Archive for March, 2009:
Time for Fun!
We are starting our fourth workbox week, and I am still extremely satisfied with the entire system! One big bonus that I’ve already mentioned is that we have more time for fun.
I picked up a book about clay at that last library sale. It has been handy. The first few pages taught Elijah how to make the basic shapes. I had him work on those pages a few times (a la workboxes), and today I told him to pick a snake or bug to make from the next few pages.
He worked on this project for a very long time with great concentration.
finished work-
I see Sculpey Clay in my future. I hope I can find a big fat pack at convention to buy for him.
Elijah has always been attracted to 3-D art. He was so thrilled when he finished that I pulled out some of Simon’s Usborne books that are illustrated with clay creations. He was so happy to see this as a real medium. How fun!
Thank you workboxes. I would’ve never had "time" for this in our regular school day before!
Toys and Workboxes
One thing about workboxes- I’m tempted to rush out (or off to Amazon) and buy lots of fun new things now that we have time for them. But, there is really no need to do this. As I look around my home, I am finding all kinds of things I already have that can be used for school!
Yesterday, I filled one workbox with some hard plastic animals. Yes, I put TOYS from the boys’ room in a workbox for Elijah. I added a handy-dandy Animal Classification Graph, and voila! – a fun, hands-on, educational (science and math) workbox. If you don’t have plastic animals, you could always use photos of animals.
I went easy on Elijah for the first time. Ever since we rowed The Salamander Room, he has had the basic five classifications down pat. I wanted him to be comfortable with making the graph more than anything. I told him the next graph may require some animal research (which he loves).
Here he is hard at work on this box today.
I look forward to using this idea in the future. I will try to post all the graphs I make in one post (coming soon).
Happy Workboxing!
Rightstart for the Workbox
We just finished up our THIRD week of workboxing. I love how Sue teaches you to break things up and utilize review in your boxes.
Here is something from our math program that can be thrown in a box with a dry erase marker. I simply printed practice sheets on colored paper and laminated.
The goal of the practice sheets is for Elijah to become rapid and fluid with these problems. He is not supposed to count to add the numbers together.
He has to figure them out by visualizing and thinking.
Rightstart has given Elijah an understanding of numbers; it has helped him to see the natural patterns that occur in mathematics, so he has already learned and figured out strategies that will enable him to complete the problems without counting.
Rightstart also wants the child to think about the number in as many ways as possible. You can see on the practice sheets that they mix it up (and my son is completely comfortable with all the different ways the problems are presented!).
This set is presented like this- 6 + __ = 10
This set starts with the whole.
I punched a hole, added a ring, and voila! All ready for workboxes. Elijah can choose one to complete. Once all the sheets have been finished (over many days), we can wipe them off and start over again!
I hope to continue adding some thoughts about Rightstart Math throughout my next few weeks of blog posts. Let me know if you have any questions about this math program.
Sidewalk Chalk Stars
We have tried the new Crayola 3-D Sidewalk Chalk…and all we have to say is, "Groovy!"
Books!
Aunt Lisa sent three very cool bargain bin books to the boys today– a constellations book, a presidents book, and a bird book that chirps and sings.
Here they are with their new treasures.
Dog Family Lapbook
While studying desert, Elijah decided he really wanted to start his own Dog Family Lapbook (inspired by coyote). He wants to include various foxes, wolves, and breeds of dogs.
I did not want to design a Dog Family Lapbook. I decided I would just give him the tools he needed to do it himself. I put the Lapbook Reference book, some pictures, some printed information, scissors, double-stick tape, colored pencils, colored paper, etc. all in a workbox for him.
I think he’s worked on this four times. He sits for an hour (or longer) and just reads and reads and works and works. I stay far, far away from this project as I let him make all the choices. Yes, I give him the tools…then I step away. If he needs something, he asks (and let me tell you- he is very specific and picky!).
Here are some shots of the inside of his book (yes, another Bare Book!). I didn’t take pictures of every minit book or every picture, but you will get a good sampling.
Arctic Wolf Page
About Dholes (Do you know that the Dhole is in the Dog Family? Do you know what a Dhole is?!)
Raccoon Dog
Bat-eared Fox
Arctic Fox
He has a list of twenty-some "dogs" he wants in the book. I will update once he thinks he is finished!
Happy Lapbooking!
Elijah has a blog!
Elijah has been asking for some time to start a Lego Blog.
We finally took the plunge this week, and you can find his creative constructions at Lego Land Blog. He definitely has blogger blood and appreciates comments!
This was the start of a city that was destroyed by a lurking younger brother who will remain nameless at this time.
Math Moment
We use Rightstart Math. I love and hate it all wrapped into one (saving that for another entry). Because I hate it, I haven’t been consistent about using it this year. Because of my lack of consistency, we are not even half way through our book! Don’t fear, though, we are on a roll (thank you workboxes) and should be able to finish before July when we start 2nd grade.
I will repeat this again at some point, but I love Righstart Math because it has mapped my son’s mind for math. I know. Sounds weird. It is. I can’t even begin to explain what it has done for my son. He understands math. He’s as comfortable with numbers as he is with words. True. Thank you Rightstart (I’m sorry I hate you).
Okay, anyway, this post is not a review of RS Math. This post is to show what my first grader did today (remember, we aren’t even 1/2 way through!).
I read him a story problem about Abe, Amy, and some other A-named character. Each person had so many sheep. One had 2735. Another had 3817. And yet another had 1849. His job was to figure out how many sheep total. I was to do as little instructing as possible.
He got to use the base ten picture cards to help him find his way through this problem. He has a great understanding of ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands (thanks again RS!). He has already learned to trade ten ones for one-ten and ten-tens for one-hundred, etc.
So, he used those strategies to add the three (very-large-for-a-first-grader) numbers.
Laying out base ten cards for each number
Cards are all out…now what?
Starting to move and trade
His final answer
He did it!
Garden Blog! :-)
Well, my sister and I are both trying Square Foot Gardening this year (the ALL NEW method). I read a book by Mel Bartholomew. Told her to read the book. We were both giddy with the possibilities of actually becoming real gardeners.
We’ve started a blog together. If you want to follow along in the adventures of two sisters (in different parts of the country) trying to SFG…here you go!
Desert Finale
Well, we didn’t really do anything for our finale, though I suppose we should! Maybe Jason will take us to a Mexican Restaurant tonight to celebrate!
My other posts on deserts are here-
Week 1- Roxaboxen Notebook Pages
Week 1- Roxaboxen Mini-books (details)
Crystal Mining and Desert Glass Candy (from Roxaboxen)
Week 2- Desert Animals
Sunset Sand Painting
Here are this week’s Lap N Note Pages from our study of The Gullywasher. We used the minit books from Homeschool Share as well as a few things from the Evan Moor Giant Science Resoure Book (reflections, water cycle). We also used Draw Write Now.
We decided to make a "table of contents" page for the first time.
Learning more about the desert…
Spanish Words and names for Tall Tales
Mexico! (I just googled the images for map and flag.)
Science Pages
Learning about gullywashers is a good time to learn about…
the watercycle…
thunderstorms, and lightning. We also learned about reflections.
Here are a few DWN pages sprinkled throughout Elijah’s notebook
