See you in 2011!
23 December 2010
22 December 2010
Thou Long Neglected Blog
Sorry, folks.
'Tis the season when I do more baking than teaching, and I hope you do, too.
If you want to know what books are under our Christmas tree this year, you can read about it here.
'Tis the season when I do more baking than teaching, and I hope you do, too.
If you want to know what books are under our Christmas tree this year, you can read about it here.
15 December 2010
The New, Improved Binder System
Don't say I didn't warn you.
I finally got my supplies for my new binder system in the mail, and I'm spending my imaginary spare time today setting it all up. So far so good. I think this is going to be very helpful!
The easiest way to explain this is to lay out the supplies needed (if you are going to revamp your binder like I'm doing), explain each one as we go along, give a more thorough explanation, and then give a couple examples to help you visualize how this is all going to work.
Please note that this new organizational approach is based upon the Simply Charlotte Mason Scripture Memory System.
Ingredients
In order to make this new and improved binder, you are going to need...
This is how we do it...
The previous binder system was organized around the mechanics of our language. I still maintain that knowing what a diphthong, or a digraph, or a long vowel, or what have you, is helpful to those of us teaching. But children are learning the language as they go along, and what is most important is reviewing at the appropriate frequency.
A lot of this is all about pace, and every single child will be different. This allows us to all organize our binders the same way, while catering to the individual child's pace.
Here's how it'll work. Each new sound learned (whether it be a diphthong, a digraph, a long vowel, whatever) will be written on half of a 3x5 card. Basically, fold it in half and cut it up the middle. This will produce two cards that will neatly slide into the nine-pocket pages. On the first day a sound is learned, it'll go into the "daily" section. After a few more lessons, in which said sound has been reviewed daily, you--the Reading Teacher Extraordinaire--will need to evaluate. If the child is consistently doing well with the sound, move it to the Even or Odd section.
Now, Even and Odd represent lesson days. So, for instance, if you are on Day 112 in the lessons, you will review the Even section. On Day 113, review the Odd section.
If the child does well with Even or Odd (every-other-day) practice, pick a day of the week--Monday, perhaps--and move it there. (If you have a day of the week that you never do lessons, please do not assign anything to practice on that day.) In this simple act, you have moved the practice from every-other-day to once-weekly.
When the child gets really, really consistent, pick a number between 1 and 31 and move the card there. This means that the practice will now be monthly, with 1-31 representing the dates of the days of the months. Please note that using the 31st will actually equate to every-other-month practice rather than monthly practice.
Right now, because of the stage we are in, I have moved all of the basic letter sounds to monthly practice. I find that Daughter A. really does need that occasional review. Instead of reviewing all the letters once per month, I am breaking the alphabet up into smaller parts--say five or six letters--and assigning each "part" a card and a day.
An Example Progression
Okay, so let's say I just taught daughter A. the ow diphthong. Remember our chart? Well, instead of writing it directly on a page in the binder, I'm going to write it on half of a 3x5 card. Since this is a brand new sound, it goes in the daily section.
A week later, she is doing pretty well, so I decide to review it on Odd days only.
Two weeks after this, she seems to really have it down. I decide to move it to Wednesday review.
Three months go by, and I've noticed she is even reading the ow diphthong sound on her own. She really knows it. I take the card, and move it to the 22 tab, meaning that we will now only review it on the 22nd of every month.
An Example Lesson
I sit down with my student, binder in my lap. I open it up, and on the page I write what I always write to begin, which is the lesson day (in this case, Day 100), the date, and the information on the book we are reading that day (something like "Set Kindergarten, Book 4"). I always leave room to write the page numbers we end up reading so that I know where I left off.
Next, we review the list of sight words. I keep this in the basic lessons section. I don't know why. I suppose they could be assigned a card and moved around like the sounds, but I don't do that. Some of this is because a number of the "sight" words follow a rule and, when we learn the rule they follow, they will be removed from the sight word list and placed on a card with like words.
My habit is to write the sight words once, when we turn the page. Then, we refer back to them daily until we turn the page again.
On Day 100, there is a new sight word: who. I write it in the Day 100 lesson (when I turn the page, I will add it to the master list).
I teach the sight word.
Next, there is a new blend to learn: ook. I write the ook chart on half of a 3x5 card (I keep a little stack in the binder pocket for this purpose). I place the card in the daily section.
Day 100 is an Even day, so we do our Even review. It is also a Monday, so we review whatever items are in the Monday tab. There is nothing in the date tab for that particular date (the first of the month) yet, but if there were, we'd review whatever was there, also.
After all of this, learning the new things and reviewing the old, we read our new pages.
And that is all.
For further information (with pictures!), click here.
Know Your Students
This new system will work great, as long as you pay attention to your student. Is your student forgetting something consistently? Move the card backwards in the progression. Is your student bored with reviewing something? Move the card forwards in the progression.
It is that easy.
The Old Way Will Still Work
I will still tell you if something is a diphthong or a digraph or whatever as we go, so if you want to stick with the old way, please feel free. The new lessons, however, will be written up according to the new organization.
And Finally
I'll be adding this information to the Tools of the Trade post for new users.
I finally got my supplies for my new binder system in the mail, and I'm spending my imaginary spare time today setting it all up. So far so good. I think this is going to be very helpful!
The easiest way to explain this is to lay out the supplies needed (if you are going to revamp your binder like I'm doing), explain each one as we go along, give a more thorough explanation, and then give a couple examples to help you visualize how this is all going to work.
Please note that this new organizational approach is based upon the Simply Charlotte Mason Scripture Memory System.
Ingredients
In order to make this new and improved binder, you are going to need...
- Avery Write-On Dividers. Okay. You don't actually have to buy this exact set. I'm just showing you what I bought. The important thing is that there must be five of them. We will be using them for the weekdays (Monday through Friday)
. Weekday dividers are available out there pre-printed, but I found that they are pricier than these.
- Avery Write-On Tabs. Optional. You can use these on index paper or cardstock to make your own dividers for any or all of the new binder sections. In addition to weekdays and days of the month (below), we will also need tabs labeled Basic Lessons, Even, and Odd. Another optional tab is daily. You can keep your daily items written in your Basic Lessons sections if you like. I like to have a daily section.
- Index Paper. Optional. You will need this if you are using the write-on tabs above. Punch holes in it with a three-hole punch, add the removable tab, and ta-da! Instant divider.
31-Tab Index System. This will be used for the days of the month.
- Nine Pocket Pages. These will hold chart cards for us.
- 3x5 Cards
. You really, really don't need to buy a thousand of these. I was just giving a link so you can see what I'm talking about. These are easily purchased at a grocery or other store near you, and in a much more manageable amount.
- College-Ruled Filler Paper. To write on during lesson time.
This is how we do it...
- If you bought the write-on labels, make sure you have actually written on them.
- Place the labels into the binder in this order:
- Basic Lessons
- Daily
- Even
- Odd
- Monday through Friday, in order
- 1-31 tabs, in order
- Put lined filler paper in the Basic Lessons section. (If you are redoing an old binder, you will already have this paper, so just move it to that section.)
- Put one nine-pocket page in all of the other sections. There will be no nine-pocket pages in Basic Lessons. If you bought the pack of 100, you will have some leftover. As I have two students, and I am also redoing our memory binder, I will likely be using every. single. one.
The previous binder system was organized around the mechanics of our language. I still maintain that knowing what a diphthong, or a digraph, or a long vowel, or what have you, is helpful to those of us teaching. But children are learning the language as they go along, and what is most important is reviewing at the appropriate frequency.
A lot of this is all about pace, and every single child will be different. This allows us to all organize our binders the same way, while catering to the individual child's pace.
Here's how it'll work. Each new sound learned (whether it be a diphthong, a digraph, a long vowel, whatever) will be written on half of a 3x5 card. Basically, fold it in half and cut it up the middle. This will produce two cards that will neatly slide into the nine-pocket pages. On the first day a sound is learned, it'll go into the "daily" section. After a few more lessons, in which said sound has been reviewed daily, you--the Reading Teacher Extraordinaire--will need to evaluate. If the child is consistently doing well with the sound, move it to the Even or Odd section.
Now, Even and Odd represent lesson days. So, for instance, if you are on Day 112 in the lessons, you will review the Even section. On Day 113, review the Odd section.
If the child does well with Even or Odd (every-other-day) practice, pick a day of the week--Monday, perhaps--and move it there. (If you have a day of the week that you never do lessons, please do not assign anything to practice on that day.) In this simple act, you have moved the practice from every-other-day to once-weekly.
When the child gets really, really consistent, pick a number between 1 and 31 and move the card there. This means that the practice will now be monthly, with 1-31 representing the dates of the days of the months. Please note that using the 31st will actually equate to every-other-month practice rather than monthly practice.
Right now, because of the stage we are in, I have moved all of the basic letter sounds to monthly practice. I find that Daughter A. really does need that occasional review. Instead of reviewing all the letters once per month, I am breaking the alphabet up into smaller parts--say five or six letters--and assigning each "part" a card and a day.
An Example Progression
Okay, so let's say I just taught daughter A. the ow diphthong. Remember our chart? Well, instead of writing it directly on a page in the binder, I'm going to write it on half of a 3x5 card. Since this is a brand new sound, it goes in the daily section.
A week later, she is doing pretty well, so I decide to review it on Odd days only.
Two weeks after this, she seems to really have it down. I decide to move it to Wednesday review.
Three months go by, and I've noticed she is even reading the ow diphthong sound on her own. She really knows it. I take the card, and move it to the 22 tab, meaning that we will now only review it on the 22nd of every month.
An Example Lesson
I sit down with my student, binder in my lap. I open it up, and on the page I write what I always write to begin, which is the lesson day (in this case, Day 100), the date, and the information on the book we are reading that day (something like "Set Kindergarten, Book 4"). I always leave room to write the page numbers we end up reading so that I know where I left off.
Next, we review the list of sight words. I keep this in the basic lessons section. I don't know why. I suppose they could be assigned a card and moved around like the sounds, but I don't do that. Some of this is because a number of the "sight" words follow a rule and, when we learn the rule they follow, they will be removed from the sight word list and placed on a card with like words.
My habit is to write the sight words once, when we turn the page. Then, we refer back to them daily until we turn the page again.
On Day 100, there is a new sight word: who. I write it in the Day 100 lesson (when I turn the page, I will add it to the master list).
I teach the sight word.
Next, there is a new blend to learn: ook. I write the ook chart on half of a 3x5 card (I keep a little stack in the binder pocket for this purpose). I place the card in the daily section.
Day 100 is an Even day, so we do our Even review. It is also a Monday, so we review whatever items are in the Monday tab. There is nothing in the date tab for that particular date (the first of the month) yet, but if there were, we'd review whatever was there, also.
After all of this, learning the new things and reviewing the old, we read our new pages.
And that is all.
For further information (with pictures!), click here.
Know Your Students
This new system will work great, as long as you pay attention to your student. Is your student forgetting something consistently? Move the card backwards in the progression. Is your student bored with reviewing something? Move the card forwards in the progression.
It is that easy.
The Old Way Will Still Work
I will still tell you if something is a diphthong or a digraph or whatever as we go, so if you want to stick with the old way, please feel free. The new lessons, however, will be written up according to the new organization.
And Finally
I'll be adding this information to the Tools of the Trade post for new users.
10 December 2010
Day 16-18
Day Sixteen
- Sounds to review: short-a, c, d, hard-g, m, n, short-o, r, soft-s, hard-s, t
- Word building: practice some of the words built on previous days
- Review sight words: O.K., the, a, A
- Read: Set 1
, Book 3 ("Dot") p. 1-3
Day Seventeen
- Sounds to review: short-a, c, d, hard-g, m, n, short-o, r, soft-s, hard-s, t
- Word building: again practice some of the words built on previous days
- Review sight words: O.K., the, a, A
- Read: Set 1
, Book 3 ("Dot") p. 4-5
Day EighteenI like to write out at five times in black, and then use my colored pen to add different letters to the front. This help illustrate the logic of the words--that at always says at, and that different letters added to the front of the word change the word.
- Sounds to review: short-a, c, d, hard-g, m, n, short-o, r, soft-s, hard-s, t
- Review sight word: O.K., the, a, A
- Build new words: cat, rat, hat, mat, sat
- Read: Set 1
09 December 2010
Announcements: New Label...and More!
As I've been working on revamping my organization of the binder (something I'll explain next week), I have realized that there is a bit of organization here on the blog that could use work also.
Basically, I'm adding new labels to the posts.
In addition to what I've already used, I will add a label for each individual book in the Bob Books collection. Over time, this is going to mean an addition of around fifty labels, so I really had to think about whether or not I wanted to do this. However, I decided that it'd be helpful for folks who are looking for help on a specific book along the way, rather than actually using all of the lessons in order.
When and if I have time, I'll go back and add the new labels to the older posts.
In other news, I thought I'd start a little TRWBB Button Club. If you are sporting the TRWBB button on your own blog, let me know (either in the comments or via email). I will be adding a Button Club widget (well...if I actually get any responses) in the sidebar that will link back to your blog. If you have a cute button, I'll put it in the widget. Otherwise, I'll just use an old-fashioned text link. Please note that your blog has to be family-friendly to qualify, but it seems that goes without saying.
: : : end service announcement : : :
Basically, I'm adding new labels to the posts.
In addition to what I've already used, I will add a label for each individual book in the Bob Books collection. Over time, this is going to mean an addition of around fifty labels, so I really had to think about whether or not I wanted to do this. However, I decided that it'd be helpful for folks who are looking for help on a specific book along the way, rather than actually using all of the lessons in order.
When and if I have time, I'll go back and add the new labels to the older posts.
In other news, I thought I'd start a little TRWBB Button Club. If you are sporting the TRWBB button on your own blog, let me know (either in the comments or via email). I will be adding a Button Club widget (well...if I actually get any responses) in the sidebar that will link back to your blog. If you have a cute button, I'll put it in the widget. Otherwise, I'll just use an old-fashioned text link. Please note that your blog has to be family-friendly to qualify, but it seems that goes without saying.
: : : end service announcement : : :
08 December 2010
Days 106-108
Day One Hundred Six
- Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., for, or, pink, into, was, car, do, saw, shh, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some
- Flip to your word endings section and review.
- Flip to diphthongs section and review.
- Flip to digraphs section and review.
- Read:
Day One Hundred SevenClick here for a tip on introducing the rule-following word off.
- Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., for, or, pink, into, was, car, do, saw, shh, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some
- Flip to your blends section and review.
- Flip to your word endings section and review.
- Flip to your diphthongs section and review.
- Flip to your digraphs section and review.
- Read: Kindergarten Set
Day One Hundred EightJust FYI: This is the last of the reading in the Kindergarten Set
- Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., for, or, pink, into, was, car, do, saw, shh, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some
- Flip to your blends section and review.
- Flip to your word endings section and review.
- Flip to your diphthongs section and review.
- Flip to your digraphs section and review.
- Read: Kindergarten Set
for a while. Personally, I thought my daughter needed to practice a little more before really engaging Set 3
, which is quite a bit more challenging. At this point I will probably alternate the two sets until we have completed reading all of the books from the Kindergarten Sight Words set.
07 December 2010
**Repost: Days 103-105**
Ahem.
I have taken down the previous post by this name, and reposted this with accurate information. Somehow, I got off a day in my posting. This only came to my attention what I was typing up the next set of lessons...and they didn't match up with my binder!
Sorry for any inconveninence...
The book acts as if milk is a sight word, but the word follows the rules just fine and the students should be able to figure it out okay. You get bonus points for leaving the couch, taking the child to the fridge, and verifying that it does in fact say milk on that carton inside.
I have taken down the previous post by this name, and reposted this with accurate information. Somehow, I got off a day in my posting. This only came to my attention what I was typing up the next set of lessons...and they didn't match up with my binder!
Sorry for any inconveninence...
Day One Hundred ThreeClick here for a tip on teaching the blend ink.
- Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., for, or, pink, into, was, car, do, saw, shh, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come
- Introduce new blend: ink
- Flip to your word endings section and review.
- Flip to diphthong section and review.
- Flip to digraph section and review.
- Read:
The book acts as if milk is a sight word, but the word follows the rules just fine and the students should be able to figure it out okay. You get bonus points for leaving the couch, taking the child to the fridge, and verifying that it does in fact say milk on that carton inside.
Day One Hundred Four
- Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., for, or, pink, into, was, car, do, saw, shh, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some
- Flip to your blends section and review.
- Flip to your word endings section and review.
- Flip to your diphthong section and review.
- Flip to your digraph section and review.
- Read: Kindergarten Set
Day One Hundred FiveClick here for a tip on teaching the digraph sh.
- Review sight words: A, a, to, so, O.K., for, or, pink, into, was, car, do, saw, shh, Do, out, fly, bird, of, put, bye, go, Go, no, zero, who, come, some
- Introduce new blend: sh
- Flip to your blends section and review.
- Flip to your word endings section and review.
- Flip to your diphthong section and review.
- Flip to your digraph section and review.
- Read: Kindergarten Set
06 December 2010
Digraph #2: sh
One of the things I like about Bob Books is that they have a subtle way of leading us into special sounds, especially the digraphs. In the case of the sh sound, the children learned to read shhh as a sight word back in Set 2 Book 4 ("Bow-Wow!"). One of the reasons I've had that on the sight words list all this time, even though they never actually read the word again in the Bob Books is because it is a simple way to lead into learning that sh always makes that shushing sound.
Digraphs, if you recall, are when two or more consonants together have their own special sound. Telling the children this is helpful. Let them know that when s and h are together, they always make their special sound rather than some other sound.
I haven't revamped our binder system (yet), so for now flip to your digraphs section and write out this chart:
Book 4 ("Bow-Wow!"). One of the reasons I've had that on the sight words list all this time, even though they never actually read the word again in the Bob Books is because it is a simple way to lead into learning that sh always makes that shushing sound.Digraphs, if you recall, are when two or more consonants together have their own special sound. Telling the children this is helpful. Let them know that when s and h are together, they always make their special sound rather than some other sound.
I haven't revamped our binder system (yet), so for now flip to your digraphs section and write out this chart:
A couple notes on this chart:sh_____shutshipshocksheshook
- The word she doesn't actually follow the rules, so you will need to tell them the word. This is the word they need for the book, and it is technically a sight word, but I like to take the opportunity to introduce the digraph at this point anyhow because I like to take risks like that.
- This is about as wild as I get.
- The word shook is a combination of today's new digraph, plus the blend ook that we learned awhile back. This is a great opportunity to show the children how words are made. A great idea would be to write the word in two places, one being this chart, and the other being the ook chart--simple add this word to the ook list.
02 December 2010
What to do...During Christmas Break
Okay, obviously everyone is going to have a different approach. We all face the same issue: with the earliest of readers, they need lots of practice. Taking two weeks off for Christmas, for example, can result in going backwards, right?
Well.
Right.
It can.
The question here is what is important to your family, what fits with your traditions, and...your philosophy of education.
I fully admit that after longer breaks, children are a bit behind where they left off. But not much, and it is usually fairly simple to catch them back up.
I recently read a fascinating post over at Inside Classical Education. Here's a little taste:
We bake cookies. Lots of cookies. And we take them to people we know. We make gingerbread houses. We prepare for the feasts with our extended family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. And so on and so forth.
I think it is important that our children's education respect the family, the nature of the times and seasons, and so on. A little break can be refreshing, and we are renewed when we begin again.
There are basically three approaches to dealing with the holidays:
Whichever you choose, I woud beg you to consider the implications of rest for education. My introduction to this idea was the book Leisure: The Basis of Culture, which I highly recommend.
Well.
Right.
It can.
The question here is what is important to your family, what fits with your traditions, and...your philosophy of education.
I fully admit that after longer breaks, children are a bit behind where they left off. But not much, and it is usually fairly simple to catch them back up.
I recently read a fascinating post over at Inside Classical Education. Here's a little taste:
I was interviewing Ken Myers of Mars Hill Audio recently, and asked him what he would hope to see if he observed a classical Christian school. I was braced by one of his responses: he would hope to see a rhythm of fasting and feasting. Fasting and feasting sounds strange to 21st century American ears, though it ought not sound so strange to American Christians trying to learn from the classical tradition. The church has practiced fasting and feasting for centuries. For various reason, many, perhaps most, American Christians have forgotten these practices—and so we are not likely to quickly bring them to our schools.Fasting and feasting. In our home, this season is a season of feasting. We do reading lessons during the first three weeks of Advent (a little less--three per week instead of four or five), but all of our other activities are focused on the season. When we enter the fourth week of Advent, we stop lessons entirely (excluding the Advent lessons) until after the New Year. We stop, so that we can focus on the feasting aspect.
Ken’s comments got me thinking again about our need to re-examine and understand leisure, contemplation and rest as vital aspects of a classical education.
We bake cookies. Lots of cookies. And we take them to people we know. We make gingerbread houses. We prepare for the feasts with our extended family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. And so on and so forth.
I think it is important that our children's education respect the family, the nature of the times and seasons, and so on. A little break can be refreshing, and we are renewed when we begin again.
There are basically three approaches to dealing with the holidays:
- Take time off when the public schools take time off
- Take time off for Christmas Eve/Day and other holidays only
- Never take time off, other than weekends
Whichever you choose, I woud beg you to consider the implications of rest for education. My introduction to this idea was the book Leisure: The Basis of Culture, which I highly recommend.
01 December 2010
Don't Hate Me, But...
In my post How Often to Review, I mentioned that I was considering reworking my binder system to coincide with Simply Charlotte Mason's Scripture Memory System because I really thought it'd simplify our review process.
If this blog belonged to the Department of Homeland Security, and the threat of the binder being reworked was previously at the Yellow--or Elevated--level, well...I think I'm raising the level to Orange (High).
The way I'm going to do this, however, will keep it simple enough that if you don't want to switch to the new system, you certainly won't have to. Of course, if you are like me and teach children outside of your family from time to time (or even more often than that), switching over might be just the ticket. It makes more sense to invest in a better system if this is something you are doing over the long term.
This is your early warning. More details to come soon.
If this blog belonged to the Department of Homeland Security, and the threat of the binder being reworked was previously at the Yellow--or Elevated--level, well...I think I'm raising the level to Orange (High).
The way I'm going to do this, however, will keep it simple enough that if you don't want to switch to the new system, you certainly won't have to. Of course, if you are like me and teach children outside of your family from time to time (or even more often than that), switching over might be just the ticket. It makes more sense to invest in a better system if this is something you are doing over the long term.
This is your early warning. More details to come soon.
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