We created our own mail center in our schoolroom and play room because my kids love getting the mail. They love to send letters to friends, teachers, and grandparents. They love to send and receive mail. I made some monster post cards to help us practice writing, addressing, and sending mail. Of course, these aren’t […]
Logic of English Foundations
A few weeks ago, I overheard my kindergartner talking to his baby sister. “Are you an i, u, v, or j?” he was saying in his sweetest voice. “Because if you are, you cannot come at the end of an English word!” This he repeated a few times over the next few minutes as he […]
A Picture Book Lesson to Teach Metaphors in Poetry
I’ve been creating units for kindergarten using picture books to introduce the poetic concepts of rhythm, rhyme, and metaphor. Today I thought I’d write about another picture book that would help in teaching older children about metaphors in poetry: Red Sings from Treetops by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski.
Easy Ways to Practice Spanish with Picture Books
We have not done a formal study of Spanish this summer. But, I did not want to lose all that we have studied in the past year. So, it has been fun to pull out a Spanish picture book every now and then. We are blessed with a local library with lots of Spanish language picture books. Seeing […]
Goal Setting Compare Contrast Writing
In Tia Isa Wants a Car and A Chair for My Mother, kids work towards earning money for a goal. Although they are very different stories, the goals of the main characters make them perfect for a lesson in comparing and contrasting. The ultimate goal setting lesson from these books is also a great character […]
Crackers! Holiday Compound Words
Holiday “crackers” are getting more and more popular in the USA, so we had fun with holiday compound words by putting the broken “crackers” together during our hands-on Language Art lesson.
Duck Craftivity
Since my daughter likes ducks so much, I decided to do some mini-units on ducks. One thing I decided to do was prepare a small craft and writing (“craftivity”) for us to enjoy!
Strong Reading
My son is strong reader, so I’ve decided to institute a “strong reading” project each week to make sure he practices those skills he’s developed. You see, although my son is reading at a 4th grade level, he is still gravitating toward lower reading level books. For example, he’s still rereading The Magic Tree House […]
Figurative Language, Similes and Metaphor
This week’s Mentor Monday (a link up feature at The Reading Tutor/OG blog) is about using text to help teach figurative language. I realize I am a day late this week, but I am very excited about this topic and have a few perfect books to highlight similes and metaphors.
Three Lively Leads: Writing Ideas
The students in my co-op writing class (who are in first to fourth grade) really struggle with starting a story. For the most part, every story starts with “Once there was….” and goes from there. “Once upon a time…” is a close second. I cannot get them to think outside of the box. So we […]