This morning I was looking around for links to writing tasks for year 2 when I came across an activity from Teaching Ideas. They have some nice writing prompts in the non-fiction section and some templates for the writing to be done on the computer. My girls had fun writing newspaper reports about an escaped zoo animal and making lost pet posters. I printed out their work to put in their year files.
Later they used an activity from the science section linked with our current habitats topic
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Tuesday, October 04, 2011
Angels Lapbook
The Five pillars of Emaan, What are Angels like?, What do Angels do, The Character of Angels and Angel Facts.
A couple of years ago I used another of the Emaan series to do a lapbook with the boys. They are useful books for kids, maashAllah.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Book stand
We had a long summer break this year, but are back to full swing home ed now, alhamdulillah.
Today I just wanted to share my bookstand lightbulb moment!!!
We all spend much of our time in a room with a big table in it. However, that table soon becomes filled up with clutter from whatever activities we are doing. Sometimes there'll be someone on each side of the table pushing books into the other person's space, not to mention all the other bits and pieces that end up on there.
Finally I thought of getting a book stand, and what a difference it makes - it immediately seems to expand the table and makes the books easier to see. I'm seriously thinking of getting a couple more!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Looking for resources
Over the last couple of days I've been looking into English resources to use with the boys next academic year, inshAllah. This year we used a WHSmith book called Challenge English. It did the job, so I decided to look for the next book in their series. It is currently out of stock on their website, which is not a good sign, as if the publisher of a book is out of stock of it then it may be about to become unavailable. Anyway, maybe its a good thing, as I started to look around at alternatives. The boys like something fresh to restart a new year with and probably the Challenge book would have been very similar to what they worked through last year.
Finding resources for this age is quite confusing. Using the Amazon look inside facility I previewed pages from various types of books being sold for use with secondary English. I didn't just look at books for the boys' own year group, but also at those for slightly older, so I could get a sense of comparison and direction.
The levels are very diverse, and it makes it clear that by this stage age is definately not the best guideline for suitability of resources, you must match up your child with the book, not your child's age. For example, I looked at GCSE course books which seemed easier in content than the Year 7 book we completed this year. I also looked at GCSE books that were much harder. I found a Year 9 (pre GCSE) book from Galore Park, which is also much more challenging than pretty much any of the GCSE course books I looked at. What about books for earlier in the 11-14 age range? Well, these seemed harder to find, unless I was interested in workbook style materials that don't seem that different to materials made for the end of primary school. Galore Park has its series, but I'm not sure if I just want more of the same from there.
Hmmm.
So, I thought, what sort of skills should we be covering for English? What are our gap areas? This year we've done lots of reading comprehension and writing tasks. We've also done some whole book studies and started working on essay writing skills. I feel that I can continue with whole book studies independently. I realised that I need to focus more on writing for different purposes. I can see why the boys have not developed those skills as much yet, as I think they find this the more boring side of writing. I know I always did. Writing to be persuasive, or to present an argument within the context of English study always seemed a bit empty to me. I think it can be more interesting to develop these skills within the context of another subject which you enjoy, rather than on random topics which may feel irrelevant.
So, bearing that in mind I think I will prefer to use other subjects as a vehicle for most of those skills, however I think we should do a little in English too. The other area I certainly need materials for is poetry. I always quite enjoyed poetry myself, but I think it is much more subjective and a matter of personal taste than prose. The boys really don't want to discuss poems in the same way that they are ready to discuss our whole book studies. I think they don't want to examine the details like that, they prefer wider themes and characterization gained from whole books. So, it would help to have a book to summarize key poetry points for them, so they get the picture without labouring over the thing too long.
Lastly I thought that maybe there are bits of grammar and usage they should tighten up on. Some terminology they do need to be able to use, which perhaps they have not bothered to retain up until now, as it isn't really necessary for reading comprehension or basic writing styles, which can both be gained through general wider reading.
So, those were the criteria with which I returned to the Amazon listings. Searching through I think I've found what I want. As I'm just looking for general skills and not working towards any particular syllabus I was able to go for a GCSE textbook which is out-of-date as far as the specifications are concerned, and so is very cheap. That book focuses on developing writing for different purposes. It also does reading skills. Although it is GCSE the sample pages show that it is no harder than the book we used last year, just laid out more colourfully!
Secondly I found an "essentials" type book, which was very cheap, so although I couldn't check inside I think is worth the risk. Hopefully this will cover the grammar and usage type bits for the 11-14 age group and will be quick about it.
Lastly I found a book just on poetry analysis. There are lots of poems in it and no doubt some will be harder than others, so I'll pick and choose between the materials as I try to introduce this topic. I have not ordered that yet.
So, the plan is to be more pick and mix with English next year, to focus on certain skills that need work, while developing other skills in the more enjoyable ways that we started using this year. There is nothing worse than dreary English. Who can be bothered to write about meaningless topics?
But this does feel like a very "in-between" stage. I know the boys are not ready to properly work towards an English GCSE, and there is no need for that at all, however they do need something a bit fresher and different from the style of work done at primary age. Maybe its just me, but it all feels a bit like I have to build the direction myself. I don't remember it being that way at primary level. It all seemed clearer then!
Edited to add: Still not all neatly resolved yet! On further examination the poetry book was not what I had hoped for, so I'm leaving that. I looked further at Galore Park books, but I don't like their choice of extracts at all. If the Challenge book becomes available I will get it inshAllah, as it is not necessary to work through all of it, and it will have its good points.
Finding resources for this age is quite confusing. Using the Amazon look inside facility I previewed pages from various types of books being sold for use with secondary English. I didn't just look at books for the boys' own year group, but also at those for slightly older, so I could get a sense of comparison and direction.
The levels are very diverse, and it makes it clear that by this stage age is definately not the best guideline for suitability of resources, you must match up your child with the book, not your child's age. For example, I looked at GCSE course books which seemed easier in content than the Year 7 book we completed this year. I also looked at GCSE books that were much harder. I found a Year 9 (pre GCSE) book from Galore Park, which is also much more challenging than pretty much any of the GCSE course books I looked at. What about books for earlier in the 11-14 age range? Well, these seemed harder to find, unless I was interested in workbook style materials that don't seem that different to materials made for the end of primary school. Galore Park has its series, but I'm not sure if I just want more of the same from there.
Hmmm.
So, I thought, what sort of skills should we be covering for English? What are our gap areas? This year we've done lots of reading comprehension and writing tasks. We've also done some whole book studies and started working on essay writing skills. I feel that I can continue with whole book studies independently. I realised that I need to focus more on writing for different purposes. I can see why the boys have not developed those skills as much yet, as I think they find this the more boring side of writing. I know I always did. Writing to be persuasive, or to present an argument within the context of English study always seemed a bit empty to me. I think it can be more interesting to develop these skills within the context of another subject which you enjoy, rather than on random topics which may feel irrelevant.
So, bearing that in mind I think I will prefer to use other subjects as a vehicle for most of those skills, however I think we should do a little in English too. The other area I certainly need materials for is poetry. I always quite enjoyed poetry myself, but I think it is much more subjective and a matter of personal taste than prose. The boys really don't want to discuss poems in the same way that they are ready to discuss our whole book studies. I think they don't want to examine the details like that, they prefer wider themes and characterization gained from whole books. So, it would help to have a book to summarize key poetry points for them, so they get the picture without labouring over the thing too long.
Lastly I thought that maybe there are bits of grammar and usage they should tighten up on. Some terminology they do need to be able to use, which perhaps they have not bothered to retain up until now, as it isn't really necessary for reading comprehension or basic writing styles, which can both be gained through general wider reading.
So, those were the criteria with which I returned to the Amazon listings. Searching through I think I've found what I want. As I'm just looking for general skills and not working towards any particular syllabus I was able to go for a GCSE textbook which is out-of-date as far as the specifications are concerned, and so is very cheap. That book focuses on developing writing for different purposes. It also does reading skills. Although it is GCSE the sample pages show that it is no harder than the book we used last year, just laid out more colourfully!
Secondly I found an "essentials" type book, which was very cheap, so although I couldn't check inside I think is worth the risk. Hopefully this will cover the grammar and usage type bits for the 11-14 age group and will be quick about it.
Lastly I found a book just on poetry analysis. There are lots of poems in it and no doubt some will be harder than others, so I'll pick and choose between the materials as I try to introduce this topic. I have not ordered that yet.
So, the plan is to be more pick and mix with English next year, to focus on certain skills that need work, while developing other skills in the more enjoyable ways that we started using this year. There is nothing worse than dreary English. Who can be bothered to write about meaningless topics?
But this does feel like a very "in-between" stage. I know the boys are not ready to properly work towards an English GCSE, and there is no need for that at all, however they do need something a bit fresher and different from the style of work done at primary age. Maybe its just me, but it all feels a bit like I have to build the direction myself. I don't remember it being that way at primary level. It all seemed clearer then!
Edited to add: Still not all neatly resolved yet! On further examination the poetry book was not what I had hoped for, so I'm leaving that. I looked further at Galore Park books, but I don't like their choice of extracts at all. If the Challenge book becomes available I will get it inshAllah, as it is not necessary to work through all of it, and it will have its good points.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Kimba Lapbook
These are the different booklets she made:
1. Characters book. In this she wrote a short description of each of the main characters.
2. "What will happen next?" This was a piece of creative writing continuing the story from the end of the book.
3. Adjective and verb flowers. Ia made a list of the adjectives which could be used to describe the lead character, Kimba, and a list of verbs to show what Kimba did.
4. Ia wrote a book review of her opinions on the story.
5. Rewriting an incident. For this piece of writing I found an incident in the story in which Kimba encounters men for the first time. The whole book is written in the third person, so Kimba's actions are described from the outside. In the incident where he encounters men Kimba's experience and reaction is very richly described, so I asked Ia to rewrite this extract of the book in the first person. I explained to her she would write as if she were Kimba, using "I". She needed to stick to the version of events as described in the book, but just tell it in "Kimba's own words".
Overall Ia enjoyed this variation to her English studies, alhamdulillah and I intend to do more of them in the coming academic year, inshAllah. I started book studies with the boys when they were year 4 (age 8-9).
Sometimes I do find that the writing suggestions in English textbooks are too detached and irrelevant. Book studies are one way of finding something more interesting to write about, inshAllah.
Friday, May 20, 2011
River Project
Over the past couple of months the boys have been working on a river project based on the river near us. They completed the final piece yesterday. I didn't plan this whole project out in advance, it started with an idea and evolved from there. Neither is it a project that is filed all in one place, it comprises some written work and some powerpoints, so it is not something that can be photographed or displayed. I've done some blog posts connected with this before, but now its time to sum up.
This is a summary of the different tasks that have gone to make up the project:
1.We walked along the areas of the river near us, photographed it at different locations and noted different features. This was done over several days, each day visiting different stretches of the river. At home the boys assembled the photos into a powerpoint presentation to describe the area of the river we had visited. This focussed on describing the features, looking at erosion etc.
2. I borrowed a book about the river from the local studies section of the library. We read about the background and history of the river and its role both in our local area and other areas it flows through. The boys made some notes on this.
3. Using the textbook "Geography fieldwork Projects" by Jennifer Frew we read about how fieldwork can be carried out on rivers. We carried out a fieldwork project on measuring the river's flow, and the boys wrote up their results for their geography files.
4. Some time later we carried out a second fieldwork exercise on investigating the river's load, which also got written up for the files.
5. Using several internet sources the boys found examples of different ways the river is currently used by people (eg leisure, wildlife sanctuaries), and some examples of historical uses (eg water mills, transportation). From this they put together powerpoint presentations to explain different uses of the river, (along its whole length,) and compare past uses with current ones.
6. Again using the textbook mentioned above we read about assessing water quality in rivers. We then searched online for information about the water quality of our local river. We found several sources of information on this. From those sources the boys put together a report looking at how water quality is assessed, problems of pollution and efforts being made to improve water quality in the river we have been studying.
I'm sure there must be many more things we could have done to extend this project further, but it seems to have run its course with us and now seems the right time to draw this particular study to a close.
However, during this long look at one particular river we have come to know it quite well, and I feel that this won't be forgotten in a hurry. Bringing something local into geography study has been really beneficial, maashAllah. Also I've come to know of some locations along the river, a little further away from us, which I'd like to visit inshAllah, so looking forward to being able to do that too.
This is a summary of the different tasks that have gone to make up the project:
1.We walked along the areas of the river near us, photographed it at different locations and noted different features. This was done over several days, each day visiting different stretches of the river. At home the boys assembled the photos into a powerpoint presentation to describe the area of the river we had visited. This focussed on describing the features, looking at erosion etc.
2. I borrowed a book about the river from the local studies section of the library. We read about the background and history of the river and its role both in our local area and other areas it flows through. The boys made some notes on this.
3. Using the textbook "Geography fieldwork Projects" by Jennifer Frew we read about how fieldwork can be carried out on rivers. We carried out a fieldwork project on measuring the river's flow, and the boys wrote up their results for their geography files.
4. Some time later we carried out a second fieldwork exercise on investigating the river's load, which also got written up for the files.
5. Using several internet sources the boys found examples of different ways the river is currently used by people (eg leisure, wildlife sanctuaries), and some examples of historical uses (eg water mills, transportation). From this they put together powerpoint presentations to explain different uses of the river, (along its whole length,) and compare past uses with current ones.
6. Again using the textbook mentioned above we read about assessing water quality in rivers. We then searched online for information about the water quality of our local river. We found several sources of information on this. From those sources the boys put together a report looking at how water quality is assessed, problems of pollution and efforts being made to improve water quality in the river we have been studying.
I'm sure there must be many more things we could have done to extend this project further, but it seems to have run its course with us and now seems the right time to draw this particular study to a close.
However, during this long look at one particular river we have come to know it quite well, and I feel that this won't be forgotten in a hurry. Bringing something local into geography study has been really beneficial, maashAllah. Also I've come to know of some locations along the river, a little further away from us, which I'd like to visit inshAllah, so looking forward to being able to do that too.
Friday, May 06, 2011
Beads and lions
This week Ia has been working on a literature lapbook. I read "Kimba" by Geoffrey Malone to the girls a few weeks ago. It is a realistic wildlife story about a lion. I thought they could both do a lapbook on it as part of their English study, but U wasn't keen. Today Ia made petal books, one of verbs and the other on adjectives. She made a list of adjectives which could be used to describe Kimba, and a list of verbs to show what Kimba does (roar, snarl, pounce, sleep etc). InshAllah I'll post this when its done. I'm determined that we should get it done within the next couple of weeks, inshAllah!
Meanwhile the girls continued their interest in big cats by watching a BBC four documentary about tigers, called Spy in the Jungle. It featured new cubs - so inevitably a hit!!!
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