Monday, March 06, 2006

Kids Love to Learn with Mom and the Net

I remember Ms. Fahlman, my daughter's former Senior Kinder teacher in Canadian International School . She said that online or educational computer games are effective for drills, practice or integration. But the key is to first teach them the concepts in class. Otherwise the CD program's learning aspect is lost on the child. So since then, I would lead my kids to do these edugames usually after they review their subject facts.

I'm writing this with my 6- and 7-year old daughters by my side. It's amazing how interested they are in doing their assignments when they know I'll be giving them Internet review games for their exams. My youngest stumbled upon the teacher tools on Learning Planet. And my eldest created her own crossword puzzle for her long test in Religion, with the click of the mouse!

Learning Planet's Spacey Math for Grade 1 and 2 was fun! The space fighter game builds mastery as they get to practice random multiplication math facts 'til table of 12. Mrs. McGowan's website has a drag-and-drop compound word drill that's under time pressure. Try Kidport's multiple choice test for other language arts skills.

Try out these other sites: Science by Edugreen; a gold mine of teaching resources at Internet for Classrooms; and Kids on the Net for creative writing. Even ordinary sites like Weather.com can be used for fun learning! The resources are endless. So what great sites would you like to share?