Having Fun with Organizing to Improve Comprehension

With the start of a new year, I always feel the urge to organize the clutter around my house.  If you are looking for another reason to get organized, chew on this: categorizing everyday objects is a great way to improve your child's comprehension.  In fact, before teaching kids to determine the main idea and details of text, teachers often start with categorizing words and objects.  

Try This at Home!

Does your child have a huge mess of Legos?  Try categorizing the Legos in more than one way: by color, shape, size, use etc. How about doll clothes?  These could be organized by color, season, skirts, pants, etc. The kitchen is also full of items that can be categorized from types of food, to utensils, and beyond!  

Things Organized Neatly

Below I have featured a few photographs from a website created by Austin Radcliffe titled, Things Organized Neatly.  The photographs featured on this website feature aesthetically pleasing arrangements of everyday objects.  In some of the photos, everyday objects are categorized in unique ways.  I hope that enjoy browsing these images with your family- they may even inspire you to organize your clutter in a new, beautiful way!

Great Gifts That Develop Word Consciousness!

Families that promote word consciousness encourage children to be curious about and aware of words. Word Play is a wonderful way to have fun with word consciousness.  Keep reading for gift ideas that will get your family excited about words!

Bananagrams is one of my favorite anagram games.  The winner is the fastest player to create a word grid with all of their letter tiles.  Pairs in Pears and Appletters  are also terrific word games created by the same company.

Originally created by a busy mom of seven, Namits- The Game of Think is the perfect gift for the family on the go!  Kids love listing as many related words as possible to the topic cards.

Featuring a double sided board, Scrabble Junior can adapt to fit your child's readiness level.   

And of course my favorite gift of all... BOOKS!  Children expand their vocabulary when they incidentally encounter new words in text. The Mitten by Jan Brett is one of my seasonal favorites, but the best gift for any kid is a book they will fall in LOVE with!

If you are interested in learning more about word consciousness check out this blog post, Creating Word Conscious Kids.