in the story.

When writing collaboratively in the past, whether it was for a school project or writing lesson plans, reports, etc., I always start with an outline of the intended goal and use bullet points to create a time line for thought to build on. Using large index cards, 4x6 size, also helps to put the beginning, middle and end in place and mark the corner of the index card with numbers 1,2,3, etc., to keep track in case there are edits. Note taking is important when writing and using post-it notes help to track ideas in progress.

What other ways can you think of to do when collaborative writing?

Part 2 -Education - "The Power of Collaborative Learning at Home and School"

Over the years, we've all heard of how a child who has parents involved in their schooling does better in school. Yes, it is true that children benefit from parental involvement but, even more, it helps children learn how to build critical skills like team building, communication and problem-solving.

When children whose parents get involved in school matters, such as being a room parent, a PTO member, sign up for a field trip, book fair events or do monthly in-class volunteering like reading or do special craft projects, they experience a common bond that creates connections to their child's education through positive engagement which boosts academic achievement and develops social and problem-solving skills that will stay with them through their educational years.

I can remember a time when I was in fourth grade and our class was going on a trip to the Musuem of Natural History in New York City. I was so excited to ask my big sister, who was nine years older than me, to go on the trip as a chaperone. The fact that I had my big sister riding the bus to the city with me and my class and experiencing the friends I had at school, gave me a feeling of being proud that my older sister took time to spend her day with me and my teacher and friends learning outside the classroom.

The skills acquired through the teamwork of school to home collaboration empowers students, builds deeper understanding of academic achievement and helps to develop a creative and problem-solving future.

Some activities that parents can do at home to foster a collaborative learning environment is to become involved in group projects with friends, classmates and siblings working closely together to discuss and complete ideas, sharing resources and create a unified approach in the support of learning. For families that have two working parents, those parents can actively be part of assignments and help their student pick a topic and offer their own experiences as part of a discussion. The home-school connection is very important and children whose parents take a strong lead in letting teachers know they are aware of their children's role and have a good communication system in place, helps the student feel grounded in their responsibility to learn and grow with advancement in team and group opportunities.

Part 3 - Parenting - "Family Learning Projects for Fall"

When my daughter was a toddler about two years old, and my middle son was about nine months old, I would take them on walks down our road and stop to pick up interesting objects in nature for a project in Fall. With all the leaves turning colors and so many things to find on the ground, it was the perfect time to have some fun while getting some exercise.

We collected leaves of different colors and shapes, feathers, acorn shells, pine cones and small sticks and carried them home in a clear plastic bag. After examining them to make sure we did not grab any insects or other nasty things, we got the glue sticks, construction paper, and tape and began to adhere the collection to the paper after we "sorted and classified" the objects. We gave it a title and dated the paper and hung it on the playroom wall. My daughter was so excited to see the paper so colorful and filled with things we found in nature hanging in the space that she and her brother played in. This was mainly our Fall project before she attended preschool. As a stay at home mom, I had time to plan these fun and enjoyable activities.

Even with two full time working parents, it's possible to find time to do these little projects and create a scrapbook to keep for years to come. The joy on my daughter's face as she pointed to each object we put on the paper and labeled it, gave me the idea to create more projects that will serve as "memory books" going forward. Choose and specific day and time, for example, Sunday night after all meals are finished and before bedtime, gives the family something to look forward to at the end of the busy weekend.

Making a shadow box collection of Fall themed miniatures from the craft store is another way to spend quality time while reinforcing the "Family Learning Projects" activity. Mini plastic or felt pumpkins, leaves, flowers in orange, brown, yellow and red, acorn shells, even 3D stickers can create a pretty shadow box display for holidays using the shadow box frame, cardboard and some ribbon or small beads to frame the square cardboard base. There are endless choices and it's a great way to spend family time instead of watching a movie or show. Interacting with these types of projects helps children learn how to bring creativity to school as well. Doing these activities can also be beneficial in soothing and calming the mind, and become therapeutic in time.

Another activity is a simple nature journal made from a thin cardboard base covered in construction paper, loose leaf paper and whatever Fall objects you can use to write a journal story. A walk in nature, or a made up story can be a fun way to tell your poetry or informative piece using crafts to help tell the story, as in a Rebus book, which is done when pictures or objects are substituted for words.

A rebus journal is fun and gives young children a chance to use their own objects and create a fun story. They can even illustrate the pictures instead of finding stickers or other objects to fill in for the words.

Another activity to bring Family Learning Projects together is to create a family time line or scrapbook. Pick out a particular area to highlight like a child's first five years from birth to kindergarten and include photos, small objects or toys, any type of personal item played with or used and make a decorative scrapbook to keep for years to come!

That's all for September but stay tuned for October's "Spooky and Magical" theme for writing with more ideas for seasonal story telling and traditions.