Read this thoughtful blog post from a homeschooling mother who shares her experience with teaching spelling.
Share your thoughts.
Showing posts with label curriculum. Show all posts
Showing posts with label curriculum. Show all posts
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Monday, September 14, 2009
Sidewalk and Table Top Hopscotch
Sidewalk and Table Top Hopscotch
By Gloria Goldsmith, Gloria@AVKO.org
Sidewalk Hopscotch is played outdoors and is so much fun, it doesn’t seem like your REALLY working on spelling! Get some chalk and use the driveway or the sidewalk area. (If you live in the country without paving or sidewalk, see Table Top Hopscotch.) Give your student(s) each a piece of chalk and have then draw LARGE boxes in any order they like but they must have both single, double boxes mixed in any order on top of one another. Make it 12 to 16 boxes single and double boxes long. Then give each child a word they will write out correctly (with your help, if needed) filling in all the boxes with different words. When done writing, then take a small rough stone with lots of edges and let them roll it along toward whatever word they want as their target. The word it lands nearest is their word.. They have to hop to the word, pick up the stone, look up at the sky and spell the word aloud. If they spell it correctly they go forward from that word. If they spelled it incorrectly, they have to come back to their last position. The goal is to go to the end and come back first. The winner should get some sort of prize. Maybe a pencil, tootsie roll, but I like a home-made Crown as King or Queen of the Hopscotch! Or course the King or Queen can do a victory dance, making it all the more fun! A nice glass of ice tea or lemonade under a shade tree is a great way for everyone to celebrate and plan their victory dance for the next contest.
Table Top Hopscotch is played in doors for winter games or if you have no sidewalks or paved driveways. It is played the same way except the student draws out the rectangles on a large piece of paper. (Tape two pieces or more together.) Use a small piece of paper wadded into a ball as your stone. And instead of hopping by foot they hop their fingers over the course, slapping their hand over the target word they are to spell. Without peeking they spell the word to you or another player and if they get it right, put a bingo chip or paperclip there to mark it while the next player has his turn. Be sure the winner gets to put on the crown and do a victory dance and everyone gets some sort or celebration.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Homeschool.com's "101 Things to Do This Summer"
Posted by Brian McCabe, Brian@AVKO.org
[From Homeschool.com]
[From Homeschool.com]
| 1 | Make a scrapbook of everything you do this summer The Basics of Scrapbooking http://www.scrapbookscrapbook. |
| 2 | Have a picnic Planning a Picnic http://www.the-picnic-site. |
| 3 | Learn how to play soccer How to Play Soccer http://www.ehow.com/ |
| 4 | Visit another country Lonely Planet Destination Guides www.lonelyplanet.com/ |
| 5 | Go to a ballgame Major League Baseball Team Schedules mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/ |
| 6 | Get a job (parent permission) Teens 4 Hire www.teens4hire.org/ |
| 7 | Become a photographer BetterPhoto for Kids and Teens www.betterphoto.com/ |
| 8 | Make dinner for your family Do-It-Yourself Dinner Party Project (PDF) www.reynoldskitchens.com |
| 9 | Compare a book to a movie Compare and Contrast Essay (PDF) www.csudh.edu |
| 10 | Write a poem 30 Days of Poetry www.msrogers.com/English2/ |
| 11 | Learn about fireworks How Stuff Works: Fireworks people.howstuffworks.com/ |
| 12 | Bake some cookies Science of Cookies www.bakingandbakingscience. |
| 13 | Take a boat ride Boat Safe Kids! www.boatsafe.com/kids/index. |
| 14 | Sketch a picture of your house from the outside Perspective Drawing www.artyfactory.com/ |
| 15 | Go to camp Smart Start to Business http://www.youthpreneur.net/ |
| 16 | Visit a farm 4-H Virtual Farms www.ext.vt.edu/resources/4h/ |
| 17 | Take a walk and record the sounds Listening to Nature www.museumca.org/ |
| 18 | Embrace Other Cultures Culture Quest http://www.ipl.org/div/ |
| 19 | Keep a journal of what you do during the Summer Keepsake Diary http://kids-indoor-activities. |
| 20 | Cut up an old greeting card picture and make a puzzle (parent help) How to make your own jigsaw puzzle tn.essortment.com/ |
| 21 | Start a band Make Music! Start a Band www.mustcreate.org/kid_home/ |
| 22 | Learn how to make a movie Digital Movie Making for Kids http://www.adobe.com/ |
| 23 | Blow up balloons, put notes inside and hand them out to friends Message in a Balloon www.nmhct.nhs.uk/pharmacy/ |
| 24 | Go backpacking The Beginning Backpacker www.backpacking.net/beginner. |
| 25 | Learn how to oil paint Free Art Lessons http://www. |
| 26 | Create a web site Lissa Explains HTML for Kids www.lissaexplains.com/ |
| 27 | Go camping Go Camping America Kids Pages www.gocampingamerica.com/ |
| 28 | Learn how to use Microsoft Office Free Tutorials for Microsoft Office http://www.baycongroup.com/ |
| 29 | Help an elderly person with house or yard work (parent permission) 20 Great Reasons to Volunteer www.volunteermatch.org/ |
| 30 | Visit the zoo National Zoo Animal Web cams nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ |
| 31 | Learn a foreign language Free Online Language Courses www.word2word.com/coursead. |
| 32 | Make an obstacle course in your back yard How To Set Up An Obstacle Course www.ehow.com/how_3113_set- |
| 33 | Make a treasure hunt The Ultimate Treasure Hunt www.allthatstuff.net/ |
| 34 | View and learn about Modern Art Destination Modern Art http://www.moma.org/ |
| 35 | Learn about the Animals that live on our planet A Library of the World’s Animals http://www.learnanimals.com/ |
| 36 | Recycle bottles and donate the money to a local charity The Internet Consumer Recycling Guide www.obviously.com/recycle/ |
| 37 | Explore the Universe A Learning Center for Young Astronomers http://starchild.gsfc.nasa. |
| 38 | Build a tree house The Tree House Guide www.thetreehouseguide.com/ |
| 39 | Create a new world World Building teenwriting.about.com/library/ |
| 40 | Set up a lemonade stand Lemonade Stand Game www.coolmath-games.com/ |
| 41 | Learn how to make ethnic food Ethnic Recipes http://www.bhg.com/recipes/ |
| 42 | Attend a concert Buy tickets http://www.ticketmaster.com/ |
| 43 | Have family game nights What Game Should We Play? http://www.hasbro.com/ |
| 44 | Learn about science Latest Science News http://www.sciencedaily.com/ |
| 45 | Make a collage from magazine words and pictures Collage pbskids.org/zoom/activities/ |
| 46 | Create a terrarium How to Make a Terrarium www.ehow.com/how_9374_make- |
| 47 | Learn how to help the environment Environmental Kids Club http://www.epa.gov/kids/index. |
| 48 | Discover new games to play Nature Games http://www. |
| 49 | Go to a museum Find a museum in your area http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ |
| 50 | Make a fire plan Home Fire Safety www.usfa.fema.gov/kids/flash. |
| 51 | Make up bubble solution and have a contest Casey Carle's "Secret" Bubble Solutions www.bubblemania.com/faq/ |
| 52 | Find a pen-pal (parent permission) Pen Pal Directories www.stonesoup.com/main2/ |
| 53 | Plant something Gardens for Beginners www.geocities.com/ |
| 54 | Learn about Plants and our Environment ThinkQuest http://library.thinkquest.org/ |
| 55 | Host a yard sale How to Plan a Yard Sale www.ehow.com/how_137461_yard- |
| 56 | Build a sandcastle Sandcastle Tools www.sandcastlecentral.com/ |
| 57 | Donate some of the toys and clothes you no longer use How To Donate Toys www.ehow.com/how_10124_donate- |
| 58 | Research your family tree Free Genealogy Information http://genealogy.about.com/cs/ |
| 59 | Fly a kite Professor Kite and the Secret of Kites www.gombergkites.com/howgen. |
| 60 | Invent your own board game Design Your Own Board Game la.essortment.com/ |
| 61 | Make your own comic book Comic Creator http://www.readwritethink.org/ |
| 62 | Create a book cover for your writing projects Book Cover Creator http://www.readwritethink.org/ |
| 63 | Act in a play So You Want to Put On a Play? www.writewords.org.uk/ |
| 64 | Learn to Cook Introductory Cooking Lessons http://www.kids-cooking- |
| 65 | Make a bird feeder Easy birdfeeders for young children http://www.care2.com/ |
| 66 | Organize a bike safety clinic Bicycle Safety Command Center www.state.il.us/kids/isp/ |
| 67 | Spend time with your grandparents 10 Great Activities www.education-world.com/a_ |
| 68 | Learn how the Internet works Learn the Net http://www.learnthenet.com/ |
| 69 | Dig for fossils Dinosaur Dig www.sdnhm.org/kids/fossils/ |
| 70 | Write a song Notes on Songwriting www.robinfrederick.com/write. |
| 71 | Tie-dye some t-shirts How to Tie-Dye iaia.essortment.com/ |
| 72 | Make your own banana split Yum! http://parentingteens.about. |
| 73 | Create a themed dinner Theme Dinner Ideas http://www.kids-cooking- |
| 74 | Tour the World Google Earth Style http://earth.google.com/tour. |
| 75 | Throw a pajama party Make it a success http://www.ehow.com/how_ |
| 76 | Learn some new outdoor games Games Kids Play www.gameskidsplay.net/ |
| 77 | Make something from recyclables Crafts from Recycled Products www.makingfriends.com/recycle. |
| 78 | See a movie with a friend In the theatre or on DVD http://www.movies.com/ |
| 79 | Make homemade ice cream Kitchen Theater Science in a Scoop www.carnegiemuseums.org/cmag/ |
| 80 | Build a time capsule For the entire family http://www.ehow.com/how_6637_ |
| 81 | Get a magazine subscription (parent permission) Magazine Listing www.magsonthenet.com/chilmag. |
| 82 | Organize a scavenger hunt Outdoor Scavenger Hunts www.lovetheoutdoors.com/ |
| 83 | Go swimming Video Clips of the Swimming Strokes wellness.lattc.cc.ca.us/real/ |
| 84 | Paint a portrait of your best friend Draw Your Friend www.arts.ufl.edu/art/rt_room/ portrait_friend.html |
| 85 | Start a collection How to Start a Collection www.ehow.com/how_10563_start- |
| 86 | Write a fairy tale Fractured Fairy Tales http://www.readwritethink.org/ |
| 87 | Travel in time Odyssey Online carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/ |
| 88 | Stargaze and track the moon phases Moon information http://www.moonconnection.com/ |
| 89 | Learn how to sew Learn to Sew http://cyberseams.com/ |
| 90 | Visit a National Park National Park Service Guide www.nps.gov/parks.html |
| 91 | Rent a video of a ballet Easy to Read Profiles of the Histories of Ballets classicalmusic.about.com/od/ |
| 92 | Roast marshmallows How to Roast a Marshmallow www.ehow.com/how_1164_roast- |
| 93 | Watch the birds Tips on Getting Started with Bird Watching www.birdwatching.com/tips/ |
| 94 | Arrange a bouquet of flowers Learn how to make a beautiful display http://interiordec.about.com/ |
| 95 | Learn to blog (parents’ permission) How-to http://learn2blog.pitas.com/ |
| 96 | Re-decorate your room Decorating Gallery http://www.hgtv.com/topics/ |
| 97 | Learn to play chess Chess is Fun http://www.soyouwanna.com/ |
| 98 | Adopt a pet (parent permission) http://www.petfinder.com/ |
| 99 | Keep your brain going Brain Teasers www.brainconnection.com/ |
| 100 | Teach someone to use email How eMail Works www.learnthenet.com/english/ |
| 101 | Create your own holiday A Month With No Holidays? Make Up Your Own! .educationworld.com/a_ |
Monday, August 17, 2009
Bind Your Own Books at Home
Posted by Brian McCabe, Brian@AVKO.org
Whether you are scrapbooking, self-publishing your child's best-selling work of fiction, doing arts and crafts, or creating a portfolio of writings, there are many reasons why you may want to bind your own book at home. AVKO recommends daily writing; creating a book that contains all of these writings, in chronological order, can easily show the progress that your student has made in writing over the course of a lifetime.
BindingBooksBeautifully.com has ready-to-go packages for you to use to make your own books at home.
BindingBooksBeautifully.com has ready-to-go packages for you to use to make your own books at home.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
AVKO Philosophy
Posted by Brian McCabe, Brian@AVKO.org
Read all about the philosophy behind AVKO's methods and curriculum materials on the AVKO Philosophy page of the website.
Learn:
- what AVKO believes about dyslexia testing.
- what AVKO believes about teaching reading and spelling.
- what AVKO believes are the most important factors for teaching students reading and spelling.
- what AVKO believes about studying.
- how AVKO teaches handwriting.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Become an Institutional Member Today
Posted by Brian McCabe, Brian@avko.org
AVKO has recently revamped Institutional Membership, increasing the resources offered as well as the discount. Everyone can become an Institutional Member, not just schools, non-profits, tutoring centers, etc. and can reap the benefits.
The newest e-books are available for free download with Institutional Membership, including the Word Family Supplements 1-7 (that correspond to each of the levels of Sequential Spelling) and the Spelling Remediation Test Kit (which has 17 pre-tests, diagnostic tests, and prescriptive tests for remediation and evaluation of spelling and reading level). Additionally, Institutional Members have read-only access to all of the other AVKO materials (excluding Sequential Spelling and Engaging Language Kits). They can read and use the entire books of the other AVKO supplemental and reference materials from the internet, but cannot download or print them.
Benefits of AVKO Institutional Membership
Institutional Membership is open to individuals as well as tutoring centers, schools, learning centers, homeschool resource centers, etc.
- Access to all of the benefits of AVKO's Individual Membership (see below)
- 25% discount off all materials ordered
- Read-only access to ALL AVKO curriculum materials (except for Sequential Spelling and Engaging Language Kits)
- Access to AVKO's newest e-books:
- Word Family Supplements 1-7 for Sequential Spelling
- Spelling Remediation Test Kit
If you are currently an individual member, you may upgrade your membership to an Institutional Membership for only $50 from now until the end of August. E-mail info@avko.org or call AVKO at 810.686.9283 or toll-free at 1-866-285-6612 to do this.
Learn more about membership hereTuesday, July 28, 2009
New Teaching Aid Freebies on AVKO.org
Posted by Brian McCabe, Brian@AVKO.org
AVKO is proud to share with you a few new teaching aid freebies for the teaching of reading and spelling, or for your reference in the classroom, homeschool, or resource/reference room.
Newest Freebies:
- The Complete I Before E Rule - with Explanations (PDF on Scribd.com)
- A Short Listing of Words That Tend to Defy Phonic Analysis (PDF on Scribd.com)
- A Listing of Basic Words That Tend to Defy Phonic Analysis (PDF on Scribd.com)
- Miscellaneous Word Families with Silent Letters (PDF on Scribd.com)
Monday, July 27, 2009
New AVKO Resource: Sequential Spelling Word Family Supplement E-books
Posted by Brian McCabe, Brian@avko.org
AVKO is proud to announce that we have launched a new e-book resource series called Sequential Spelling Word Family Supplements. These invaluable e-books correspond to each of the Sequential Spelling levels and contain the pages from The Patterns of English Spelling: Combined with Word Families in Sentence Context for ALL of the major word families presented. This means that you can quickly turn to see all of the other words in a particular word family being tested, as well as have a bank of contextual sentences for the most common words. These can be used for dictation exercises, vocabulary building, choral reading, reading practice, handwriting practice, keyboarding practice, and more! These e-books are available for $7.50 apiece on Scribd.com
Friday, July 24, 2009
New AVKO Resource for Testing Spelling and Reading Levels
Posted by Brian McCabe, Brian@avko.org
AVKO has introduced a new e-book resource: a collection of diagnostic, prescriptive, and pre-tests for spelling and reading. This collection of 17 tests written by Don McCabe will allow you to quickly determine which spelling patterns your students need to learn, where they should be placed in Sequential Spelling (or another spelling program), and how to best remediate their spelling. This collection will also give you all of the information you need to quickly create your own spelling program. These tests can also be used for ESL instruction, special education, creating an IEP, and many other things!
This is available for purchase from AVKO for only $5.00 from the Scribd website. You can see all of AVKO's documents on Scribd here.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Engaging Language Kit by Brian McCabe Sample on Scribd
Posted by Brian McCabe, Brian@AVKO.org
Learn more about AVKO's Engaging Language Kits by Brian McCabe. Check out this sample of the various language arts activities that your students will have fun -- and learn -- with below.
381 Sample
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Handwriting Resources
Posted by Brian McCabe; Courtesy of Kate Gladstone
Kate Gladstone was gracious enough to pass along some handwriting resources that she thought everyone could appreciate and use.
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Activities Inspired by Harry Potter
Posted by Brian McCabe, brian@avko.org
Today, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opens in theatres everywhere. Regardless of your opinions of the films or books, it's undeniable what they have done to re-instill a love of reading in our nation's kids. In the spirit of Harry Potter, I'd like to propose a few summer activities for reading and language arts:
The Importance of Names:
One of the great things about the Harry Potter series is the ubiquitous presence of names that have some deeper significance or reference: Argus Filch, Minerva McGonagall, etc. See these sites for more information on the names and possible references:
Challenge your students to pay attention to names in the other books, movies, and pop culture they take in. Names carry a lot of meaning and can be in homage to many things, and can give rich, though subtle, contour to an oeuvre.
Summer Reading Contests:
Summer is traditionally a time for lots of pleasure reading. Challenge your students to read as much as they can over the summer months. You may want to have a reward system for them. Or, you can have them set their own goals. Or, you can contact your local library or school district to see what kinds of competitions they have in place for the students.
Mythology and Personification:
Throughout the Harry Potter series, many mythological creatures and characters are referred to. We have werewolves, giants, vampires, references to Minerva and Argus, etc. How about giving a lesson on the popular myths (Greco-Roman, Norse, Native American, fables, fairy tales) that are pervasive in our culture? Knowledge of these myths is important for the understanding of much classical literature as they are referred to time and time again.
Manytimes, mythological characters are the personified forms of inanimate objects or abstractions (love, war, hearth, wind, fate, etc.) It's interesting to see how different cultures have personified these different abstractions. You can challenge your student to compare various abstractions across different cultures' mythology or even create their own mythological characters personifying an abstraction of their choice. These can make great art projects or creative writing projects. You can also challenge your students to think of a "creation myth" for some object, event, place, etc. This is especially common in the Native American mythologies (e.g., the creation of the Sleeping Bear dunes in Michigan).
- Mythology on Wikipedia - Scroll down to the "Lists" section.
- D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths
- More Native American Mythology
Monday, July 13, 2009
A New Material by Kate Gladstone of Handwriting Repair to Come Out Soon
Posted by Kate Gladstone of Handwriting Repair
A good friend of AVKO, Kate Gladstone, has an upcoming product launching. Since many of AVKO's members have problems with handwriting (and/or dysgraphia), and since Kate is a pre-eminent handwriting specialist, we are excited to share this new product information with you. We will keep you posted with updates:
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If "handwriting can't matter" in the Cyber Age ...
... why does the SAT exam now include a timed, handwritten essay?
... why do most employers still require applicants to complete one or more forms by hand?
... why do hundreds of blog entries and Twitter posts daily describe the blogger's or poster's poor handwriting or complain about the poor handwriting of others?
Computers will never completely replace other writing tools -- not unless someone can invent a computer the size of a pencil or pen, costing the same as a pencil or pen, and needing no electric power supply. (After Hurricane Katrina, millions of teachers and students who had supposed that "handwriting can't matter" learned otherwise when they had to spend a school year without computers.)
Computers and cell-phones haven't eliminated handwriting -- they have merely tempted people to stop teaching and learning the subject. This may change in September, though. As millions of schoolchildren head back to the classrooms, expect AVKO.org to announce a startling new product that may forever change the way we think about teaching, learning, and using handwriting.
Stay tuned ...
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