Thursday, 9/15/17

Today was one full day!  We are starting to get the hang of the routine of class, but there are still some bumps with bringing books/binders to class.  As a busy mom of four, I definitely understand!  I'm hoping to help these kids take ownership of the responsibility, and hopefully things will run more smoothly once the school year really gets rolling.

Today's classes worked on spelling review using the letter tiles.  Sometimes getting off the page and dong something more tactile helps the words "stick"!  The Chicken Group began learning about special sounds.  The Abeka program uses special sounds to explain quirky or frequently used phonics rules.  We will be learning a lot of them throughout the school year, and it really helps!  I love being able to recall a special sound for the older children (like "tion" in nation) to help them figure out spelling/reading problems without just giving them the answer.  It may seem tedious, but it truly works!

 

In grammar class, we are continuing to work on plural nouns in the Horse Group.  The Cow Group began their lesson in linking verbs today.  In order to illustrate how linking verbs can connect nouns to adjectives, they made linking verb "links" using different colors of paper.  Each color represented a part of speech, and I think it helped them to get a better grasp on the concept.  At home, you may want to work on the difference between a verb like hopping and an adjective like hoppy!  Helping verbs helps another verb, like in "The frog is hopping," but linking verbs can connect nouns to adjectives such as in, "The frog is hoppy." There was some confusion today, and I will be spending time on this distinction in class on Tuesday!

The Guinea Group is working on memorizing the poem, The Duel.  In class, we began creating stick puppets of the characters.  These will turn a simple poetry recitation into a fun puppet show!

The kids played a fun geography review game to end this unit.  They will now begin diving into their Story of the World books at home.  First up: Rome!

In our writing classes, Mr. Jim is connecting the upcoming history lessons with their writing journals!  The classes will be making flying carpet stories... and their carpets are about to take them on some awesome adventures to far away lands! 


The end of our day was spent on the farm, spending lots of time cuddling silkies and petting donkeys... and chasing the crazy goats back into their pen!

Tueday, 9/13/17

Today was another sunny day at class!  We began the day with morning language arts groups.  The Chicken Group worked on speed drills with their blends, which they can't seem to get enough of!  It is a trick for the brain!  They quickly look at flashcards of a consonant sound followed by a long or short vowel, and have to instantly say the blend.  We reviewed the rule that a word with one vowel usually makes a short vowel sound, while a word with two vowels usually makes a long sound.  The class is learning to mark long, short, and silent vowels, which they will use throughout the year.  In addition, we talked about the "c" or "k" sound.  They learned that a K comes before an I or E, and a C comes before the "other three".  This phrase will help them discern which to use as initial sounds.  The class also began spelling lessons today.  They will be working on list 1 at home, and we will play review games in class on Thursday! 

The Guinea class focused on spelling list 2 today.  We discussed the phonics rules behind each word, and will be working to learn them so that we can play a review game on Thursday.  The class is working on memorizing the poem, "The Duel".  Right now, they are focusing on memorizing the first stanza.  As we move forward, we will be working on a class activity with this poem!

In handwriting, the class is working on careful letter formation.  We are carrying this on throughout the school day.  For example, many kids completely forgot what was taught in handwriting by the time they made it to grammar class, slapping down their pronoun list across the lines!  I explained the importance of practicing proper handwriting skills ALL DAY, not just in handwriting class, and helped them to make corrections.  The Chicken Group is also working on vocabulary list 1.  They will continue to work on this list both in class and at home for the next week.

The students continued to learn geography skills today!  They did a great job of recalling the terms from their at-home assignment.  This grasp of the earth's "big picture" will help as they progress through history classes each year!  Mr. Jim has given each student a "What I Should Know" sheet.  This will help parents thoroughly review these lessons before we move into history topics.

In grammar, the horses worked on finishing their noun posters and hung them up for display.  Then, we returned to our discussion of plural nouns.  Last week, we talked about making plurals with a simple "s".  Today, we talked about how words that end with s, ch, sh, x, or z need an "es" to form a plural.  We will work more on this at home tomorrow!

After a quick review of nouns and verbs, the Cow Group moved on to pronouns.  At home, they watched a Schoolhouse Rock video on pronouns.  We discussed the video in class, and worked on memorizing a list of pronouns.  Because memorizing such things can be a little boring, we took things outside!  Instead of just repeating them, the kids were able to say them as they jumped their way across the pasture! 

After our independent study math time, the kids began science class.  We are beginning the year with the study of Earth science.  This complements Mr. Jim's geography lessons perfectly!  The class talked about rotation, revolution, and seasons.  They learned about the moon/sun/earth system, and began making their own visual representation.  We will finish these projects up next week!

We're Off and Running!

We had a successful first week at Inman Hybrid!

During our morning Language Arts session, the Chicken Group continued reviewing long and short vowel sounds.  We worked on beginning blends, as well.  Although this is a review and is easy for everyone, it is beneficial to work on recognizing blends with speed.  In class, we used blend cards in speed games.  This helps the students in confidence and fluidity in reading.  The faster they can look at and say wĭ or fē, the faster they will be able to recognize these blends when reading.  The class also recalled the rule- when there is one vowel in a word, it usually says its short sound.  Again, although things are easy at the moment, it is better to step them in slow than overwhelm them (and parents) in the beginning!

The Guinea Group reviewed spelling list #1 today.  They then used the words to create a spelling-crossword using letter tiles.  Over the next two days, they will be working at home to further commit them to memory.  Parents will assess List 1 on Monday, and we will begin List 2 in class on Tuesday.



Vocabulary lessons began today for both the Chicken Group and Guinea Group!  The classes will be working on the first set of vocabulary words for the next couple weeks.  These words, as well as vocabulary words in other subjects and their daily handwriting lessons, will be integrated into writing along the way!

Mr. Jim continued the class discussion on maps, globes, and our planet today.  The class did a great job recalling the information from the at-home assignment!  It is our hope that they will gain a strong grasp of overall world geography before diving into history.  

The class began some creative writing today.  Each student was given a writing notebook.  In it, they wrote down things they would do if they could fly!  The class came up with some great ideas, and enjoyed writing them down to share!

In grammar class, we will be reviewing parts of speech.  The Cow Group learned about verbs today.  We also touched on the pronoun "I" and how it is always capitalized.  Although the definition of a verb contains action verbs, helping verbs, linking verbs, and state of being verbs, we focused today on action verbs.  The class made action verb posters, cutting out pictures from magazines that displayed an action.  They labeled each one, and we hung them up to display.  The Guinea Group is working on singular and plural common and proper nouns.  They also used magazines to create noun posters for display.  We will be memorizing different definitions of the parts of speech next week.  As we learn a new definition, we will create "grammar flash cards" to make at-home grammar practice simple and hopefully more fun!

At the end of the day, each student was given their farm boots.  The boots will stay at the barn, keeping their regular shoes free of farm-ness, and helping to maintain biosecurity on our farm.  After their boots were labelled and on their feet, they learned about guineas and their role on the farm.  Further, they learned about keets, which are baby guineas.  Unlike chicks, which take 3 weeks to incubate, it takes 4 weeks for guinea keets to hatch.  The class met a few one week old keets!  The students also helped me locate a hidden guinea nest, which was across the pasture on the other side of the fence.  I explained the behavioral differences between chickens and guineas, and how I cannot take the eggs without replacing them with fake eggs or the guineas will relocate their nest!  I have more guinea eggs in the incubator, so the class will be able to see new keets in upcoming weeks.

At-home assignments will be posted on the Homework Hideout site.  Next Friday, we will be meeting at the barn for our field trip, right down the road, to Minter's Farm's annual Inman Farm Heritage Days.  We will meet at 9:15!

First Day of Class!

Today was a great day!  The sun was shining, roosters were crowing, and students were all smiles!

We began the day by diving into our morning Language Arts groups.  The groups (named the chickens and the guineas) spent the morning working on spelling, phonics, and handwriting.  The Chickens had a review discussion on consonants, vowels, and blends.  We talked about long and short vowel sounds and how to mark each.  The Chickens will continue to ramp up throughout the week, beginning spelling lessons next week.  The Guinea Group dove into spelling full force.  We dissected each word, discussing the reasons (or lack of reason) behind how they are spelled.  The kids learned the "i before e except after c" rule (which, like in Pirates of the Carribean, is more of a guideline than a code).  The class worked together on a word search of today's list.  They will be studying the list at home tomorrow through writing as well as online games.  Thursday, we will get to play fun games in class to help solidify the list in their minds!

Vocabulary lessons (Wordly Wise) will begin next week.

In handwriting, the students worked on letter formation and "bumping the line" in the appropriate place.  Some students are working on cursive and some on print, but it he small groups of 4-6 students, it is easy to meet the needs of each child!  

After lunch, the class began history with Mr. Jim.  Before they dive into medieval history lessons, they will begin with some general world geography.  This will help them get a better grasp of what they learn about different countries and regions throughout the school year.  Today's lesson involves continents, oceans, and the globe.  The class learned about the equator, prime meridian, and why Russia shows up on both ends of the large world map on the wall!  They will be diving into some great online resources to help them better grasp these concepts before class on Thursday!

Our afternoon Language Arts classes are divided into different small groups, the Cows and the Horses.  Today, both the Cow and Horse groups learned about nouns.  It was a review for everyone, but one that was needed in order to grasp the concept of an idea being a noun.  Freedom, love, creativity, time... the class learned how these are all nouns, even though we cannot touch them.  Further, we talked about common and proper nouns.  The Horse group placed word cards onto the correct place on a chart: people, places, things, and ideas, further divided into common or proper nouns.  Next week, we will play a game and do an activity to drive these concepts home!  The Cow group was able to move a bit faster today, discussing types of nouns as well as playing a game with common and proper.  The students had a relay, dropping words cards into the correct bucket!

In reading class, the students picked out books that most interested them.  They took turns reading small portions out loud, which everyone LOVED!  After each passage, the group talked about what they had heard, asking and answering questions regarding the material.  At the end of class, NO ONE wanted it to end!  My goal for this year is to encourage and foster the love of reading, and we are off to a great start!

The students worked hard during their independent study math time, and received help when needed.  The math period lasts 25 minutes.  Parents, unless they are reading well and are independent learners, send math review work that correlates and supports their at-home math lessons.  If anyone finishes their parent-assigned math early, I have lots of fun math worksheets for them to work on while they wait, or they can always bring/check out a book!

Because today was spent learning the ropes, we will begin science on Tuesday.  Today's science time was spent learning about our scrap-buckets, making tags for their on-the-farm-galoshes, and feeding our lunch/snack scraps to the piggies!

Here's the link to Homework Hideout for tomorrow's assignments!

Welcome!

 This blog is where I post pictures and descriptions of our class days so that parents can have a full understanding of what their children are working on!  This gives you, as parents, a glimpse into the activities and lessons that they worked on, and gives me a way to help you reinforce the lessons at home.  At the top of the page you will see a link for "Homework Hideout".  This is where the at-home assignments will be posted each day.  I have kept all of the past assignments listed on the blog as a reference for students and parents, but also as a way to help prospective families have a clear picture of what is expected each week.  Feel free to read through archived posts and thoroughly understand what Inman Hybrid is all about!