Lessons With Dad

Learning with Legos    What kid, or even adult for that matter, doesn't love to play with legos? Legos are one of the most versatile learning tools we can use to make learning fun, while still challenging our kids. Not only can we use Legos to help them learn new concepts, they also helps them practice their fine motor skills! Most families have Legos laying around their house, probably on the floor waiting to be stepped on! Below I have attached a few activities/challenges adults can pose to their children to challenge them creatively, while also making the learning fun at home. Lego Symmetry    The first one is  Lego Symmetry  Kids will use their fine motor skills to learn about symmetry and replicate it on the other side of the lego base plate. Material s: Lego base plate (any size), Legos and tape/ rubber band, yarn or string Put the rubber band (could be yarn tape, string whatever you are using to divide your base plate in half) down the middle of the base plate

   As I am writing this many of us are quarantined in our homes, hoping to protect our loved ones from catching this awful COVID-19 virus that has shut down the country. In my young life and 11 years of education, I have never seen or experienced anything like this, nor did I ever fathom that I would. In my wildest dreams I could not have ever predicted such a nightmare to occur, yet here we are in the midst of it.    As I look back on my last day with my students Friday, March 13th (fitting it was Friday 13th), I remember thinking that there may come a time when we would postpone school due to the virus. I never thought it would have been so drastic. In the last minutes before walking them out the door, I put out packets for them to take, in the case we were not back the following Monday. Spring break was just around the corner, so I figured we would push through until Spring Break and then the district would examine the situation further. Needless to say that was the last time I ha

When I started to wake up it took a while, to fully become conscious until the medication wore off. When I tried to talk I quickly realized it took a lot of energy and I could not talk normally. I would later find out when they went to intubate me, my jaw locked up and they had to force the breathing tube down my throat. In doing so they scratched my vocal cords. For the next three months, when I would talk, it took a lot of energy and my voice was hoarse. When it finally set in and I realize where I was, my first question was, “Can we go back up north tonight?” Sarah chuckled a little and asked me if I had any idea what day it was. Hmm I went to sleep on Friday, “Saturday” I answered. She proceeded to tell me it was Wednesday! Sh&*$ Do I still have a job?” Being a teacher, not calling in sick and not having sub plans prepared is highly frowned upon! It turned out that Sarah got in touch with a coworker of mine and he informed my principal of what was going on. Thank goodness!

As the night drew to an end and the sun started to rise, unfortunately my family and I would not do the same. My mom was eagerly waiting for her morning coffee partner. 6 o’clock came and went. 7 o’clock, 8 o’clock and finally 9 o’clock. I am usually an early riser, so my mom started to get worried. She walked over to our trailer to make sure things were OK. As she approached the trailer she noticed it was still locked up from the night before. She knocked on the door. Hmm dogs did not even bark, that’s unusual! For some reason, she just so happen to have a key to our trailer in her hand. She unlocked the patio door and opened it up. Everyone was still sleeping! Apparently, I was snoring, which I never do! She opened up and the dog’s cage. They staggered out and were barely able to walk. She immediately knew something was not right! As she approached the bed to check on us, she noticed I was foaming  at the mouth. My mom started to swipe it away with her fingers. Sarah was unresp

It was three year ago today that I had my most terrifying life experience. The day started out like any other day. I woke up, educated the youth of America, and scurried home quickly to beat the weekend traffic to head up north. We had a seasonal trailer in Sturgeon Bay, which we had not been up there since last October. My wife (Sarah) and I were excited to take our son (Carter) camping for the first time that year. He was only 10 months old. After making the exciting three-hour drive up north, with a 10 month old, we needed to get all of our stuff unpacked and organized. I figured we had all weekend to work on things around the trailer, so I wasn’t going to go to crazy that first night. I turned on the water, water heater, electricity, carried the dogs cage in and of course made sure the T.V. worked. My parents and brother had campers right next to ours. The Friday night ritual was once everyone got up north, got unpacked, we would make frozen pizzas, have a few drinks and si

  After a few weeks, and a mouse incident behind us, I was finally starting to settle in as a 2nd grade teacher. It was not my ideal age, but it was a job. Having just finished my student teaching, a job was exactly what I needed. One morning when I arrived at school I noticed there were a bunch of unfamiliar faces walking into the building. I asked a co-worker where everyone was today? She informed me they had a curriculum meeting up at the district office and we may even be short subs today. If that was the case we would need to fill in places throughout the day. Well, adapting, filling and subbing has what I have been doing best the last few weeks and today didn’t seem to be any different from any other day. So on I went to get my day started.      As the day went on and my class had sub after sub. I could start seeing the tide change throughout the day. I was a sub too, but I had already been there a few weeks and pretty much had the routine and expectations established. N

What System I use to Gamify my Elementary Classroom In episode 3 , I share what system I use and how I use it to run my year long gamified math class. If you enjoy Lessons With Dad please like, share, tweet, subscribe or whatever it is you do! Enjoy