Schoolwork Accomplished:
*Comprehensive Curriculum: pages 78, 82, 85, 96, 97, 98 (Recalling Details, Comprehension, Sequencing)
*Multiplication workbook: 5 pages
*Silent reading: Finished the entire book: The Great Mom Swap by Betsy Hayes.
*Journaling in TinkerBell journal
*Story of the World-Chapter 19
*Timothy did 12 pages in his math book, played on Webkinz, we talked about letter sounds and tried to sound out some words.
*Justin did 6 pages in his math book. He also practiced some math outloud with Leanna.
*I read stories with both boys.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Busy work ideas
From fruit in season some ideas for busywork:
We only use 6-8 workboxes each per week for my older two children. When I have Montessori preschool time with my 3 and 5 year olds, workboxes are the perfect solution to keep my 2nd and 5th graders on task and working independently.
When I found myself looking for workbox ideas for my 5th grader, though, I had little luck. I wanted ideas that would stimulate his interest and creativity, but we weren't using workboxes for our entire school time so I didn't need the typical tasks and activities. I needed to think up ideas on my own. Here is a list of activities that I have found stimulate his thinking and imagination, and give him extra practice in areas where he might be lacking:
Memory work- a poem, states and capitals, grammar definitions, word roots, etc- and the promise of a chocolate chip for every correct one. :)
Solitaire- there are so many types!
Magazine article to summarize- I choose from magazines like Cobblestone, Cricket, Faces- all from Cricket publishing
Thesaurus work- I copy a passage from a good book (Dickens, C. S. Lewis, etc, rich in vocabulary) and underline words for him to find a substitute for, and give him a Thesaurus or hook him up online with Word Central.
An open-ended puzzle like this Izzi puzzle or 9-piece puzzles like this.
A coupon for 20 minutes of reading time, computer time, or free time.
A page from an art magazine, cardstock, and good quality colored pencils. Then I ask him to copy it as closely as he can. I have gotten some wonderful renderings by asking my kids to do this!
A page from an art book- I ask him to freewrite a paragraph about the picture. It could be just his impressions, a story based on the picture, or a description of what techniques he thinks the artist used.
A game to play- we love Set, Bananagrams, Blokus, and many others. These games often have solitaire versions.
Tangrams- with a challenge! Find one that Mom can't do and you get 5 extra minutes of media for the day!
Prefix/suffix scavenger hunt- give a magazine or book passage and see how many different types he can find. You can also do this with word roots, adjectives, etc.
Cuisenaire rods- we have this book with some great puzzle challenges
I have a couple of these scratch off art drawing books that the kids love.
A language packet- with a page of analogies, editing work, outlining practice, etc.
A logic packet- with pages from the Critical Thinking Co.. We love these books!
A writing assignment such as a picture prompt (writing about a picture I find online or in a magazine- I sometimes specify by asking for 1st person, or a poem, etc.), word prompt (I pick 2 words from random out of the dictionary- the last time I did this I chose "parrot" and "grotesque". The story was quite funny!), or freewriting for 10 minutes.
I enjoy being creative with these ideas. Our normal academic time doesn't always allow for the fun-educational stuff, so this combination has been a win-win for us!
We only use 6-8 workboxes each per week for my older two children. When I have Montessori preschool time with my 3 and 5 year olds, workboxes are the perfect solution to keep my 2nd and 5th graders on task and working independently.
When I found myself looking for workbox ideas for my 5th grader, though, I had little luck. I wanted ideas that would stimulate his interest and creativity, but we weren't using workboxes for our entire school time so I didn't need the typical tasks and activities. I needed to think up ideas on my own. Here is a list of activities that I have found stimulate his thinking and imagination, and give him extra practice in areas where he might be lacking:
Memory work- a poem, states and capitals, grammar definitions, word roots, etc- and the promise of a chocolate chip for every correct one. :)
Solitaire- there are so many types!
Magazine article to summarize- I choose from magazines like Cobblestone, Cricket, Faces- all from Cricket publishing
Thesaurus work- I copy a passage from a good book (Dickens, C. S. Lewis, etc, rich in vocabulary) and underline words for him to find a substitute for, and give him a Thesaurus or hook him up online with Word Central.
An open-ended puzzle like this Izzi puzzle or 9-piece puzzles like this.
A coupon for 20 minutes of reading time, computer time, or free time.
A page from an art magazine, cardstock, and good quality colored pencils. Then I ask him to copy it as closely as he can. I have gotten some wonderful renderings by asking my kids to do this!
A page from an art book- I ask him to freewrite a paragraph about the picture. It could be just his impressions, a story based on the picture, or a description of what techniques he thinks the artist used.
A game to play- we love Set, Bananagrams, Blokus, and many others. These games often have solitaire versions.
Tangrams- with a challenge! Find one that Mom can't do and you get 5 extra minutes of media for the day!
Prefix/suffix scavenger hunt- give a magazine or book passage and see how many different types he can find. You can also do this with word roots, adjectives, etc.
Cuisenaire rods- we have this book with some great puzzle challenges
I have a couple of these scratch off art drawing books that the kids love.
A language packet- with a page of analogies, editing work, outlining practice, etc.
A logic packet- with pages from the Critical Thinking Co.. We love these books!
A writing assignment such as a picture prompt (writing about a picture I find online or in a magazine- I sometimes specify by asking for 1st person, or a poem, etc.), word prompt (I pick 2 words from random out of the dictionary- the last time I did this I chose "parrot" and "grotesque". The story was quite funny!), or freewriting for 10 minutes.
I enjoy being creative with these ideas. Our normal academic time doesn't always allow for the fun-educational stuff, so this combination has been a win-win for us!
Wednesday, March 10, 2011
Schoolwork Accomplished:
*Comprehensive Curriculum: pages 228, 229, 203 (Verbs-was/were, Went/gone and review)
*Division.com games
*Outdoor play
*Multiplication workbook-4 pages
*Silent reading: finished the Private Diary of Katie Roberts by Amy Hest (an interesting book and kind of like ME!!!!!!) and read Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown
*Story of the World-Chapter 18
*Comprehensive Curriculum: pages 228, 229, 203 (Verbs-was/were, Went/gone and review)
*Division.com games
*Outdoor play
*Multiplication workbook-4 pages
*Silent reading: finished the Private Diary of Katie Roberts by Amy Hest (an interesting book and kind of like ME!!!!!!) and read Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown
*Story of the World-Chapter 18
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Schoolwork Accomplished:
*Multiplication workbook: Pages 19-25
*Editing and Writing workbook: Pages 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37
*Wrote Fable for last part of Reading & Understanding fiction lesson
*Geography Lesson 12
*Outdoor play
*Silent reading: The Private Diary of Katie Roberts by Amy Hest
Timothy did two pages in his math book and Grammy read the boys a bunch of stories.
*Multiplication workbook: Pages 19-25
*Editing and Writing workbook: Pages 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37
*Wrote Fable for last part of Reading & Understanding fiction lesson
*Geography Lesson 12
*Outdoor play
*Silent reading: The Private Diary of Katie Roberts by Amy Hest
Timothy did two pages in his math book and Grammy read the boys a bunch of stories.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
Schoolwork Accomplished:
*Multiplication workbook: 8 pages
*Comprehensive Curriculum 5 pages: 65, 66,70, 125, 126 main idea, sequencing, and comprehension.
*Journal writing prompt
*Work on human body lapbook
*Silent reading: Bobbsey Twins: Mystery at School & Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets
*Reading & Understanding Fiction workbook: The Fox and the Crow (story & questions)
*Multiplication workbook: 8 pages
*Comprehensive Curriculum 5 pages: 65, 66,70, 125, 126 main idea, sequencing, and comprehension.
*Journal writing prompt
*Work on human body lapbook
*Silent reading: Bobbsey Twins: Mystery at School & Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets
*Reading & Understanding Fiction workbook: The Fox and the Crow (story & questions)
Monday, March 7, 2011
Self-directed projects
*I always find it interesting to see when a child does some type of learning or reinforcing activity all on their own. It proves that people really are self-motivated to learn, it doesn't need to be forced all the time.
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