new for us friday: magnetic poetry (and giveaway!)

I have been a huge fan of magnetic poetry, ever since my college pals and I had a set on the fridge of our off-campus house a lifetime ago. Our poetry was. . . well, mostly just for a good laugh.

So when Maddy received the Magnetic Poetry Really Big Word set as a gift from her grandparents a while back, my heart skipped a beat.

We’ve fallen fast for the set, and when I let the kind people at Mag Po (that’s how the cool kids roll) know now much I totally love their stuff, they sent me some other products to try out.

They’ve even offered to give one lucky teach mama reader a combo pack of Magnetic Poetry: Really Big Words and First Words so another family can rock some poetry at their own house this holiday.

Here’s the skinny:

• Magnetic Poetry: Like I said, Maddy was given the Really Big Words as a gift, and we would occasionally take them out to play with words, create silly stories, or to do a Silent Conversation, where one person composes a line, then the next person responds–no words are spoken.

We combined her Really Big Words with the Monsters and Cuties set that we were sent, and everyone–Owen and Cora included–had a blast creating silly monsters and creatures.  (Though they weren’t all that cute, if you ask me!)

Maddy works hard on her message to me. . .

. . . and she shares her Girl-Power love next to her cute (?) monster.

Silent Conversations are a great way to use the Really Big Words during rest time  or quiet work time, and I am always in awe of how kids respond to questions when they don’t actually have to compose the words. When the words are there for emerging readers, it seems like kiddos are more inclined to take risks, to enhance description, or to take ideas a step further.

Or they just get sillier, making up total nonsense.  Which, depending on your mood, can also be really good for a laugh.

Owen loved the First Words set; I think the size was just right for him–they are smaller than the Really Big Words but large enough to see clearly and move with his hands.

He could recognize some words, which was incredibly empowering for him–Mom, Dad, yes, no, the, dog–and some others. I emptied the First Word box out onto the cookie tray, and it was a bit overwhelming, I have to admit.

So I wrote, ‘What do you see’, and I as I read it, I pointed to each word.  Owen scanned the pile of words, and he grabbed a ‘slow’ and ‘play’, neither of which would complete the sentence.

I re-arranged my question to say, ‘I see the. . .’ and then I put ‘some’ over the word ‘the’.  How do you want to answer my question, Owen?

Owen moved quickly into full-fledged silly mode with his First Word stories.

He found ‘cat’ and added it to the sentence.  Then I read, I see the cat.  Great! You created a sentence–a complete thought.  Want to use the word ‘some’ instead of  ‘the’? Here you go: I see some cat.  Uh-oh, we need something to make this sentence sound better.  ‘I see some cat.’ No.  ‘I see some cats.’  Let’s find an ‘s’.

I found an ‘s’, added it to ‘cat’.  Wow! We made a new word and the sentence sounds better: ‘I see some cats.’ Awesome.

And that was that. He smiled and started to grab at other words like ‘candy’ and ‘bad’ and ‘mom’ and everything he wrote made him giggle, but that’s totally cool.  It’s SO incredibly amazing to teach an emerging reader even a little trick as simple as adding an ‘s’ to a word to make a new word.  I love, love, love it.

And any game, toy, or anything that provides for some fun and sneaky learning is a winner in my book.

The learning opportunities with these two sets is endless.  And I am completely and totally excited to pass Really Big Words and First Words onto one reader so I can see what you can come up with that will be way more awesome that what Owen and I did today.

GIVEAWAY: A combo pack: Really Big Words and First Words!

Do you want to win MagPo’s Really Big Words and First Words–perhaps to keep one set for your family and pass another onto a pal?

• Leave a comment here (along with your email address) simply sharing who in your life would benefit from a set of  Really Big Words and/or First Words.
  

• For extra entries,  you can share this post with a friend (just tell me who you shared it with!) OR Tweet this: Win @magneticpoetry Really Big Words & First Words set at @teachmama http://teachmama.com/?p=735 #ece #literacy

This contest ends on Friday, December 3, 2010 at midnight ET.

And here are few more reasons to love Magnetic Poetry (as if you need one):

• MagPo loves teachers–they’ve got a whole section of their site dedicated to teachers, including a Classroom Guide with tons of directed activities for pre-readers through advanced readers.
• Kids can play with MagPo ONLINE–with one of four kits, they can move words to a fridge right on the screen. It’s so fun.
• Dave’s Blog–Dave Kapell is the creator of MagPo, and he not only came up with a fab product, but he writes a blog, he’s in a band, and he’s just an all-around smooth dude.

This is a completely unsponsored post, written because I totally heart this product and want to share the love with everyone else.  The great people at MagPo did provide me with a set of Really Big Words, First Words, and Monsters and Cuties, but Maddy received her set before all this MagPo fun began.  They have offered to provide one reader with a set of Really Big Words and First Words, and I think that’s awesome.