Books: Seedfolks

I read this lovely little book today while G worked on his school work. It is so simple and sweet. You could use it to study immigration, community, gardening, urban area, first person... Each chapter is written in the voice of a person in a Cleveland neighborhood. It is a depressed, drug ridden area. One day a girl plants a few lima beans in a vacant lot in remembrance of her deceased father. This small act causes a ripple effect resulting a huge community garden. I enjoyed this book so much and G was amazed that I could finish it before he finished his work.

Grammar-Land

It amazes me how much G enjoys this book. He asks for it to be read and applies what we have covered to other areas of school. You can buy a copy of this 1877 book from Amazon and other retailers as well as read it online at Google Books. I would like to thank Jessica, whoever you are, for creating worksheets to go with each chapter. You can find those sheets here.

IEW: The Beginning

Ugh…. I did not expect this to be so hard! As I have written previously, I hopped off of the fence and purchased IEW Student Intensive A. I thought this video class would make learning to write so much easier. But I am not an 8-year-old boy who doesn’t like to put pencil to paper. G is awesome orally, which is how we do most tasks. So these writing lessons are as much about the physical act of writing as the process of composition.

I do have to say; he is enjoying the lessons and would have no complaints if I would be his scribe. Because of this I have had to alter MY timeline from two compositions a week to one. This seems to be a good compromise.

I have to say that Pudewa has picked excellent topics for the kids to write about. And if you have ever heard him speak, he is definitely reaching for those kids who would rather be building forts. The initial video lesson and subsequent practices are on the topics: Sea Snakes, Desert Tarantulas, and Pillbugs.

Pudewa walks the students (yours and in studio) step by step through the process; reading of the text, picking three words from every sentence to form a keyword outline, testing the outline to see if you can create a sentence, and finally putting away the original story and writing an essay from your outline.

G enjoyed Pudewa’s humor and trying to come up with same keywords he suggested. It was almost a game. He also liked the “help” hand signals Pudewa used for classroom management… quite funny since G is my only. I also got my first “That’s not what he said”. giggle

Shakespeare in Third Grade

This year we are starting the year by finishing up Story of the World 2. One of the final chapters is about William Shakespeare. I am using this chapter as a jumping point into a survey of his work.

I have to admit that I love to listen to and watch Shakespeare but cannot seem to read it. I cannot get the rhythm and stumble over the language. It is so laborious the meaning is lost. Thank goodness for children’s versions. I hope that gradual exposure will help G to understand the stories so that when he grows up and reads the originals it will be easier.

I started looking into Shakespeare after two blog friends posted about their chosen resources and studies.

Dana

Jimmie, here and here

I would never have thought of looking at Shakespeare in elementary school. But G is enjoying the stories and it is fun to see his face when he recognizes a phrase or situation that has become part of pop culture.

After sifting through all the resources I could get my hands on these are the ones we are using…

Shakespeare Paper Doll

Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare: here and here

Tales from Shakespeare

You Tube: BBC Animated Shakespeare

Reading

One of my goals for G this year is that by the end of the year he will sit down and read a Magic Tree House size book on his own for pleasure. To build him up for this, he selects a book or two from a pile of books I have selected. We started the school year with simple easy readers and are getting progressively longer and more wordy. He has read almost 60 books in 9 weeks. Right now he is reading a Pokemon series I have been collecting at Goodwill & Paperback Swap.

He wanted you to see the pages.

On another reading note...
I find myself having conversations with other Mom's about teaching reading. And my constant response is what is your purpose/ goal. "Hmmm, I never thought of that", they say. We do several types of reading each day and each has a different purpose.

Basal Readers- fluency, confidence, new vocabulary, correctness
Explode the Code- phonetic solidification, independent work
Independent Reading- confidence, pleasure
Book Adventure- comprehension
Read Aloud- joy

Disney Reading List

This Summer (and a little last fall) we have been reading through the list of original source material for Disney movies in anticipation for our Disney Vacation in the Fall. Here are the titles we have enjoyed thus far...

Snow White by the Brothers Grimm's
Pinocchio: Tale of a Puppet by Carlo Collodi
The Reluctant Dragon (1898) by Kenneth Grahame
Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris
Cinderella by Brothers Grimm
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
Sleeping Beauty by Brothers Grimm
The Story of Robin Hood by Pyle
Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
The Sword in the Stone, by T.H. White
The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling
Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
Basil of Baker Street by Eve Titus
The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
James and the Giant Peach by Raul Dahl
Tarzan of the Apes by Robert D. San Souci
Chicken Little by Steven Kellogg
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
A Day with Wilbur Robinson, by William Joyce


Waiting on the Night Stand...
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne
The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
The Book of One Thousand and One Nights
Miss Bianca by Margery Sharp
Rascal by Sterling North
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving

Thunder Cake

With all of the wet weather here in the Midwest, We have had our share of nerve racking thunder & lighting. So I brought out one of my favorite books Patricia Polacco's Thunder Cake. G really enjoyed learning how to count the distance of a storm by the seconds between the lighting and thunder. Then we made a thunder cake. I have never baked a cake from scratch and that was the only bonus for making this one because G said it just tastes like cake. Oh well.

Real Books at Last

G read some real books all alone!!!
WooHoo!!!

Dolch Words

Look at these BEAUTIFUL dolch lists illustrated by Jan Brett! I am going to print them out and have G start working on them. He knows a lot of the ones pictured above. He is really trying to sound things out but when all you know is short vowels it gets a little frustrating. We love Jan Brett books and looking at her illustrated lists will be a joy for us. I am also going to try out the site Dolch Words and see what it has to offer.

New Web Discovery

Have you discovered this site... Daily Lit?
I tried to find who lead me to it so I could link her description but between Bloglines and Carnival of Homeschooling I couldn't find it again. Anywho, It is an email service that sends you short, less than 5 minute, reads of copyright free books FREE (there are a few paid ones but I never saw one). For example I started The Adventures of Tom Sawyer last night, it is 90 parts. So part one came to my email, I read it, and if I wanted to read more I could have clicked send next installment now or since I didn't I waited until today for the next day for it to come automatically. So it could take me 12 weeks or less to read Tom Sawyer. I am sure that sounds like forever to some people but for me who NEVER reads for pleasure... I am so excited! There are 20 books listed in the Children's Category... Twain, Baum, Grimm, Carroll.. just to name a few. I am really excited to read everything in this section!

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.

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

More thoughts from Water Horse

The conclusion of Dick King-Smith's The Water Horse did not disappoint. It was a fanciful tale which left us with many new creatures and vocabulary to research.

Scotland
loch

red grouse
heron
otter

sardines
herring

curling stone

rockfish
blennies
gobies
dabs
green crab
pink starfish
mussels

The Water Horse

We started a fantastic new book last night... The Water Horse by Dick King-Smith. We got this book from the Library because we saw a preview for the movie at the theatre last week and it looked really interesting. We had read Smasher last winter by King-Smith and it was OK but not one of G's favorites so I wasn't sure how this one would go. The first chapter is wonderful with one of the best cliffhangers ever! Kirstie and her family go out beach combing after a huge storm and she finds an odd pod. Thinking it may be a mermaids purse, she sneaks it up to the house under some kelp. Being too big for a bucket Kirstie sneaks it into the house before bed and fills the tub with water and a whole container of salt. In the morning before opening the bathroom door she hears splashing and a strange noise.... she peers through the key hole. END OF CHAPTER ONE.
It has been a long time since G has BEGGED to continue a story... If he could read I think he would have ripped the book out of my hands.

The Chapter also left us with some great things to research and discuss....
Dogfish
Mermaids purse
Kelp

I cannot wait to read the next chapter tonight!