I just realized I'm behind in these. Again. I don't know how this keeps happening...
School just started here which means Scooby-Doo will soon start speech therapy. I have no clue when he will, he has a new speech therapist and a new developmental/pre-k therapist in new offices so I'm waiting for the school to contact me. Hopefully they will no later than the second week of September. That gives them three weeks to get settled in... Meanwhile, for schoolwork he's doing the same as always. Numbers, letters, coloring, and some logic (these two weeks it was just shapes). He's doing good and he's still a chatter box.
Optimus Prime is still doing physical therapy. Like I said last post, his right leg is longer than his left, causing stress on his hips which he tries to adjust to by turning his feet in. His feet will probably always turn in, but through physical therapy he should learn to turn them out more.
English was still just reading comprehension. Math was reviewing subtraction, place value, fractions (which they love), counting money (they also love that), and telling time. The book they are working on is a book to supposedly bridge 1st and 2nd grade math. Mostly it's just 1st grade math. We'll be done with it soon. Spelling these two weeks were "short a" words, just like last time. (Well, last time had number words too.)
We started a new project for Art that I'm going to post about soon. More on that when I finally get my post up.* Sign Language was all review. I'm not sure that we're going to be doing any new words anytime soon. In Religion we covered Ilmatar and Hestia/Vesta. I forgot to tell you about Geography last time. Not sure how that happened, however all three weeks of Geography covered the theme of "The World" so I guess it doesn't matter that I didn't mention it until today. We did Handwriting, of course, and they had fun with hidden pictures for Logic. In Science we finished learning about Farm Animals and moved on to Favorite Pets.
As for Reading, unless he's having a bad day Optimus Prime is doing AMAZING. He's still working on level 1 and level 2 books. Bumblebee has moments where he has a major breakthrough then he immediately reverts again. It's very frustrating. But I'm sure he'll get it down sometime in the next 6 months. Meanwhile, I'm thinking Optimus Prime might be ready for chapter books in the next six months...
That's all I got for these two weeks!
* The post has already been put up.
Saturday, September 20, 2014
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Book Project Part 1
This quarter for our Art projects we are doing something different. We're making a "book".
Now, these are all shots of my book. Why not my kids? Their books aren't finished yet! Once they are I'll do a part two post at the end of this quarter and show off their awesome books!
The idea came about because we have a TON of scrapbooking paper, and I don't scrapbook any more. So, what to do with all that sturdy paper? Make a book, of course!
It was pretty easy. All we did was pick out prints that we liked and glued them together to make a page. Then we did the same to make (matching) covers.
Then we whole punched the book and ran some yarn through to make the spine. Like I said, SUPER easy. (Actually, I said "pretty easy" but you get my point.)
We then picked a theme for our books, and either drew pictures (Bumblebee) for it or searched the internet (me & Optimus Prime) for pictures to print up and color.
My theme was Freya, however I also printed up Frigga and Aphrodite pictures as well sticking with the whole "love goddess" theme.
Now, these are all shots of my book. Why not my kids? Their books aren't finished yet! Once they are I'll do a part two post at the end of this quarter and show off their awesome books!
Monday, September 8, 2014
Concept Week #15: Prehistoric/Early Humans
This unit was sort of a part two to our last dinosaurs unit. After learning about dinosaurs for three straight months, it led to the question, "What about early people?"
Unfortunately, I could not find any worksheets to do along with this unit. Everyone had websites up filled with information but no one had any worksheets or activities related to this topic. Their reading level isn't quite good enough for me to write up fill-in-the-blank worksheets or anything similar so we just went without. It was very frustrating. In the end I couldn't think of a project to do either, so all we did was read our book about it and discuss the things in the book. We read Eyewitness Books: Early Humans which covered topics like Homo Erectus and Homo Neanderthalensis moving into modern human tribes spreading out across the world. We learned about early tribes (and even current tribes) on the continents as well as hunting and gathering and early forms of money. We covered the Bronze Age and the Iron Age as well as writing an burial practices. It was a very good book for a topic that not much information exists on.
It wasn't the type of unit they were used to, but future units (in later on grades) will look more like this with just a textbook and discussions. In the end we learned new things, and that's all that matters.
Unfortunately, I could not find any worksheets to do along with this unit. Everyone had websites up filled with information but no one had any worksheets or activities related to this topic. Their reading level isn't quite good enough for me to write up fill-in-the-blank worksheets or anything similar so we just went without. It was very frustrating. In the end I couldn't think of a project to do either, so all we did was read our book about it and discuss the things in the book. We read Eyewitness Books: Early Humans which covered topics like Homo Erectus and Homo Neanderthalensis moving into modern human tribes spreading out across the world. We learned about early tribes (and even current tribes) on the continents as well as hunting and gathering and early forms of money. We covered the Bronze Age and the Iron Age as well as writing an burial practices. It was a very good book for a topic that not much information exists on.
It wasn't the type of unit they were used to, but future units (in later on grades) will look more like this with just a textbook and discussions. In the end we learned new things, and that's all that matters.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
Concept Week #14: Life Cycles
This Concept Week was super easy, however the boys loved it so I have no complaints. Actually, Optimus Prime picked out this unit. I was at www.education.com trying to figure out what we wanted to do when he saw a sheet where you glue pictures of frog eggs, tadpoles, and adults into the correct order. He wanted to do it so I spent the day printing up a TON of sheets. They had coloring sheets as well as gluing sheets. They covered plants (corn, pumpkin, etc.), animals (reptiles, amphibians, fish, birds, and mammals - including humans), and bugs (lots and lots and LOTS of bugs!).
Like I said, some sheets were for coloring, some were for gluing, and there was some overlap in them (grasshoppers and butterflies, for example, had a coloring and a gluing page). It covered how life starts as an egg (either inside a mammal or laid somewhere) then turns to a hatched (or birthed) baby, which ultimately grows into an adult who has more babies.
Was it a very basic concept for second graders? Yes. I think even for first graders (though that was the heading I found the sheets under). But they enjoyed it, even if it was easy, and they were excited to learn some of the interesting facts that went along with some of the pages. We had never really covered the idea of death before in our schoolwork - beyond talking about mummies - so we got to go over that a bit too. Eventually the mommies & daddies stop having babies, and as the babies grow the mommies & daddies age and begin to die. This happens sooner in the world of bugs than animals, but it still happens. We also talked about how some animals (and pretty much all bugs to the best of my knowledge) lay their eggs and leave. They don't stick around to raise the babies like mammals (especially people) do.
So, we got to cover a few different themes with this unit.
We did not have a project. I really couldn't think of an appropriate one to do, and they had so many cutting and gluing pages to do that I felt like we really didn't need one.
On the flip side we did have two books to go with this unit. I was fairly certain we had a Magic School Bus book that covered life cycles, but I couldn't find it. I did, however, find two other Magic School Bus books that covered the topic. The Magic School Bus Goes Upstream: A Book About the Salmon Migration and The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds: A Book About How Living Things Grow. The first one obviously covers the salmon migration. But, in case you don't know, the salmon go upstream to lay their eggs then they leave them. The eggs hatch and the babies find their way home. The second one covers plants going from seed to plant to seed again. We had already read the second one for our kindergarten Concept Week on gardening, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to read it again.
So there we go, our first 2nd grade Concept Week!
Like I said, some sheets were for coloring, some were for gluing, and there was some overlap in them (grasshoppers and butterflies, for example, had a coloring and a gluing page). It covered how life starts as an egg (either inside a mammal or laid somewhere) then turns to a hatched (or birthed) baby, which ultimately grows into an adult who has more babies.
Was it a very basic concept for second graders? Yes. I think even for first graders (though that was the heading I found the sheets under). But they enjoyed it, even if it was easy, and they were excited to learn some of the interesting facts that went along with some of the pages. We had never really covered the idea of death before in our schoolwork - beyond talking about mummies - so we got to go over that a bit too. Eventually the mommies & daddies stop having babies, and as the babies grow the mommies & daddies age and begin to die. This happens sooner in the world of bugs than animals, but it still happens. We also talked about how some animals (and pretty much all bugs to the best of my knowledge) lay their eggs and leave. They don't stick around to raise the babies like mammals (especially people) do.
So, we got to cover a few different themes with this unit.
We did not have a project. I really couldn't think of an appropriate one to do, and they had so many cutting and gluing pages to do that I felt like we really didn't need one.
On the flip side we did have two books to go with this unit. I was fairly certain we had a Magic School Bus book that covered life cycles, but I couldn't find it. I did, however, find two other Magic School Bus books that covered the topic. The Magic School Bus Goes Upstream: A Book About the Salmon Migration and The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds: A Book About How Living Things Grow. The first one obviously covers the salmon migration. But, in case you don't know, the salmon go upstream to lay their eggs then they leave them. The eggs hatch and the babies find their way home. The second one covers plants going from seed to plant to seed again. We had already read the second one for our kindergarten Concept Week on gardening, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to read it again.
So there we go, our first 2nd grade Concept Week!
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Concept Unit #13: Dinosaurs
This Concept Unit (renamed from Concept Week for the simple fact that it wasn't a week long...) lasted three whole months and covered nothing but dinosaurs! My kids were in heaven.
There was quite a few differences. Instead of worksheets they had an entire workbook, there was no set project to do because the workbook was filled with projects and games, and there was no book or storybook to go along with the unit because we had an entire 300 or so page workbook to do. No need for overkill here!
The book we used was called Science Essentials: Dinosaurs Grades 1-3. I have to admit, even though it was a 1st grade book a lot of the stuff in there was over their heads and kinda boring. Most of it consisted of page after page after page of dinosaur, Pangaea, climate, landscape, paleontology, etc. facts that you would read about and then answer questions for. There was some fun stuff (dot-to-dots, mazes, picture finds, etc) and a LOT of math pages. And, like I said, some games (dominoes, rummy, and other easy games) and projects to do (homemade dinosaur digs, making a dinosaur playset, making a macaroni dinosaur, etc.).
All in all they had a blast doing a dinosaur unit that lasted the whole summer. I just wish it had been more their level. It was really largely a level where kids can read those big words and answer those questions completely on their own. So I guess 3rd grade more than 1st... Then there were some really easy pages that were honestly more kindergarten than 1st grade. However, I suppose that's the problem with a text book that tries to cover so many grade levels in one book. Some stuff will be too easy, some stuff too hard.
Still, they had fun for their final 1st grade Concept Unit and that's really all that matters.
There was quite a few differences. Instead of worksheets they had an entire workbook, there was no set project to do because the workbook was filled with projects and games, and there was no book or storybook to go along with the unit because we had an entire 300 or so page workbook to do. No need for overkill here!
The book we used was called Science Essentials: Dinosaurs Grades 1-3. I have to admit, even though it was a 1st grade book a lot of the stuff in there was over their heads and kinda boring. Most of it consisted of page after page after page of dinosaur, Pangaea, climate, landscape, paleontology, etc. facts that you would read about and then answer questions for. There was some fun stuff (dot-to-dots, mazes, picture finds, etc) and a LOT of math pages. And, like I said, some games (dominoes, rummy, and other easy games) and projects to do (homemade dinosaur digs, making a dinosaur playset, making a macaroni dinosaur, etc.).
All in all they had a blast doing a dinosaur unit that lasted the whole summer. I just wish it had been more their level. It was really largely a level where kids can read those big words and answer those questions completely on their own. So I guess 3rd grade more than 1st... Then there were some really easy pages that were honestly more kindergarten than 1st grade. However, I suppose that's the problem with a text book that tries to cover so many grade levels in one book. Some stuff will be too easy, some stuff too hard.
Still, they had fun for their final 1st grade Concept Unit and that's really all that matters.
Friday, September 5, 2014
2nd Grade Spelling Units #1-12
Here it is! The Spelling Units! It's almost halfway through the quarter, but hey, you know...
SOME OF THESE WORDS ARE REPEATS FROM FIRST GRADE!
These units are based on some spelling pages inside one of the workbooks I bought for them. They are all fairly easy words, quite a few of them were done in 1st grade, but that's okay. Repetition doesn't hurt anyone, unless it gets boring. Right now, it's not boring, so it's okay. Plus, this will help reinforce sounding out unknown words (for Optimus Prime) and learning how to read (for Bumblebee).
Unfortunately I don't think there will be any holiday units this year after all of these are done. :(
Unit #1 - Numbers
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
Unit #2 - Short a Words
bat
cat
fat
gnat
hat
mat
pat
rat
sat
vat
Unit #3 - Short a Words Part 2
camp
clamp
damp
lamp
ramp
stamp
bath
math
path
wrath
Unit #4 - Short a Words Part 3
an
ban
can
clan
fan
man
pan
ran
tan
van
Unit #5 - Long a Words
bail
fail
hail
mail
nail
pail
quail
rail
sail
tail
Unit #6 - Long a Words Part 2
came
fame
game
lame
name
same
tame
fade
made
wade
Unit #7 - Long a Words Part 3
faint
paint
quaint
saint
taint
bain
main
pain
rain
train
Unit #8 - Long a Words Part 4
bake
cake
fake
lake
make
quake
rake
snake
take
wake
Unit #9 - Long a Words Part 5
clay
day
gray
hay
pay
play
say
stay
tray
way
Unit #10 - Long a Words Part 6
bale
dale
female
gale
kale
male
pale
sale
tale
whale
Unit #11 - Short o Words
blot
cot
dot
got
hot
lot
not
pot
rot
slot
Unit #12 - Short o Words Part 2
flop
hop
mop
plop
pop
slop
stop
top
box
fox
SOME OF THESE WORDS ARE REPEATS FROM FIRST GRADE!
These units are based on some spelling pages inside one of the workbooks I bought for them. They are all fairly easy words, quite a few of them were done in 1st grade, but that's okay. Repetition doesn't hurt anyone, unless it gets boring. Right now, it's not boring, so it's okay. Plus, this will help reinforce sounding out unknown words (for Optimus Prime) and learning how to read (for Bumblebee).
Unfortunately I don't think there will be any holiday units this year after all of these are done. :(
Unit #1 - Numbers
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
Unit #2 - Short a Words
bat
cat
fat
gnat
hat
mat
pat
rat
sat
vat
Unit #3 - Short a Words Part 2
camp
clamp
damp
lamp
ramp
stamp
bath
math
path
wrath
Unit #4 - Short a Words Part 3
an
ban
can
clan
fan
man
pan
ran
tan
van
Unit #5 - Long a Words
bail
fail
hail
nail
pail
quail
rail
sail
tail
Unit #6 - Long a Words Part 2
came
fame
game
lame
name
same
tame
fade
made
wade
Unit #7 - Long a Words Part 3
faint
paint
quaint
saint
taint
bain
main
pain
rain
train
Unit #8 - Long a Words Part 4
bake
cake
fake
lake
make
quake
rake
snake
take
wake
Unit #9 - Long a Words Part 5
clay
day
gray
hay
pay
play
say
stay
tray
way
Unit #10 - Long a Words Part 6
bale
dale
female
gale
kale
male
pale
sale
tale
whale
Unit #11 - Short o Words
blot
cot
dot
got
hot
lot
not
pot
rot
slot
Unit #12 - Short o Words Part 2
flop
hop
mop
plop
pop
slop
stop
top
box
fox
Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Ghost Detectors
For the record, we have NOT finished the Ghost Detectors series. I have no idea how many books are in it, what I do know is our library only has the first six and book seven is currently going on amazon for $25 new/$42 used. Ummmm, yeah, no, I don't think so. If our local library ever gets more, we'll read them. If not, we'll call it good at six.
Synopsis - Malcolm loves science, ghosts, and ordering new gadgets from the back of magazines. Most of the gadgets are fake, but one day he orders a specter detector that can really detect ghosts. This leads him and his best friend Dandy to investigate local hauntings.
Wandering Falcon - "Okay, I really wanted to like these books and I really didn't. As we read on they started to grow on me but they were definitely aimed towards young kids. The passages on Cocoa's make-up misadventures were funny."
Optimus Prime - "They were okay. The two kids were good at doing it."
Bumblebee - "They were good. The ghost dog was named Spooky and he was silly and he just yip, yip, yiped whenever he appeared."
Synopsis - Malcolm loves science, ghosts, and ordering new gadgets from the back of magazines. Most of the gadgets are fake, but one day he orders a specter detector that can really detect ghosts. This leads him and his best friend Dandy to investigate local hauntings.
Wandering Falcon - "Okay, I really wanted to like these books and I really didn't. As we read on they started to grow on me but they were definitely aimed towards young kids. The passages on Cocoa's make-up misadventures were funny."
Optimus Prime - "They were okay. The two kids were good at doing it."
Bumblebee - "They were good. The ghost dog was named Spooky and he was silly and he just yip, yip, yiped whenever he appeared."
Ghost Detectors by Dotti Enderle
- It Creeps!
- I'm Gonna Get You!
- Tell No One!
- I Dare You!
- Draw!
- Don't Read This!
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