Let's see . . . Little man's reading is really coming along! I am so proud of him and just love when he snuggles up next to me during reading time. Somedays he still wants to use the pictures to just guess at the words, but we are working on that! Math is still his favorite and he just about never complains when it is math time. I have been working with him so that he can do his Explode the Code fairly independently, and he can most days. Some pages that require a good bit of reading can overwhelm him and so I'll help him out with those.
What else . . . The two bigger boys seem to really be enjoying the Trail Guide to US Geography. Also, they are doing GREAT with cursive handwriting. I am really enjoying the Handwriting without Tears program. We used A Reason for Handwriting last year, and it was also really good, but I am really digging our handwriting selection for this year. Here is my one concern: Is this book supposed to last us one whole year? It may, but I just don't think that it will. I already copy some pages so that they get extra practice and we still seem to really be moving through the book. Anybody out there use HWT?
Science: Okay, I'll admit it. Science has been sporadic around here this week. I vow to be better about that next week!
History: This is one thing that has not been sporadic this week. We are talking about the Aztecs and my kids are loving it! We are reading through the book Incans, Aztecs, Mayans and although it can be a little graphic (think human sacrifices) my kids find it truly interesting. (Boys would - wouldn't they?!)
Since we spent a good deal of time talking about the Aztecs and the importance of the sun in their civilization, we did a little craft with the sun. The kids worked on theirs while I did our read aloud for the day.
The plan is to paint them one day during next weeks read aloud time. I have found that my kids do better if I give them something to do while I read aloud because some days the read aloud can be pretty long. I was worried about comprehension at first, but it doesn't seem to be a problem at all!
I hope that you have all had a great week! I am headed out of town to visit with some fantastic friends, celebrate Labor Day, and more importantly watch some ALABAMA FOOTBALL! ROLL TIDE ROLL!
What a great week!
ReplyDeleteOkay, fun clay idea. We do HWT, too. We haven't gotten to the cursive yet, I may do that next summer. Do you have the gray block paper? I use that for extra practice. I also got the journal notebook for extra writing and illustrating, but I'll be honest, we haven't used it that much. I found that we could use regular notebook paper as well for extra practice. And we do maybe one letter a week to get it down. So that stretched it out. Are you doing a page a day or week or what? I'm not sure what you're SUPPOSED to do, though! I didn't get the teacher book (may have been a good idea, huh?!)!!
ReplyDeleteWe do HWT. I bought the teacher's book for 3rd and 4th grade - twice :( forgot that I bought it. You are welcome to my extra copy. I don't use either of them. They are helpful to look through to know what are common mistakes and how to correct them, but not helpful to me on a day to day instruction. We do one page a day and it will not last us the year. I plan to do "copy work" next semester. This is my oldest's 2nd year for HWT cursive and I'm ready for it to transfer into everyday writing. For copy work, we'll probably pick something interesting for her to copy - from a book she's reading or a poem. She needs the hand/eye coordination/practice to get used to the idea of taking notes from a book or written document. It's my youngest's 2nd year with the HWT printing. We'll do the same for her next semester - just less to copy at one sitting.
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