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. I also created monster postcard templates to help them practice everything from early writing skills to addressing postcards and learning the parts of a letter. Of
Part of learning to construct sentences is recognizing the parts of speech. When students have an understanding of the parts of speech and grammar, they can better express themselves in both writing and speech. Students can understand how sentences are composed and why they are as they are. Students can recognize mistakes, especially as they
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
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. Holiday Crackers for Compound Words When our family spent a year in Australia (my oldest was born there), my favorite part of the familiar holiday season
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. It is a challenge to get them to think outside of the
Language Arts usually consists of a few subcategories, including handwriting, reading, and writing. Following a Charlotte Mason-style for teaching language arts is a gentle way to approach the subjects required. Even just reading great books and writing thoughts about them is a great start! Handwriting for children consists of either print or cursive practice. I
English language arts is the overarching title given to a variety of learning subjects, including spelling and phonics, reading and comprehension, and writing and grammar. Here are some ways to integrate ELA learning in your homeschool.
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
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.
To my surprise, a number of homeschooling friends have expressed anxiety about teaching language arts: writing, spelling, reading. Because I love language arts and I love reading books about these things, I’ve set up this list of must-read books for those preparing to teach language arts to little learners. I love teaching my kids language
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
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.
