Bilingual Crossword Puzzles

When I was creating my activity book to go with "Zooprise Party/Fiesta Zoorpresa", I wanted to include crossword puzzles. they are great learning tools. But how could one be made bilingual?

I could have made two puzzles, one in English and one in Spanish, but that didn't feel to me like it would teach which ever was the second language very well. Then I came up with the idea of having the clues in one language and the answer in the other language. Teachers really liked this idea saying they'd never seen it before.

Have a look at one I have in my activity book and then download it and try it yourself.

Have fun!

Loooking for more bilingual fun, hop over to my bookstore and pick up your copies today. They make great Christmas gifts and throw in a bit of learning at the same time.

Zebee's Summer Zoo Camp is Open!

Are you looking for something fun and educational for your children this summer? Then may I suggest our virtual summer camp? It's free, online, interactive and full of fun things to learn and do.

This week's we are all about meerkats. Learn basic facts and fun facts, watch a video, do a jigsaw puzzle, write a poem and have fun with arts and crafts.

Here's the schedule for the eight week camp:

July 6-10 Meerkat Mania

July 13-17 Leaping Lizards

July 20-24 Virtuous Vultures

July 27-31 Fascinating Frogs

August 3-7 Observant Okapis

August 10-14 Playful Penguins

August 17-21 Slithery Snakes

August 24-28 Amazing Antelope

If you haven't signed up yet, that's okay. To sign up just go to our Zoo Camp page. There is no charge and you might just win one of our 5 prizes.

Join in the fun! It's going to be a great time.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Puzzles, Puzzles and more puzzles

Who doesn’t like puzzles? Here are some sites for all kinds of puzzles whether jig saw, crossword you’ll find something for everyone in the family.

Free Puzzles.net
They have word searches, brain teasers, sudoku and more.

Jigidi
Do jigsaw puzzles online! I’ve used this one on my website.

Teachers Corner.net make your own cross word puzzles here.

Free online crossword puzzle maker
Enter your word and clues and print out your own crossword puzzle.

Discovery Education puzzlemaker
I’ve used this one several times for word searches and crossword puzzles. You can purchase or use it Free online.

Jigzone
Pick a puzzle and how many pieces you want it to be. Then create it right there online. They have a puzzle of the day too. Caution: Easy to get lost in this site for hours.

See you back here on Monday with another great book that goes beyond reading.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Online Kid Encyclopedias

Did you have a set of World Book Encyclopedia or Encyclopedia Britannica in your home when you were a child? I used to spend hours going through them.

Encyclopedias are a great source of multiple subjects. Here are a few that are geared towards children.

Over at Encyclopedia Britannica there are some free educational games for 7-11 year olds.

Fact Monster
This is really cool. They have an almanac, dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedia. They even have a homework center! Great for older children.

KidKonnect
Here you’ll find great information from all over the web.

Kids’ Stuff refdesk lists lots of sites and what you’ll find when you get there.

See you back here Friday with all sorts of places to find puzzles online.

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Finding Teacher Resources on the Internet

There are all kinds of sites out on the internet that are useful to teachers. I've done some searching and found a few that help parents and teachers make learning fun. Here are some of them. Check them out and see what you think.

The Teacher's Corner
This is geared towards helping teachers in all they do. As parents, this site has lots of information you can adapt to things you do at home with your children. A few things on the home page are:

Monthly Activities and Resources – you’ll find lots there to make your month a success

Seasonal Activities – goes over all special days for that month and activities you can do to reinforce them in your children/students

In the side bars there are links to printable worksheets, book nook, free printable maps and free puzzles.

Looking around this site you’re sure to find something you can use to enhance the books you’re reading with your children.

A to Z Teacher Stuff
This is another site packed full of useful stuff. Mainly for teachers, again you can find lots to do at home with your children too.

Have a child who loves science experiments? Computers? Math? Look under lessons on the home page for subject and age appropriate lessons.

Under printables you’ll find books, coloring pages, games, worksheets and much more.

Click on all the tabs across the top of the home page and discover a world of learning fun.

Note: some of the items here are not free but many of them are.

A few more to check out are:
teAchnology
Lesson Plan Library

Do you have a favorite one that you go back to over and over again?

posted by Joy Delgado
We go Beyond Reading
Laughing Zebra – Books for Children
Check out what’s going on at the zoo!
Zooprise Party / Fiesta Zoorpresa blog

Tip #5 Crossword Puzzle

Crossword puzzles are a fun way to learn. Now you might be saying, “Yeah Joy, they are fun but I can’t make one. That’s hard.” Don’t despair. Online there are several sites you can go to that will help you create your own crossword puzzles. Cool, huh? Here are a few to check out.

Discovery Education School Resources This one’s my favorite
Free crossword puzzle maker very basic
The teacher's corner This one’s good, especially if you’re a teacher.

There are many more out there, but these should get you started.
Have fun! See you tomorrow.