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
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
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.
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
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
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.
I’ve decided to link up with my teaching/blogging/TPT friend Emily for her new weekly linky about mentor texts. This week’s topic is about writing about the small moments. This is simply a perfect subject for me for this week because I’ve been planning on talking about “binoculars” in our co-op this week: making sure our
I have struggled to decide what book to feature for word choice this week. I’ll try to think of more for next week. One that comes to mind is Falcon by Tim Jessell. In this book, the narrator, a child, dreams he is a falcon soaring through the sky. Before I talk about words, let
It’s time for another Six Traits Sunday with Comprehension Connection! Voice is the topic this week. When I teach this at co-op, I may bring in books by the same author and talk about how the author’s show their voice: Lois Ehlert, Denise Fleming, Jan Brett, Byron Barton, Mo Willems. They all are distinct in
A fellow blogger is hosting a weekly blog hop for the next six weeks about the 6 Traits (TM). Since I am going to be teaching the 6 Traits in my K-4 homeschool co-op this fall, I am very excited about this! Each week, we are to explain a book that we feel does a
