Monday, April 4, 2016

2016 Reading Challenge!

As I finish up homeschool scheduling for my niece for this year, and continue working on her curriculum for next year, as well as adding in her pre-school age little brother, I am trying to do more reading, myself.  I picked up on a Reading Challenge at the beginning of the year to go along with some books I received for Christmas:

https://peachesandcaffeine.wordpress.com/2016/01/01/2016-reading-challenge/

And I've been dabbling around a little with the website Goodreads.  Here is one of their "Read Harder" challenges for this year, thanks to folks at the New York Public Library:

http://www.nypl.org/blog/2015/12/15/read-harder-challenge

Here is what I have read thus far this year and how I categorized it (and categorization may, of course, vary from person to person):

A Book You Can Finish in a Day:  The Master of the Prado, Javier Sierra




A Book You've Been Meaning to Read:  A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter Miller
(Also fits, for me, with A Book You Should Have Read in School, but I am not going to double count....)




A Book That Was Banned At Some Point:  In Order to Live, Yeonmi Park (banned by North Korea)




And here are other categories I have added to my list and what I've read from those:

A Page Turner!  The Girl on the Train, Paula Hawkins




Non-fiction on Current Events of Interest:  Lights Out, Ted Koppel




Innovative Science:



A Book About War:  Kite Runner, Kaled Hosseini (Finally!  I've been meaning to read it for years - In Order to Live would also fit this bill....)




A Book Containing Absolutely Bizarre Characters:  A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole

(This could also fit with a book published posthumously; a book you should have read in school, etc. and is another I've meant to read for years....)




Next up, to fill the bill for A Book Chosen for You by Your Child, I will be reading Moby Dick (which, for me, could also fit with A Book You Previously Abandoned, lol!)

After that, I will be reading another from a category I added:  A Book That is a Take-off of a Classic - and I will be reading Ahab's Wife, Sena Jeter Naslund.



So, I have 18 total categories, thus far, to try to finish up this year: twelve from the ready-made challenge list I printed off, and another six I added to that.  To date, I have read books for seven of those, and have two more on deck to complete after I finish Confederacy, for a total of nine.  Almost halfway there!

What are you reading this year?

Sunday, February 21, 2016

First Grade, Week 2 Schedule

I haven't posted any of the rest of these this year.  I'm not sure anyone is really interested in them and when using library books, you sort of have to be specific to your own library, so I'm not sure the books I'm requesting for someone in a small town in upstate Minnesota will be helpful to those elsewhere....

Week 2 Comprehensive Schedule

Day 1

Bible (8:00 – 8:15):

Continue as before.

Reading / Phonics (8:15 – 8:35):

Read the next page from PP.  Then, if you have time, look for and make a mini-book that goes with the words she read today.  Or, pull out your phonics flash cards and pick out some of those that are in the same family of words you read today and let her “read” those.

Read-Aloud / Literature (8:35 – 9:05):

Choose lit related books from your science and history readings for this week and read one of each daily (if you have at least 5 of each).  So maybe read “Flash” today, and one of your bug related books, then start on reading mythology tomorrow….  If you run out of books related to history/science, read other classic children’s literature.  Ask her what kind of books these are (fiction).  How is fiction different from non-fiction?  Can some books be a mix of both fiction and non-fiction?  (Yes, lots of informational storybooks are a mix – name some you have read recently….)

Spelling / Writing / Grammar (9:05 – 9:35):
 
Spelling, Lesson 2 - Sounds and Letters O - Z, page 9 - continue sounding out the letters of the alphabet and practicing writing them.

Handwriting, page 6 - practice with letter 'c'

Grammar, FLL, Lesson 6 - proper nouns

Morning Math (9:35 – 9:55):

Today is ________ (help with this, if needed.)  Yesterday was __________.  Friday was the fifth day of school, the end of our first week.  Today is the ______ day of school (help if needed).  This is the beginning of our second week of school.  Add to number scroll.  Write today's date.  Read thermometer.  Record the date and temp, with her repeating it, and let her decide if it is sunny, etc.  Make little cards you can pin up to your board or draw little pictures for sun, rain, etc., each day.  Keep these so that you can graph them at the end of the month! (How many rainy days, how many sunny, cloudy, etc.)

Use Hundred Number Chart.  You will use the tiles that go with it and only use a few of them at first, say up to 20 - 25.  Play "mystery number" game if she is up for it.  Or practice counting every other number (skip counting), counting backwards, etc.

Spanish (9:55 – 10:10):

Look back over SfC Chapter 1 and practice saying all the Spanish words and phrases from that chapter and counting.  Use your number flash cards 1 - 10 from the book and mix them up to practice REALLY learning the numbers - which is different than just being able to repeat them in order!  I had these laminated so hopefully they will last longer (although it makes them slippery! I put them on rings to help control the slippery part….)  And I am sorry that somehow the numbers 1-5 were missing and I had to make cards for those….

Primary Math (10:10 – 10:30):

Textbook, chapter 2 - Number Bonds.  Now you begin working with number bonds or fact families (or whatever else they've been called over time).  It's just your basic facts: 

2 + 0 = 2                                                               
2 + 1 = 3 - - - 1 + 2 = 3 - - - 3 - 1 = 2 - - - 3 - 2 = 1 
2 + 2 = 4
2 + 3 = 5
2 + 4 = 6
2 + 5 = 7 - - - 5 + 2 = 7 - - - 7 – 5 = 2 - - - 7 – 2 = 5 (you get the picture, there are four for each)
2 + 6 = 8
2 + 7 = 9
2 + 8 = 10
2 + 9 = 11
2 + 10 = 12

You get the picture.  Addition Facts, Subtraction Facts, then later Multiplication and Division Facts.  Learning these now makes adding and subtracting much faster and easier, facilitating easier math work later, when problems are more complex (fewer mistakes then, too)....

Do pages 16 through 18, making up stories as you go.  Use your bear counters or other counting items (cotton balls, popsicle sticks, pom-poms, etc., etc) to make up other counting stories regarding the 5 or 6 fact families. 

Do Workbook Exercise 5, page 13.

 
Civics (10:30 – 10:40):

Continue with things from week one.

Math Enrichment (10:40 – 11:00):

Complete Book pages 16 - 17 and 144 - 145.  Use clocks to make the times shown on work pages and practice counting some additionally with money, with you asking questions.

Continue with Pattern Block Book "Explore and Discover" section, using Tangrams for reinforcement and extra work. 

Art / Geography (11:00 – 11:30):

Use your art books (or your own, great ideas!) to create free-form art projects.  Alternate some days with art appreciation, looking at great works and talking about them.  Listen to good children’s songs or great, classical music as you do your art!

Lunch (11:30 – 12:30):

Keep track of any physical activity she does during lunch and note it somewhere for proof purposes.  On rainy, cold days, you might do a little calisthenics or yoga indoors (5-10 minutes is plenty!)  Choose a health related topic (see last week for ideas) to incorporate in lunch prep.  Remember, you really only have to address health a couple of times a week!

History / Science (12:30 – 2:00):

Days 1 and 2

Read SOTW chapter 2 – Egyptians Lived on the Nile River (Old Kingdom)

Usborne, pages 10-13 (covers all periods, so probably read when you start ch. 2 and just comment that you’ll be reading more about Tut, etc. later on)

Read some from How Would You Survive as an Ancient Egyptian? during weeks 2 and 3.  (Read more from this during weeks 12 and 13.)  So probably only one section or “spread” at a time will do it….
 
 

Read any library books you obtained, such as:

The Nile River

Egyptian Myths (if this book is really long, you can read from it at literature time, too)

Flash, Old Dog of Egypt (also fictional, so use for lit)
 
 
 

Look through Crafts from the Past: The Egyptians and perhaps choose one craft project to do each week while you study Egypt (can do more, later, with chapters 12 and 13).



There are coloring and activity pages in the Activity Guide to go with every chapter, including the intro.  Look through those and allow her to do any of them she might like to attempt.  Any time you don’t have other activities to do, you can always pull from these!

Also, always complete the map work for each chapter.  Most are very short and simple to do.  You might look on a larger map to see the area of the world you are talking about (if you have one)….
File your coloring pages and map work, or any other written work, behind tabs in your history notebook.  If you do a separate notebook for history and science (which you will have a lot of stuff for, and perhaps also for art, if you have projects small enough to fit in a notebook, then you can do one big notebook for the written work for all your other subjects….)

Day 2

Bible (8:00 – 8:15):

Continue as before.

Reading / Phonics (8:15 – 8:35):

Read the next page from PP. 
 
You know the drill:  If you have time, look for and make a mini-book that goes with the words she read today. 

Or, pull out your phonics flash cards and pick out some of those that are in the same family of words you read today and let her “read” those. 

Read-Aloud / Literature (8:35 – 9:05):

Choose lit related books from your science and history readings for this week.  If you run out of those, read other classic children’s literature.  Start reading from your Egyptian mythology book today.  I don’t know whether or not it has good pictures, but if it does not, tell her that sometimes we just listen and use our imagination to see the story in our mind instead of looking at pictures someone else has drawn.  Explain to her that mythology is a type of fiction that a group of people make up to try to explain where they came from; what their history was like; how they got where they live in the world; how the world works, such as why there are seasons, why the sun sets and the moon comes up, etc.; how things work, such as how they got the use of fire, etc.  A mythology is a whole set of stories that go together and create an entire, make-believe world.  The “gods” of these stories are usually related to each other, like a family, and interact with each other all the time.  She will see that as you read from the stories.  She will also see that, unlike the one true God, the “gods” of these stories are very imperfect, just like people, and make mistakes, trick each other, or do things that are not so nice on a regular basis….   Probably just one story a day is enough from this book….

Spelling / Writing / Grammar (9:05 – 9:35):

Spelling, page 10 - continue

Handwriting, page 7 - practice with letter 'C'

Grammar, FLL, Lesson 7 - common and proper nouns

Morning Math (9:35 – 9:55):

Today is ________ (help with this, if needed.)  Tomorrow is __________.  Yesterday was the sixth day of school.  Today is the ______ day of school (help if needed).  Add to number scroll.  Write today's date.  Read thermometer.  Record the date and temp, with her repeating it, and let her decide if it is sunny, etc.

Use Hundred Number Chart.  Play "mystery number" game if she is up for it.  Or practice counting every other number (skip counting), counting backwards, etc.

Spanish (9:55 – 10:10):

Practice all the Spanish songs you are learning right now.  Pull out any of the introduction and greeting flash cards (laminated) that have been introduced and practice with those, perhaps introducing little brothers, stuffed animals; telling them hello; telling them your name, etc., all in Spanish.

Primary Math (10:10 – 10:30):

Textbook page 19.  Workbook exercise 6, page 14.  Use your counters to make stories about the 7 fact family. 
 
Civics (10:30 – 10:40):

Continue with ideas from last week.

Enrichment Math (10:40 – 11:00):

Complete Book pages 18 - 19 and 146 - 147.  Use clocks to make the times shown on work pages and practice counting some additionally with money, with you asking questions.

Continue with Pattern Block Book "Explore and Discover" section, using Tangrams for reinforcement and extra work. 

Art / Geography (11:00 – 11:30):

Continue with an art project while listening to music.

Lunch (11:30 – 12:30):

Remember to note anything done toward P.E. and health.

History / Science (12:30 – 2:00):

Continue with books from yesterday!  Catch up with any coloring, map work, etc. from your activity book or use your Egyptian crafts booklet to create Egyptian themed crafts.

Day 3

Bible (8:00 – 8:15):

Continue as before.

Reading / Phonics (8:15 – 8:35):

Read the next page from PP. 

You know the drill:  If you have time, look for and make a mini-book that goes with the words she read today. 

Or, pull out your phonics flash cards and pick out some of those that are in the same family of words you read today and let her “read” those. 

Read-Aloud / Literature (8:35 – 9:05):

Choose lit related books from your science and history readings.  If you run out of those, read other classic children’s literature.  

Continue reading some from your Egyptian mythology book today.  Review with her what “mythology” means and how it is a type of fictional story – BUT, when you go to the library to check out books on mythology, fairy tales, or folk lore, you will find those books in the NON-fiction section!  Why on earth is that?  It is because, traditionally, for hundreds or even thousands of years, the people who told these stories believed that they were either true (and some of the mythologies related to the religion of certain peoples, like the Egyptians and their gods), or they at least believed that some parts of the stories were true.  That is why we still find them listed with NON-fiction, even though we now understand that they are fictional stories!

Spelling / Writing / Grammar (9:05 – 9:35):

Spelling, page 11 - continue

Handwriting, page 8 - practice with letter 'd'

Grammar, FLL, Lesson 8 - common and proper nouns (As I said, you can modify and do your own common and proper noun work from things in your community such as place names, store names, etc. or do a scavenger hunt around your house for certain nouns that start with a certain letter, etc.  You don't have to do as much repetition as they do.  You can expand a little on the topic....  Pick nouns out of a story, etc. )

Morning Math (9:35 – 9:55):

Today is ________ (help with this, if needed.)  Yesterday was __________.  Yesterday was the seventh day of school.  Today is the ______ day of school (help if needed).  Add to number scroll.  Write today's date.  Read thermometer.  Record the date and temp, with her repeating it, and let her decide if it is sunny, etc.  Practice all ordinals to date:  first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth (line up counters and count them to do this, or stuffed animals, etc.)

Use Hundred Number Chart.  Play "mystery number" game if she is up for it.  Or practice counting every other number (skip counting), counting backwards, etc.

Spanish (9:55 – 10:10):

Workbook practice in Complete Book:  pages 10-11.  Here is some geometry (and religion) work, too.  Teach her to make easy stars by drawing one triangle upside down over another.  Point out that this has 6 points, rather than the five in the picture, but is simpler to draw.  Point out that both stars and triangles are called "geometric shapes" in math and that the six-pointed star has traditionally always been used by those of the Jewish faith.

Count out loud in Spanish for the matching page!






Primary Math (10:10 – 10:30):

Textbook page 20.  Workbook exercise 7, page 15.  Use your counters to make stories about the 8 fact family.
 
Civics (10:30 – 10:40):

Continue from last week….

Math Enrichment (10:40 – 11:00):

Complete Book pages 20 - 21 and 148 - 149.  Use clocks to make the times shown on work pages and practice counting some additionally with money, with you asking questions. (You make eight o’clock on your clock – can you show me two hours later?  You have 15 cents counted out.  Can you show me how much you will have if you add five more cents to that?)
 
 
Continue with Pattern Block Book, using Tangrams for reinforcement and extra work. 


Art / Geography (11:00 – 11:30):

Art is finished for the week, now do geography the next two days.  Work out from your home state but continue with other states in the Midwest region, which are more familiar to her.  Do Iowa next, since that’s where the grands all live.  On this first day, look at your Atlas, pages 94 – 95 and read over the info, identifying all the different icons around the state.  This is a big farming state, as she will see!

Choose from library books related to Iowa:

Bob Artley’s Book of Farm Chores
 

Bob Artley’s Seasons on the Farm (both of these are longer, but I thought you could look at pictures and read descriptions on those, etc. rather than trying to read the whole book – we did that a lot in the younger years….)

Charlie Young Bear

Cora Frear…

Dewey (I think she will LOVE this!)
 
Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library!

Iowa – 3 titles

George Washington Carver

Lunch (11:30 – 12:30):

Remember to note any P.E. activity (and health, if not completed yesterday)….

History / Science (12:30 – 2:00):

You are finished with history for the week, so the next two days are for science!

Read from your Encyclopedia on butterflies and moths if you have entries for those.  Again, take about 30 minutes to read, another 30 to work on worksheets and projects or experiments, then 30 minutes outdoor time to look for the insect, sketch it, etc.  Monarchs may migrate through your area in fall.  Try to find out when is the best time to watch for them!

Library books:

What’s the Difference Between a Butterfly and a Moth?

Monarch Butterflies

From Egg to Butterfly

From Caterpillar to Butterfly

Caterpillars and Butterflies

Butterflies in the Garden

Are you a Butterfly?

Waiting for Wings (for lit)



I Wish I Were a Butterfly (for lit?)

I also happened to still have a couple of books:  DK Eyewitness Explorers Butterflies and Moths and DK Bugs!  So I am sending those along to you.  And I'm sure you already have books at home that are about bugs.  I would just gather all those together in one place so you can grab them when you need them.  It's always good to have some books at home in case you can't get to the library or the books you want don't come in on time, etc.
 
                                        
 

With butterfly study, complete page 76 of The Complete Book of Science.  Make a butterfly life cycle booklet - pages 77 - 83 (over the course of several days, as you study butterflies and moths)....

Practice your memory work (use the Wee Sing to help with that!)  Go outside to try to find any later caterpillars or butterflies.  I’m sure some of your activity/experiment books will have ideas for making moth bait to lure moths overnight, too.  See if you can see some after dark!

also sent you a folder with some insect activities in it and it includes a coloring sheet and some activities for butterflies, so check those out!  Some of those are math related or language arts related, so can be used during those periods of the day, too, while you are studying insects!

Day 4

Bible (8:00 – 8:15):

Continue as before.

Reading / Phonics (8:15 – 8:35):

Read the next page from PP. 

mini-book or phonics flash cards as reinforcement and let her read those 

Read-Aloud / Literature (8:35 – 9:05):

Choose lit related books from your science and history readings.  If you run out of those, read other classic children’s literature. 

Continue reading some from your Egyptian mythology book today, if it is a decent book for her age.  It’s hard for me to tell that when I can’t see inside it…. 

Spelling / Writing / Grammar (9:05 – 9:35):

Spelling, page 12 - continue

Handwriting, page 9 - practice with letter 'D'

Grammar, FLL, Lesson 9  - introducing picture narration - later in the year, when you start working in Primary Language Lessons, you will have lots of this type of work.  Again, it is important for her to speak in complete sentences (sentences that contain both a noun or pronoun and a verb), rather than the clipped way we often speak aloud....

Morning Math (9:35 – 9:55):

Today is ________ (help with this, if needed.)  Tomorrow is __________.  Yesterday was the eighth day of school.  Today is the ______ day of school (help if needed).  Add to number scroll.  Write today's date.  Read thermometer.  Record the date and temp, with her repeating it, and let her decide if it is sunny, etc.

Use Hundred Number Chart.  Play "mystery number" game if she is up for it.  Or practice counting every other number (skip counting), counting backwards, etc.  Add a few more tiles, if she seems ready – say up to 30, total….

Spanish (9:55 – 10:10):

Work with the number flash cards from the flash card sets I sent you for something different.  I have them separated into units by labeling them and rubber banding them together.  Go through first showing the side with the picture and name and having her repeat it.  You can do these in order.  Then, later on in the year,  go through, mixing them up and show her only the side with the word in Spanish as you say it, letting her tell you what it means in English.

I have also included cards for 11 and 12, so add those in at this time, as well.  (Don't know how much Spanish you know:  "once" is not pronounced like our 'once' - you say it with a short 'o', as in the word "on" and the 'c' is soft, like an 's' - so "on - say" and 12 is said like "doe - say," with a long 'o'....

I also added in the cards for star and triangle (also circle and butterfly, since you are working with those things right now).  Just type in the words and "pronunciation" online to hear them said aloud in Spanish if you need that (true for any word these days)....  I'm sure you already know that, lol....

Primary Math (10:10 – 10:30):

Textbook page 21.  Workbook exercise 8 and 9, pages 16 and 17 (help with writing word at bottom of 16 if she needs it).  Use your counters to make stories about the 9 and 10 fact families. 

Civics (10:30 – 10:40):

Continue

Math Enrichment (10:40 – 11: 00):

Complete Book pages 22 - 23 and 150 - 152.  You are beginning to add in nickels now, too.  Use clocks to make the times shown on work pages and practice counting some additionally with money, with you asking questions.

Continue with Pattern Block Book, using Tangrams for reinforcement and extra work. 

Art / Geography (11:00 – 11:30):

Continue with books from yesterday for geography.  Keep you Atlas map open and point out places you read about in the books, etc.

Lunch (11:30 – 12:30):

Remember to record any P.E. or health data, as needed….

History / Science (12:30 – 2:00):

Read about Ants from your Encyclopedia, if there is an entry for them. 

Ants (socialism; division of labor - same with honey bees, too)

Library books:

Bugs in the Garden

The Magic School Bus:  Bugs, Bugs, Bugs
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Tiny Workers:  Ants in Your Backyard

Ant Cities

Ants

Are you an Ant?

The Ants go Marching (for lit)

In the Tall, Tall Grass (for lit)
 

Here's an ant lapbook, too:  http://www.homeschoolshare.com/ant_lapbook.php

If you don't want to do an entire lapbook, but do like some of the mini-books in it for info purposes, you can just do those mini-books and paste them onto notebook pages (or scrapbook pages) and place in the science notebook - or make a poster display of them, etc.  Print out any elements you might want from this.  You will also need a manila folder or two for the cover(s).

Go out and look for ants, draw them, etc. (Fingerprint ants are cute!)  I included a folder with ideas for fingerprint bugs and animals for you!

On Friday, catch up, work on drawing, doing origami or crafts related to various insects studied. Practice memory work.  Do more experiments with bugs, etc.

Day 5

Bible (8:00 – 8:15):

Continue as before.

Reading / Phonics (8:15 – 8:35):

Read the next page from PP. 

mini-book or phonics flash cards as reinforcement and let her read those 

Read-Aloud / Literature (8:35 – 9:05):

Choose lit related books from your science and history readings.  If you run out of those, read other classic children’s literature. 

Continue reading some from your Egyptian mythology book today, if it’s a good one. 

Spelling / Writing / Grammar (9:05 – 9:35):

Spelling - I would once again choose one of the rhyming word families she has read in phonics this week and use about 5 of those words to create a spelling list, allowing her to spell out loud if necessary.  Just note what you did.  For instance, the -at family:  cat, rat, fat, bat, mat.

Sound out each letter of each word slowly as you say it to help her spell it and stop her immediately if she starts to spell it incorrectly.

Review "Trouble Word" list, if any and add to it.  Practice any words from last week that are on it, emphasizing sounds that might have been missed last time, etc.

Handwriting, page 10 - practice with letter 'e'

Grammar, FLL, Lesson 10 - proper nouns  - I can't recall whether these books have a place for the students to write or not, but if you don't want her to write in the book, then do your exercises on paper and just put the date and page number from FLL so you know what the work refers to later.  OR, just do the work orally and note that somewhere!

Morning Math (9:35 – 9:55):

Today is ________ (help with this, if needed.)  Yesterday was __________.  Yesterday was the ninth day of school.  Today is the ______ day of school (help if needed).  Add to number scroll.  Write today's date.  Read thermometer.  Record the date and temp, with her repeating it, and let her decide if it is sunny, etc.

Use Hundred Number Chart.  Play "mystery number" game if she is up for it.  Or practice counting every other number (skip counting), counting backwards, etc.

Spanish (9:55 – 10:10):

Do the "Checklist," which is a sort of little test, from SfC.  Re-read the little cartoon together as a reward, acting it out.

Primary Math (10:10 – 10:30):

Textbook page 22.  Workbook exercise 10, pages 18 - 20. 
 
Civics (10:30 – 10:40):

Continue

Math Enrichment (10:40 – 11:00):

Complete Book pages 24 - 25 and 153 - 154.  Use clocks to make the times shown on work pages and practice counting some additionally with money, with you asking questions.

Continue with Pattern Block Book, using Tangrams for reinforcement and extra work. 

Lunch and catch up, more reading, extra experiments, and more outdoor time!
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