One Day At A Time

Oct. 4, 2007

Sing Down the Moon

http://www.bchs.k12.va.us/Technology%20Class/owen/home.html

Sing Down the Moon Internet Activity Hunt

We've read several books about American Indians, watched movies and discussed our heritage. Now, imagine with me that you are an American Indian boy in the Pioneer Days - imagine that you were there the day that Christopher Columbus first set foot on American soil... What do you think when you see the boat? How do you feel when you see the first white man? Write me a story telling me about that day.

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Oct. 4, 2007

Sign of the Beaver

Posted in Lesson Plan Ideas

Exploring Maine -

Create a travel brochure about Maine - include activities, indusry, population, interesting facts etc.

Survival

Research Brown Bears... Draw a picture of a Brown Bear and name 10 interesting facts about them.
http://www.bearbiology.com/brdesc.html
http://www.daisetsuzan.or.ip/e-higuma.html

American Indians

The Sign of the Beaver Internet Hunt (pdf)
Describe Matt and Attean - what do they look like? How do they smell? How smart are they?
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0111725/Kbook2.html - quiz
Build a model log cabin

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Oct. 4, 2007

Sarah Plain and Tall

Posted in Lesson Plan Ideas

Write a letter to Sarah telling her about yourself

Draw a picture using only Green, Blue and Gray - the colors of the sea

What chores did Anna and Caleb have to do - what chores do you have to do?

Compare Maine and Kansas http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/hawthorne/maine/

Mapquest Maine to Kansas - how long would it take to get there if you rode your scooter? Your bike? Drove in a car? How long do you think it took to get there by train?

Songs were important to Anna and Caleb - what songs make you feel good?

When we visited Maine what did you like the best?

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Jun. 19, 2007

Curriculum

Posted in Lesson Plan Ideas

MATH

Math U See - Gamma - $55.00 (teacher pak and kids manual)

Math U See Manipulatives: $65.00 Starter & Completer Sets

HISTORY

Mystery of History Creation to Resurrection - $35.96 (ORder from pennywiselearning.com)

Timeline Pack $19.95

Student Bible Atlas (MOH) 7.50

SCIENCE

Scientists Apprentice $21.56 (pennywiselearning.com)

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Jun. 9, 2007

Timelines

Posted in Lesson Plan Ideas

I'd really like to teach Hitman History in a timeline format - maybe we can make History make sense for him... my plan is to create a timeline - and then as he learns things - HE can put that information into his timeline and see when things took place. This might be easier than starting at the beginning and working forward (because I don't think he'll have much interest in some of the earlier times - YET).

http://www.cindyrushton.com/MakeYourOwnNotebook.html - the timeline available through this site is certainly affordable at $19.95... but surely someone has something for free... lol

And here it is...

http://www.donnayoung.org/history/timeline-cw.htm - woohoo!

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Jun. 9, 2007

suggested reading list

Posted in Lesson Plan Ideas

ISBN TITLE AUTHOR CATEGORY LEVEL

039589543X Looking Back Lowry, Lois biographical 4

0606033084 Sugaring Time Lasky, Kathryn biographical 4.8

0027868109 Good Queen Bess: The Story of Queen Elizabeth I of England Stanley, Diane; Vennema, Peter biographical 4.8

0307623661 The Rescuers Sharp, Margery biographical 4

0397324472 Land I Lost: Adventures of a Boy in Vietnam, The Huynh, Quang N. biographical 4.7

0590462512 Barry Sanders: Rocket Running Back Kavanagh, Jack biographical 4

0689319703 My Name Is Amelia Sobol, Donald J. biographical 4

0803231407 True North Merrick, Elliott biographical 4

0679800891 American Tall Tales McCurdy, Michael; Osborne, Mary P. biographical 4

0894903004 Ralph J. Bunche: Peacemaker McKissack, Fredrick; McKissack, Patricia biographical 4

0890155615 Albert Geronimo Templeton, Lee biographical 4

0791039064 Annie Oakley Wukovits, John biographical 4

0517592436 Charlotte Forten: A Black Teacher in the Civil War Burchard, Peter biographical 4

0893757535 Clara Barton: Angel of the Battlefield Bains, Rae; Meyer, Jean (Illustrator) biographical 4

0395720214 Amish Home Bial, Raymond biographical 4

068419435X Jackal Woman: Exploring the World of Jackals Pringle, Laurence; Moehlman, Patricia D. biographical 4

0689803109 Talking with Artists Cummings, Pat biographical 4

0516047256 Story Clara Barton, The Kent, Zachary biographical 4

0670699497 They Were Strong and Good Lawson, Robert biographical 4.2

0698305264 And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? Fritz, Jean biographical 4

0792237366 Abe Lincoln Goes to Washington, 1837-1865 Harness, Cheryl biographical 4

0803718888 Minty:A Story of Young Harriet Tubman Pinkney, Jerry; Schroeder, Alan biographical 4.2

0689801262 Toussaint L'ouverture: Fight for Haiti's Freedom Lawrence, Jacob D biographical 4

0141307102 I am Rosa Parks Parks, Rosa biographical 4

0448420678 Sammy Sosa: He's the Man Driscoll, Laura biographical 4

0679854118 Meet Martin Luther King, Jr. DeKay, James T. biographical 4

0689815425 Mark Twain & the Queens of the Mississippi Harness, Cheryl biographical 4

0395884012 One Giant Leap : The Story of Neil Armstrong Brown, Don biographical 4

0399229426 Mandela : From the Life of the South African Statesman Cooper, Floyd biographical 4

0375803556 Joan of Arc Poole, Josephine biographical 4

0590446525 Helen Keller's Teacher Davidson, Margaret biographical 4

0590472305 Finding the Titanic Ballard, Robert Duane biographical 4

1562397435 Harry Truman Joseph, Paul biographical 4

0876145098 Country Artist : A Story about Beatrix Potter Collins, David R. biographical 4

0688165095 Gorilla Walk Lewin, Ted; Lewin, Betsy biographical 4

039597934X Seeker of Knowledge Rumford, James biographical 4

1584690097 John Muir: My Life with Nature Cornell, Joseph Bharat biographical 4

0374343799 Leon's Story Tillage, Leon Walter; Roth, Susan L. biographical 4

0395956463 My Name is Not Gussie Machlin, Mikki biographical 4

0399234071 So You Want to be President? St. George, Judith; Small, David (Illustrator) biographical 4

0375811133 Woody Guthrie: Poet of the People Christensen, Bonnie biographical 4

0152024050 Will Rogers: An American Legend Keating, Frank biographical 4

0152046860 Carl Sandburg: Adventures of a Poet Sandburg, Carl & Niven, Penelope biographical 4

0590480316 Great Black Heroes: Five Brilliant Scientists (Hello Reader! Science Series) Jones, Lynda biographical 4

0786805684 Ella Fitzgerald Pinkney, Andrea Davis biographical 4

0763625922 Delivering Justice Haskins, Jim biographical 4

0140374248 James and the Giant Peach Dahl, Roald; Smith, Lane (Illustrator) fairy tales & folklore 4

0316116483 Old Mother West Wind Burgess, Thornton W. fairy tales & folklore 4

1567672590 Journey to the Center of the Earth Verne, Jules; Calaguian, Val fairy tales & folklore 4.5

0318517914 Winnie-The-Pooh Milne, A. A. fairy tales & folklore 4.8

0745185398 The Fairy Rebel Banks, Lynne Reid fairy tales & folklore 4.3

060607046X My Hairiest Adventure Short, Michael; Stine, R. L.; Umansky, Diane fairy tales & folklore 4.5

0582535301 Rip Van Winkle and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow Irving, Washington; Boughton, George H. fairy tales & folklore 4.4

0606133720 Fables Aesop Never Wrote Kraus, Robert fairy tales & folklore 4

0385312024 Sootface: An Ojibwa Cinderella Story San Souci, Daniel; San Souci, Robert D. fairy tales & folklore 4

0399215840 Tattercoats Tomes, Margot; Jacobs, Joseph fairy tales & folklore 4

0440219469 Sadako and the 1000 Paper Cranes Coerr, Eleanor fairy tales & folklore 4

068814327X Rumpelstiltskin's Daughter Stanley, Diane fairy tales & folklore 4

0060231181 Inside My Feet: The Story of a Giant Himler, Ronald; Kennedy, Richard fairy tales & folklore 4.5

0688117422 The Painted Fan Singer, Marilyn; Ma, Wenhai fairy tales & folklore 4

0689505698 The Three Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig Oxenbury, Helen; Trivizas, Eugene fairy tales & folklore 4.2

0060248777 The Terrible, Wonderful Tellin' at Hog Hammock Velasquez, Eric; Siegelson, Kim L. fairy tales & folklore 4

0394811208 Elmer & the Dragon Gannett, Ruth S. fairy tales & folklore 4

0152000429 Between Earth & Sky Bruchac, Joseph; Locker, Thomas fairy tales & folklore 4

1556616279 Crazy Christmas Angel Mystery, The Lewis, Beverly fairy tales & folklore 4

0816728135 Gift of the Nile Reasoner, Charles; Mike, Jan M. fairy tales & folklore 4

0670763756 The White Stag Seredy, Kate fairy tales & folklore 4.8

0689711077 Beat the Story Drum, Pum, Pum Ashley, Bryan fairy tales & folklore 4.5

0531094510 Some of the Kinder Planets Wynne-Jones, Tim fairy tales & folklore 4.5

0528824228 Just So Stories Kipling, Rudyard; Ambrus, Victor G. fairy tales & folklore 4.6

0816730520 Hummingbird King : A Guatemalan Legend Palacios, Argentina fairy tales & folklore 4

0590426168 Johnny Appleseed Kellogg, Steven fairy tales & folklore 4

1577191110 Hercules & Other Greek Myths Gave, Marc fairy tales & folklore 4

0531300005 Adventures of Odysseus Malone, Peter fairy tales & folklore 4

0688169910 Davy Crockett Saves the World Schanzer, Rosalyn fairy tales & folklore 4

0618194630 Horse Hooves and Chicken Feet: Mexican Folktales Philip, Neil fairy tales & folklore 4

0892390662 Elinda Who Danced in the Sky: An Estonia Folktale Moroney, Lynn fairy tales & folklore 4

0805018484 A Frog Prince Alix Berenzy fairy tales & folklore 4

0399214038 Shh! We're Writing the Constitution De Paola, Tomie; Fritz, Jean history 4.7

0399217215 Sweetgrass Hudson, Jan history 4

0060264306 Little House in the Big Woods Williams, Garth; Wilder, Laura Ingalls history 4.2

0064400069 The Long Winter Williams, Garth; Wilder, Laura Ingalls history 4.4

0698202929 Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams? Fritz, Jean history 4.6

0803709692 Brother Eagle, Sister Sky Jeffers, Susan history 4

0318656280 Adam of the Road Gray, Elizabeth J. history 4

0606033084 Sugaring Time Lasky, Kathryn history 4.8

0684127954 Courage of Sarah Noble Weisgard, Leonard; Dalgliesh, Alice history 4.4

0064403572 The Bread Sister of Sinking Creek Moore, Robin history 4

0892390506 Family Pictures: Cuadros De Familia Garza, Carmen Lomas history 4.1

0397324472 Land I Lost: Adventures of a Boy in Vietnam, The Huynh, Quang N. history

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Jun. 9, 2007

Ideas from the web

Posted in Lesson Plan Ideas

Now that I have a place to put all of these things...

http://spellingtime.com/ - create spelling lists and your student can play games with them and practice their spelling words.

http://www.bookadventure.com/ - suggests books for your reader on topics they'll enjoy reading...

http://www.exploratorium.edu/

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Jun. 8, 2007

Plans and Schemes

Posted in Lesson Plan Ideas

I intend to use this blog to keep track of my ideas and plans. I find myself in such a state of information overload at times that I fear I'll forget the really great ideas that I had or the really great information that I heard or read.

Hitman is an athlete. He loves Baseball and Football and loves to exercise. Bless his little heart for that too - because he didn't get it from his Mama. Hitman is NOT a writer. Oh, he has a GREAT imagination and GREAT ideas - but the art of actually putting information on paper is lost to him! So I struggled with HOW to combine both things...

Each week Hitman will pick a famous athlete (past or present - but must be still living). He will research that athlete...

Where are they from?
What college did they go to?
What Charity work do they do?
What teams have they played for?
What are their stats?

Each Thursday, he will sit down with pen and paper and write a letter to the "Athlete of the Week", introducing himself, telling the Athlete what he likes about him, and asking for an autograph. He will also enclose an "autographed photo" of himself in his football uniform. Hopefully by the end of the year, his letter-writing skills will have improved, his reseach skills will have improved and he will have a unique scrapbook of letters and autographs.

Math - I've heard really good things about Math-U-See for kids who need multi-sensory teaching methods. I plan to order the Gamma books for him. I saw cheaper blocks (all-link blocks) I think and they're alot cheaper... I wonder if you could teach Math-U-See with those???

I am looking for an affordable history curriculum. I 'm so torn on History. I know what DOESN'T work - and that's learning History in little chunks of time that never seem to come together in your mind. I HATED history because I never could figure out how the puzzle fit together. I'd like to cover History in a timeline format. I've heard that the Mystery of History is good. Any opinions? I also came across a neat collection "Drive through history; America" - that looked good, but I would really prefer to cover World History first. Hitman LOVES the History channel and I think it would be great for him to learn History through DVD's... but I can't find a History curriculum on video...

Science - Hitman wants to learn about Dinosaurs and Astronomy... not normally two topics that would be covered at the same time... but hey, it's his education and if that's what he wants to learn about - that's what we'll cover!

I have gone out to www.bookadventure.com and put in Hitman's information - and printed a list of books that might be of interest to him. We're going to keep track of every book that he reads and for each 10 books that he reads and writes a one page summary of... he'll earn an hour at the batting cages or a new game.

I need to post a list of books on the blog so that when friends and family want to know what he wants for a special event... I can send him to our blog!

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