MSI Press Blog

  Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from 365 Teacher Secrets for Parents by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly.                                                        #133 Fun with Words   I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living. ~Dr. Seuss   Poetry is playing around with words in unique and wonderful ways. You can also do the same without creating a poem. Just make up some silly stuff! Try these:   Alliterations (sentences in which most of the words begin with the same sound): ●        Have your child choose a beginning letter or sound. Let’s use “m” as an example. ●        Now have him brainstorm a wide variety of words that begin with that letter. ●        He c...

  Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from  365 Teacher Secrets for Parents  by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly.                                                        #132 Specific Poetry Starters   Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words. ~ Robert Frost Try reading some fun poems by Jack Prelutsky or Shel Silverstein to get started. But don’t forget to also read aloud poetry by such great poets as Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Ogden Nash (and others that you may enjoy) to expose your child to other types of poetry as well.   Another fun and motivational way to get involved with poetry is to begin with a specific “frame” on which your child can fill in her own words. On the website, you will find frames for three favorites: haiku, limericks, and ...

  Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from  365 Teacher Secrets for Parents  by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly.                                                         #131 Poetry   Too many of us strive for new abilities instead of striving to develop abilities we already have lying dormant within us. ~Alfred A. Montapert   There is a poet inside all of us in one way or another. We tend to think of poetry in the traditional way of exquisite verse that rhymes perfectly. Many of us think we could never write like that, but poetry is so much more than that—and so much less. It is simply someone’s view of the world put in such a way that may have not been done before; it’s seeing something extraordinary in something someone else has not; it’s the art of finding and interpreting ideas by...