Joke of the Week: Where do horses live?

by Laurie Laurendeau on January 26, 2012

Children LOVE telling jokes.  Kids often tell a joke and giggle hysterically, but often they don’t really understand why the joke is even funny.  That is because most jokes are play-on-words, or they are funny because a word in the joke might have two meanings, or the word could be a homonym.  Being able to interpret multiple meanings of words is an important reading comprehension skill. So, why not encourage your child’s love of joke-telling, and make it an educational experience at the same time?!

JOKE: Where do horses live?

ANSWER: In a neigh-borhood!

EXPLANATION: The sound a horse makes is “neigh”, which is part of the word “neighborhood”.  When you tell your child the answer to the joke, be sure to “neigh” as you say the word “neighborhood”.

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Idiom of the Week: “It’s raining cats and dogs”

January 25, 2012

Idioms are short phrases or expressions that we use in the English language to express a thought in a more interesting manner.  Examples of idioms might include “in a pickle”, or “it’s raining cats and dogs”.  Children who struggle with reading comprehension often read quite literally what is on the page, and then the true [...]

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Understanding the Two Basic Systems of Measurement

January 24, 2012

The United States has tried for years to convert to the Metric system.  Your child is more than likely learning both the U.S. Customary Measure, as well as the Metric system, in the ongoing attempt to convert Americans to the measuring system used in most other countries around the world.  Unfortunately, because your child is [...]

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Idiom of the Week: “icing on the cake”

January 18, 2012

Idioms of the Week Idioms are short phrases or expressions that we use in the English language to express a thought in a more interesting manner.  Examples of idioms might include “in a pickle”, or “it’s raining cats and dogs”.  Children who struggle with reading comprehension often read quite literally what is on the page, [...]

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Subtraction Number Sentences

January 17, 2012

If your child is learning her subtraction facts, she has likely been introduced to the concept of number sentences.  What exactly is a subtraction number sentence?  Much like an addition number sentence, a subtraction  number sentence has two numbers, where one number is being subtracted from the other number.  It also includes the answer.  For [...]

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Joke: What kind of dance do you do on a trampoline?

January 12, 2012

Children LOVE telling jokes.  Kids often tell a joke and giggle hysterically, but often they don’t really understand why the joke is even funny.  That is because most jokes are play-on-words, or they are funny because a word in the joke might have two meanings, or the word could be a homonym.  Being able to [...]

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Idiom of the Week: “in a pickle”

January 11, 2012

Idioms are short phrases or expressions that we use in the English language to express a thought in a more interesting manner.  Examples of idioms might include “in a pickle”, or “it’s raining cats and dogs”.  Children who struggle with reading comprehension often read quite literally what is on the page, and then the true [...]

Read the full article →

Addition Number Sentences

January 10, 2012

If your child is learning his addition facts, he has probably been introduced to the concept of number sentences.  What exactly is a number sentence?  An addition number sentence has 2 numbers (or addends) being added together, along with the answer.  For example, “4+2=6” is a number sentence, as it includes both the addition question [...]

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Subtraction With Regrouping

December 20, 2011

You may not be familiar with the term “regrouping”.  You may remember it being called subtraction with “borrowing”.  We have gone away from calling it borrowing and tend to call it regrouping now, simply because that is exactly what the numbers are doing; they are regrouping themselves between columns.  The idea of “borrowing” implies that [...]

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Introducing Column Subtraction

December 14, 2011

If your child has been practicing his Subtraction Math Facts, then he will soon be moving on to Column Subtraction.  Column Subtraction is subtracting larger numbers (2-digit numbers such as 47 – 25) and writing them one on top of the other to put them into a column to subtract. Be sure your child understands [...]

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