Printable Pattern Block Activity Sheets

I wanted to do some structured activities with the pattern blocks other than simply having them build a picture with them so I made a few activity sheets. Here they are if anyone else can use them.

1. Size it up. Fill in the larger version of the shape using only the smaller ones. Once they finish the sheet, have them count. Help them observe that all of the larger shapes were built from nine of the smaller ones. Optional extension activity: leaving the first sheet intact, place a second sheet of blank paper and ask them to make medium sized shapes using only four of the individual pieces this time.

2. Colored Hexagons. Create hexagons with pieces of these colors. Once they finish have them count the pieces. Talk about 1/2, 1/3, and 1/6. Take away a piece from each hexagon. Have the child ask for the pieces back by requesting a whole, half, third, or sixth in order to rebuild their hexagons.

3. Hexagon Variations. This is mostly free play/fine motor practice. Once the child is done, ask point to two hexagons at a time and ask what is the same and what is different about the pair. Point out that one blue is the same as 2/6.

4. Pattern Path. Set this activity out along with a small toy (squinkie, lego minifigure, etc.) Tell the child the toy wants to get to the end of the path, but it is filled with water. They need stepping stones. Have them cover the pattern, and then continue it until the end. When they are finished they can help the toy hop along the path from the beginning to the end. (I haven't made a blank path yet, but doing the activity a second time with a blank path and encouraging them to create their own pattern would be a nice follow up to this one. You could make one by just tracing over this printable and leaving out the pattern I put in.)

Keeping Up with ASHA Publications

I was quite excited when skimming an email I received recently about the new issue of the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. There were two new research articles on Apraxia. Upon closer examination I realized they were both about Acquired Apraxia of Speech (in adults who had normal speech before a precipitating event like a stroke) rather than about Developmental Apraxia of Speech and I was less excited.

I was reflecting on how nice it was to automatically receive the Table of Contents of each new issue along with links to each article. Anyone can go to the ASHA Journals email alerts page and sign up with their email address to automatically receive the new Table of Contents for each new issue of the four journals published by ASHA. When you click on the link for an interesting article, you will be taken to a page with a description of the article. ASHA members can sign in and read the full text of any of the articles.

Signing up for the email alerts is a great way to keep up with the ASHA journal publications.

Do you censor when you read to your children?

Censoring seemed to be an unintentional theme of our evening last night. I found myself revisiting the issue more than once over the course of the evening. In general, I'm not a big fan of censoring. However, with my children, I feel they need to be exposed to content when they're developmentally ready to understand and discuss it and not before.

We wanted to have a movie night. First we tried Madagascar 2. I felt a large part of the humor was inappropriate for a 3 and 4 year old and stopped the movie about 20 minutes in. I just explained to them that mommy and daddy didn't know it, but this movie is actually for big kids - not little kids and so we were going to stop it and watch a different movie. We then watched Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure which was quite sweet. We all enjoyed it and stayed up a bit past their usual bedtime to finish it.

Then, as part of bedtime we began reading the second Moongobble and Me book: The Weeping Werewolf. The children thoroughly enjoyed the first book in the series and so I requested the second from the library. Unfortunately, the very first chapter was called "Bullies" and involved a rather nasty bullying episode. In my opinion, my children are a little young for that content. They were unfamiliar with the term, and so I defined it before beginning the chapter by simply explaining that "bully" is a word for people who are being mean to others. I tried to read the first chapter to them and found myself modifying the language of the bullies to make it a little less intense. As the episode increased in intensity, I couldn't really even modify it and I ended up skipping the chapter altogether.

The second chapter picked up with the actual story where the first left off and we found ourselves back with the familiar characters and the plot line that we were all enjoying. I would still recommend the series to others, I'd just warn them about this first chapter and tell them to use their own judgement when reading the series to younger listeners. I was disappointed to have to skip the first chapter entirely, but I didn't feel the content was appropriate for my preschoolers. I do not at all regret skipping it, and yet I feel vaguely guilty about the censoring.

Have you ever had to censor parts of a book you were reading to your child?