Reading comprehension resources

Lakeshore Learning has a number of really great resources and ideas for teachers--some that are easy enough to make yourself, but some that you may find worth purchasing. I like their nonfiction comprehension cards, to which I apply Hot Dots and which double as great testing practice.

I also like these quick-pick cards that attach reading comprehension skills to writing activities, which you can use with any book.

Easy Clouds Match-Up

I created a very basic clouds match-up on www.theteacherscorner.net; Facebook users can find it here.

Geometry/math practice online

At some point I'd like to post an extensive list of educational websites, but until that day comes...if you'd like to practice our recent geometry math facts, you might visit www.ixl.com and select your child's grade. You can choose online practice for geometry or a number of other math disciplines, which I imagine is great test practice, too!

Prepositions: Grammar House Rock

Here's a link to the Grammar House Rock video on prepositions.

Found a Peanut

In case you don't know the tune to "Found a Peanut", it's sung to the words of "Oh My Darling, Clementine". That may not help those of you who don't know "Found a Peanut!" But it's worth a try.

Greek and Latin Roots Flash Cards

New year - new roots!  Greek and Latin roots, that is.  Though I did have my roots highlighted this week, oi!

If you want to make flash cards of the Latin kind, you can use the template I made.  Here's the front (roots) and the back (definitions).  Print on card stock; laminate for bonus points.

Related posts:
Memory Game
Illustrating Roots
Last semester's root words.

-Julie

Clouds for kids

Here's a good overview of cloud types with photos of the clouds we're studying this week.

This site has a ton of great links, including NASA's cloud site for kids; cool clouds from space; how to make a water cycle wheel; and more.

Here's a link to some easy hands-on experiments from this brief, informative summary on clouds with more links to more pictures.

And here's a link with poetry, another science experiment, and a number of art projects related to clouds!

NASA's created a couple of videos for kids on this: a basic one on clouds and their types, and this one on shapes and formation of clouds, with a neat demonstration on making a cloud. This video also demonstrated the creation of clouds--less exciting, but pretty explanatory, and shows how you can make a cloud with a 2-liter bottle at home. Here's a very basic video on types of clouds for reading-aged children with no voice-over.

For older students, here are some wonderful worksheets that incorporate some math, too.

For memory purposes, the poem can loosely be formed to "The Farmer in the Dell." (Someday my creativity will think of a different song that has the same meter.)

Hundred Years' War, Joan of Arc, and the Black Death for Kids

Although I had a difficult time finding videos valuable for kids regarding this week's lesson, here's a good summary in print with a video clip from the 1989 film of Shakespeare's Henry V, of Henry's speech. It also draws in the Black Death and Joan of Arc, connecting the dots with some of our other history landmarks.

Though Joan of Arc will be spotlighted in three weeks, including her this week may help make a cohesive whole. Here's a program from Biography on her life which I have not prescreened, along with a tame short clip regarding her capture, trial, and death. This trailer for the full-length 1999 film Joan of Arc may also give a brief idea of her life; it's brief but suspenseful, so watch it first to see if it's age-appropriate for your children.

This clip from the History Channel is a good medical explanation of the Black Death that so influenced the Hundred Years' war. Please note: They make it a little scary, so do watch it for age-appropriateness.

Word Wheels and Word Slides for new readers

Word Wheels are wonderful for weading pwactice. (Sorry. Had to.) Essentially, they're a hands-on tool for teaching word families: A word ending (such as -ag) is on the top wheel, which is notched; word beginnings are on the bottom wheel (like b, s, sn, w), so one beginning peeks through the notch, forming a whole word. They're just right for preschool through first graders and other new readers getting the hang of phonics--my kids enjoy them. A word slide is similar, and can be used to teach prefixes, suffixes, and compound words as well for older students.

This site has a large number of color-coded word wheels that are easy to print out as pdfs and assemble with a paper fastener (a brad); here are some more challenging wheels, but be warned--there are 48 pages in the document!--so you may want to pick and choose. These word slides teach root words and suffixes, and here's one more set for basic phonics.

For a fun computer follow-up, my kids enjoy this clever Blending Bowl game from Between the Lions, where football players run into each other to form words. Starfall also has "make a word with... (ap, og, etc.)" under the Play column of this page.

Mardel's 20% off sale Jan. 7-8

For those of you who enjoy Mardel's homeschool, education, and kids section, it's all 20% tomorrow and Saturday!