Oct. 8, 2008 - A Cricket

Ariel is reading The Cricket in Times Square and doing the Total Language Plus guide with it this fall.  She found a cricket in the yard so we kept it for a day.

The fun of this was that we talked about a lot of the story and her vocabulary words because she was holding and observing an actual cricket.  It wasn’t planned it just happened.  I love it when school works out that way!  I did ask her if she wanted to build a pagoda for it, she declined.

This is Ariel’s first study guide from the 4^th and 5^th grade “category” (*see note below.)  I’ve been very pleased with her transition from the younger (3rd and 4th grade) guides.

Some of the differences:

1) Going from copy work to dictations

2) Grammar moving from being taught to reinforced

3) More and stronger Critical Thinking (called personal thinking questions)

4) More involved enrichments

5) Scripture relevance paragraphs

Here is her very first scripture relevance paragraph.

I think the verses have to do with The Cricket in Times Square because Chester was brave.  He was not very afraid.  He did not want for much.  He was guided safely across that period of time.  He over all was very brave and God protected him.

Okay, now she started way too many sentences with “he” and used I but she was asked to show how her dictations from Psalm 23 related to the story.  I think she did an excellent job for her very first time at this.  It took her a few minutes to get the idea as we discussed it but she got it done without any help from me.  We have also been working on restating the question which she did successfully.

Do we correct the mistakes?  Personally I think no, not this time.  It’s her first attempt and I want to praise her for completing the assignment correctly and independently.  We’ll work on those other things in future assignments once she’s more confident. 

With correction we have to sometimes remember they are learning and not everything needs to be completely corrected or even re-written.  I cringe to think everything I ever write would be critiqued and would need to be corrected and re-written.  Of course, some assignments need to be taken to that level and “polished” till they shine but they need practice too.  I want my kids to enjoy writing not hate it.

Gina

*Total Language Plus is not a grade level program however there are “suggested categories” in their brochures which breaks the guides into; 3^rd and 4^th, 5^th and 6^th, 6^th-8^th, 7^th-9^th etc…  In the “notes” section by each novel additional grades are given that would also be appropriate. Click on Total Language Plus in the links at right to see the website for more information.

For instance the last book my daughter did in the “3^rd + 4^th” section was Charlotte’s Web.  Ariel did it in 4^th grade but in the notes it’s suggested 3rd-5^th.  She’s doing Cricket now which is in the 5^th and 6^th grade section but the brochure suggests 4^th -5^th grade.

The bottom line, don’t get hung up on grade level.  There is a lot of flexibility in the guides especially once you get to the 4^th and 5^th grade section.  When we did The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (which is recommended 4^th-6^th) my oldest was 7^th.  There was still plenty to challenge him and we just chose the more advanced recommendations under the enrichments section.

Oct. 13, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Oct. 13, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Nov. 12, 2008 - Cricket Humor