Archive by Author | Lisa McAfee

I’m Falling! A unit on autumn

Sep22

I am a fan of teaching units as I feel there is a connection to various subjects that students can see rather than learning information as individual subjects. I get excited about taking a topic and exploring it- anything from literature to science, to history, to art, and beyond. I thought that if you were like me you’d appreciate someone else coming up with ideas and you could go from there. I have various resources for different age levels.  I hope this will be beneficial to you.

Seasons: It’s important to lay some groundwork when doing a unit. Create a KWL list or chart. Have your students fold papers into thirds vertically.  At the beginning of a lesson or concept unit, have them fill out the first column and head it “What I Know”. The second column will have the heading  and “What I Want to Know” and have them fill that out.  At this point just put the title “What I Learned”  since you haven’t begun your unit.

As your student learns throughout the unit, revisit the second and third column and continue to add to the “What I Want to Know” and fill in the “What I Learned” . If you would like to create one here is a website to do just that! click here  This helps you to see what information is already known by your scholars, (Know about subject)  what misconceptions they may have about the topic, (Know) and what direction your unit may go toward when planning your unit. (Want to Learn) You may not change your plans, but I have found the enthusiasm for learning to be far greater when my children were asked what they wanted to learn about that topic.

Gather resources: This is time consuming, and so I want to help you with some of these ideas so you can order library books, click on websites, and download worksheets. See the resources listed below to help you get started. If you find other resources that were helpful please leave a comment so others can benefit from your expertise.

Explore topic: If at all possible, allow your pupil(s) to explore the topic of autumn before you start with your lessons. I have listed some ideas  for you to consider:

  • Go on a nature walk and observe the change that is occurring with life. What changes do you notice with the leaves? flowers? Do you notice any insects? (wooly caterpillars, cicadas, new broods of white cabbage moths,increase of Monarch butterflies, migrating birds, are some of the animals in our area). This would be a great time to work in your nature journals.
  • Gather leaves in various stages of changing color
  • Observe and record the time the sun sets each day for two weeks. You can go to the following websites and see how much daylight we have each day. weatherbug, wunderground, weather.com
  • Research the autumnal equinox.
  • Check out this Equinox Myth

Teach:

  • Read books,discuss why leaves change color, why are squirrels burying acorns,watch a video
  • Look at temperature changes in your area or across a region weatherbug, wunderground, weather.com
  • Older students: What weather systems do we see in autumn? Research hurricanes, tropical storms
  • Create a weather station and record your findings for two weeks. Older students can reate this and the whole family can participate.
Resources:
Hurricanes- videos (for older students)
Katrina: South Mississippi’s Story This is a documentary showing a broader area that was affected rather than just focusing on New Orleans. Produced by WLOX-TV, Biloxi, MS.
Websites: Be sure to check the websites before you have your pupil visit. There are some ads that can be clicked on, taking you to other websites. Parental supervision is always advised when students are on the internet.
Books:
Poetry
Leaf by Leaf, Barbara Rogasky This book has poetry and photos! It has a variety of fall poems by Whitman, Yeats, Browning, and Poe.
Poems for Autumn, Robert Hull  This is an anthology of poems for fall.
Autumnblings,Douglas Florian A book in a series about the seasons that is whimsical and creative.
Nonfiction (easy):
Autumn Leaves, Gail Saunders- Smith
Websites for Autumn:
Mathwire What a find! This has terrific ideas that integrate a variety of subjects, this page being about fall.
Here is a website that lists many of the books I was going to tell you about, plus one or two more. Fall Fun Kids Books
Preschool/ Kindergarten Math worksheets
Acorn Multiplication Worksheet
Fall themed worksheets for preschool through 6th grade that include using scissors, tracing and shapes for the younger crowd. Kidszone
Fall Worksheets These are for language arts with word scrambles, creative writing prompts, and mini books.
ABC Teach has a variety of worksheets to download, anything from bingo with autumn vocabulary to fall crafts.
 Multigrade level worksheets are available for downloading at Kidszone and here are some word problems for grade 1-5: kidszone   Autumn short stories
Fall Themed worksheets for Grades 1-4, Fall Coloring Sheets, More Coloring Sheets 
Elementary Fall Center– great for your student to do some fun activities on their own.
How about a lap book? This site has a finished lap book for you to see to get an idea of how to make your own.

Grocery Shopping at 4:00 am

Sep19

is a perfect time if you don’t like crowds. You can walk through the aisles uninterrupted with all the aisle space you want.I know this to be true because I did this very thing myself last week. You see, I haven’t been sleeping all that well and have awakened at 2:30 for a couple of mornings now. Sleep has become a precious commodity (a useful or valuable thing, such as water or time. courtesy of dictionary.com) and since I had all this extra time so early in the morning, I decided it was the perfect time to go to the store to purchase supplies for my science class.

After picking up my supplies I proceeded to the self-checkout and noticed there was a  gentleman who was stationed at the register to oversee purchases in the U-Scan area. I picked up my bags of rulers, candy, and playdoh and proceeded to walk toward the exit. As I was leaving, the U-Scan man said, “Have a nice day, Baby.”

I nearly stopped in my tracks as I tried to decide if I heard him correctly. “What did he just say??” I thought to myself. I don’t know if I have ever been called “Baby”, and certainly not in the past 25 years! 🙂

I could have reacted in several different ways with what had just transpired. 1)Ask him what he just said. 2)Glare at him and go report his comment to the service desk. 3) Choose to think that’s just his way of addressing all women and go back home. 4)Relate my experience to my 8th grade class and you. 5)Laugh about it, realize I will probably never be addressed like that again and show grace to others.

As you have read the choices I bet you guessed that I chose to do all of them. No, I didn’t do all of them, just choices 3-5. So, have you had a similar experience? Did that gentleman wait on you? 🙂 Seriously, what situation have you had an opportunity to extend grace to another person?  I know you have had an opportunity to be annoyed or offended, seems as though they come frequently, don’t they? How about with teaching in your home? We can be kind, gentle and forgiving to our children as they get a ‘tude (attitude) or we can be unkind, harsh, and hold a grudge towards those ungrateful kids we are home schooling. Who has a ‘tude now?

This is just something I have been thinking about. I plan on giving more grace than required as often as I can. It rubs off the rough spots of my heart and helps me to examine my motives. Am I serving out of a heart of love or duty?

Remember to “Have a nice day, Baby.” 😉

How can I Say that? synonyms

Sep15

When working with your student in regards to writing it can be difficult to think of a word to replace the overused ones such as nice, pretty, and said. When this choice of words is used, sentences are not as powerful and don’t convey the meaning as well as specific, imaginative words do for a sentence. Here is an example: I fell off my bike and cried because I got hurt.  This does not convey much of a word picture for the reader. How about this instead? I was catapulted off my bike and screamed  loudly because I was in pain (replacement words are in italics). Don’t you have more sympathy and can “see” the accident better in the second sentence than in the first one?

I have found some resources that will help you and your student. Isn’t it wonderful  terrific, amazing, stupendous, that we have resources available to us? I love, adore, admire, appreciate websites that do this for me.

Lay the groundwork first

Does your scholar even know what synonyms and antonyms are before you go looking for replacements? Here are some websites that have worksheets that cover this topic.

Cut and Glue Synonyms click here

Here is a basic list of synonyms for young writers. click here

Synonyms for commonly used words in student’s writing has a list that will prove helpful. This can be used for younger writers with some help from you or you can have your older students use it on their own.

Practice

Play a game where you practice using synonyms and then play a game practicing antonyms. Be sure you have a thesaurus, or an online resource , or use a downloaded list such as this one: Make three columns on a piece of notebook paper or if you prefer, a whiteboard. In the first column heading write Word, the middle column write Synonym, and the last column write Antonym. With younger students have them come up with just one synonym and one antonym. With older students set the number you want (3-5 or more).

Here are some words to help you get started:

pretty, said, ask, nice,every, great, like, hate, get, take, buy, see, ugly

If you wanted more reinforcement by practicing here is a website that has synonym/antonym games for grade levels 3-12.

Find a paragraph or create your own in which your scholar replaces words to make powerful sentences. Here are some simple sentences to use for reinforcement. synonym sentences elementary and synonym sentences (middle school students) I have also written a story for middle school students and older for you to use. synonym story You may use this for both synonyms and antonyms. Since you are currently teaching synonyms do it that way first and then retell the story using antonyms.

Write!

Now that you have had practice it’s time to have your student(s) write a story using their own powerful words. Start small, choosing a few words to replace. As they progress in their writing you can increase the number of words.

Labor Day

Sep5

Researching national holidays when we celebrate them seems more pertinent than just learning about them all at once. So what is Labor Day? It was celebrated in 1882 in New York by the Central Labor Union and became known as the “workingman’s holiday”. Unions helped give workers rights and protected them from conditions such as long hours and low pay.

Here is a link if you would like to read more about the history of the holiday and also has a variety of activities from which to choose. I think you will enjoy this resource. kidskonnect

This would be a terrific segue about Community Helpers that is taught in the lower elementary grades. Here are some educational pages that can be downloaded:

Community Helpers Alphabetizing worksheet  answer key

Community Helpers Word Jumble worksheet   answer key

Library book list on Community Helpers

Have a great holiday and enjoy spending the day with your family.

Cowboy standing next to his horse

Jesus said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”   ~Matthew 11:28~

Setting Goals

Sep1

Goals are a means to help you be organized with school and home, therefore, relieving stress. Goals can be as simple or as detailed as you like. The idea is to have a plan for accomplishing something you need to complete.

Last month I had a dark, ominous cloud hanging over my head as I was thinking about the upcoming school year. I knew I had to prepare for 6 classes that I am teaching this year and quite frankly, it was overwhelming me. I didn’t want to deal with it. I just wanted to run away, but I decided to stand  and conquer this amount of work I had to get done.

elderly_lady5.gif This not an actual picture of me as I was not smiling.

So,with pen in hand I wrote down ALL that I wanted to accomplish for the next month in regards to school. It is said that the pen is mightier than the sword. 😉

I filled an entire 8.5″x11″ sheet of paper and I write small! I wrote each class in a separate category and listed under each one what I wanted to accomplish. It took me a solid 2 weeks to accomplish the majority of the list and another week to finish up other details, but VICTORY! I did it and it has been a great feeling. I treated myself  to a day trip with Dale to Natural Bridge, Kentucky and had no feelings of thinking I should be home working on lesson plans. —Pause here and visualize me doing a happy dance.

Are you feeling a little like I did with clouds hanging over you? Here are some tips that I have found helpful:

  • Establish Categories

Do you just want to work on school or do you need to include the house as well?  I will list the house as an example since this is the area I need to work on right now.

  • Write Subcategories

List all of the things you want to do within that category. For instance, under the category of house my subcategory is the kitchen. I could list the basement as well, but I am trying to not take on more than I can possibly accomplish over the next week.

  • List specifics

What exactly do I want to accomplish in the kitchen? In my kitchen I’d like to clean out the Lazy Susan,the refrigerator,and clean the pantry.

  • List details of how to accomplish these tasks, including delegating part of the job to a family member.

“Many hands makes light the work.” was an old Shaker saying that I think holds true in this instance.  I am going to ask my son, Ian, to put all of the canned goods and other items for the Lazy Susan on the counter and to check  expiration dates on canned goods. You can make it fun for your young helpers by setting a challenge to see who can find the oldest can in the bunch. Dale just brought up a bottle of catsup from the basement cabinet yesterday with an expiration date of 2009. ewww!

I don’t really list the details for the refrigerator since I know I just need to get rid of old food and clean the shelves and compartments. If you are asking for one of your children to help, then that is an entirely different matter! List everything that you possibly need done so you don’t have a partly done job that you must go back and do yourself or have them finish later. Regarding the pantry I made a list that has the following items: empty pantry, check expiration dates, wipe off shelves, wipe down walls, clean floor, take inventory of items, make grocery list of needed groceries, and put all items back on shelves.

  • Schedule a Time to Accomplish your Goal

Allow plenty of time to complete your goal. Will it take an hour, a day, a week? Clear your schedule and don’t let anything interrupt until you are finished with that goal or until the time you allotted has been used. If you didn’t finish set another time, no longer than a week, to get it finished. Remember, it took me a long time to complete my lesson plans, but I stuck with it and got it finished.

  • Cross off Completed Tasks

I like to have boxes to check off next to the items that need to be done. I also like to use a bright highlighter to visually see what I have accomplished. If that doesn’t matter to you, don’t do it; it’s all a matter of preference.

  •  Admire and Celebrate your accomplishments.

You did it! Congratulations on completing your goal. What do you want to tackle next?

Now that you have read through how I set goals and take on tasks, why don’t you take a few minutes to think about an area where you need to work? If you have a long list break it down into smaller pieces. Start by  setting a goal, making a list, and enlisting some helpers. You’ll feel soooo much better, giving you more time to spend with your family, friends, and of course, schoolwork. It looks like my next goal will be to clean out the cabinet in the basement where the catsup was residing, or I could start on my lesson plans for October….