Maths Fact Family Memory Games - Addition

Today I have an awesome fun freebie printable for you!

Have you ever played that game called 'Memory' when you were younger?   Yep, well, I have my own little version of that today for you, Math Fact Families - Addition.  

Here's how one of the games look while in play.  If you add additional games it could get quite large, interesting and heaps of fun!

Click the picture directly below to download the FREE addition pack.  It's hot linked directly to googledocs for direct access.

Now that we have a copy of all the games.........

We need to pick out some really nice scrapbooking paper that has the pattern on one side and white on the other.

Let's print the games out.  I printed out 3 games to get me started.

Just print them all up on the white side of the patterned paper.  I dug around in my scrapbooking supplies and found some really nice ones.

I put all of them on the same patterned paper.  That way, at a later point in time I could increase the difficulty and time for the game playing.

Ok, let's get the games happening!

Just cut all the cards up and separate them out into their fact families.  Play one or more games at a time.  When you're finished playing just keep them in a small plastic baggie for later use. 

If you are going to use them with a lot of children, or for a lot of games - I also highly recommend laminating each game set before cutting them into the little cards.

If you'd like to see a video walk through, surprise, I have one!  :)

Thanks so much. See you again soon.  

Art Monday - The Wedge Tailed Eagle

{ The Wedge-Tailed Eagle of Australia }

I modeled a nature journal page....

And then Charlotte produced this one.

And Hannah drew hers.....

and painted it thus.....

And Chloe did hers as well.  

And Phebe dolly did her bird perched on a branch in a tree that also had a tire swing!

Thanks so much for visiting.  

This year we continue with our nature journal / Art with Australian Birds, Wildlife and Plants.

New Pack: Multiple Phonogram Spelling Worksheet Pack - OU

As it turns out I discovered that we needed to re-visit this particular phonogram again.

I didn't mind.

I loved that idea.

It works out great for not only me, but for you too.

Inside you'll find a color anchor chart, and a black line anchor chart, which I use as an assessment at the end of the week where I let the child color in the words that they can read without assistance.  I've also included a dictation/new list/copywork page.

Then the daily worksheets begin.  The first one is just writing the word to the matching picture. 

Following on we have worksheets where the child circles the correct sounds to make a word and then writes the word.  The next worksheet set is where the child selects the best word to complete the sentence and then does copywork with it in the bottom half of the page.  

And for fun I also included an interactive notebook page for those who keep interactive notebooks.  There are cut and paste words to assist in the lesson.  Instructions are given as well.

Lastly, there are the read, trace, and write pages for all the words/pictures introduced.  There is a print option, and a cursive handwriting option for each set of those.

Here's the introductory video that I did for this worksheet pack:

For more information on the products themselves, just click on these covers and the link will take you there:

Thanks so much for visiting today.

Charlotte { 6 } Update

These years pass so quickly and before I can blink I know the year will be long gone.

That is why I NEED to document some of this awesome journey, before it slips into the oblivion.

I know I'm going to need some beautiful memories, so here are this weeks from Charlotte:

A Nursery Rhyme activity.

Working on Attentiveness.

How the Spider unit goes.....

Some copywork.....

What she's reading these days....

Charlotte is making so much progress.....

So thankful that I get to be a part of that.

How to Teach Your Child to Write an Informational Paragraph

Today we are back with our 4th paragraph formula walk through.

So far in this series we have the:

Detail Paragraph

Opinion Paragraph

Narrative Paragraph

and today we shall do the Informational Paragraph.

This particular paragraph is set up exactly like the previous paragraphs except that the focus sentences are based on facts.  If you are new to this series I highly recommend checking out those previous formulas first.

Essentially, our paragraph formula looks like the following.

I.  Main Idea / Topic - a sentence about the subject

                   a.  Fact sentence

                   b.  Fact sentence

                   c.  Fact sentence
                   d.  Fact sentence
                   e.  Conclusion sentence based on the facts

We not only use this particular paragraph structure for animal study in the early grades but also for our Science and History essays as the children get older in the higher grades.  It lends itself to a lot of useful work in the writing department.

And yes, I also have a quick video walk through here:

Thank you so much for visiting.  I hope these little formula walk throughs help you with your children's beginning writing.  

I look forward to adding more How To.... video's soon.

How to Teach Your Child to Write a Narrative Paragraph

Today we are back with our 3rd paragraph walk through - the Narrative.

Don't forget to check out the previous paragraph formulas for your beginner paragraph writers:

Detail

Opinion

Ok, let's jump straight in for the Narrative.  We won't be spending a lot of time looking at characters, setting or problem/solution though.  We mainly want to focus on the basic structure on how to set up the narrative paragraph for our 6 year olds.  We can always re-visit this topic at a later date to broaden it to include those previously mentioned items, or to turn it into an essay for the older child.

First thing we do is an opening sentence of the main idea.  The narrative is essentially a sequential story of an event.

     I.  main idea - introduction.

Have the child briefly set the story up.  Personally, I do feel that this particular step is optional to begin with, so feel free to dispense with it if you so desire.  However, if you do want your child to introduce their characters and setting, have them introduce them. Or lead prompt them about what their paragraph will be about.   Don't worry about having every detail to begin with, those items will come with practice.

Now we are going to prompt lead them with the transitional words first, next, then, and last.

     I.  Main idea - introduction

                                         a.  First, and finish the sentence  

                                         b.  Next, and finish the sentence

                                         c.  Then, and finish the sentence

                                         d.  Last, and finish the sentence

Don't forget that you have the option of having the child narrate it to you, and they can copy it out in their best handwriting later on.  At this point we just want them to express several sentences that link to each other to form the narrative paragraph.

I've even done a video walk through for Narrative here:

I still have more paragraph video's that I want to add to this series.  In fact, I am hoping that my very next video will be the expository paragraph.

Thanks so much for visiting, and I hope that you will visit again soon, catch you later chookies.

How to Teach Your Child to Write an Opinion Paragraph

Welcome back to our series on How to Teach Your Child Paragraph Writing.  We'll be looking at several different types of paragraphs.  So far we have the basic detail paragraph HERE.  That is the best place to start.  The basic structure of an opinion paragraph is somewhat similar to the basic structure of the detail paragraph, so if you've read the previous post you'll be all good to go.

Today though, as we continue, I will show you the formula so that your child can write an opinion paragraph with ease.  There shall be no more crying at writing time.  Both you and your child are going to have amazing success!  

The first thing that we need to do is have the child give us their opinion.  Another word that we can use for opinion is 'think'.  So the child may say, "I think....."   or they could use words like, "I like......" or "I don't like....."

We need them to tell it to us in a sentence.

I.  My Opinion

Now we will begin to build our paragraph.

The next thing you want to do is to ask the child to give you a reason sentence about their opinion.  Continue asking for reasons about the topic until you have 4 or 5 of them.

                                    I.  My Opinion sentence

                                         a. Reason 1

                                         b. Reason 2

                                         c. Reason 3

                                         d. Reason 4

                                         e. Conclusion

Use narration and copywork if your child isn't ready to write from mind to paper yet.  Simply write out their sentences and have them copy it in their best handwriting later on.  

Here's my video on the basic structure of the opinion paragraph:

I'll be adding more short video's about How to Teach Your Child... Narrative, Expository, Compare/Contrast Paragraphs over the next week or so.  All we need to do is change some of the formula and voila, our children can write!

How to Teach Your Child to Write a Paragraph

Oftentimes I find curriculum complicates a very simple and easy process in the teaching of writing.  In many cases it leaves a parent daunted, believing that they cannot teach their child to write, or write well. I am here to tell you that YOU can do this, and you can do it WITHOUT a purchased curriculum too.  I know, because I've done it myself.

Today I want to show you how easy it is to teach your child to write a paragraph.

Essentially what you need to begin with is have a child that can tell you what they think in sentences.  If they can narrate to any length, this whole paragraph walk through will be quite easy.  If not, a little prompt or lead questioning will surprise both you and your child.

Always have the child write on something that they have previously read, heard or know something about.

Firstly, ask the child to give you the main idea of the topic that you want him to write about.

That will be his first sentence.

I.  Main Idea Sentence

The next thing you want to do is to ask the child to give you a detail sentence about the main idea.  Continue asking for detail sentences about the topic until you have 4 or 5 of them.

                                  I.  Main Idea Sentence

                                      a. Detail Sentence      

                                      b. Detail Sentence           

                                      c. Detail Sentence           

                                      d. Detail Sentence      

                                      e. Ending Detail Sentence      

The child can narrate these to you or write them one at a time on their paper as they think of them.  If the child is narrating to you simply write it down and when finished let them copy it in their best handwriting.

Additionally, teach them to indent the beginning of their paragraph and wrap their sentences around as they go.

Here's a little video that I did on this particular topic.

I'll be adding short video's about How to Teach Your Child to Write an Opinion, Narrative, and Expository Paragraphs over the next week.  All we need to do is change some of the formula and voila, our children can write!

We Started our Spider Unit

We made a good start to our Spider Unit for the month of January.

Charlotte worked on her cover page for the lapbook:

I read her the fact passage and then she filled in the cloze for it.

Then she ordered the Days of the Week cards and did the cut and paste for them as well.

This is the first book that we'll be reading.  It makes for a great introduction.

We also did our Spider poem this week as well.  Well, I read it and she colored it.  The amazing thing is that when I was reading it to Charlotte, the other girls got super quiet and listened in.  In fact, two of the girls actually came up close to me so that they could listen even more carefully.

Don't forget, you can pick up this poem as a printable for FREE - HERE. 

We also worked on 4 of the vocabulary words too.

Yes, a great start to our Spider unit.  :)

Starting the School Year With.....

{ Chloe }

This year I figured that we could read some serious books, and read some fun books.  So I took the liberty of choosing the serious books.  I'll let Chloe choose the fun ones as we go along.

I'm actually sitting on the fence about her Science.  What I have is good enough, for sure, but I dunno, thought we'd actually start the year with a serious detour - that may or may not set a precedent for something else, since I just can't commit to starting our previously organised Science curriculum.

So yes, we are detouring with this:  an interactive foldable on the Digestive System.

Can't wait to see how it all looks when it's completed.

And as it turns out, Chloe decided that she didn't want to work on Saxon anymore - she was entirely happy to work from Maths Quest instead.

Then we finished up our first day at the beach....

This is Chloe and Noah.

First Day of School 2018 Art Monday

Whoo Hoo!!

It's the first day of school for the 2018 year,

and......it just so happens to be Art Monday as well.

This year we continue with our Australian Native Birds among other things:

The Black Swan

{ by Chloe }

{ by Charlotte }

{ by Hannah }

{ By Phebe }

{ by me }

What will you be doing for Art this year?