The Girlie Girls at Work and Play - Homeschool Blogger

Word Study: a new approach for Brena

Sat, 19 Nov 2005 08:33:00 -0600

There are arguably 6 main components to good reading:

Phonemic Awareness: specific ability to focus on and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words.
Phonological awareness is a broad skill that includes identifying and manipulating units of oral language � parts such as words, syllables, and onsets and rimes.
Vocabulary refers to the words we must understand to communicate effectively.
Decoding is the ability to apply your knowledge of letter-sound relationships, including knowledge of letter patterns, to correctly pronounce written words. Understanding these relationships gives children the ability to recognize familiar words quickly and to figure out words they haven't seen before.
Fluency is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. In order to understand what they read, children must be able to read fluently whether they are reading aloud or silently. When reading aloud, fluent readers read in phrases and add intonation appropriately. Their reading is smooth and has expression.
Comprehension is the understanding and interpretation of what is read. To be able to accurately understand written material, children need to be able to 1) decode what they read; 2) make connections between what they read and what they already know; and 3) think deeply about what they have read.

Brena struggles with Fluency. Interestingly enough, she still has a high comprehension level. The fluency problem severely affects her enjoyment of reading. Within that diagnosis she specifically needs help with the speed of her decoding. I also believe that increasing her familiar word vocabulary will help immensely. To that end, I am modifying the approach we use when studying vocabulary (currently using Wordly Wise) and spelling (in the K12 curriculum). She also needs more phonic/phoneme understanding. She doesn't need more phonics, she needs help bridging the knowledge she has of phonics/phonemic awareness with the actual application of it. That is a pretty good definition for decoding.

I've noticed that my younger daughter, Hannah (7 yrs., 2nd grade) has none of these fluency issues. She spells like a champ and already has most of her multiplication tables mastered (because she does them with Brena, her 2nd grade curriculum hasn't even introduced the concept of multiplication). Why? I was prompted to ask, what's the difference in the way they process or receive information? I've been able to pinpoint a big difference which opened my understanding.. Hannah sees patterns intuitively. She actually hunts them down. Patterns satisfy her. If she is answering a true/false type assessment - she will look for a pattern in the answers, if she finds one she's oddly enthusiastic about it. Brena doesn't see the patterns. In math work, she knows her "doubles facts and the doubles +/- strategy" but she doesn't reach into a tool chest to pull out that strategy when she runs across a problem to which it would apply. She needs to learn the skill, the strategy AND learn to link the two together! Now, this may seem like a very simple concept and it is, but to see it means that I've been able to get a glimpse inside how Brena's mind works. This isn't how I think or how Hannah thinks (yes, she's like me). But I get it now and I'm totally excited about using this information to use it to target and build skills in areas toward helping Brena reach her potential.

So how to use it? What do I do now? Brena and I sat down and set some goals for her. She is 10 and should be in "5th grade". She's doing 3rd grade Language Arts and 4th grade Math. Her goal is to complete all of 4th grade material this year. That's a lot of ground to cover. So how to do it? Well getting her reading on target would go a long way in achieving her goal as the work will get easier the better she reads. My goal of course is to help her reach her potential. As she and I discussed reaching her curriculum goals, she became concerned about the amount of spelling words she'd have to do per week (close to 60). Ummmmm and she has a hard time with memorizing (goes back to the pattern thing). And would memorizing the spelling of 60 words help her increase her fluency? No. And shouldn't everything we spend time doing at this point work toward that end? Yes. Another week goes by and I read 4 dozen more articles about reading instruction.

I ran across an article with a video clip about a school which uses the concept of "Word Study". Did you know 90% of the words in the English language follow the rules? Well snap! She doesn't need to memorize a bunch of words..... she needs to be taught the pattern - the rules. Phonics, Vocabulary and Spelling instruction combined in a word study. The concept works perfectly for increasing fluency! I don't need to win the lottery, I'm happy implementing this practical way to study words. Understanding that literacy is "like a braid of interwoven threads" I will begin to intensely work with Brena toward increasing her fluency by helping her orthography (spelling) part of her braid, the other areas of literacy: reading, oral language, stories, and writing will all be strengthened.

Spelling and Vocabulary words will be given purpose in her instruction beyond mastery of them as a skill. They become part of her learning plan and tools I can use in instruction toward the main objective: increase fluency. No longer taking up valuable time and learning energy without feeling an impact on the objective. I am sooooo excited. We will study letter-sound correspondences, phonics, spelling patterns, high-frequency word recognition, decoding strategies, word use and meanings. Becoming fully literate is absolutely dependent on fast, accurate recognition of words in texts, and fast, accurate production of words in writing so that readers and writers can focus attention on meaning.

Most phonics, spelling and vocabulary programs are characterized by (1) skill instruction (2) systematic scope and sequence (3) repeated practice. Unfortunately, much of the repeated practice consists of rote drill and students have little opportunity to manipulate word concepts or apply critical thinking skills. Brena needs skill instruction but "teaching is not telling". She needs hands-on opportunities to manipulate word features in a way that will allow her to generalize - beyond the individual examples to entire groups of words. She needs this to see the pattern!

So this weekend (11/19/05) I will begin to assess what stage of spelling she is in in order to merge the spelling and vocabulary curriculum we need with word study activities. The three stages are emergent spellers, letter name spellers, and within-word pattern spellers. I believe that Brena will be in a transitional stage between the letter name and within-word stages.The program is developed to be able to use with current curriculum. I anticipate a large amount of preparation time on my part. First to read (and study) the book "Words their way: word study for phonics, vocabulary and spelling instruction" I anticipate about 15 hours. Then I will build a general outline of how to incorporate our current curriculum with word study activities.

Specifically I anticipate adding several hours a week (generally on Sunday evenings) to my lesson planning time. It may become easier, but a lot of materials will need to be developed and that will add additional time during the week as I prep (3-5 hours initially). I hope to get several weeks ahead in planning so that I can work on materials preparation as time permits through the week. Brena is an auditory and kinesthetic learner. I am excited about how this change will meet her needs.

Updating my planning method

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 16:21:00 -0500

     We had some running around to do this morning and then we went to Friendly's for breakfast. I don't know what it is about eating breakfast out, but we like it.
     Anyway, then we went to the library and Hannah signed up for a ballerina party. There will be a real ballerina there. She is very excited.
     I got a great DVD about the Kingdom of Elephants - I can't wait to watch is. It looks very interesting. I love elephants. Brena picked out a video -Lizzy McGuire and Hannah picked out Hercules.
     I worked last night for about 3 hours to reorganize and try to hone our system. I haven't been accomplishing what I want to accomplish each day. I've decided to plan out on paper each day for each girl for each subject/part of subject. Each girl will have a folder which includes a summary and the worksheets or activity instructions for the day. I have also added an "objectives for the week" card for each girl. This gives me a summary of what we should master by week end.
     I am very happy with our new system. The girl's like it too. It will take about 6 hours extra per week on my part, but it will help us get a lot more accomplished and will probably shave time off the hours of actual time we spend in school because the girls will know what is expected of them at a glance into their folders.
     I didn't have a lot of "are we almost done?" questions because they can see if they are almost done. Very cool. Very glad to have decided to bite the bullet and make the change.
     Also, I made up posters with the multiples of each number from 3 to 12..... We are working on 3's right now but we sing the multiples to the Frere Jacques tune....
3    6    9     12
3    6    9     12
15     18
15     18
21     24
21     24
27
27
     We started this yesterday..... they can already sing the multiples of 3! And last night I started quizzing them on "what is the 7th multiple of 3" or 3x7..... the poster I made has the number of the multiple right next to the multiple but in a shaded color and smaller.... so as they are looking at the poster singing the 7 is next to 21 to indicate that it is the other factor to multiply with 3 to get the multiple (or product).
     That sounded terribly confusing. But it isn't. Anyway. We are focusing on the "Multiples of 3" and "Long A" words this week. The objectives card is also where I list old ideas that haven't been mastered so that I can add activities which will "bring those home". So all in all today will be a very productive day. I do not have dinner considered yet. I am behind on my menu planning! Oops! I gotta get back to making a menu and planning ahead - I'm lost without it. It takes time but it saves so much time later.
     Ahhh, it's chicken and mashed potatoes and asparagus. We've decided.
     The girls have worked hard and since we had a late breakfast out - we only ate a snack for lunch. We are all hungry. They are watching Hercules while I cook. There is no more schooling that can be done on those empty bellies. We will finish after dinner.
     Then showers and practicing our AWANA sections. I will then have to work on my homework for classes and additional planning for the week for the girls. It's gonna be a long nite.......

Hannah's Drawing

Tue, 18 Oct 2005 08:14:00 -0500

Hannah drew this in about 10 minutes with dry erase markers on our whiteboard.

This blew me away. She has some talent that I have to figure out how to supplement.

Any ideas?

We've Got Colds, but we're pushing through!

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 06:50:00 -0500

Yesterday both girls were symptomatic with pretty bad colds, yet we had to attend several Title One tutoring sessions for Brena. I'll tell you what - she has an awesome sense of humor! I am so glad to see her fun loving spirit shine through. Title One reading session was in a group of 3 students so it lasted for 1:15. We (Brena and I) partner read a chapter from a "Horrible Harry" book. Brena was using a "tabbing" strategy in which she stops and writes sticky notes about things in order to "engage" with the story. She noted a couple words she didn't understand, but mostly noted what parts of the story were funny. To me, that means the world because she is enjoying the reading..... "yeah that's what I'm talkin about".... We also discussed some strategies with a Math teacher concerning long division. Brena really just needs to know her multiplication facts better so that long division is easier. We'll be working on that significantly during the next two weeks. Her next unit is math is Fractions, there are 5 lessons before we get to having to create LCD's (lowest common denominators). The goal will be to have a much better grasp on our mental multiplication facts by the end of next week.

So today is a regular school day, though I'm a little tired. Last night I stayed up until 2AM. I was running some product covers to make into inventory. I was also working on making a template for the upcoming Unit we will be studying in Science. It is about energy. I am introducing "electronic notebooking". It's a way for the girls to keep a science notebook to record what they learn, enter additional information which they will research and record their experiment data. I bought a little program called "printmaster" for them to do their notebooks in. It is pretty easy to use. At first I will supply an "almost complete" template for them to answer lab questions.... add photos that we will take during different activities and experiments. They will then learn to add those photos and answer the questions in the electronic notebook. They will also learn to scan the diagrams they draw to place them into the notebook too. I will turn a page into a *.jpg later so you can see what I'm talking about.

Anyway this is a new idea that I'm trying to implement with them. It will add some technology learning, some research skills, and some organizational concepts to the work that they do.

I plan to make one for them to complete every history unit too and for whatever novel they are reading (Brena will start novels later this year). Each subject is so different that I will have to modify the templates a lot.... it is taking me a long time to do right now (I worked 3 hours on the science one last night) but once I get to know the program and kinda work out the kinks of how to organize the template for them it will get quicker to do.

I want to begin the Energy unit in Science next Monday so I will have a goal to complete the template and load it onto their computers by Friday of this week.

I am having to readjust our schedule a little this week. We will do the Art Museum with my parents on Friday (assuming it is open) because Wednesday is a field trip with some other homeschool kids to an apple orchard / pumpkin patch.

Both girls have been downstairs already and went back to bed. I will let them sleep until 8:30AM so we can get started by 9:00. I may let them stay in PJ's for the morning lessons. I need to check the weather as they want to take the dogs to the park this afternoon.

Grandparent's Day

Mon, 10 Oct 2005 21:51:00 -0500

September 12th

Great Grandma Smith "mimaw", Grandma and Grandpa Elek (gammie and papa) and Grandma Boycik all came to Grandparent's Day. The girls showed the grandparents a typical day at their school. Morning storytime (on tape or CD), math drills, sight words and dictation, and school pledge. They then made a lunch of chicken and strawberry salad with extra bowls of fruit and nuts. After lunch the girls and I did a dramatic reading of an African tale about The Sun. We then all logged on and completed an Art lesson together. We spent about 2 hours together. At the end the girls presented grandparents with a certificate of appreciation.

OOOOOH We didn't post all week!

Sun, 11 Sep 2005 18:03:00 -0500

Wow! Can't beleive that week flew by.....

My college classes started back again and I'm trying to get in the groove. I'd give us a day by day snap shot.... but I honestly don't remember much!

I know we've been productive with number of lessons completed but don't remember the details.... I'll try to be better this week.

Monday was Labor Day... no school. The girls and I went to my mom's for a big picnic with both sides of my extended family. Very fun day! I had a great time as did B and H. At about 8PM my uncle mentioned that he hadn't seen me sit down all day! I didn't. My weight loss is contributing to a more energetic me... ya, for those of you who know me.... that's scary!

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal school days. We had three additional children at the house from 4PM on as I watched my best friend's children for the evening. We went to a youth group meeting... my girls had a blast seeing the friends they haven't seen over the summer. Renee's kids..... little nervous about being there.

Thursday and Friday....

Did we wake up? Oh okay now i'm remembering. Thursday normal school day and Friday was our Back to School Picnic for OHVA.... we brought home a friend for the afternoon... well we didn't take her back home until 8:30PM.... they had great fun in the back yard with mud... three cute little girls covered from head to toe in MUD! Should have grabbed pictures... forgot <doh!>. We also collected over $40 from the children for the American Red Cross Katrina Hurricane Fund. I'll go get a money order on Monday and mail it off. Good Job to all of you who donated ---who read this post! And I encourage everyone else to take some time and donate.... every bit helps! Oh and we brought home another critter.... Lilly the Caterpillar. She is beautiful. I will post pics and more about her this week as we set her up in our caterpillar dome.

I'll write more tomorow after our busy morning..... Title One Math assessment for Brena and then lunch and a Grandparent's Day extravaganza at our house!

The Loss of Sneaky

Thu, 1 Sep 2005 05:52:00 -0500

We lost Sneaky. She died yesterday. Brena had wanted to let her go, Hannah voted no, so we kept her. Brena cried, Hannah stared into space. I have to pick the dead snake up and take it outside for burial. We never got to play Polly Pocket but she was very loved.... I mean that in an action sort of way. Hannah built many a Lincoln Log fort and she was allowed to slither around in and on it. It was decided that catching wild things and keeping them (too long as pets) is not a good idea. They tend to die. I reminded them about the part I read to them from one of the books I'm reading, "The Lady and the Panda" about the first American explorer to bring back a Panda from the wild. Many Westerners believed the Panda to be a mythical animal as late as 1937 when the first one was captured by an American Explorer. Anyway it was mentioned in the book that as many as 85% of the animals captured for zoos during this time period never survived the first few weeks of capture. We have felt this loss at home. The grief displayed at our house comforts me because I know my girls have a deep respect for all the world's created things.

Yeehaw! We Rock!

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 17:53:00 -0500

Okee dokie! Stuff is going so good here at our house! I'm feeling great, spiritually, physically (losing weight and toning up), socially, mentally things are super duper. I'm constantly on the move, but its the way I like it. Is there such a thing as manic vitality? I was trying to think of the opposite of manic depression. I think that might work. Anyway.....

Hannah's Poem (She was required to use alliteration - yes, she's only 7 and knows what that is - spelling left unaltered - was illustrated but illustration didn't scan well)

Monday/Money Day

Tuesday/Tickal Day

Wednesday/Wake Up Day

Thursday/Thinking Day

Friday/Funy Day

Saturday/Sad Day

Sunday..... ALREADY? ..... Suny Day

Brena was "on" today

She looooooooooves Geometry! She really gets it.... line segments, congruancy, symmetry, quadrilaterals and polygons and their attributes! It's amazing.

She gets it. She digs it. This unit will be fun.

She summarized a short story she read, very well. Her writing was solid and flowed nicely. It was short (but isn't that part of what a summary is?)

Combined Subjects

History Objectives Lesson One

State the Florence was famous for the great dome on its cathedral
Identify the dome of the cathedral from pictures
Name Brunelleschi as the architect of the dome
Explain that Brunelleschi's new design was inspired by the buildings of ancient Rome

History Objectives Lesson Two

Identify Identify Lorenzo de Medicini asas energetic, skillful leader of Renaissance Florence
Identify Lorenzo international banker and patron of arts and learning
Give example of Lorenzo de Medicini's love for the classics and poetry.

Art Objectives

Describe one way a portrait by Titian or Sofonisba Anguissola reflects the idea of humanism.
Identify the use of contrast through color or texture in a painting by Titian or Sofonisba Anguissola.
Design an article of clothing using variations in texture and color

There is a 2nd part to this lesson tomorrow in which the clothing will be complete.... today we did 4 texture "rubs" with crayon and added a color wash in a complimentary, analogous, or triad color combination. Tomorrow's lesson activity will conclude with the design of the article of clothing. I'll post pics then though the rubs are gorgeous as is.

The Garter Snake

Sun, 28 Aug 2005 19:07:00 -0500

Brena and Hannah found a garter snake. Hannah kept it covered with a clay pot while Brena and I ran to the third floor to get the glass aquarium and clean it. It has a lid. We are so excited we've kept it for almost three years waiting until the perfect pet presented itself for its use.

We'll take pictures and add them later. Tonight our snake (Julie if a girl and Jake if a boy) will spend the night on our chest freezer in the basement. Easily accessible by footstool! I'm sure Julie-Jake will be the best loved baby garter in the world. I don't think we have any clothing small enough to dress her in.... oh wait..... I'm thinking Polly Pocket items just might work. I won't mention it...... hahaha..... don't want to contribute to the cotouring of a snake! If things don't work out between the snake and us - we will let her go by the river (in our backyard).... so no harm done.... I'm sure we'll want to do some sort of lessons on snakes - good idea to hit reptiles again! Maybe even do some electronic notebooking while its a hot subject at our house!

I'll talk more about what electronic notebooking (e-notebook) is as we get more into it. Following is a brief description. A homeschooling mother in Arkansas (I think) from the K12 Users Yahoo Group (K12 is the curriculum we use) turned me on to the concept. Basically a theme unit of material, or a book, or any grouped idea can become a notebook. It can be broken into tabbed sections and published to the web and copied to CD as a record of a child's learning... what a fun way to look back on homeschool memories. Each child is provided with a template in a word processing program and they create a learning notebook with that template of their experience with the subject matter. The children use the template as the unit is completed to work into their e-notebook, they write (type) directly answering questions they can scan off-line work that they do, take photos and incorporated it into the e-notebook. I am excited about learning how to use this as a tool for our school environment. One that can be shared so easily and stored forever!

EXCUSE ME: I was just informed that the snake name has changed... according to Brena "the final decision has been made, his/her name is 'Sneaky'".

Well, I'm off to prep for lessons tomorrow and do some work on my website (www.readysafety.com). I also need to put somethings away which impede our full use of the art/craft studio. Goodnight.

Saturday was Shopping Day and Menu Planning = Today is cook ahead

Sun, 28 Aug 2005 10:10:00 -0500

My girls spent the day with their daddy and I spent yesterday planning meals and shopping. What a long day. I have meals planned for the next three weeks - yes I can tell you what we'll have for dinner 21 days from now. The shoppng is done for the next two weeks and mostly for the last week too. I'll just have to pick up fresh fruit and veggies and a tuna steak for the recipes. I enjoy cooking and my children are sophisticated eaters. That's always been important to me and an indication of a cultured person.

Shopping takes a little while as I visit produce stands, bakeries, butcher and several organic sections in "regular supermarkets". I'm not a budget shopper though. Though I plan to purchase from the store that has what I'm looking for. I shop for my pretermined menu. I will pick up meats if they are on sale and that sort of thing... I often wonder how much other families spend on their groceries.

Here's our menu for the week:

Last night we had these great Roast beef and roasted red pepper sandwhiches.... I just pan roasted the red pepper, it was soooo good.... threw on a bunch of fresh spinach, a little watercress, and swiss cheese! I bought a loaf of organic crusty bread (yum).... and made a mayo, dijon, horseradish dressing. It was such a good sandwhich and so filling. We had organic red grapes as a side.

Sunday: Beef and Blue Cheese Salad

Monday: Grilled Portabellos with Advocado Salsa

Tuesday: Thai Chicken Wraps

Wednesday: Taco Salad

Thursday: Grilled Salmon with Herb Crust

Friday: Bacon-Cheeseburger Pizza

Saturday: Southwest Pork Chops with Corn Salsa

Today I will make sausage gravy and biscuits, some to put out and some to put in the freezer. I'll do the same thing with french toast. The bakery has great Texas Toast I'll use. I also need to organize the freezers (probably won't happen today).

I will however launder a mountain! How did I get that far behind? Whew.

I love my washer and dryer. It's that new cool looking one that holds like 15 pairs of jeans. The dryer is done at almost the same time as the wish (sometimes before). So I can kick a big part of laundry out today. I'm doing all the sheets, blankets, comforters too in prep for ..... i don't want to say it..... cooler weather. I washed them before i put them away.... but something about fresh yummy smelling stuff to sleep in...... so I've also dragged down a few sweaters and long pant outfits for the girls to freshen up for them to wear. Next will be my curtains. Most of them can be laundered... I'll use the dryel thingy do's for the rest.

My desk MUST be attended too. I purchased some expandable files and have been being really good about putting things in the proper one and labeling it. I've started a "Special School Days" folder. Current inside right now are labor day and grandparents day sections. I also have a "Phonetic Awareness" one in which I've put some of the A-Z reading booklets i've downloaded and printed as well as notecards to remind me of what othe materials we have which will work with the theme for each section. We are working a lot with long vowel sounds right now... Hannah is reading more fluently every day.... she picks these tools up and uses them like a pro. Brena gets better with each activity.... for her its more like climbing a mountain one rock at a time.

We all have belly aches so no church this morning... hope its nothing that will last too long. I posted and the margin is too small on the left side.... actually there is no margin.... that's bothering me! Was I always this anal?