Road to reading buy and build!

Zeru's Road to reading is now for sale! Get the kids in on the action! Decorate and color yourself and add your own shortcuts, bridges, buildings, and landscapes! (Directions, stencils and ideas included)

Comes with directions, one set of cards with removable road signs and the fabric road!

The fun thing about this particular car road (besides that the kids get to decorate it themselves) is that it is SOFT and DURABLE made from a white denim on the front.

It is difficult to ruin them, they can be washed, rolled, crinkled into a ball, shoved under the bed... they can be easily stored small and won't bend, break, crack, tear like paper, board, or other materials.

As always we will have FREE printable downloads of the cards and signs or you can purchase finished laminated sets. Road to reading. On our way to fun!

 

Zeru has decorated his with some "bridge shortcuts" houses, trees, and other fun things. It is one of his favorite activities to do during the busy day- and what makes me happy is he is actually learning!

 

The concept is very simple. This "game board" has slots for 12 road signs (included- additional sets can be downloaded and printed for free, or purchased finished) with corresponding flash cards.

 

Flip the top card over. Have your child identify the word (by picture or reading) then search for the matching road sign. The fun is finding a route to get to the location!

 

This forces the recognition of letters and combined letters in association with a word. It is a very useful tool for beginner readers. Not to mention it is fun!

Beginning math sets coming soon also!

 

Road fits hot wheels/matchbox size cars- two lanes. Cars not included- but I am sure any house interested in this product has cars lying around!

 



Life application learning

One afternoon while getting lost in the largest market in Africa, Zeru and I found a little café to retreat to for some tea.

We received our receipt and I noticed the arch it made on the table, like a little bridge or tunnel. My mind quickly jumped back many years to 8^th grade science class and a lesson on air pressure.

When you place a piece of paper under your bottom lip and blow across the top of the paper, the paper does not go down as many people would first think- but rather goes up because the air pressure is moved by your breath, but the air pressure below the paper says the same- pushing the paper up.

 

Pretty simple lesson, but I obviously never forgot it.

 

As we sat tired and quiet I picked up the receipt and excitedly got him interested in my cool trick.

 

I explained with my hands the invisible air pressure pushing equally on both dies of the receipt- and explained to the 4 ½ year old mind that I was going to blow those invisible pressures away! Just watch! They cannot press on the paper any more! So guess what happens when you blow the ones on the top away? The ones on the bottom still push! And look- the top ones cannot push back!

 

He actually got it pretty quickly and was eager to try himself. Many months later he will still pick up a rolled receipt and try this “trick” so the lesson must have stuck.

 

It is my hope in the near future to incorporate this lesson into some lessons on weather.

 

Counting beans construction!

 

In Ethiopia we had to get extra creative. Thankfully we had a dump truck on hand!

 

One of the cheapest foods we got at the local market was red beans- apparently only poor people eat them, so the average people refused to buy them. We loved them (except the 4 hour cook time of course) because they were a cheap, reliable, and non-perishable form of protein!

 

But perhaps what was best was their use as “construction blocks” for Zeru’s math lessons.

 

We started with number recognition (some how 7 and 9 get mixed up often- not sure how) then moved on to addition, subtraction, and even multiplication and division.

 

Here you can see our number recognition lesson.

 

There are many construction “Sites” and each site needs a specific number of “blocks” or “bricks” to build its building. Make sure each site has the correct number of bricks.

 

This is also useful for his learning to count to higher numbers (like those tricky teen numbers which make no sense. Why don’t we just say “five-teen?” That would be so much simpler! Or what about eleven- what does that even mean?)

 

For multiplication and division we make “construction sites” and each site takes the same number of “bricks.” If the contractor has 12 bricks, and 4 sites, how many bricks can he use for each site? Or if he has 3 sites and each uses 4 bricks, how many bricks will he need all together?

 

Pretty simple fun application of division and multiplication. And all we need is beans!

 

For added fun use real blocks and let your little builder create something which each set of “bricks” set out in each site!

 

Don't leave them at home!

Zeru came to Ethiopia and lived there for almost seven months.

Though there was culture shock, and many challanges, it was worth it.

He now has a new appreciation for o many things in life. He does not take things for granted, and he will always hold a place in the hearts of the street boys he helped.

Check out what we accopmlished the months we were under the radar.

You can become a part of  it also! Find out how.

Club Anbesa

Zeru in Africa

So- While we are here living in Ethiopia the ideas are still coming but the resources and internet access is very limited!!! I am very happy to report that when we return we will start a product line as well as our free idea area!!! And Zeru is learning Amharic more eagerly.

Stay tuned for more!!

This is David the sheep (which Zeru named) whom he saved from slaughter- the much leaner Max got eaten instead. Zeru watched the whole process. There is nothing like real life experience. I am thankful that he has gotten the opportunity as I know it is unlikely most people have experienced all he has already.

In every opportunity I try to make a learning experience- the other day at a cafe we discussed air pressure with a receipt. today weights and balance at a cafe with a pen and receipt folder. Yesterday we discussed the different reasons for poverty and the social dilemma faced in the country as he tried to make friends with begging street kids and they would not stop following us through town.

fun with fidel! Amharic

Fun with the Fidel! I made a fun little story for the second set (oo/u) of letters in the Amharic alphabet. This is fun for people learning to read the Amharic letters.

save pictures to file and print... then enjoy!

Cheap and reliable

With kids it seems the least expensive things are the ones which get the most use. Sticks, rocks, random objects found on the ground, boxes, balloons... and a favorite of mine, paper!

I found at our local Dollar Tree store that children's lined paper for learning how to write- you know the paper I am talking about? It is made out of newsprint or something, but a whole pack is only a dollar!

While I have mentioned many times that Zeru's favorite activity is not writing, it is still a necessary skill. I also believe it is the repetition of doing the same types of lessons again and again which drives him crazy.

I had recently purchased a rather expensive workbook for him, which the first several days delighted him! It was new and different- but that too got boring.

Back to the lined paper! I love it for many reasons:

Make our own custom lessons (work on words kid's are interested in, add pictures, etc)
Make it for any language (we do a lot of Amharic lessons, like the one pictured)
Not tracing, but "letter drawing" practice
Big enough for crayons, markers, etc. (which adds to the fun)
It's super cheap and easy!

I have found with Zeru that when he does letter tracing lessons the way he writes a letter is not the same as when he writes the letter free hand. And when he goes from tracing to free hand in the same lesson the quality is much worse! I think it confuses him somehow.

But when I give him a letter or word and ask him to write in below, he examines the lines and curves and tries to copy them diligently to see if the final product matches. I personally find this MUCH more practical.

So far I think it has paid off. Many days he is excited to work on something new that interests him, like yesterday when he picked out his own writing lesson. "Ruh roo ree rah ray rih row" and "Muh moo mee mah may mih mow"