Well it's day 3 of the new school year and we've jumped right into the learning. I've already revised my schedule once and it will probably happen again, but here it is as it now stands. The times are loosely set. A guide more than a hard fast rule, however we do try to stick to a good schedule.
9:00-9:15 Following Directions ~ This is a warm-up activity using a publication by Creative Teaching Press. The book is called Following Directions and it is written for 3rd and 4th grade. I think following written and oral directions while doing fun activities is a good way to warm up the brain and begin to focus on the day.
9:15-9:30 Reading Fluency ~ This is a reading activity where the focus is on fluency. The text includes an audio CD and 20 lessons. We are spending about 1.5 weeks per lesson to really work on our fluency. I think this is a good morning activity as well. It's very independent and it also helps to warm up the brain for a day of learning. The program is published by Shell Education and is called Increasing Fluency With High Frequency Word Phrases.
9:30-10:30 (M,T,W & F) History and Social Studies ~ There's a lot in the curriculum this year, everything from learning about your home state to prehistoric peoples and early civilization. (Thurs) We will study religion as it is pretty hard to study civilization without it. This will not be about what we believe as a family, but religious studies in general and how it relates to the groups of people we study.
10:30-10:45 Snack Time
10:45-11:00 Fiction Reading
11:00-11:30 Math ~ We covered nearly all of the 4th grade concepts last year. We are using Total Math published by American Education Publishing to review and then we will move on to 5th grade math.
11:30-12:00 Vocabulary ~ We are using Sylvan's Vocabulary Success for 4th grade to increase our vocabulary and study word concepts and grammer.
12:00-1:00 Lunch and Play Time
1:00-1:30 (M,T,W) Science (TH) Literary Elements ~ main idea, plot, conflict, etc. (F) Review ~ We will spend this time going over all of what we have covered during the week.
If you are wondering where writing comes in, we will be using our history topics and our fiction reading to work on our note taking and writing. For example, right now we are studying prehistoric peoples. We have created a time line and are using two sources to gather facts about the different groups. From there I'll have Wes write one paragraph about each group. Then we will write an introduction and conclusion. Then we'll type it into the computer and then edit it before printing a final draft. Wes won't even realize it until he's almost finished that he's written his first big paper. Then we can go back and discuss all of the steps we went through. We will explore other forms of writing as well using similar strategies.
We also have some new resources in the classroom. A gorgeous laminated timeline that begins 5,000 yrs BC and goes all the way to present day. I found it at Learning Through History. We also have a new Scholastic Encyclopedia, The New Way Things Work, The Clear and Simple Thesaurus Dictionary (love this!) and One Million Things - A Visual Encyclopedia
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Welcome to the 4th Grade!
The first day of 4th grade is almost here! We start Monday to be exact. Today is meet the teacher day at our little homeschool. Of course Westen and I have already met, but I have a lot of new things to show him. The classroom is all set up and waiting. Today we'll take a tour of the class and talk a little about our schedule and some of the things we'll be covering this year in school.
If you just happened upon this blog, this is my teacher's log. I keep a record of what me and my 9 year old son are up to. I also do my best to honestly share our experience. For us homeschooling is temporary. We started in the middle of the year last year and will do all of 4th grade at home. The plan is to go back into public school for 5th grade. For that reason and because it's just kind of our style, we keep our school time pretty structured. It would be hard to integrate back in if we were loose and wild with the schedule. I also stick to the curriculum of the school district we attend. Sometimes we do more than it suggests, but we cover everything!
In my picture are my little motivators for good behavior. My philosophy is that if there is a lot of whining and complaining, we do more and not less. It's amazing how many kids think they can whine their way out of things. That's where my shoe box of worksheets comes in. On the top it says, "You must not have enough to do so let's review!" I find it a very effective motivator to give a little extra task when the behavior isn't up to snuff. Of course Wes knows this about me, so all I usually have to do is hint at the consequence and he gets right back to work.
Lest you think me a cruel teacher/mom, I believe more than anything in positive reinforcement. Wes gets to hear all day how bright and talented he is and he truly is! This year I've designed a "Passport to Half Day Town". As a reward for his good efforts, he'll get a half day off school after he collects 100 stickers.
That's all for now. I'll be back with our schedule, some of the resources I'm using this year and what we'll be doing in the first few weeks of school.
If you just happened upon this blog, this is my teacher's log. I keep a record of what me and my 9 year old son are up to. I also do my best to honestly share our experience. For us homeschooling is temporary. We started in the middle of the year last year and will do all of 4th grade at home. The plan is to go back into public school for 5th grade. For that reason and because it's just kind of our style, we keep our school time pretty structured. It would be hard to integrate back in if we were loose and wild with the schedule. I also stick to the curriculum of the school district we attend. Sometimes we do more than it suggests, but we cover everything!
In my picture are my little motivators for good behavior. My philosophy is that if there is a lot of whining and complaining, we do more and not less. It's amazing how many kids think they can whine their way out of things. That's where my shoe box of worksheets comes in. On the top it says, "You must not have enough to do so let's review!" I find it a very effective motivator to give a little extra task when the behavior isn't up to snuff. Of course Wes knows this about me, so all I usually have to do is hint at the consequence and he gets right back to work.
Lest you think me a cruel teacher/mom, I believe more than anything in positive reinforcement. Wes gets to hear all day how bright and talented he is and he truly is! This year I've designed a "Passport to Half Day Town". As a reward for his good efforts, he'll get a half day off school after he collects 100 stickers.
That's all for now. I'll be back with our schedule, some of the resources I'm using this year and what we'll be doing in the first few weeks of school.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
End of Third Grade ~ Beginning of Fourth
If you scroll through this blog, you will notice that my posts kind of fell off at the end of the third grade year. This is more due to my Spring fever than our lack of activity at school. Third grade ended with us maintaining our schedule and reviewing materials from throughout the year. We also combined all of our friendly letters into one last grand edition of our newspaper the Indie Press.
Wes made great strides in the second half of the third grade. We held onto our schedule, but as the year drew to a close, I would often let him pick the order of our subjects. He surprised me with his choices, reading over music for instance. As I now look over the curriculum for the coming year, I realize the we have already covered much of the math concepts. I will keep Wes moving forward as that is his favorite subject, but we will perhaps concentrate our heaviest efforts in Language Arts. I am already seeing a path in which we can combine our comprehension, research and writing skills with our social studies and science subject matter.
Mostly, this message is to serve as closure and the completion of our third grade posting. I am now busy collecting materials and forming our curriculum based on our school district and the national standards. Some of the things typically covered the fourth grade year are already favorites for Wes like US geography and state history. This is a kid who, two years ago, could recite the states and their capitals in the order in which they were admitted into the union!
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