Geography and Paddle-to-the-Sea

Could there possibly be a better choice for Year 1 students but this book Paddle to the Sea?

Tom, Ali and I have enjoyed reading through this book very much and have learned a lot about the great lakes in the process.
My DH grew up around the great lakes so the kids enjoy asking him questions about each lake that he has seen or been to. For instance we had just read about Lake Erie and where telling DH what we had learned and he was able to add that he had swam in that lake and that it was a murky lake.
We've used mostly maps for learning about the areas that Paddle drifts through and this has worked very well. I have a large U.S. map on our livingroom wall that we refer to for the big picture of where paddle was and is in each adventure.


I also printed out a couple of outline maps for the kids to color in. This map gives a nice view of all the lakes and surrounding states without any state or city names, while this map helps them to locate each state and lake by its name. As we read each chapter I have them color in any new area that we learn about and then we discuss the states that surround each lake and how to tell the difference on a map between each lake.


Another fun tool especially for Tom has been following Paddle's adventures on Google Earth. This has been fun to get a bird's eye view of the areas that Paddle floats through. We have also googled searched the Soo locks and various other landmarks to help with picturing the areas.
And for a grand finale of our geography lessons for the year we will be watching the movie of Paddle-to-the-Sea on youtube. The kids are bummed that I won't let them watch it now but I want them to use their own imaginations of what they think things looked like for Paddle before they see a movie of it. But since the movie is live action and not a cartoon it should be very enlightening to watch.

We are also working on a plan to visit the great lakes possibly next year.

Anyway enjoy your reading and if you've found other helpful links in your research please post them in the comments.

Term 3 Artist Study

For most of this year we have been using Harmony Fine Arts Grade 1 curriculum for our music and art appreciation and while I love this well put together curriculum I found that there were too many artists for my kids to get a good grasp on and I wasn't getting any of the wonderful extra activities in. So I decided to simplify a bit and go ahead and follow the Art rotation laid out on AmblesideOnline.

Now if you have not gone through AmblesideOnline with a fine toothpick comb yet, then please find an area and start clicking on all of those delightful links that have been provided. I just clicked on a few on the Art Schedule page and am really excited about using them.

In the past a member provided the art prints each term at a low cost but she is not able to do that anymore so you will need to find a way to get them yourself. I would highly recommend joining the AO Art yahoo group because you can download the terms artist pictures and those of past years. While you could print them out yourself at home I have found a cheap alternative that I wanted to share.

Since we have a fedex/kinkos store in the town that I frequent I got online yesterday and registered on their website and then placed an order to have the Van Gogh pictures printed out by them. This was unbelievably easy and took a matter of 10 minutes or so. I chose cardstock glossy paper and full-color copies to be made from the file that I had downloaded from the yahoo group and had uploaded to the kinkos site. And they have a promotion going right now for users to receive 20% off of a printing order so my total cost for having 7 pages printed was under $7!!!

Today I had errands to run in town and dropped by the store to pick up my prints. I was very happy with the results and can't wait to put them in use. I will be putting each print as we view it into a binder with page protectors. I also plan to keep my eyes open at garage sales for some nice 8 x 10 frames so that I can hang a few of our favorites up throughout the house.

Seriously, do you ever wonder what we would do without the internet!

Our First Crochet Lesson

Today I sat down with both Tom and Ali to begin teaching them crochet.
I followed Charlotte's advice and kept our lesson short (10-15 min.) so that neither of us would get frustrated. I also gave them each a lesson separately so that I could focus individually.

I followed the advice given here on teaching the basics to children and started by showing (visual) them how to make a slip knot and describing each step along the way. Then I let them try it out. It took a few tries and some extra showing but both of them got it and were able to make a nice slip knot.

Next I showed them the crochet hook and explained the different sizes and how they are lettered or numbered. It is best to start with as large a hook as possible and large yarn but all I had on hand was a size J hook and some wool yarn. Neither Tom or Ali seemed to be bothered by the sizes but if I can locate my size P or Q hook we may try that. I also showed the 2 different ways that the hook can be held (knife or pencil method) but they both automatically grabbed it and held it like I do (knife method).

Initially I started out from the slip knot and demonstrated a few chain stitches. I explained how we wanted to make "fat worms" not "hungry worms" and then showed how this was accomplished. After watching a few stitches being made I handed it over to them to try. After a little bit we found that it worked best for me to direct their hands as we made more stitches. This reduced frustration and correction so that they were able to make several stitches.
Most of our time was spent in proper hand position, holding the yarn and proper yarn tension. But all in all I think it went o.k.

I do think that I will also throughout the week be teaching each of them as well as Emi to finger knit. Working with yarn in this way will take some of the unfamiliarity away and they will be able to get results sooner. Finger knitting is what I first learned to do and spent many years making yards of rope.

You can watch a very good video of instruction for finger knitting here and here and a cute video of a different method here. You can also find some great projects to make using the rope made from finger knitting.

More helpful articles:



How to teach your child to crochet



Teach your child how to crochet

Teaching kids to crochet and/or knit

You can also find more info from my first post here.

Handiwork - Teaching crocheting

I'll be honest, I have neglected to focus on any handiwork diligently for the first 2 terms and so I find myself not having accomplished anything in this area for our 3rd term!
I had hoped to have Ali and Tom proficient in at least 1 area of handiwork by now, but there is no time like the present.
I have decided that crocheting is a good place to start, mostly because I'm still not a very accomplished knitter and because I have tons of yarn and crochet hooks.
Also I found these adorable patterns on Lion Brand yarn's website which I think will be a great motivation once they learn the basics of crochet. (you will need to register with this site to access the patterns)

I did a quick google search and came across this great website for teaching children how to crochet. This gives me a great starting point and their instructions are very user friendly and geared toward children.
So coming this next week I will be starting with the Slip knot and Chain stitch.
If you would like some pictures to show your kids or to help out you can find them at these sites:

Teaching Crochet to the Young

The Slip Stitch

Free Crochet Video Tutorial

And no post here would be quite complete without directing our thoughts back to Charlotte's ideas and thoughts on the subject of Handicrafts.

Ambleside articles on Handicrafts

"The points to be borne in mind in children's handicrafts are: (a) that they should not be employed in making futilities such as pea and stick work, paper mats, and the like; (b) that they should be taught slowly and carefully what they are to do; (c) that slipshod work should not allowed; (d) and that, therefore, the children's work should be kept well within their compass."

CM Vol. 1, pg. 315-316

Year 1, Term 2 EXAM WEEK

This past week was the end of our 2nd term and the first exam week that we've done. At first I was rather intimidated by the idea of an exam time and frankly a bit scared that it would reveal that my kids have in fact learned nothing, but after this 2nd term I've gotten past those fears and forged ahead to try our hands at this thing.

I got ideas for questions from the exam questions listed at Ambleside and from Jacci's post about exams.

I can't say that I was super creative but I tried to cover all the subjects and get a good feel for what has been retained and understood, and what will need a bit more work.

The subjects of art study and composer/music study I will be slowing up a bit and focusing on just 1 of each this 3rd term. Alissa was able to recall some but Tom was pretty baffled.

It was interesting to see how the gender differences came out with both Tom and Ali. Ali was very descriptive with the stories but struggled on the math end and Tom wizzed through the math but struggled with recalling more than the basics from our readings. I'm not really sure how I'll address this on a daily level other than to keep gently pushing Tom for more descriptive narrations. It may also help for me to become consistent with recording their narrations on the computer or giving them other alternatives to oral narrations i.e. acting out, drawing etc.

All in all I am satisfied with how our first exam week has gone. We didn't get all the questions finished so will be tying them up this week. One thing that I did struggle with was that our schedule fell apart and at the end of the week I was exhausted, the house was a disaster and I had accomplished absolutely nothing in the way of extra cleaning and organizing projects. I think it would work much better to maintain the same daily school schedule but just insert the exam questions instead of the usual school work. I guess I've got 12 weeks to figure that one out!

I made up 2 sets of questions, one for each child, and kept them in Microsoft Word and then typed their answers in the proper places. I will be printing them out and filing them away as soon as we get them all finished. I think we only have a couple left.

Without further ado, here are the questions:

Bible Lessons

1. Tell me about Moses & the Ten Commandments

2. Tell me about Joseph & His brothers


Writing

1. There is Power in the Blood



Nature History

1. Describe 2 birds & what you have noticed about them.

2. Describe the nicest walk you have had this term? What did you find?



Geography

1. Draw the shape of Lake Superior or Lake Michigan.
2. Tell something about Britain. Where is it?



Number

1. Answer questions on pages 38, 39 & 40.
2. Do math question sheet.

(these were tests from Ray's Arithmetic parents guide)



Picture Talk

1. Describe the picture you liked the most from this term.



Tales

1. Tell about an Aesop tale that you liked.



History

1. Tell the story of King Arthur

2. Tell me about the Giant’s Dance



Reading

1. Read a passage for dad.



Music

1. What piece did you like best from this term’s music you have heard? Why?