teach mama

learning in the every day | teachmama.com provides the tools and resources parents need to be the best teachers for their children | by amy mascott

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.

Related Posts

Comments

comments

11 | 26 | 2010

Comments

    • My husband is French and I need to find more ways to add French language into the day. I would love to pick your brain.

      Reply

  2. My 6 year old daughter is just learning to read and I would love to have a set of these for her. I didn’t know they existed at that size!

    Reply

  3. I have been looking all over for these Kid magnet sets. I LOVE the regular magnetic poetry sets and when I began to search out new ways to “inspire” my son to read I tried to find these sets in the stores. My son can read O.K. (not as proficient, as my girls), but he would benefit from these word sets to help him write longer sentences. From my experience, boys learn differently than girls, and this hands-on approach would allow him to “create his sentences” before he wrote them in is homework book! This would alleviate some “homework meltdowns” in our house and save the life of MANY erasers.
    I think EVERY child could benefit from having these magnet sets!!!

    Reply

  8. These would be great for my 4 year old. I have been racking my brain trying to come up with fun learning toys for her!!!!

    Reply

  9. these look so great for my boys. i’d love the sets so my boys could begin understanding how words go together to make sentences and all the fun ways you can manipulate words to express yourself.

    Reply

  12. My oldest daughter and I would BOTH benefit from a magnetic words set. We love playing with words, and we have been cutting pieces of paper with words typed on them to make sentences. I have been amazed that she was able to do it! We could play even more with this set, which probably wouldn’t get so beat up!

    Reply

  13. I would love this for my daughter and son. One is reading and would enjoy putting words into sentences, and the other is learning how to read and would like the practice reading the words. Thanks for a great resource. =0)

    Reply

  14. I’ve never heard of this and I LOVE this idea. I would love this for my son. He’s soon to be five and I think this would help him with word recognition plus it’s a fun way to learn.

    Reply

  17. Oh, my 5 year old would love First Words. @MagPo was a great tool for me when I was a young, tortured poet, and now my child who is learning to read would get a kick out of it! I am also tweeting.

    Reply

  18. My four homschooled kids shake their heads in despair
    as Mom runs around with rhyming words in the air
    for around here I choose not to yell or fight
    I just rhyme my requests all day and night.
    So I think it’d be cool if we won this prize
    ‘Cuz then the rhyming words would be just their size!

    Reply

  19. My 4 year old son would really enjoy this. We’ve started to play with magnetic letters, but I’d love to take things up a notch.

    Reply

  22. My girls & I love any type of play involving words. This would be great for us, thanks for another inspiring idea 🙂

    Reply

  23. Anytime I want new ideas for teaching my children, yours is the first website I check. I have been wanting to do something different with my fridge since mine have outgrown the Leap Frog Letters. This is such a great idea!! I will be looking to purchase a set soon!

    Reply

    • Priscilla–You made my night. Thanks for your kind words; I appreciate them more than you know! Good luck with the giveaway!

      Reply

  26. We’re always looking for fun activities for my son and niece (who are both 6.) They would love this, and it would be a great, fun way to encourage both of them to create and read, even though they are at very different reading levels.

    Reply

  27. I would love to win this set for my son to use as we begin recognizing our first words.
    Thanks for the opportunity!
    Katherine

    Reply

  29. my class of aussie kinder special ed kids who are (everyday) looking like and feeling more like the readers and writers I know they will – and should- become!

    Reply

  30. Bear would benefit for sure. She loves reading now and wants to write but can’t write fast enough for her ideas. What a great learning tool. We have magnetic poetry but really it is way too small.

    Reply

  31. My 1st grader and Kindergartner would love these and we just started homeschooling so it would be fabulous to try something new around here!

    Reply

  34. I have a seven year old who would totally rock this solo, and a four year old who I would love to use these with. Our family would love it! I can see us leaving messages for each other.

    Reply

  43. My 3 boys would love to use these magnets, and what could be a greater gift than learning while having fun.
    Thank you for the chance to win and the super ideas and links.

    Reply

  44. My son Xander would benefit from these sets as he learns to read and write. I too loved the magnet poetry set we had in my dorm apartment at college. Though, I wouldn’t say we ever really wrote poems with it.

    Reply

  45. I am a teacher who is staying home with my children now. I LOVE your blog. It reminds me of all the things I used to do in the classroom but you give it “just right for hom” spin! We would love to use these words at home and create sentences and fun stories as a family! Thank you for telling us about them!

    Reply

  47. I am getting ready to move overseas and will be homeschooling my daughter…we are in the process of collecting the supplies we want to take with us to help her learn. These would be a great addition! Thanks for sharing the info about them.

    Reply

  48. My daughter would REALLY love something like this! She is really into poetry and always wanting to create her own poems. These are so cool!

    Reply

  50. I have a 7, 5, and 2 year old. This would be great for them- the 2 yr old eventually 🙂 I was a first grade teacher before the kids came along, so we love doing things like this. I love your blog too. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  52. I have 3 children that would benefit from this. My six year old daughter loves word play and so does my four year old son who is a beginning reader. Even my two year old loves playing with words and I could see his reading abilities emerging early with something like this.

    Reply

  54. My seven year old new reader and three year old twins would love playing with magnetic words! Thanks for the giveaway.

    Reply

  57. My son would totally love these- we have two walls in the basement that we painted with magnetic paint so I think they’d be awesome to use on there!

    Reply

  59. i have a 3 yr old and 5 yr old who would love either set. my 5 yr old is just learning to read. i think this would be a great way to develop her skills.

    Reply

  60. I would love to win this set for my son. He loves to make words with his magnetic letters, but this would be a new fun way to learn for him. Thanks!

    Reply

  61. There were SO many people listed here who would benefit from magnetic poetry–and even a fab poem!–but random.org chose the winner, and she’s been notified.

    Many thanks for reading, my friends, and happy holidays!
    amy

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Instagram



Recent pins

You Tube

check out our channel!