Even though we are doing a unit on Africa for the sake of geography and social studies, I am going heavy on the writing with this unit, learning and/or refining (depending on the child) the writing process and different types of essays. Two picture books have been tools for writing comparison essays.
The Egyptian Cinderella is obvious: compare the traditional "Cinderella" with this African cultural version.
After reading Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters, which some people call an African Cinderella tale, I felt there were more possibilities with this book. I left it wide open with no suggestions whatsoever. I told my kids to independently read the story and then think of some other story they knew that was similar and write a comparison essay on the two stories. I was pleased with how that assignment turned out. One compared it to "Cinderella," one to The King's Highway, and one to "The Princess and the Pea."
In my opinion, you're never too old for picture books. I love them! Also, I like introducing concepts with picture books, like comparison essays. Rather than beginning with two huge literary works that may be overwhelming, it's good to start building those writing muscles with something smaller where kids can be clear and successful before tackling something bigger.
Jambo is "hello" in Swahili, an important language in Africa. Though the official language of only three African countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda) it is widely spoken throughout East Africa and elsewhere. Swahili is a lingua franca, or a common language between speakers whose native languages are different.
We learned a little Swahili while learning about it. The following video was fun to watch, like a cultural exchange.
The highlight of our learning about Swahili was being introduced to "Baba Yetu," which is The Lord's Prayer in Swahili, put to music, written by Christopher Tin. It's hard to say which of the following two versions is our favorite.
(I loved one of the comments on the feed: "a song written by an asian guy sung in an african language about the lords prayer by a white guy in africa now thats how this world should be together fam")
I created twonotebooking pages to go with our lessons on Swahili. The first was to write a summary of the history of and facts about the language (top) and two write some basic English words and the Swahili translation (bottom) like numbers, greetings, family members, etc. The second notebooking page is for writing the words to "Baba Yetu." Over the top of the globe showing North America, the kids wrote The Lord's Prayer from Matthew 6:9-13 in English. Over the top of the globe showing Africa, the kids wrote the "Baba Yetu" lyrics.
Baba yetu, yetu uliye (Our, our Father who are) Mbinguni yetu, yetu, amina (In heaven, our, our, amen) Baba yetu, yetu, uliye (Our, our Father, who are) Jina lako litukuzwe (Let's glorify your name)
Utupe leo chakula chetu (Give us today our food) Tunachohitaji utusamehe (We need you to forgive us) Makosa yetu, hey (Our errors, hey) Kama nasi tunavyowasamehe (As we do forgive those) Waliotukosea, usitutie (Who did us wrong, don't put us) Katika majaribu, lakini (Into trials, but) Utuokoe, na yule, milele na milele (Save us, with him, for ever and ever)
Ufalme wako ufike utakalo (Your kingdom come that it be) Lifanyike duniani kama mbinguni, amina (done on earth as in heaven, amen)
Baba yetu, yetu, uliye (Our, our Father, who are) Jina lako litukuzwe (Let's glorify your name) Baba yetu, yetu, uliye (Our, our Father, who are) Jina lako litukuzwe (Let's glorify your name)
As a side, if you're thinking you've heard the song before, or you're wondering when and why it was written, it's kind of an interesting situation. Christopher Tin wrote "Baba Yetu" for the "Civilization" video game.
You may or may not want to tell your kids that. We had a discussion about what The Lord's Prayer, Swahili, and the history of the world's civilizations might have to do with each other but it led to my kids telling me that playing "Civilization" was perfectly acceptable "homework" the next day.
So, it's past the middle of April and we are finally wrapping up a unit that was supposed to be over and done months ago. What can I say? Missions, holidays, a wedding, illnesses, and the beginning of baseball season thwarted my plans coming and going. And yet, I think we ended up with a much better "final product." Our unit never stopped, it extended. When I couldn't fight the interruptions, and when time constraints in the middle of interruptions forced me to come up with additional things to not waste what time we had (and, I admit, as I found new resources that intrigued me in my search), the result was a longer but deeper, richer, more comprehensive unit. So, while we are "behind schedule," I'm not going to complain because I'm happy with what we did.
Now, however, with the changing of unit studies, I'm revamping our whole day. (That comes with baseball season as well because our school day hours are fewer. Still plenty, but every afternoon and evening is full.) Today I began a new daily morning routine that sees the addition of idioms and knowledge mnemonics.
As a never-to-recover bibliophile I purchase books faster than I can read or use them. I do get frustrated when I come across a book I either forgot I had, or that I meant to use and didn't get to. These are two books that have been collecting dust on my shelves for years and I do value them and want to put them to use, thus the now daily morsels. Bit by bit we'll consume these and I think it will be perfect because we can savor each little bit. We won't be overwhelmed with information, our daily routine will be enriched, and taking it one little thing at a time will help us remember.
There is also daily reinforcement: Each idiom will need to be used in a sentence three times to demonstrate understanding, and depending on the information in the mnemonics, a writing or recitation exercise will follow up each day.
Today's idiom was "ace up your sleeve" and the mnemonic was how to spell accommodate (always remember, you must accommodate two Cs, two Ms, and an O after each.) I guess you could say that I forgot I had these aces up my sleeve and now I will accommodate them and we'll all be winners!
We had a most excellent Family Home Evening lesson tonight. I have felt for some time that the communication in our family was drifting further and further from the uplifting "Love at Home" kind of talk needed and wanted, instead sinking into a muddy, swampy, stinging, biting mess of sarcasm and meanness. After a series of particularly sharp jabs by one family member that led to some tears in another, I told the family member issuing the jabs to find what the Lord's apostles have said regarding sarcasm and to share it with us during FHE.
The full article the lesson was based on, "No Corrupt Communication" by Jennifer Grace Jones, can be found here. I just want to share a few of the things that stood out most to me and/or us.
The most attention grabbing thing we learned was that the Greek root for sarcasm is sarkazein and means "to tear flesh like dogs." That really brought us all up short. One dictionary definition defines sarcasm as irony designed to "give pain." Oftentimes teens and adults alike consider sarcasm as a way to demonstrate smarts or cleverness and humor. If we all thought of sarcasm as a bestial tearing of emotional flesh that was sure to give pain, I think we'd be more careful.
From the article: "Parents and siblings who use sarcasm against young children often cause more damage than they ever intend. Studies show that children as young as five years old can detect sarcasm immediately. Although children discern sarcasm, they don't have the ability to understand it fully. Parents are much more proficient at using sarcasm than children and it can become a veil for undisclosed anger, annoyance, even jealousy. This unequal power changes parental sarcasm from a joke into a form of bullying."
Jeffrey R. Holland has taught: "Be constructive in your comments to a child--always. Never tell them, even in whimsy, that they are fat or dumb or lazy or homely. You would never do that maliciously, but they remember and may struggle for years trying to forget--and to forgive."
Also from the article: "Eliminating hurtful sarcasm doesn't mean our homes need to be empty of humor or necessary correction. Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles has taught that 'a good sense of humor helps revelation' and that it 'is an escape valve for the pressures of life.' Whereas sarcasm stems from light-mindedness where nothing is taken seriously, true humor blossoms from lightheartedness and helps cultivate beautiful, healthy family cultures."
I LOVE that comparison of light-mindedness with lightheartedness!
President Gordon B. Hinckley said: "Everywhere is heard the snide remark, the sarcastic gibe, the cutting down of associates. Sadly, these are too often the essence of our conversation. In our homes, wives weep and children finally give up under the barrage of criticism leveled by husbands and fathers. Criticism is the forerunner of divorce, the cultivator of rebellion, sometimes a catalyst that leads to failure..."
As a reminder for my family, I've just created a couple of visuals to put up in our home. Feel free to use them in yours. And check out and share the entire article mentioned above.
As I mentioned before, I am tying Creative Writing into our BIO year. Here is how I kicked that off.
We began our day singing "Let Us Oft Speak Kind Words" and discussed whether words have power in them, such as power to build or give life, or power to destroy. I shared the Mormonads on the worksheet below and we read the scriptures that go with each.
A most appropriate scriptures was James 3:8-10:
"But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made of the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be."
The metaphor of a tongue being full of deadly poison fits right in. (See also verses 11-13.) We talked about each of the pictures and their implications and then I gave them this Life-giving or Biohazardous Words Worksheet.
Examples of some of the additional scriptures the kids found that coincide with the idea of the words we say either giving life or destroying it are:
"And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature..." (James 3:6)
"The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked." (Proverbs 10:11)
Amazingly, the Piano Guys released the following video the very day I wanted to talk about this, so I tied it into our discussion as well.
After talking about the affect spoken words have, I moved the discussion on to written words. I love the following quote from an old Church manual and shared it (along with using it for handwriting practice that day).
"Reading the scriptures and other good books nourishes our minds, just as good food nourishes our bodies. Books are like companions. They can lift us up or tear us down. We should read only books that will help us become better people."
Then we talked about how we're going to do a lot with creative writing throughout the year, giving life to words and trying to write words that nourish, or give life, to our minds.
I assigned everyone to read The Search for Delicious by Natalie Babbitt. I love to use this book in language studies. I think it's very clever. Suffice it to say, the creation of a dictionary helps set off an impending civil war, the dictionary entry for delicious being key to both the creation of the crisis and its resolution.
After reading and discussing the book, I had my kids close their eyes while I said a word out loud. When I said the word, I wanted them to tell me what they immediately associated that word with. For example, I said, "Christmas." One child replied, "Presents," while another said, "Cookies!" I asked if either of those answers were the definition of Christmas and, of course they weren't. We then talked about the difference between definition and connotation. In The Search for Delicious, the dictionary entries weren't so much definitions as connotations, and words used contextually in a sentence. The assignment was to create a "dictionary" written in the style of the one in The Search for Delicious, with the requirement that every sentence had to be in reference to food.
(Incidentally, if you're looking to build your children's vocabulary and need some help for your tired brain, sites like this help. It came in handy a few times for me when I created the worksheet.)
Just like the book, none of my kids agreed on what delicious is. We had pepperoni pizza, endless crepes, a bowl of mixed fruit, and creamy mac and cheese for contenders. Here are some of my favorite sentences written by my kids:
"Aromatic is a batch of chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven." "Aromatic is a hot bowl of Jambalaya." "Aromatic is a freshly baked pizza." "Unnecessary is orange juice in a smoothie." (From a kids who hates OJ and hates it when I try to sneak it into smoothies!) "Juicy is a ripe pear." "Tart is my dad's lemon bars." "Lucky is when I get to have Reese's Puffs cereal," and "Unnecessary is Raisin Bran cereal," from the same child.
"Lucky is getting a doughnut for free." "Proud is baking molten lava cake for the first time."
Another day, I read aloud one of my favorite picture books, Cookies, Bite-Size Life Lessons by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. (There are actually several sequels to this, too!) This is another book that explains meanings of words in a very creative way, through the medium of baking cookies.
Then, using the exact words "defined" in Cookies, I created a writing assignment in which these words had to be explained referencing baseball/softball.
When it comes to understanding the meaning of patience, every one of my kids referenced waiting for a good pitch. :) Here are some of my favorite sentences my kids wrote:
"Open-minded means, 'I've never bunted before but I will try it.'"
"Content means you and me cheering together for our teammates."
"Respect means to not talk back to your coach."
"Unfair means (an umpire) calling strike three at the kid's eyes." "Cooperate means to turn a double play." "Open-minded means to listen to your coaches." "Trustworthy means to let your pitcher know he has defense behind him." "Wise means to pull your pitcher out before the other team scores too many runs."
"Loyal means to always be friends with someone even if he struck out to end the championship game that you just lost." "Respect means to not hate someone just because he's on the other team."
Anyone who has taken my Unit Studies class knows that I like to carefully and prayerfully choose a theme for each school year and tie our units into that theme. This year's theme is BIO.
The theme of BIO lends itself to so much! I am really excited. We will be studying Biology, picking up/continuing with the subcategory of Ecology inside that, adding some Botany, and incorporating Health and Nutrition (which will include cooking for my youngest) and Anatomy. While I will do this on a higher level for my high school-aged kids, it will be Life Science for my youngest; this allows us to be learning about the same things and doing many things together while tailoring certain assignments and experiences to individuals at each level.
We'll also be doing a lot with biographies. I have started a Biography Club including some other homeschooled youth for one thing. We'll be incorporating Family History for another.
Creative Writing is another focus this year, and believe it or not, I've tied that into our year of life as well. (More on that in another post.)
Last but certainly not least, we are learning more about the Giver of Life and the way to pattern our lives after his by participating in the Godly Characteristics Series, and we are spending a lot of time learning about the Tree of Life and the path in this life that leads to Eternal Life.
Here are a few things from our first week. (Some other things will get separate, more detailed posts.)
We of course began with the root bio. Each of the kids had to find 25 words that contained the root and write down the definitions. Using words from their lists and, adding some others, I created some Bio Vocabulary Cards. Then individually they matched words to definitions, I went over additional root words and prefixes/suffixes for being word detectives, and then over the course of a few days they continued to match and rematch until they could get 100% correct. After that we played Memory with the cards. Here are the cards I created. (Hopefully the link above will take you to a downloadable set you can use. If it doesn't work <sigh> I'll keep trying to get it figured out.)
We did another whole-brained project, each child choosing what they wanted to draw to represent BIO:
We began a biographical writing series of my own creation. The first two assignments are below. (The first one includes a photo of me; I personalized these for each of us.) These writing assignments are meant to be introspective, journalistic and biographical, and the topic word is chosen based on things we are learning about in our other studies.
There is probably a good chance you have already seen Graeme Base's Animalia and enjoyed the fantastic illustrations and awesome, alliterative text. There are more ways to utilize this book, however, that just enjoying it as a nice picture book. It's a great tool to help your children with their language skills.
First thing, of course, is to read and enjoy the book--especially if you never have. For young children just learning the alphabet, it is enough to identify the letters and their sounds from the text and then hunt through the pictures for all the objects in them that begin with each letter. Each page is an adventure!
The next objective is vocabulary. I guarantee there are some words used which your child is not familiar with. That is very beneficial. After the initial read, I asked my children to go through the text and identify each word they weren't sure the meaning of. Then I sent them on a search in the dictionary. After learning the meaning of these words it was time to re-read the book with a new understanding. (Depending on your child and his or her age, you may still need to participate in this second reading to help explain context and help them fully understand.)
Vocabulary expansion is coupled with grammar in the next activity. There are two ways to do this. One is to have your child copy the text of Animalia, either by handwriting or typing, and color code the parts of speech. For example, each noun would be in blue, each verb in red, etc. The other way is to have your child identify each part of speech in a different reading. For example, one day the child would read the book and make a list of all nouns in the text as he goes, then the next day he would read the book and make a list of all adjectives, etc.
Finally, focus on alliteration. This book is superbly alliterative and a brilliant example to learn from and imitate. Have your child choose a topic on which to write about, like food or a sport or something else she is familiar with or excited about, and then letter by letter through the alphabet and using Animalia as an example, have your child write their own alliterative lines about his chosen topic, making sure to include all parts of speech in each line. It's hard, and it's meant to be. Often we can be alliterative, but we're cheap and lazy and silly in doing so and don't force ourselves to really stretch and include all parts of speech, which makes us think and expand our vocabularies further.
I am sure there are more lessons this fabulous book could lend a hand with, but this is what I've come up with so far. Happy reading, writing, and homeschooling!
Copying the Declaration of Independence with quill pens.
Recently I purchased a Book of Mormon to study with the sole purpose of searching for specific guidance relating to parenting and education. I have been color coding verses according to subject and theme. I think it is significant that the most true book on Earth begins with telling us of good parents; Nephi's father taught him what he knew because he was a good parent, the converse being true that because Lehi taught his son, he was a good parent:
"I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father..." (1 Nephi 1:1)
As I studied the family of Lehi anew, and reread of their two return journeys to Jerusalem after fleeing to the wilderness, I paused to consider the reasons for these return trips. The acquisition of the Brass Plates served to preserve a language and provide a record of doctrine and commandments, both necessary for the support, teaching, sustaining and building of this family and their future generations, and also to provide the genealogy of Lehi's family. The convincing of Ishmael and his family to join Lehi's family was for the forming of the most important companionships in this life, those of marrying and making families. These two necessary trips were all about the family! From the dust of 600 BC comes the Book of Mormon version of the Proclamation on the Family.
Juxtaposing this part of the Book of Mormon with the Proclamation, I'd like to suggest what it is that is imperative for parents to teach their children.
Teach them where they come from.
Teach your children that they are eternal beings. Teach them the Plan of Salvation and that they are children of a loving Father in Heaven.
Teach your children their family history. More than names and dates, search and study the true life stories that are their heritage. Come to know your ancestors as real people and internalize their trials, triumphs, and testimonies.
Keep in touch with living relatives. Be diligent in strengthening family relationships. Those who make up the members of your family are not a matter of chance.
Teach your children the history of your nation and to be patriots. Help them recognize the Hand of God in the affairs of history.
Teach them where they are going.
Teach them that this life is the time to prepare to meet God. Continually walk with them the path that leads back to Him.
Demonstrate a love of learning and an appreciation for education and improvement.
Teach your children to work.
Teach your children to make and keep covenants both in word and by example. Take your family to the temple. Prepare them for the day when they will marry and begin families of their own.
Discuss family life and help your children acquire skills for homemaking and providing, as well as those for nurturing family relationships.
Teach them what you know.
Follow the example of Lehi and share your knowledge, your passions, your experiences, and your testimony with your children. Be interested in and an active part of your children's educations.
Set an example of standing up for what is right. Do not underestimate yourself or your influence. Employ the skills and knowledge you've acquired to bless your children and guard against any enemy.
Teach them language.
Don't leave to others the responsibility you have to ensure your children are learning and literate. Read to them, read with them, have them read to you.
Create a home environment where record keeping is the norm. Journals, scrapbooks, letters, memoirs, even poetry and creative writing should abound.
Teach good manners in speech and how to effectively communicate with people, being good listeners as well as strong but tempered speakers.
Help them learn, recognize, and understand the language of the Spirit.
Teach them to pray.
Moses counseled, "And thou shalt teach (these words) diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up" (see Deuteronomy 6:7). This means good parents are teaching all the time.
Children are born into families. They aren't born to governments, to schools, to clubs, or even to churches. The Plan of Happiness--the blueprint for finding and achieving real, lasting happiness--is centered on the family and not any other organization or group. Therefore, the rearing and education of children is both the responsibility and privilege of parents to whom children are born. They may employ the help of others for support, but never should they give up what is both their right and their charge in the teaching of their children.
Many classrooms and homeschools across the world have a point in their day where they free write in either a daily journal, or a writing notebook. Often there are writing prompts such as, "If I could travel anywhere, I would go..." or a story beginning such as, "Thunder clapped loudly as the dark figure entered the..." which the students need to finish.
While I love creative writing, I am taking a different approach to this activity. I want my children to be able to think critically, make decisions, form opinions, and be able to express their beliefs and opinions in sound an solid ways. So, currently, our daily writing prompts are essay starters, kindling persuasive writing.
First, I share some information with my children. Every day is something different. If I come across an interesting or provocative book like the Bigfoot "autobiography" shown below, BINGO! After reading the (considerably informative yet still speculative) book, plus a few accounts of sightings from the internet, the question for the day was, "Do you believe in Bigfoot and why or why not?"
This school year we have had a subscription to Scholastic News. Each issue has articles on current events and a lot of interesting bits of information, plus a debate section. I choose the pieces I think most valuable to think about and read the article, then pose a question to write about. Examples of some of these are, "Should boys and girls attend school together, or should they be separated?" "Should students have more P.E. time?" "Would you want to be one of the first people on Mars?" "Should (a kid who has been trained) be able to climb Mount Everest?" Keep in mind that before writing my kids have heard multiple perspectives as well as some cold, hard facts and information, and they're expected to back up their positions.
I also come up with writing prompts based on our current studies and common reading and viewing. An example of this is, "Compare and contrast Andrew Jackson and Donald Trump. Are they more alike, or more different?"
After about seven writing prompts, I have my children choose one of the free write topics and write a full, researched essay to develop their thinking, researching, and writing skills.
In case you are wondering, most of my kids believe in Bigfoot. We have one, solid holdout among us.
Our focus for this Christmas season has been Christmas Presence. Many years ago I found Chieko Okazaki's talk-turned-booklet "Christmas Presence" in a Christmas clearance bin and found it so inspiringly instructive. Because the holidays are too often focused on Christmas presents, I pulled this out this year to use as the spine for our December devotionals. It begins:
"As an educator, I was always delighted when children would discover some of the wonderful games you can play with language in the creation of puns, and images, and literalisms--such as, 'Have you ever seen a butterfly?' 'No, but I've seen the lettuce leaf.' Or how about the games you can play with homonyms, such as horse and hoarse? I would like to share some thoughts about another pair of homonyms: Christmas presents and Christmas presence.
"We all know about the first kind. Christmas presents come wrapped in bright paper with beg red bows on them, and we find them under the Christmas tree. The second kind is the awareness that someone else is with us--the Christmas presence of our Savior. The scriptures describe both kinds for us. The first is the present as a gift, and the scriptures refer to us laying our gifts on the altar, kings giving gifts to prophets and other kings, God accepting Abel's gift, and the wise men presenting unto the Christ child their gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. In the second case, we find Adam and Eve hiding themselves from the presence of God, Moses coming into the presence of Pharaoh, and the commandment in Psalms to come into the presnece of the Lord with singing. It is this second kind I want to examine--the presence of the Lord, the presence of his love, the presence of his grace."
Sister Okazaki goes on to discuss the importance of each of us giving the gift of our presence to those we love or even just come in contact with--being fully present in our interactions.
One example she uses in her book is the story of Rob's gift in Pearl S. Buck's Christmas Day in the Morning. She quotes some of it and summarizes and analyzes some of it, but later I read the full story to my children. It's a lovely story.
I gave my kids a writing assignment after reading and discussing these. They were to write about an instance or a person wherein they were given the gift of someone's presence and why it was important to them. I loved reading what they wrote! Each one wrote about someone/something vastly different from the others, but they were so meaningful and insightful.
P.S. It is really hard to find this booklet nowadays. I have found it in person only twice, both times in Christmas clearance for just 50 cents. Keep your eyes open! An internet search brings up really rare, expensive copies for sale. It's good, but I wouldn't pay $25 for it!
A few years ago, during the annual First Presidency Christmas Devotional, President Thomas S. Monson gave a talk titled, "Because He Came." In this talk, he shared the three things he traditionally reads each and every Christmas season and what they mean to him. One of the three was the story "The Mansion" written long ago by Henry Van Dyke. Though President Monson shared a brief summary of the story in his talk, I figured that if this is a story the prophet reads every year, I should at least read it once in my life.
As per usual, Deseret Book jumped on that and published a new edition of the story in its own book. This being the 100th Anniversary Edition, it contains both the original story as written by Van Dyke, and an abridged picture book version for younger children. This book is very well done, and it lends itself perfectly to a one-day lesson on what unabridged and abridged mean. Further, it exposes children to the rich language of the original, while also bringing the meaning of the story to younger minds not yet full able to understand that language.
When I shared this with my children, I read aloud the original unabridged version first. I wanted to see if they would be able to understand and follow it before I gave them the simplified version. Every so often I paused reading and asked questions. If we came to a word we/they were unfamiliar with, we searched its meaning. Happily, they were able to follow it. Then we talked about what abridged books are and I read the picture book story. Both versions are short enough to make this an easy-to-grasp lesson in one afternoon, as opposed to reading two whole novels over the course of days or weeks to see the difference.
I will say that everyone should read Henry Van Dyke's original unabridged story. If you think that knowing the summary of this story is enough because you "get" the meaning, think again. I learned a lot from the son in this story and the dialogue between him and his father, which isn't well represented in the abridged version, or a summary. While it's important to know the moral of this story, a summary is just half a serving of the meal this story is.
EYH stands for Eat Your Homework. I am a big proponent of tying as many senses as possible into the educational experience, and raising a house full of boys has really shown me the power of food. I use food in units/lessons as often as I can. It makes an impression.
Food lends itself so well to being a great introduction to writing comparison essays. I mean, if you were to tell your kids, "Today we'll be learning how to write comparison essays," how many would get excited about that? But if you pull out tantalizing goodies to use as tools, they perk up. Don't worry, this doesn't reduce literary analysis to cheap sugar. It does give you a motivating and understandable way to introduce steps and formats from which to launch into deeper thoughts later, though.
Our first comparison exercise was with Cheese Nips and Original Cheez-Its. In addition to the obvious taste testing and the fact that they look almost the same (there are subtle differences), we studied ingredients and nutritional information, package sizes, cost, and brands. We used Venn diagrams to chart the similarities and differences. This was a case of comparing two very similar items.
Next we took to comparing three things that all have an obvious commonality--candy bars with chocolate and crisped rice--but that also differ in many ways, such as additional ingredients, shape, and texture.
After completing the Venn diagram for the candy bars, I taught them the two basic formats of comparison essays: alternating and block.
Using our diagrams from the crackers, I walked them through a simple essay outline, point for point to show them an example. Then we tried turning it into an actual essay together. That got animated in a hurry because they didn't agree with all of my descriptions or conclusions, so we had to discuss and compromise on the actual wording. I actually loved that. It was a good use of language skills on everyone's part.
The next step was the assignment I gave them to take this lesson and write their own comparison essays on two pieces of literature they'd just read. For my younger kids, it was to compare two Lois Lenski books of their choice, reading they've been doing with their U.S. geography studies. For my older son, I asked him to write a comparison essay on two books that have been part of his literature course--Lord of the Flies and Call of the Wild.
I actually did a similar exercise to this with my Journalism crew, and in addition to crackers had them compare Harry Potter with The Lord of the Rings and/or Disney's Tangled with Sleeping Beauty. They could either focus on comparing main characters, or villains, or plot lines, or compare all of it together.
When we (my family) was done with this activity, one of my boys said, "We should do this experiment every week and see if we can find more differences." I don't think there are any more differences to be found, but it would be yummy to give it a try! Bottom line, though, is that thinking critically about food can teach you to think critically about literature (and anything else you may need to compare in real life decision making).
Any and every unit is filled with possibilities for Language Arts. Weathering and Erosion was no exception.
Our read aloud book was Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. Prior to the book we watched some of Ken Burns's PBS documentary on the Dust Bowl and discussed the causes and effects of it all so we were familiar with that time and place before reading the book.
The book is actually written as a free verse prose poem, but we didn't see that because we listened to it on CD. I liked that it was written from the perspective of a child, and it sounded like it. While it covers all the important and unique facets of life in the Dust Bowl, I found the story compelling, heartbreaking, and finally redemptive. It isn't for young children, though.
Writing assignments included the following:
*"Super 'Agent' of Erosion" is a creative writing assignment wherein students create a super agent who stops erosion and/or a villain who erodes. This is a great way to fire up kids' imaginations and writing skills while helping them solidify what they're learning about erosion.
*After playing "The Rock Hopping Game", each child chose two famous weathered rocks to write a research report on.
*We read a few Native American legends explaining the formation of places like the Grand Canyon and Devil's Tower and then the kids chose a place to write their own creative legend about.
A Hink Pink is a rhyming riddle whose answer is 2 one-syllable words that mean the same thing as the clue. Here are some examples:
ill hatchling = sick chick
superior bird home = best nest
purchase egg coloring = buy dye
Once you get the hang of Hink Pinks, it's time to move on to Hinky Pinkies, where the answers are 2 two-syllable words.
ridiculous Easter flower = silly lilly
chocolate bunnies by the ocean = sandy candy
Then there are Hinkety Pinketies which are the same thing with 2 three-syllable answers.
evil preacher = sinister minister
What I love about Hink Pinks is that they develop and/or improve skills in multiple areas in a brain-challenge that is fun. Vocabulary is tested and grown through establishing word meanings and synonyms and the answer has to be the right number of syllables and it has to rhyme. Brilliant!
If you find these rhyming riddles to be something your family enjoys as much as mine does (or needs for skill building) and you really want to get serious about the challenge, check out "Rhyme Time" by Jock Mackenzie in Canadian Teacher Magazine. Jock takes it to a whole new level, one after another, with Hinkhinkety Pinkpinketies, Hink Pink Swinks, Hink Pink Swink Thinks, and more.
April 6 is National Sorry Charlie Day. Have you heard or used that phrase before? Have your children? Do you know where it comes from?
"Sorry Charlie" is an American catchphrase that sprang into vernacular from a commercial.
I remember seeing the later commercials as a child and I have used the phrase numerous times in conversation, but I don't think I ever associated the every day use of the phrase with a commercial from my childhood.
Sorry Charlie Day sparked a couple of points worth discussion. First, and the purpose for Sorry Charlie Day, is to note that everyone faces rejection of some kind in the course of their lives. On SCD we can reflect on how we've survived past rejections and how maybe we are even better for it. Charlie Tuna was rejected by StarKist over and over in every commercial for decades and he never let it get him down or keep him from trying again.
The other points of discussion are the power of advertising and media, and where words and phrases come from and how they are assimilated into everyday use.
