Plans for 2008 - Language Arts Part II

In my post Plans for 2008 - Language Arts Part I, I outlined our reading approach for this year. We have already started reading books from this list and Munchkin has already read Bears on Hemlock Mountain. In addition to this reading list, Munchkin will continue with the reading that is assigned in her history and science lessons.

For the remaining Language Arts areas, these are the plans:

Writing

This year we are going to begin using the Teaching Writing: Structure and Style program from the Institute for Excellence in Writing Company. The actual lessons themselves will be integrated with our history and science lessons.

In the past, I have wanted to adopt a classical writing approach in our homeschooling. I have even gone so far as to try and implement the progymnasmata approach. I still like this approach, but as Munchkin is a reluctant writer, I feel that the Teaching Writing: Structure and Style program will be less work  for me. It is outlined and I know I will be on the right track by following the syllabus. We will also continue with narrations.

Spelling and Word Study

Last year Munchkin began using the Mega Words books. This has helped her immensely with decoding multisyllable words. We will continue using these books this year. However, we are also going to begin a formal spelling program. At the moment I am still trying to decide between Sequential Spelling and Phonetic Zoo. At the moment I am leaning towards Sequential Spelling.

Grammar

To be quite honest, Grammar has never been consistently studied at our home. This is partly due to the fact that I have been putting more emphasis on areas such as reading. However, at the end of last year, Munchkin began the Lively Language Lessons at Serendipity. She now actually asks for a grammar lesson and really enjoys doing the drawings. So, for Grammar this is what we will continue to use until we have covered the basics.

This covers Language Arts. Over the next couple of days I will post our plans for the remaining subjects.

5:27 PM - Jan. 6, 2008 - comments {0} - post comment

Plans for 2008 - Language Arts Part I

One of the biggest challenges in our homeschooling journey to date has been Munchkin's difficulty in learning to read. It has taken a while for her to learn decoding multisyllable words. I've tried to supplement by reading books to her aloud. This has been only partly successful as her language receptive disorder makes it difficult for her to fully comprehend spoken language. Also, these learning difficulties have resulted in Munchkin disliking reading.

I would really like to change Munchkin's attitude towards reading and I know that the only way to achieve this is by increasing her comprehension and reading skills. More importantly, I need to remember to provide material to her which is at her ability level. This is one of the reasons we have simplified our history plans. The frustration we experienced trying to use more advanced books has resulted in both of us disliking certain lessons. I want to bring back the love of learning and the only way to do this is by making lessons easy and fun. I will continue to challenge her but at an appropriate level; one which doesn't result in frustrating us.

So, the first thing which is going to be implemented in the New Year is Munchkin's new Reading List. Basically, I have collated a list of books which I would like Munchkin to read. This list is ordered by the book's lexile level. We will begin with the easiest book to read, spending a minimum of 30 minutes reading a day, and move on from there. My initial list is available below. I will continue adding the books to this list beginning with My Recommended Books Lists (right-hand menu). If you would like to check the lexile level of any book, you can do this at the Find a Book with Lexiles webpage.

 The following resources provide information on how the lexile levels correspond to grade levels:

• Lexile Grade Level Conversion Chart
• Reading Grade Level Comparison Chart

Book List by Lexile Level

Book with titles in italics have been read by Munchkin

370L Freckle Juice

 460L Sideways Stories from Wayside School

 460L The Littles

 490L Bears on Hemlock Mountain

 550L Stone Fox

 560L Sarah, Plain and Tall

 590L Are You There God its me Margaret?

 610L The Courage of Sarah Noble

 650L Strawberry Girl

 660L Dr Dolittle Series

 670L Lon Po Po

 670L Number the Stars

 670L The Tale of Despereaux

 680L The Family under the Bridge

 700L The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

 700L Where the Red Fern Grows

 720L Freedom Crossing

 730L In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson

 740L A Wrinkle in Time

 750L All of a Kind Family

 750L Misty of Chincoteague

 750L The Westing Game

 750L Trumpet of the Swan

 760L Good Night Mr Tom

 770L The Book of Three

 780L Cricket in Times Square

 780L The Borrowers

 780L The Indian in the Cupboard

 790L – 970L Chronicles of Narnia

 790L Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh

 790L The Year of Miss Agnes

 800L Redwall

 810L My Side of the Mountain

 820L Maniac Magee

 830L King of the Wind

 830L The Summer of the Swans

 840L Johnny Tremain

 840L Year of Impossible Goodbyes

 850L Anne of Green Gables Series

 850L Witch of Blackbird Pond

 860L Julie of the Wolves

 860L Ramona Quimby

 870L Pippi Longstockin

 890L Caddie Woodlawn

 890L Cheaper by the Dozen

 890L Shiloh

 910L Dear Mr Henshaw

 910L Mr Popper’s Penguins

 920L Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry

 920L Stuart Little by E. B. White

 930L Little House in the Big Woods

 950L The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

 970L White Fang

 990L Ginger Pye

 990L My Father’s Dragon

 1000L Homer Price

 1000L The Island of the Blue Dolphins

 1000L The Phantom Tollbooth

 1010L Black Beauty

 1010L The Egypt Game

 1020L Wolves of Willoughby Chase

 1070L Twenty One Balloons

12:30 PM - Dec. 22, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Language Arts: Copywork Selection and Lesson for Teaching Plural Nouns Part 1

A noun that names more than one person, place or thing, is a plural noun.

Rules

• Add -s to most nouns to make them plural: girl, girls
• Add -es to nouns ending in ch, sh, x, z, s, or ss: branch, branches; bush, bushes; fox, foxes; buzz, buzzes; bus, buses; guess, guesses.

Copywork Selection

The girls looked where he was pointing, and they saw a big dump with many old bottles and tin cans on it. There were also both wheels and cups. Indeed, there were dishes of all kinds.

The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner

After reading and copying this selection, Munchkin will underline the plural nouns. For the next couple of days she will compile a list of more examples of plural nouns which follow the above rules.

12:34 AM - Jun. 25, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Copywork: History Selection - The Little Black Princess

I have chosen the following selection from The Little Black Princess because the subject matter happens to be about the corroboree. This is what we covered last week in Australian History.

All blackfellows have thick, ugly scars, up and down and across their bodies and limbs; but Goggle Eye had more than most men.

He told me once that he had made a great many of them himself with a stone knife. After his first corroboree, he had cut himself a good deal to show the tribe that he was a man now, and not afraid of pain.

The Little Black Princess by Mrs Aeneas Gunn - Chapter 4

12:18 AM - Jun. 25, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Copywork: Poem - Who Has Seen the Wind?

WHO HAS SEEN THE WIND?

Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.

Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.

~Christina Georgina Rossetti~

11:02 AM - Jun. 16, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Language Arts: Copywork Selection and Lesson for Teaching Proper Nouns

Copywork Selection

In 1864 Caddie Woodlawn was eleven, and as wild a little tomboy as ever ran the woods of western Wisconsin. She was the despair of her mother and of her elder sister, Clara. But her father watched her with a little shine of pride in his eyes, and her brothers accepted her as one of themselves without a question. Indeed, Tom, who was two years older, and Warren, who was two years younger than Caddie, needed Caddie to link them together into an inseparable trio.

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

Lesson

Explain that a proper noun is a word that names a particular person, place, or thing. A common noun names any person, place or thing.

Instruct the child to read through the copywork selection and underline all the proper nouns found in this passage.  Ask them what they notice about all the underlined proper nouns (they all begin with capital letters).

10:37 PM - Jun. 10, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Stages of Learning to Read: Print Awareness Video

Reading Rockets is featuring a print awareness video on their website this month. This short video shows how 32 month old Mira's parents help her become aware of print.

Reading Rockets has other video clips available from the PBS television series Launching Young Readers. The video clips can be viewed here. The topics covered include:

• Print awareness
• The sounds of speech
• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Informal assessment
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Spelling
• Writing
• Text comprehension

3:45 PM - Jun. 8, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Language Arts: Copywork Selection and Lesson for Teaching Nouns

Copywork Selection

There were other things in the stocking, nuts and oranges and a toy engine, and chocolate almonds and a clockwork mouse, but the Rabbit was quite the best of all. For at least two hours the Boy loved him, and then Aunts and Uncles came to dinner, and there was a great rustling of tissue paper and unwrapping of parcels, and in the excitement of looking at all the new presents the Velveteen Rabbit was forgotten.

The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams.

Lesson

Explain that a noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing. A common noun names any person, place or thing.

Instruct the child to read through the copywork selection and underline all the nouns found in this passage.

11:41 PM - Jun. 5, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Language Arts: Grammar Outline

Teaching grammar is probably my least favourite part of homeschooling. I appreciate the importance of grammar, but I find it tedious and difficult to teach in a way which Munchkin enjoys. In order to try and minimize the amount of workbooks we use, and to make grammar more practical and applicable to Munchkin's learning, I intend to teach grammar through copywork and her written narrations. We will focus on each concept until it is mastered and I do not intend to rush through these concepts.

Below is an outline of the concepts I want to cover. I will be referring to the Scott Foresman Grammar and Writing Handbooks to assist me in teaching the concepts, but Munchkin will be introduced to the concepts through copywork selections and discussions between us. Then the concept will be reinforced through written narrations. As I select passages for copywork, I will add them to this blog and link them to the appropriate grammar objective.

Grammar Objectives

• Subjects and Predicates
• Periods, Question Marks, Exclamation Marks
• Capitalization
• Quotation Marks
• Simple and Compound Sentences
• Nouns
• Proper Nouns
• Plural Nouns
• Possessive Nouns
• Commas in a Series
• Commas in a Direct Address
• Verb
• Subject-Verb Agreement
• Verb Tenses
• Irregular Verbs
• Object and Complements
• Contractions
• Adjectives
• Adverbs
• Pronouns
• Prepositions and Prepositional Phrases
• Conjunctions
• Interjections

8:31 PM - May. 29, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Stages of Learning to Read: Teaching Reading the Old Fashioned Way

Back to Basics is a good article which outlines the conflict between the traditional approach to teaching basic skills and new educational innovations which dont necessarily work.

Personally I believe in the old fashioned approach to teaching reading. We initially began homeschooling because our Munchkin was in 3rd grade and still couldn't read or write. Although Munchkin is now reading, this is still something she struggles with everyday. At the moment I am using the Megawords remedial reading program with her. We complete one page each day.

With my next child I intend to teach reading using the old fashioned way - phonics and readers. This will be started after we do the pre-reading activities which I outlined in my previous posts. I haven't decided 100% on which readers I will be using but at present the choice is between the McGuffey Readers and the Pathway Readers.

With respect to formal phonics, I am going to use the Explode the Code program.

9:32 PM - May. 20, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Stages of Learning to Read: Letter Recognition Activities

As mentioned in my previous post, the methodologies used for the teaching of phonemic awareness and alphabet knowledge have been varied. I intend to incorporate a range of activities. Some of these activities are going to be based on the Montessori method. I especially like the sandpaper letters and the movable alphabet materials.

Sandpaper Letters

The Montessori approach to teaching the alphabet is multisensory. The child will hear the sound, see its representation in the form of a letter, and feel the way it is written as the child feels the sandpaper letter with their fingers. By tracing the letters in the correct way, the child is also preparing for the task of handwriting. The lesson is presented in the following manner:

1. Select three distinct letters that are easy to sound out. For example, you may select letters m,e, and t.

2. Trace the letters three times saying the sound of the letter at the end of each trace.

3. The child then repeats what you have just demonstrated.

4. Repeat the procedure with the second and third letter.

Following this introduction, I intend to reinforce the childs learning with a mixture of activities. These include:

• Tracing the letters in cornmeal, rice, and shaving cream.
• Forming the letters out of playdoh
• Writing the letters by finger painting, using chalk, pencils, crayons etc.
• Alphabet Puzzles
• Creating alphabet books
• Playing alphabet bingo games
• Sorting picture cards based on the beginning and final sounds.
• Building simple words represented by picture cards. This would be started with the initial letter missing, followed by the final letter missing, and finally progressing to having the child build the entire word using the Montessori Moveable Alphabet.
• Matching uppercase letters to lowercase letters.
• Integrating alphabet craft and cooking activities.
  

I really believe that there is no shortage of ideas for teaching letter recognition. The hardest part is deciding on the sequence in which the letters are going to be taught and which activities to do. The choices can be quite overwhelming.

9:58 PM - May. 15, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Stages of Learning to Read: Pre-Reading Part 3

The next pre-reading skill which I want to address is letter knowledge. Apparently, among the pre-reading skills that are traditionally evaluated, the one that appears to be the strongest predictor of later reading success is letter identification.

Teachers have different ways of teaching the alphabet. Some teach a letter a week; others teach the more common letters before the less common ones (for example, m and t before q and x); and still others teach using children's names or words from favourite books. While there is no consensus on the best sequence for teaching the letters of the alphabet, many agree that the important concepts to learn include:

9:57 PM - May. 14, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Stages of Learning to Read: Pre-Reading Part 2

I have found the following articles which provide information on the concept of print awareness:

Print Awareness: An Introduction By Texas Education Agency (2001)

Print Awareness During Read Alouds By: Reading Rockets (2004)

I have also compiled a list of picture books that I intend to read to my children while concentrating on the concept of print awareness. This list can be viewed by clicking on the following link:

United Teaching Picture Book List

Are there picture books which are not included in my list that should be? Send me your recommendations and I will update the list for future reference.

4:45 PM - May. 12, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

United Teaching Picture Book List

• Curious George Four Board Book Set by H. A. Rey

• A Treasury of Curious George by H. A. Rey

• The Complete Adventures of Curious George by H. A. Rey

• Llama, Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney

• Jan Brett’s Christmas Treasury by Jan Brett

• Who’s that Knocking on Christmas Eve? By Jan Brett

• Town Mouse, Country Mouse by Jan Brett

• Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Jan Brett

• Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.

• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett

• Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

• Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey

• Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina

• The Story about Ping by Marjorie Flack

• The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton

• The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

• The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

• Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

• Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney

• If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
• If You Give a Moose a Muffin by Laura Joffe Numeroff

• Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr.

• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin Jr.

• Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann

• Time for Bed by Mem Fox

• Hands are Not for Hitting by Martine Agassi Ph.D.

• Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

• Owl Moon by Jane Yolen

• Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall

• Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears by Verna Aardema

• Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges

• The very Busy Spider by Eric Carle

• Is Your Mama a Llama by Deborah Guarino

• Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes

• Bread and Jam for Frances by Russell Hoban

• Bedtime for Frances by Russell Hoban

• Swimmy by Leo Lionni

• The Island of the Skog by Steven Kellogg

• The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash by Trinka Hakes Noble

• George and Martha by James Marshall

• Children of the Forest by Elsa Maartman Beskow

• The Tomten by Astrid Lindgren

• Beauty and the Beast by M. Mayer

• Rumpelstiltskin by Paul O. Zelinsky
• The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Marianna Mayer

• King Midas and the Golden Touch by Charlotte Craft

• Sleeping Beauty by K.Y. Craft

• Cinderella by K. Y. Craft

• Rapunzel by Barbara Rogasky

• Jack and the Beanstalk by Steven Kellogg

• The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen (Author), Jerry Pinkney (Author)

• Puss in Boots by Charles Perrault

• Pagoo by Holling C. Holling

• The Story of Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman

• Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik

• Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola

• Stone Soup by Marcia Brown

• Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh

• A House for Hermit Crab by Eric Carle

• Owl Babies by Martin Waddell

• Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton

• The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton

• There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Simms Taback

• Moosetache by Margie Palatini

• Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin

• The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt

• Tops & Bottoms by Janet Stevens

• Anasi the Spider by Gerald McDermott

• Lilly’s Plastic Purple Purse by Kevin Henkes

• Mama, Do You Love Me? by Barbara Joosse

• Corduroy by Don Freeman

• Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel

• Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans

• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

• Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg

• Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg

• The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

• The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N. Munsch

• The Keeping Quilt by Patricia Polacco

• Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco

• The Empty Pot by Demi

• The Church Mouse by Graham Oakley

• Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing by Judi Barrett

• The Water Hole by Graeme Base

• Diary of a Wombat by Jackie French

• The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons

3:25 PM - May. 12, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Stages of Learning to Read: Pre-Reading Part 1

When we started homeschooling Munchkin she was in 3rd grade. Basically, this means that the curriculum I had planned began at the 3rd grade level and was tailored to include books and topics which Munchkin might have missed out on in the earlier grades. At the same time, there were topics and books which we had to skip so that we could continue progressing with the learning.  What I get to do now is prepare a curriculum for our next child which will start at the beginning. Even though I believe its never too late to start homeschooling, getting to do it right from the beginning allows one to include all the wonderful ideas and materials available.

The first area that I'm going to outline is Reading and Literature beginning with pre-reading. Pre-reading are skills children need to acquire before they actually learn to read. Here is a list of pre-reading skills and some activities which parents can do with their children to develop those skills:

VOCABULARY

• Talk with your child about what is going on around you. Talk about how things work, feelings and ideas.
• When your child talks with you, add more detail to what she says.
• Speak in the language that is most comfortable for you.
• Read together every day. When you talk about the story and pictures, your child hears and learns more words.
• Learn together by reading some true books on subjects that your child likes.
• Research shows that children who have larger vocabularies are better readers. Knowing many words helps children recognize written words and understand what they read.

PRINT MOTIVATION

• Make book-sharing time a special time for closeness between you and your child.
• Let your child see you reading.
• Visit your public library often.
• Children who enjoy books will want to learn how to read.

NARRATIVE SKILLS

• Listen to your child carefully when he talks.
• Ask your child to tell you about something that happened. Let him tell you about a picture he drew.
• Share books together.
• Stories help children understand that things happen in order—first, next, last.
• Read a book together that your child already knows. Switch what you do. You be the listener and let your child tell you the story.
• Ask "what" questions. Point to a picture and say, "What's that?" or "What is happening here?"
• Add to what your child says. If your child says, "big truck" then you say, "Yes, a big red fire truck."
• Ask open-ended questions like, "What do you think is happening in this picture?"
• Help your child relate what is happening in the story to her own experience, for example, "What happened when we went on a picnic?"
• Being able to tell or retell a story helps children understand what they read.

PRINT AWARENESS

• Read aloud everyday print—labels, signs, lists, menus. Print is everywhere!
• Point to some of the words as you say them, especially words that are repeated.
• Let your child turn the pages.
• Let you child hold the book and read or tell the story.
• Hold the book upside down. See if your child turns the book around.
• Being familiar with printed language helps children feel comfortable with books and understand that print is useful.

LETTER KNOWLEDGE

• Write your child's name.
• Make letters from clay or use magnetic letters.
• Point out and name letters when reading alphabet books, signs or labels.
• Show your child that the same letter can look different.
• Write words that interest your child (like "dinosaur" or "truck") using crayons, magnetic letters or pencil and paper.
• Knowing the names and sounds of letters helps children figure out how to say written words.

PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS
Most children who have an understanding of phonological awareness have an easier time learning to read. Help your pre-reader become aware of the smaller sounds that make up words.

• Ask whether two words rhyme: "Do 'cat' and 'dog' rhyme?" "Do 'cat' and 'hat' rhyme?"
• Say words with word chunks left out: "What word would we have if you took the 'hot' away from 'hotdog'?"
• Put two words chunks together to make a word: "What word would we have if we put 'cow' and 'boy' together?"
• Say words with sounds left out: "What word would we have if we took the 'buh' sound away from 'bat'?"
• Say rhymes and make up your own silly, nonsense rhymes together.
• Sing songs. Songs have different notes for each syllable in a word.
• Read some poetry together. Make up short poems together. Say the words that rhyme.
• Say rhymes and sing songs in the language most comfortable for you.

8:15 PM - May. 11, 2007 - comments {0} - post comment

Progymnasmata Part 1

I have been looking more deeply into the progymnasmata approach. This is a brief overview:

The progymnasmata were exercises that students were subject to after being introduced to the first stages of written composition and before they progressed into learning elements and delivery of speeches.

There are generally fourteen components to the progymnasmata:

1. Mythos, or fable
2. Diegema, or narrative
3. Chreia, or anecdote
4. Gnome, or proverb
5. Anaskeue, or refutation
6. Ktaskeue, or confirmation
7. Koinos topos, or commonplace
8. Enkomion, or praise
9. Psogos, or blame
10. Synkrisis, or comparison
11. Prosopopoeia, or personification
12. Ekphrasis, or description
13. Thesis, or argument
14. Nomou eisphora, or legislation

For the moment, I am only going to concentrate on the first two exercises - fables and narratives.

The Fables exercise would consist of the following activities:

- Reading the fable

- Copywork: rewriting the fable

- Review vocabulary

- Outline the fable and identify key ideas according to the proper sequence

- Narrate the fable

- Paraphrase the fable using the outline

- Amplify the fable with description and dialogue

- Abbreviate in a precis

- Invert the sequence of events

The important thing to realize is that each fable used should really concentrate on teaching one or two composition techniques. For example, when I have my Munchkin amplify the fable, I would teach the following things one at a time (this is not in any specific order):

- Showing the passage of time (transition words)

- Linking sentences / details (transition words)

- Expanding vocabulary for writing descriptions (synonyms, antonyms, verbs, adjectives)

- Writing dialogue (quotations marks)

- Writing descriptions (similes and metaphors)

- Beginning of Sentences (prepositions and adverbs)

To be continued...

Basia :)

12:37 AM - Jun. 7, 2006 - comments {1} - post comment

Advent and Christmas Unit 2007