If you are looking for an inexpensive way to teach your fourth grader how to spell, you may want to check out the 4th grade spelling lists here. In addition to the 30 spelling units, there are also hangman and abc order games to practice each lesson.
A package of wooden clothespins can go a long way in teaching beginning reading skills, word skills and phonemic awareness! First, write a letter of the alphabet on each of the clothespins from A to Z. Then hang a line of string along a wall or even outside between trees. Next have your child put them in alphabetical order! You can even start with just a few letters at a time. Another idea is to use the clothespins to make words (like 3 or 4 letter short and long vowel words). You can also write each of the letters on some tag board and have your child match them up. There are endless ways to use clothespins as learning tools! What other ideas can you think of?
Here is a fun way to practice sight words or spelling words with your homeschooler. Simply print out this form. I laminated the sheet so that it could be reused over and over again. You could also place it in a page protector. Then have your child pick one of the words from the pile to place in the word box. Then have your child build the word using magnetic letters. Finally have your child write the word.using a thin dry erase marker.
If your kiddo is working on learning his or her sight words, you may want to make a sight word ring for them to practice whenever they have a free moment (in the car, waiting in line, at the doctor's office, etc.). Simply print out one of these lists on card stock and laminate for durability. Punch hole at the top of each one and place on a binder ring.
If you have a beginning reader in your house you will definitely want to check out this free printable phonics packet. It is 43 pages long and is packed with tons of fun phonics activities including:
* letter recognition
*beginning letter sounds
* read aloud poetry
* letter sorting
Here is a great printable conversion fact sheet for using during math lessons, math practice, and more. The conversion fact sheet is on the 3rd page of the PDF, but there are also great math challenges to have your child try on the first two pages.
Wearing his brand new, white shoes, Pete the Cat sets off down the street to take a walk. Along the way, he begins singing,
I love my white shoes, I love my white shoes, I love my white shoes.
However, Pete's so busy singing, he doesn't realize he's come across a giant pile of strawberries... and his shoes are no longer white, they're red! Pete doesn't become upset though, and instead adjusts his song to fit his shoes. As the story continues, Pete runs into numerous other problems, all of which change the color of his shoes, but not his attitude!
This is a perfect story for children, as it deliberately states at the end of the book,
The moral of Pete's story is:
No matter what you step in,
keep walking along and
singing your song.
Books with repetitive story lines like this one make a great starting point for children to make take-off pages of their own. You can make a take-off book with this worksheet.
Watch the book being read here:
If you are interested in purchasing Pete the Cat - I Love My White Shoes please consider supporting Homeschool Parent by purchasing from the following Amazon link, thank you!
This personal dictionary is a great way to assist your child in their quest to master the art of spelling. The booklet features a variety of spelling and language arts reference materials for students in grades 3 to 8. The personal dictionary also includes a page for each letter of the alphabet which allows your child the opportunity to record assigned spelling words or those words which simply prove to be troublesome. Also within the booklet, you will find an alphabetized list of 1000 high-frequency spelling words, commonly found in 3rd through 9th grade texts. There are also vocabulary sections devoted to commonly used, and misspelled spelling words in mathematics (counting numbers through one hundred, ordinal numbers through one hundred, & mathematical operation terminology), geography (continents, oceans, countries, 50 states, and major U.S. cities), as well as calendar terminology (days, months, seasons, and noted holidays).
1. Count how many sunflowers you see in the picture above.
2. How many different colors do you see?
3. What fraction of the sunflowers are facing forward?
Introduce the book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Ask the child what they think the story is going to be about based on the title. As you are reading the story make note of words not known to be looked up in the dictionary.
Explain to your child that a noun names a person, place, or thing. What nouns can they find in the book?
Writing
Write about your own "Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."
Geography
Locate Australia on a map or globe. Find out ten interesting facts about this country.
Art
Invisible Art
Mrs. Dickens likes Paul’s picture of a sailboat better than Alexander’s picture of an invisible castle. On a white piece of paper, paint a picture using lemon juice. (As you paint you will be able to see the juice. When the juice dries, it will be invisible.) When your painting dries, have a parent press it with an iron. The heated lemon juice will turn brown, revealing your artwork. Mount your picture on construction paper.
You can watch the story being read here:
If you are interested in purchasing Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day please consider supporting Homeschool Parent by purchasing from the following Amazon link, thank you!
These adorable cards make for a great way to practice letter recognition! Print out two copies to play Go Fish with your little one. Laminate the cards for durability.
Flap Books are a great way to teach organizational skills for report writing. They can also be used to teach paragraph writing with a main idea and detail sentences.
To make a flap book:
You will need three sheets of paper. Line them up about an inch apart. Fold one end over to create extra flaps, and staple at top.
If your little one is working on writing his or her name, you may want to try making one of these Name Books from Teach Preschool. Simply print out as many pages as you need for your child's name. Include a laminated copy of your child's name for easy reference. I have a laminated name plate for Luke that he uses a dry erase marker on to practice first.
Sand paper letters (they are often pricey, so if you don't want to purchase them, you can make your own)
Directions:
1. Choose three letters to start with. I started using the sandpaper letters s, m, t. They’re good letters to start with because they’re used so often in the English language. Bring the letters to a table or a rug on the floor. Have your child sit beside you.
First Period: Introduction (“This is”)
2. Trace the letter “s” using the index and middle fingers of your right hand while making the “s” phonetic sound.
3. Invite your child to trace “s”.
4. Do the same with the letter “m” and then the letter “t”.
Second Period: Association – Recognition (“Show me”)
5. Say, “Show me “s”. Show me “t”, etc. (Note: Always use the phonetic sound, not the letter name when introducing the sandpaper letters.)
6. “Trace “s”. Trace “t”, etc.
Third Period: Recall (“What is this?”)
Only go to the third period when you know your child will be successful.
7. Put a letter in front of your child and say: “Can you trace this and tell me what it is?” You could also say, “What is this?” Continue with the other letters in the same way.
Here’s a video from InfoMontessori.com on how to use the three-period lesson to introduce sandpaper letters.
We bought some Scrabble pieces at a garage sale and I had planned on just using them on the table for spelling practice, but I decided to place some magnetic tape on the back and let the boys play with them on the fridge. They were a hit! They actually begged to practice their spelling words!
Homemade by Jill has created some FREEPrintable Alphabet Flashcards. There are two cards available for each letter. Print them out back to back, laminate, and put on a metal ring.
Older kiddos will love this Lego Cad program where they can design their own creations. Excellent introduction to Auto Cad, perfect for the budding engineer in your family.
Help the duck get to where he is going by solving subtraction problems with this fun on-line game at Toon University. Choose from three different levels for a variety of challenge.
Children identify letter sounds as they explore kid-pleasing photos for each letter of the alphabet! Perfect for pocket charts, games, and more. Printable cards also include fun activities to help children learn to distinguish and recognize initial letter sounds.
Beginning on August 16 and continuing through September 30, 2010, Blake Publishing and Reading Eggs will launch the first-ever “National Learn-to-Read Challenge.” For six weeks, children from the ages of 3 to 7 will be able to sign up for free, at ABCReadingEggs.com (www.abcreadingeggs.com), and participate in this national literacy event for youngsters.
The goal of the Challenge is for parents to register at least 50,000 children and start them on their journey to becoming great readers. Children’s Television personality and celebrated mom blogger Miss Lori is serving as Ambassador of the Reading Eggs “National Learn-to-Read Challenge,” which promotes the importance of reading as a vital educational building block.
I heard a man say yesterday that Gift Cards were the answers to all men's prayers of finding a good gift for the women in their life. I couldn't agree more, and that is why I am excited to offer one of my readers a $20 gift card to the retailer of your choice from GiftZip.com. In addition to the retailers listed above, there are tons more! You simply click on a retailer of your choice and GiftZip.com takes you directly to their secure, electronic gift card.
To Buy a Gift Card, simply visit their site at GiftZip.com
TO WIN A $20 GIFT CARD OF YOUR CHOICE:
REQUIRED ENTRY:
1. Visit GiftZip.com and tell me what gift card you would like to win! (Remember to leave an email address so I can contact you if you are the winner!
If you are having difficulty explaining math concepts to your child, you may want to head over to Math TV for their free math videos that offer step-by-step explanations for all sorts of problems. Each concept has several teachers who offer explanations with various ways of solving the problems.
Here is a fun way to review skills such as counting by ones, fives, or tens. Simply write the skill to be learned on rectangles, place one on top of the other and fasten the bottom with a paper fastener.
Directions:
1. Lay the apples out on a flat surface, like a table.
2. Player #1 hides the worm under one of the apples.
3. The other players take turns guessing which apple the worm is under by calling out the numbers on the apples.
4. Player #1 turns over the apples to reveal if they were correct.
5. The player that finds the apple is the winner and gets to hide the worm next!
Make the game easier by arranging the apples in correct number order.
Make the game harder by arranging the apples in random order.
These adorable apples can be print out and used for a variety of mathematical activities including: number order, greater or less than, addition, and subtraction.
Introduce the book The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash. Point out that there are sometimes only a few words on the pages, so the child will have to pay close attention to the illustrations.
While reading the story, ask child what is happening and why each event occurred. For example: Why did the farmer crash into the haystack? Why were the pigs on the bus? Why were they eating the lunches? Is the book fiction or nonfiction? How do they know?
After reading the story, list some of the events in the story on a white board or piece of paper. For example: The children threw corn. The chicken got excited and laid an egg. The farmer's wife was screaming. Ask child what caused these events. (e.g., They ran out of eggs. Jimmy's boa scared the chickens. The boa was in the laundry.) Add these causes to the board or chart paper before the events.
Introduce the vocabulary term cause and effect. Explain that a cause is what makes something happen, and label the first column causes. Explain that each cause has an effect, or what happened, and label the second column effects.
Give the child a blank paper and have child fold it in half and label one side "cause" and the other side "effect." Ask the child to pick any event from the story and draw its cause and effect.
Why do you think the snake caused problems on the bus. Explain the reasons here in.My Writing Space.
Draw pieces of laundry and clothing, such as towels, tops, and dresses, on construction paper. Retell the story by writing on one side of the cut-outs.
If you are interested in purchasing The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash please consider supporting Homeschool Parent by purchasing from the following Amazon link, thank you!
I absolutely love post-its, or as I call them, sticky notes, and right now there is a great $1/1 Post-it Note coupon out. I got these free at Wal-Mart, because they are on sale for $1! They are also on sale for $1 at Target and Kmart too. “Yea for free sticky notes!”
Created by a television meteorologist, Weather Wiz Kids was designed especially for kids to allow them to learn more about the fascinating world of weather. It’s also a wonderful educational website for teachers and parents to give them the right tools to explain the different types of weather to children. The site features information about all sorts of weather phenomena including: hurricanes, tornadoes, temperature, earthquakes, and more.
To learn more about weather, try one of these activites:
Handwriting paper is so much easier for little writers to work with, but it can be pricey! Here are printable sheets that can be used for handwriting practice.
*Tip Print out a sheet and place it in a sheet protector to re-use and save even more money!
There are even more school supplies on sale this week! Check out the deals below that Office Depot will offer starting tomorrow, August 8th, through August 14th…
Weekly Deals
* Wilson Jones 1 inch Poly Binder 25¢ (limit 3)
* Schoolworks 5 inch Scissors 25¢ (limit 3)
* Bookcovers 25¢
* Paper Portfolios 5¢ (limit 5)
* Composition Books 50¢ (limit 3)
* Sharpie Accent Pocket Highligher 6 pack 75¢ (limit 3)
$1 Deals
* Mini milk crates
* Solar Card Display Calculator
* Notebook Filler Paper
* Westcott Twist-It Flexible Ruler
* Select Fashion Portfolios
* Scholastic Washable Markers 8 pack
$2 Deals
* Office Depot Book covers
* Westcott Aluminum Ruler
* Elmer’s Washable School Glue Sticks 4-pack
* Stacking Bins
* Construction paper
* Index cards with file box
* Office Depot brand Correction Tape
$3 Deals
* Mead Five Star notebooks
* Really Useful Boxes brand plastic storage box
* Mead Five Star Reinforced Filler Paper 100-pack
* Spiral Notebooks (6-pack)
* PaperPro Nano Mini Stapler
* Pilot G-2 Mini
* Ticonderoga #2 Pencils 24 pack
This activity is perfect for beginning sounds, phonics, alphabetizing, and more. Simply match each word with the letter it begins with. Print out the worksheet here.
Clickhere to view this month's Sesame Street Magazine. Together, you and your child can enjoy a colorful array of stories, games, activities and more.
This month, you'll find that the seven colors of the rainbow are all around you! Using summer's sunny adventures, this issue will expand your child's appreciation of the world's many colors and develop her artistic eye. Open Sesame Street Magazine now to get started on fun—and learning!
I absolutely LOVE this idea from Filth Wizadry and I can't wait to try it with my own little guys. I will be on the lookout for Duplos when I garage sale. Check out the post on their site to see all of the great things you can do with them.
Reading and writing are the building blocks of any child’s education. In order to excel in any subject, children must be able to read and write well. As a parent, it can be very challenging to find fun ways to engage your children in these activities. This is where creative writing ideas, like pen pals come in.
Buddy-Notes.com is a company that was founded by a single mom and her six year old son. Who knows what kids like better than a mom and her son? All of the pen pal Buddys were born from the imagination of a six year old and cover topics ranging from coloring to cooking. All kids love getting mail and all kids love learning about things that they are interested in. These Buddys are just that: fun mail for kids that include coloring pages, educational tidbits, stickers and surprises. Kids are prompted with topics for their return letters. All of their letters are read and the next letter from their Buddy is personalized accordingly. It’s learning that seems effortless.
Coloring Buddy is one of the most popular Buddys. He sends one letter per month for six months. Each letter comes with crayon crafts, fun facts about crayons and of course coloring pages. Kids are encouraged to write Coloring Buddy back and let him know how their crafts turned out and what they thought of each one.
Another popular Buddy is Belle Buddy, a cooking pen pal. Kids enjoy cooking and it can be difficult to find kid-friendly recipes. Belle Buddy sends recipe cards and will even make a card for kids of their own recipe. All of her recipes are picked with kids in mind and can be done with limited adult help.
These are just two of the many pen pals available at Buddy-Notes.com. New Buddys are always being added. Remember all the Buddys for special occasions like birthdays, tooth loss, and friendship. It’s wonderful to see kids excited about reading and writing and pen pals are an excellent way to encourage this.
Stop by www.buddy-notes.com today and see what all the fun is about! Get your little one involved in six months of fun and enter one of the monthly kid-friendly giveaways.
For more Themed paper: Notebook Filler Paper
Posts
