Month: November 2020

Authentic Project Ideas – Building a Gingerbread House

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

My son had a math teacher in middle school who was also a national champion ginger bread house designer and builder!  She gave the kids a marvelous assignment for extra credit – to design and build a ginger bread house. 

There was lots of guidance and many suggestions.  She sent home lots of reading material for parents to help them assist with the project.  I am pretty much inept in the kitchen and she sent home enough written support, and did enough instruction with the kids, that I was able to get through this with my son successfully. 

There was tons of authentic math involved…creating the design (scale, angles), measuring the ingredients (fractions, units of measurement), baking temperature and baking time (measuring temperature, elapsed time)…  There were limitless opportunities to bring in authentic math skills.

We continued this as a family tradition for many years. As a mother, I saw it as great family bonding time, especially with teenagers who were difficult to corral into family bonding. As a teacher, I also knew my teenagers were getting great authentic experiences with reading, math, creativity and problem solving.

One year, we even encountered an authentic mystery to solve. We used chocolate mints as shingles on the roof.  We were surprised and a tad confused to see that every morning the shingles had “melted.”  We lived in the north and didn’t overheat our house, so we couldn’t figure out what was happening.  We had lots of hypotheses but none seemed to be the answer.  One night I came downstairs to get something from the kitchen and caught one of our cats happily licking the roof.  Mystery solved!

*The photo above is not the house we built.  It is a professionally created display that is presented yearly at a local hotel. You probably figured that out on your own! 

Authentic Teaching – New is Old Again

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Teaching, Blog, Uncategorized

This old Sampler was hanging on the wall of a home I was recently in.  It got me thinking about how we used to teach – make it real and make it count. 

I am certainly not advocating that we return to the days of girls being educated in sewing and cooking only – with only peripheral attention to other academics at best. But if you put history in context, these were skills that girls needed to survive.  So, what do girls – and boys – need today to survive?  What counts?  What it authentic?

With a major holiday tomorrow in the United States, and many holidays approaching world wide, what are some things that children could authentically do to learn and grow?  Children need to be able to read, write, calculate, and understand our place in the world.  They need to be computer literate.  They need to be able to evaluate information being presented to them.  They need to think for themselves.

For Thanksgiving tomorrow, they won’t be stitching samplers, well I am guessing most won’t, but they can be reading recipes and helping with the cooking for Thanksgiving. Perhaps they will be adding favorite ingredients to recipes, or creating homemade centerpieces. And with many families not able to gather due to the pandemic, perhaps they can think of creative ways to include those they are separated from.

Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate this holiday tomorrow. And Happy Holiday Season to everyone!

Stay Safe!

Tex the Explorer: Journey Through the Alphabet Receives 2020 Mom’s Choice Award

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Blog, Books for Children, Uncategorized

Tex the Explorer: Journey Through the Alphabet is a

2020 Mom’s Choice Awards® Silver Recipient!

Available on Amazon.

Authentic Project Ideas – What to do with those Holiday Cards

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Social Awareness and Responsibility Skills, Uncategorized

For the first time, I am making my own holiday cards this year.  I realized while I was doing this, that I have a huge stash of new holiday cards from previous years that I will probably never use.  I did a little digging on line and found out that nursing homes love to receive new holiday cards for their residents to use.

This would be a great authentic project.  Collecting new cards and donating them to a local nursing home.  Finding out which nursing homes or organizations would like cards donated, organizing this, getting the word out, having a drop off spot…

All of these authentic activities could cover many different academic goals. Reading – researching on line. Math – counting, tallying, predicting, graphing. Writing – composing letters/emails to ask for donations, writing to organizations asking if they would like new cards donated. Social Responsibility Skills – donating time and effort for others.

This may also lead to an authentic project of sending greeting cards to residents of a nursing home or hospital.

I also have a collection of cards that I have received over the years. They are just too gorgeous to throw out.   I found out that St. Jude collects used cards to recycle for future use.  Just doing the on-line research is an authentic activity that could lead to many authentic projects.

Safe and Happy Holidays!

Authentic Teaching – Including Educational Objectives

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Teaching, Blog, Uncategorized

Parents frequently have the opportunity to just explore with their children.  Just spending time looking, listening, talking…  And this is when children really learn.  When the exchange is spontaneous, real, authentic…

Authentic learning is just that.  It is spontaneous and real.  The only difference is that the educator also has objectives and goals that need to be woven in. 

Here is the difference.  The father gets up in the morning and decides to take his young son on a hike.  While on the hike they discover a lake.  The father and son enjoy the view, and the father also talks to his son about what they are seeing.  Lots of authentic learning is taking place.

Now, picture the father as an educator (and aren’t all parents educators).  He gets up in the morning, looks at his plan book, and sees he wants to introduce the concept of “lake” to his young learner.  So, he plans a hike that ends at a lake.  Here is the big difference. The father went on a hike and happened to end up at a lake. The educator plans a hike that ends up at a lake.

Once they get there, the educator lets his young learner take everything in, and also introduces the concept of “lake.”  And if there is not a lake nearby to explore, he plans a field trip.  Or he finds a video on line that explores a lake. (Authentic can be virtual as well…)

Oh…and in the first scenario, the mom left at home enjoyed some quality nap time!

Authentic Project Ideas – Thanksgiving

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Social Awareness and Responsibility Skills, Uncategorized

I am feeling a little guilty looking at these guys knowing that the American holiday of Thanksgiving is coming up.   I was going to write a blog about authentic experiences cooking, but then I looked at these guys and decided to go a different route.

What is the history of Thanksgiving in the United States?  What similar holidays do other countries have?  What are the different traditions of these holidays that remind us to be thankful for what we have?

Research these holidays, write a report, develop a timeline, propose a new holiday…  And a wonderful authentic project would be to have learners do something special for someone who is less fortunate than they are.  Especially now, these are easy times to fall into feeling sorry for ourselves, instead of looking at what our blessings really are.

And speaking of fortunate…I found out those guys in the photo are pets!

Authentic Project Ideas – Fall Leaf Colors

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

What causes the leaves on trees to change different colors in the fall?  Why don’t they all change to yellow?  Or red?  Purple?! Why don’t all trees change colors in the fall?

And if this project changes into research on why palm trees are suited for the tropics because of hurricanes…then that is authentic learning. And if from there, this project changes into research on why we had so many hurricanes this year…that is really authentic learning!