Our First Lapbook: Ants

We created our first Lapbook today! I am very excited about it and its usefulness in reviewing lessons taught. I wrote down all of G's narrations for the past 3 weeks and used those to caption the pictures.

Thoughts on The Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading

When I discussed my anticipation here, Nina commented that she would be curious as to how I liked The Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading by Jessica Wise. Well... I have mixed reviews. The first 26 lessons of this 231 lesson book start with the short vowel sounds and moves on to the consonants. I like this method, it is what I was doing before I ordered the book. I also like that she suggest teaching children alternate printing of some letters such as what I call fancy a vs ball and stick a because some books will use different styles. What I do not like are the little "poems" to peg the sounds. For example: A is the first vowel we will say. /a/ is the short-vowel sound for A. or Y stands for /y/ in /y/, /y/ yip. Ms. Wise does not want you to peg your letters to pictures of apples or balls but does want you to repeat her poems 5 times a day in their entireties (aeiou, b-z). I skipped the poems and went straight for sound and sight recognition of the letters. My favorite tools for learning letter sounds are Leapfrog's Letter Factory Video, our homemade game Letter Hide and Seek, and creating an ABC book by cut & pasting pictures from magazines.

The remaining lessons are basic phonics lessons and I am very pleased with them. After the first two lessons (27 & 28) Gabe was able to Slo-wl-y read the first Bob Book :Mat. You can move as quickly or as slowly as you need through the lessons. We are going slow and spent a week on these first lessons just to build confidence. Each lesson starts with a review of the last lesson, teaches a new component, and offers follow-up activities. I am very pleased so far.

I had planned for 153 lessons this year but we will not get that done.... there is no hurry. I want G to enjoy learning to read not run the other way. So we will probably spend a few weeks on each short vowel rather than 3-4 days.

MMMMM--AAAAA---TTTTTT: We're Reading!

picture from bobbooks.com

We started formal reading lessons this week... and we can READ!
I am so excited. G is amazed. Daddy is so impressed and Nana & Papa are beaming.
This is a huge step. I can't wait to find out what those silly Mat & Sam do next.

Week Two Math

We started our Math U See lessons this week. They are going really well. The topic is place value... we build , write and read numbers. If you are not familiar with MUS it is a mastery approach rather than a spiral approach to math. So rather than touching on a topic now and moving on to eventually touch on it again, students work on one topic until they master it. By their definition of mastery... able to do the problems independently and correctly, and teach the concept to someone else... we could be done with place value but I think we will stay with it another week to try to work on fitting one and two digit numbers into the Hundreds, Tens, & Units diagram and transference of knowledge. Oh, by the way, the one G is teaching back to isn't me... it's SuperRock pictured there is the bottom corner.
We also started graphing objects this week. G is good at more/ less and sorting. I just need to remember to keep my skill levels on his level and not my old teaching level. It can be tough to be a Kindergarten teacher after teaching 2nd grade and up for so many years.

Carnival of Homeschooling #86

Buzz on over to Homeschoolbuzz for a magical installment of the Carnival.

Ants

We have been reading and learning about ants and bugs this week.
Today we did some observations outside.

One -take a cracker

Two- crumble it up

Three- wait... we ended up with 3 piles. The first pile took 2 minutes and 12 seconds to have any takers. The last two piles didn't have any after 20 minutes. So we discussed the difference in spots and decided that the first was in the shade. So G gave the second pile some shade. After 30 minutes we decided to go in and do some reading for a while.


A while later the feast was on! The pile that got the first quick response was untouched.

Fun at School

As we started school this week I really started to feel bogged down. We were just doing school at home. I know I want to establish a routine and flow but that does not have to be dull. So today we played with our learning a bit. It felt so much better!!!

Carnival of Homeschooling # 85

Stock up on your school supplies and head over to the Treehouse to compare finds!

Welcome to Our Dining er Classroom

We took the leaf out of our dining room table this week to create a place to call school. I think that must be important for me while I create my rhythm because I couldn't get past the need. I included a few creature comforts that I felt really worked with my classroom kids so we went to Lowe's and bought 2 sheets of Georgia Pacific Wainscoting called Mark R Board and 3 pipe insulators to create a wall length bulletin/white board. The board includes...

• The Pledge
• Teaching Calendar
• Place Value Straws
• Teaching Clock
• Money Pics and Plastic coins
• Magnet Board
• 100's Chart
• ABC chart
• USA map
• Continent map
• Room to Write schedules & memory work, etc.
  

We are also using window clings for weather, days, months, color words,
special topics.

I took a bulletin board and put it on top of a student desk to create a discovery space for our special topics (ants & insects this month). The walls are lined with book baskets. It is pretty exciting.
G really loves the Weather Duck and the dry erase markers.


Now to just find that rhythm! I know it's around here somewhere.

First Day of School!

We started school today!!!
It was an altered version but it was school. That is the beauty of homeschool... you can mix it up easily. I was not prepared for the Math U See lesson so we did some number games and a couple simple worksheets. I can't find my phonics text so we placed site word Post-its all over the place. So with these alterations today looked like this...

• Meeting Wall
• Memory Work - phone number
• Placed sight word Post-its (english/ spanish) everywhere
• Math story & coordinating game
• 2 counting worksheets
• Listened and followed along to "I Can Read About Creepy Crawly Creatures"
• Narrated things G remembered about ants
• Read Aloud Countdown to Kindergarten and Donavan's Word Jar ch1

All in all a good first day! Oh, by the way, we started the day at the Eye Doctor for check-ups so it was also G's first eye exam and he learned a lot about pictures taken of the outside and inside of our eyes. BONUS Lesson!

Local Boys Making It Big!!

I went to High School with one of these guys and am so excited for their growing success! It has been a long time coming! They are touring with Toby Keith this year. WOW! Way to Go Brent & Flynnville Train!

If you love country music or know someone who does go get their album Sept 11, 2007. You won't be disappointed!

100 Children's Books

My Friend at Painted Rainbows and Chamomile Tea has found a new book list posted by the NEA. The list is the result of a 2007 parent and teacher survey. Painted Rainbow has invited others to play along by highlighting the ones we've read. Here's my key Me- green, G-purple, Own but Not Read Yet- red, Favorite- Bold Also, I have added some of my favorites at the end.

1. Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White
2. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
3. The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
4. Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
5. Good Night Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
6. I Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch
7. Because of Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
8. Oh! The Places You Will Go by Dr. Seuss
9. The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
10. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
11. Skippyjon Jones by Judy Schachner
12. Thank You Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
13. The Cat In The Hat by Dr. Seuss
14. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
15. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo
16. The Mitten by Jan Brett
17. Crunching Carrots, Not Candy by Judy Slack
18. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willlems
19. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
20. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
21. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
22. Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman
23. Corduroy by Don Freeman
24. Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
25. Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
26. Tacky the Penquin by Helen Lester
27. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
28. The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
29. Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.
30. Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type Doreen Cronin
31. Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
32. Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss
33. Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park
34. Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
35. Make Way For Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
36. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
37. Piggie Pie by Margie Palatini
38. The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
39. The Monster at the End of this Book by Jon Stone
40. The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
41. A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
42. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett
43. From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
44. Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
45. Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
46. Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann
47. Olivia by Ian Falconer
48. The BFG by Roald Dahl
49. The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
50. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
51. The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss
52. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
53. Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel
54. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
55. Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
56. Bunnicula by James Howe
57. The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
58. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
59. Charlie the Caterpillar by Dom DeLuise
60. Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes
61. Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
62. Frederick by Leo Lionni
63. Frindle by Andrew Clements
64. Frog and Toad by Arnold Lobel
65. Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
66. Harris and Me by Gary Paulsen
67. Harry the Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
68. Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss
69. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
70. I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt
71. Is Your Mama A Llama? by Deborah Guarino
72. Jan Brett’s books
73. Knots on a Counting Rope by Bill Martin Jr.
74. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
75. Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
76. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
77. My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
78. My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss
79. My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
80. No David! by David Shannon
81. One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
82. Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
83. Stephanie's Ponytail by Robert Munsch
84. Swimmy by Leo Lionni
85. The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes
86. The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Warner
87. The Dark Is Rising by Susan Cooper
88. The Empty Pot by Demi
89. The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop
90. The Giver by Lois Lowr
91. The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
92. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
93. The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown
94. The Last Holiday Concert by Andrew Clements
95. The Napping House by Audrey Wood
96. The Quiltmaker's Gift by Jeff Brumbeau
97. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
98. The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack
99. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
100. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt

Here are some books I would add to this list:
Did You Carry The Flag Today, Charley? by Rebecca Caudill
Holes by Louis Sachar
Harvey Potter's Balloon Farm by Jerdine Nolen and Mark Buehner
Harriet and the Promised Land by Jacob Lawrence
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson and James Ransome
Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner and Greg Hargreaves

Carnival of Homeschooling #84

The Nerd Family is hosting this weeks Carnival and discusses why they homeschool.

Battle for the Toy Box Contest

The Battle for the Toy Box Contest!
I entered the Battle for the Toy Box Contest
on the HSB Company Porch. I hope to win
over $100 worth of, Tales of Glory, Bible-based toys
from one2believe!!

Take a look at this great contest!

Open House 2007

Tiany over at Less of Me ~More of Him is hosting a Homeschooling Open House from August 1- 15. What a great idea! When I was teaching, I loved open house time. I relished this time to share my plan and objectives for the year. Sooo... Welcome to my dining room er classroom, please help yourself to a snack and feel free to wonder around and take a look while I answer a few questions...

• Hello, I am Teacher of One, a former public school teacher (15 years! Art & 2nd Grade) who is setting out to educate my one and only G (5). This will be our first "official" year of homeschooling but as he has never attended daycare or preschool I suppose I have been homeschooling him since birth.
  

• Our days will be quite relaxed... as they are already. The "goal" is to work from 10-12 on basic lessons but we will use as little or as much time needed to accomplish the lessons. As we have not officially started school, the following are the topics I hope to cover each day. You'll have to check back to see if it really works. LOL
  

Over here are the resources and curricula I plan on using with G this year.

We'll start each day with a Math Meeting, similar to this one, to build skills that are not a part of the MUS concentration.

Math U See will be our spine this year but I also plan to break up the instruction with short unit studies.

Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading & Simple Readers like Bob Books and Starfall will help us learn to read.


Book baskets filled with Read Alouds, Old Friends, & Resources


I hope to cover Community and Holidays in Social Studies this year.


Science will really be G led... nature, experiment books, animals, insects


Gym... play, Y sports, & gymnastics


Games... I plan on breaking up book lessons with play lessons to reinforce skills.


Music and Art will be thrown in at various times throughout the year.

• Advice? Support, support, support! Whether your support is virtual or breathing I cannot say how much it means to connect with those in similar shoes.
  

Thank you for stopping by Boys+ Academy... it was a pleasure meeting you. Make sure you stop by Tiany's for a list of (100+) other classrooms to visit. Oh and she's having door prizes for participants. Bonus!