How to Tie a Shoe for Kids

I'll never, ever tie another shoe again!

Why should I?  I figured out the holy grail of kids' sneakers.

This year, not a single kid could tie a shoe.  Not one.

I knew I'd be squatting all day, knotting a spaghetti tangle of shoe laces.

Did I panic?  Yes, briefly.  Then I recovered--and realized what I had to do.

I spent 10 minutes teaching about the shoe tie center.

I opened the Shoe Tie Tutorial on my SMARTboard, and followed the "Easy Tie" Steps.  I used the kiddie sneaker I keep in my learning center, and I showed each step in real-time.   And...I had my kids act out the steps in mid-air--a fun brain break, if you vamp it up a little:

1)  Pull the laces out
2)  Cross them over
3)  Put one lace into the hole
4)  Pull the laces tight

etc., etc...

I went through the steps twice, then I set up my Shoe Tie Center (with a printout of the shoe tie tutorial in a binder), and watched the magic happen.

Day One, one girl learned how to tie shoes.  She signed my Shoe Tie Club poster, and she won an award and a little prize.

Ahh, the look on a child's face when they tie their first shoe is glorious!

Day Two, she taught 4 other kids, using the binder pictures...

Once my kids master the easy shoe tie, they move on to the advanced shoe tie.  That's the one where they have to loop around a loop.  It's a piece of cake--not!  (no pun intended!)

The doctorate level involves making a double knot--which every teacher knows is a MUST to get through a whole day.

To quote one buyer: 

"It works! It really, really works! I'm never tying another shoe, except my own, once a day. I love this product!"  

Maybe, I'll set that to a rock beat and belt it out, while standing on a kindergarten tabletop.

Or I'll sing to the tune of George Michael's "Careless Whisper."

"I'll never tie a shoe again

Guilt-less feet have got some rhythm..."

I'm definitely doing a happy dance!

Poetry Writing for Kids: Similes

Kids can write poetry — and similes that dazzle.  It's fun, fascinating, and mind-stretching.  So, let's take off our gloves and pack a punch with our teaching!

Earth is like a boat…

…because they’re both floating, they’re both alone, traveling across long distances, carrying people.

But a ship is not the first simile to come to mind. 

When you ask a kid, at first they might say:  Earth is like a…planet.

No, you say, Earth is a planet.  Tell me something different that Earth is like.  It can be the same color, shape, size, texture, or action as Earth—but otherwise very different.

OK, Earth is like an apple because they’re both round.

That’s good.  Now let’s go deeper.  What’s the same color AND shape?  Earth is like a blueberry.  They are both blue and round.  And besides that they are both fragile and easily destroyed.

Very good!  What else?  Earth is like an eye.  An eye can be green and blue, and, like the people on Earth, it sees stuff.  You can even ask of the Earth, “What have you seen?”

So, which simile packs the most emotional punch?

That depends.   What else do you want to say about the Earth?  Is it crowded—like a zoo?  Is it big and lonely—like a blue whale?

Is it alive—like a garden?  Or desolate—like a desert?

Simile isn’t just a matter of finding something similar.  It’s finding the thing that’s the most similar to how you feel about your object.

Go deeper…

Pack an emotional punch…

What else does your subject mean to you?

Once you get the hang of similes, you can’t stop noticing connections and associations.  

• An iguana is like a pickle, because they’re both green, bumpy and strange.  
• A spider is like a robber because they’re both creeping and frightening.  
• A sea shell is like a cave, because they both have deep, dark spaces.  
• A flower is like a soldier, because they both stand tall and weather a storm.

If you teach your kids to write spectacular poems with similes that “punch,” they’ll never see the world the same.  Because then, all of life will be like a poem!