Why?

Lately I have had a lot of complaining and asking of why during our school day - specifically language arts time :).  It occurred to me that it would be beneficial to give a big picture to our children (so they could see that a whole bunch of trees build a forest :) ).   Once I did this it was like an 'OH ok'.  I see where I am and where I need to go and why, so in case it would help anyone else I wanted to share.

Oh and there are TONS of different ways to get from point A to point B - so this may not work for anyone else, but it works for us...well, most of the time :) :

Beginning our journey we need to learn :

ABC’s  - say them, see them, and write them

·         Print – capital and lower case (learn to use and recognize these lines : vertical, horizontal, diagonal and then semi and full circle) – once you learn this skip ahead and then comeback

·         Cursive – capital and lower case

·         Typing

Once you do the first three of ABC’s you need to learn the sounds

·         They make one by one

o   Vowels and consonants

·         Combine them

o   Blends

o   Digraphs

o   Diphthongs

o   YAY now we read and make words – we concentrate simultaneously on writing and reading

WRITING

Daily

·         Narration

·         Copy work or

·         Dictation

Words – After you learn the letters and their sounds then you get to learn words and you get to play with building more words J  As you learn to write them you need to learn and practice

o   Spelling and Rules

o   Vocabulary (word study)

o   Grammar – this is why we do daily language lessons

o   Punctuation

o   Proofreading marks

o   Prefix

o   Suffix

o   Abbreviations

o   Contractions

o   Homonyms, synonyms, antonyms etc; 

·         What a sentence is

o   A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought

o   Begins with a capital letter

o   Has a subject and a verb and is organized so that it makes sense

o   Ends with the correct punctuation

§  4 types of sentences

§  Statement

§  Question

§  Exclamation

§  Command

·         Paragraphs

o   Indent (two finger spaces from margin)

o   Topic sentence

o   2-6 sentences (usually four)

o   Conclusion

o   Types – narrative, persuasive etc;

·         Outlines

·         Letters (friendly and business)

·         Stories

·         Fiction/Non-fiction

·         Reports – book etc;

·         Research

This is why we do daily writing with ease

READING

Begins the same way – with learning sounds of letters and letter combinations (phonograms)

§  45 basic sounds to our language

§  70 ways to spell those sounds (basic)

Learn how to read and understand

§  Words

§  Sentences

§  Paragraphs

§  Pages

§  Chapters

§  Explore Genres – Fiction and Non-Fiction

This is why we read every.single.day.  After we introduce each topic we have to practice, practice, practice until it become second nature.