Phonics Fun for FREE

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Do you have a visual learner, or a struggling reader? Do you want your child to thrive in reading? When teaching my son to read I discovered he needed more visual connection with the alphabet. It was only after drawing him an elephant E that says “eh,” he finally was able to comprehend that letter E makes two sounds. Thus began my journey of equipping my visual learner with the tools to decode the English language.

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Phonics is essential

Many studies (like here and here) have found that in order to thrive in reading students must have some kind of phonics instruction, and this especially true for those with dyslexia. Sight words or whole language reading methods teach children to memorize words, guess, and estimate, but they fail to instruct children to decode words. It is estimated that a human being can learn no more than 800 sight words in a year, and as one ages that pace declines. English has over one million words; at the pace of 800 words a year, it would take children 1,250 years to learn all the words in the English language!

Phonics instruction equips children to decode any word, and understand their structure. Giving children instruction in phonics provides them with the tools to enjoy lifelong learning through reading.

Paperback copies available for Preorder

Paperback copies available for Preorder

Reading requires abstract thinking

Myriads of letter books can be found with letters set next to images, like A for ant, B for ball, and C for cat. Forr the visual learner, those letters are boring black blobs set next to an appealing picture.

To read phonetically, children must understand that a symbol (A, B, C) signifies a sound, and then merge those sounds to form words. Jolie Canoli Phonics books aim to make it easier for children to acquire these abstract thinking skills by creating letters that look like sounds children are already acquainted with. Children don’t need to take an extra step of connecting an image with a symbol; instead
the image is the symbol. 

This phonics series is visual, easy to use, and simple.

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Jolie Canoli Phonics has an A that looks like an ant, and a C that looks like a cat. More than that, these books aim to teach beginners and higher age groups in-depth language comprehension by teaching spelling rules and all phonetic sounds. For instance, children learn three A sounds- A like ant, A like acorn, and A that looks like its mouth is open, saying “ah!” Similarly, C is a happy cat that both says ‘k’ and a hissing cat that says ‘ssssss.’ 

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Using easy to follow images, kids can practice handwriting skills by tracing each letter with their finger. My kids got frustrated at their inability to write letters, and it made handwriting an intimidating chore. These tracing activities are a fun tactile reinforcement that allows kids to learn proper handwriting without frustration.

Phonics for 2nd Language Learners

Students learning a second language can struggle with the myriads of pronunciations found in the English language. They frequently ask how the same letter can change sounds. Jolie Canoli Phonics is inspired by and compliments the Orton-Gillingham method for literacy. This methodology assists students in comprehending the many sounds found in English, and also goes on to teach students spelling rules that explain nearly all English words. Jolie Canoli Phonics introduces all the sounds of the alphabet, as well as the rules of Silent E, helping second language learners grasp the structure of the English language.

Learning Through Play

Books that read like Dr. Suess, with colorful and memorable icons, and fun coloring book activities make learning phonics feel like playing. My desire is to see visual learners like my son find a lifelong love of learning. If these products can help others find that path, then all the work has been worth it.

Order the full set of books and coloring pages on our store!

Order the full set of books and coloring pages on our store!

Thermodynamics for everybody

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3 Laws of Thermodynamics

Thermodynamics is the study of heat, energy, and motion. Thermo refers to temperature, (think of the word thermometer!), and dynamics means energy in motion. (Think dynamite-a powerful explosion of energy!) The three laws of thermodynamics help us understand how heat, energy, and motion work within the universe.

1st Law of Thermodynamics:
Energy cannot be created or destroyed.

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Get the full PDF with all 3 laws, a quiz, and more fun illustrations! Available in our online store.

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The 1st law of thermodynamics says energy cannot be created or destroyed. This law helps us understand that energy never disappears or goes away, it only gets moved around, or used in different ways. Imagine having a collection of blocks. You could use your blocks to build a really nice tower! Or you could use your blocks to build an animal figure. Or maybe you would use your blocks to make an airplane. No matter how you used the blocks, you would still have the same number of blocks. Even if you lost a block under the couch, or your neighbor borrowed some of them, there would still be the same number of blocks! Energy might move around, or be used in different ways, but you can never create more energy, or destroy energy— there will always be the same amount of energy in the universe, as if God gave the universe a certain number of blocks.

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3rd Law of Thermodynamics:
Entropy of a perfect crystal at absolute zero is zero.

What does this mean? It means that if you could get perfectly organized atoms cold enough to be perfectly frozen, without any movement, then they will no longer move, change, or become disorganized. This law teaches us the idea of absolute zero, and it teaches us the relationship between entropy and temperature.

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Absolute zero is 0 Kelvin, or -459.67 degrees Fahrenheit. But as far as we can tell, we can never reach absolute zero. In fact, scientists used lasers to cool individual atoms to 1⁄2 kelvin, but even they couldnʻt reach absolute zero. It is impossible to reach absolute zero because molecules will always move, and like we said before in the 2nd law, heat will always move from a hotter to a cooler. So no matter how hard they try, scientists canʻt keep heat from the molecules.

So why do we even have this crazy impossible law?!? This law helps us understand the ability of atoms to be random. This law helps us understand that motion, heat, and order are related. The more molecules can move around, the more heat they create, and the more entropy (or disorder). The more you study heat and energy and work, the more these laws help us understand what is happening in the universe.

Lastly, this law shows us that nothing in the universe is perfect. We all need grace, because we all have the tendency to be broken, disordered, and wearing down. We are all imperfect human beings, but the God of the universe offers his perfect love to all of us, doing his mighty work of healing and brining us into complete wholeness. That’s pretty much the best news in the whole universe.

Newtonʻs 3 Laws of Motion

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NEWTON’S 1ST LAW

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An object at rest tends to stay at rest. An object in motion stays in motion at the same speed and direction unless acted upon by an outside force.

Newtonʻs first law shows us that nothing moves, changes direction, speeds up, slows down, or stops without something making it happen. Newton’s first law could be summed up like this: things want to keep doing what they are doing.  Sort of like a kid that wants to keep playing with his toys, or a kid that doesnʻt want to wake up in the morning, objects in the universe want to keep doing what they were doing.

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An object at rest stays at rest…

An object at rest stays at rest…

Imagine a ball sitting on the ground. Even though it is round, and easily rolls, it isnʻt going to move on its own. It will remain “at rest.” A little push, kick, or some other force, and the ball will move. Once the ball begins to move the ball would go one direction, and continue going that way, until something makes it change direction. If someone else kicks the ball, the ball hits something, or the ground is uneven, these things would affect the direction and speed of the ball. 

If you kicked a ball straight up, this law says it would keep going straight up and never stop, right? Wait— thatʻs not what a ball does! It goes up, but then slows down, and falls back down. Why is that? Newtonʻs first law tells us that some kind of force must be making the ball change direction and speed. Do you know a force that would make the ball change speed and direction? If you guessed gravity, you would be right! Gravity is a force that is always at work on planet earth. But did you know that the ball would never stop if it was in outer space? As long as the ball never ran into anything, the ball would keep going in the same direction, at the same speed, forever.  

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So if you kicked a ball on the grass, would it keep rolling forever and ever and never stop? No, eventually the ball will stop. Why is that? Newtonʻs law tell us that a force must be responsible for making the ball change speed. Can you think of a force that makes the ball stop rolling? If you guessed friction, you were right! Friction is a force of two things rubbing together, and it slows things down. The ball rubs against the grass, eventually bringing it to a stop. If the ground was very smooth, the ball would travel farther than if it had to push through lots of grass or along carpet.

Now usually there are a lot of forces at work all at once, like gravity, friction, air resistance, and more. All of these forces affect how things move. Newtonʻs law is at work with everything, not just balls.

NEWTON’S 2ND LAW: F=MA

Jolie Canoli Force equals mass times acceleration

Newtonʻs second law is an equation! When we remember his second law, we can just remember the letters and an equal sign. But in order to understand Newtonʻs second law, we have to  understand what those letter mean! 

The first letter is F. F stands for FORCE. A force is a push or a pull. When we learned the first law of motion we talked about an “outside force.” That outside force is something that does something to an object- either pushing it, or pulling it. 

The second letter is M. M stands for MASS. When I think of mass I think of the word “massive,” like “that is a massive elephant.” Mass is related to size and weight, but it isnʻt either one. We could say “the hedgehog has 1 pound of mass.” Or we might say “the hedgehog has 2 pounds of mass after it has eaten 800 jelly beans.” When we talk about mass we use measurements of weight like pounds, ounces and grams. The difference between mass and weight is that mass is a measurement without the effects of gravity. 

For example, letʻs say you have a bowling ball with a weight of 12 pounds. If you take that bowling ball to the moon, it would have a weight of only 2 pounds because their is less gravity on the moon than on earth. The bowling ball did not change size or shape- the only thing that changed was the amount of gravity that pulls on it. But the mass of the bowling ball would never change. A bowling ball with a mass of 12 pounds on earth will have the mass of 12 pounds on the moon! Mass is the amount of atoms that a space fills. 

Can you guess why does Newton uses mass instead of weight? Well, Newton was pretty smart.  He knew that if he used mass, then his law would work anywhere in the universe. So this equation: F=MA will work on the moon, on Saturn, in a spaceship, or deep underground.

The last letter in this equation is A. A stands for Acceleration. Acceleration is an increase of speed, or velocity. If a rocket ships accelerates, it goes faster. If a rocket ship loses acceleration, it moves slower.

If we put all these letter together, we get this sentence:

Force equals Mass times Acceleration.

Newton’s 2nd Law law tells us several things with just three letters!

  • It tells us the greater the mass an object has, the greater the force is needed to make it move.

  • It tells us when a force acts upon an object, it makes it speed up, or accelerate. 

  • It tells us the greater the force, the greater the acceleration.

If this elephant uses enough force, it can get this massive truck of farm animals to accelerate!

If this elephant uses enough force, it can get this massive truck of farm animals to accelerate!

When we have this equation we can find use it to discover how much force weʻll need to get something to move, or how fast something will go, or how heavy something might be, or how much more force weʻll need to make in order to go a certain speed. It helps us with all sorts of things! So if I knew a walrus wearing a wedding gown in a wagon was 100 pounds of mass, and I used 300 pounds of force, I could make the walrus wearing a wedding gown in a wagon go 3 times faster.   

NEWTON’S 3RD LAW

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Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. 

To understand Newtonʻs third law, letʻs think of some actions, and how they have equal and opposite reactions! Letʻs start with pushing a box of toys. When you push a box of toys, the box pushes back on you with an equal and opposite force. You can tell it is pushing back on you because you can feel the pressure in your hands, and the weight of the box.  

Now imagine you are sitting on a swing. Your mom or dad pushes you. You fly forward and up! But now your swing is going to go in the opposite direction- backwards and down. Back and forth, until the force of gravity and friction of the air makes you slow down- and you ask for another push! 

When your mom and dad push you, their action is equal to how high you will swing. If they push you with a lot of force, you will go very high! If they push you with very little force, you wonʻt go very high at all. The bigness of their push is equal to the bigness of your swing! 

So now letʻs put the story of swinging into Newtonʻs law. 

  • Every action (big push) has an equal (big swing) and opposite reaction (away from mom). 

  • Every action (little push) has an equal (little swing) and opposite reaction (away from dad).  

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Now letʻs think of shooting a bunny out of a cannon. The explosive force of the cannon shoots the bunny out of the cannon. The cannon will have an equal and opposite reaction of being pushed backward as the bunny is pushed forward. 

Now imagine you are an astronaut in outer space. There is nothing to push; but you have a canister full of gas. You open the gas tank, and the gas escapes. The pressure of the gas moving out of the tank will push you in the opposite direction with an equal amount of force. The gas will flow one way, and because of the force of the gas escaping, it will have an equal and opposite reaction— pushing you away.

This law is at work with every action in the universe! Whatever you push or pull is also pushing or pulling back on you. Even in the simplest things, this law is working. For example, if a book is sitting on a table, the table is pushing back on the book with an equal and opposite force, keeping it from falling through the table. If you are sitting on a chair, the chair is pushing back on you, keeping you seated. Take a look around you. Can you think of some examples of this law at work around you?

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