Hooked on Riddles: A Guide to Teaching Math Science English and Other Subjects Using Fun Word Plays and Silly Jokes

HOOKED

ON

RIDDLES

Introduction

Kids have an insatiable appetite for riddles. They love to giggle at the silly answers and to share riddles they’ve made up or have found in books. They find reason to celebrate when they figure out an answer or are able to share a riddle of their own!

For many years I’ve been injecting riddles into my daily curriculum and found that the more I employed these creative mind joggers, the more I enjoyed seeing the results—and the more the kids were engaged during class. I was pleased to see even the most reluctant students participate with effort and genuine interest during riddle time. The more I relied on a daily dose of riddles in the classroom, the more the riddles began to take on a life of their own. My students and I are now hooked!

Other teachers started asking me how I use riddles and wanted me to share some with them. I started providing the teachers in my grade level with random weekly riddles. Eventually, I became more precise at matching riddles to the current themes and topics we were studying in our curriculum. It’s fun to share with my fellow teachers the joy I find in using riddles in my classroom.

Some years ago, my use of riddles in the classroom was featured in a newspaper column at the beginning of the school year. The energetic response I received from fellow teachers, parents, grandparents, and others who spend a great deal of time with children to that column encouraged me to write this book.

Even though this book shows how riddles are used in a classroom setting, the riddles and strategies inside can be used by anyone who works with children on a regular basis. Whether you are a day care provider, a babysitter, a nurse, a teacher, a doting grandparent, or a parent with little ones of your own, this book will start you on the way to a healthy dose of daily riddles. It’s, in all actuality, a book for kids of all ages!

Enjoy your journey through the delightful world of riddles with Mrs. Q and her sharp thinking Riddlemasters. There’s only one warning before you begin: Riddles are habit forming. If you consistently share them with the little ones in your life, you will begin to crave them as well, and they will eventually take on a life of their own. Are you willing to enjoy and share silly fun every day? Mrs. Q and her Riddlemasters challenge you to take the plunge!

You and your kids will soon be hooked!

Chapter 1

The Beginning of the Year or Who’s in Third?

The year begins in the usual way. I check to see that all the students on my roll have arrived and warmly greet the parents, gently convincing them that they may leave and that their children will be just fine. I meet the new students who have heard all sorts of stories about their new teacher. It’s confusing, scary, challenging, and exciting. That is, the kids are fine! I’m the one who needs reassurance. You’d think that, for as many years as I’ve been teaching, the first day of school would become easier after time. Yet, I still have a hard time quelling my fears as I try to keep my blood pressure in check, and my sleep-deprived eyes open.

Finally, things calm down. The last nervous parent has gone; the third graders have greeted one another and are now seated at their desks. They’re looking at me for some sort of direction. That’s the perfect time for the first question of importance:

Why do birds fly south for the winter? works well.

Of course, in trying to impress their nervous teacher, the third graders come up with all sorts of explanations:

They are looking for warmer weather.

That’s what they do every year when the leaves start to fall from the trees.

It’s called migration; the birds go in search of places where they can find good weather.

But nothing satisfies me. So I repeat, this time emphasizing the word fly. The looks on their puzzled faces make me feel more comfortable. Finally they are as unsure as I am! Now we’re getting somewhere!

"Think about the word fly," I instruct.

They can’t figure it out, so I ask them if they would like to walk from Ohio to Texas. That’s when someone begins to realize that the answer has nothing to do with migration at all. It’s about flying instead of walking. Of course! The light bulb goes on and someone comes up with the idea that the birds fly south because it is too far to