Hotchalk One Cool Website

All right this is one cool website. I will be sharing some of my favorites, and new ones I have found, while we are on Christmas break. I actually found Hotchalk three years ago, when we first started to homeschool. But I forgot about it, and now it is a huge website with tons of stuff, and it is all free. You do not have to homeschool to use it, matter of fact it is for all teachers and students alike to use. I love the lesson plan and curriculum page, they have some very creative ideas for teaching different subjects. Check it out, and take advantage of this awesome resource. If this particular website does not suit your needs, check my archives, and the links at the bottom of the blog. I am sure you will find something you love.

Wind and Weather

Today DJ is not feeling well, and will be reading the remaining 6 chapters of Little House on the Prairie with summaries, and will make up his other work, in the next few days. I will be posting the lesson plans as usual, and hopefully he will feel better tomorrow. Next week is our last full week of lessons, before the Christmas break. Today for Science the lesson plan includes wind. I have included a few videos below for how wind is made, and how we can use wind power for energy. I hope you can use them in your lessons. We are also Tivoing the new Animal Planet series, on dinosaurs, it is very cool. If you get Animal Planet check for it.

Lesson Plans For 12/08/09:

DJ:
Sign Language: Alphabet
Science: Wind power with experiment
Language Arts: Suffixes, fact and opinion, topic sentence
Spelling/Vocab: Use each word in a sentence
Math: Division, multiplication, subtraction
Cursive Writing

Caitlin:
Sign Language: Alphabet
Language Arts: Words that tell where
Science: Wind
Reading: HOP review of books already read
Math: Addition to 10
Tracing Practice
Site words

Reading, Arts And Crafts

Monday's are basically concentrated on reading, writing, and arts and crafts. Because Caitlin has to learn to sit and listen, and DJ needs to be comfortable reading aloud, I have decided that DJ will read to Caitlin.

Lesson Plans for 09/14/09:

Caitlin:
Reading: HOP Dad and Sam
Listening Skills: Farm Puppy, Holidays and Customs read by DJ
Arts and Crafts: Acorn Wreath
Alphabet Book: Letter D
Printing worksheet

DJ:
Reading: Read aloud to Caitlin Farm Puppy, Holidays and Customs pg 4-9
Math: Multiplication, subtraction
Vocab/Spelling: Look up the definition for each word
Art: Draw a plane
Spanish: Book one chapter one, Michael has an idea
Writing: Five food groups, menu plan
Cursive: worksheet
Language Arts: prefixes, synonyms, antonyms

Lattitude and Longitude, Map Skills

Tomorrow, for Social Studies we will be doing Lattitude and Longitude. Again I found my basic lesson plan at Lesson Snips, with supplemental info from our Social Studies book. The two short video clips are cute, and help kids put the info together.

Lesson Plans for 09/09/09:

Caitlin:

Phonics: HOP sounding out words
Leaf cutting practice
Site words: List one: and, my, are, can, play, come, funny, run, go, he, see, is, jump, this, like, little, up, look, the, to, you, said, red, of. I must say I think some of this are a bit much for a kindergarten child, but we will stick with them.
Reading: Cat
Alphabet book: Letter B
Math: fun with fruit
Science: The sun helps things grow

DJ:

Language Arts: spelling, vocabulary, syllables, synonym, antonym, subject, and predicate
Reading comprehension: worksheet
Math: Multiplication, division, addition and subtraction word problems
Social Studies: Lattitude and longitude, map skills
Writing: 10 things about me, continued

First Day Of School Lesson Plans

Before I jump right into the lesson plans for tomorrow, I must first say we had an awesome summer. Our new playgroup of friends has kept us busy, and full of fun. Today the weather is not so grand, of course we are having people over to swim. Thank goodness for cable, and playstations just in case LOL. I read an excellent post this morning on foods that trigger migraines. I left a comment, but forgot to add something important that I learned during my own research. I suffer from migraines, for many years. They are hormone related, but have worsened, sending me to the Dr. Something interesting I learned from her, was that I should try to avoid MSG. Ok, so I thought what a loon, I don't even eat Chinese food hardly ever, though I love it. Then I did some research, MSG is actually a preservative, and used in many different foods. The one thing also, however is it is also in some medications, that are gel caps, or enteric coated. I was taking Excedrin Migraine for the headaches, but it was upsetting my stomach. So I switched to the coated ones to help with the stomach irritation. Little did I know I was actually making the migraines worse, because I obviously am sensitive to MSG. Since avoiding it, and stopping taking the coated tablets, my migraines have lessened in intensity. It has not taken them away, my hormones are still hormones after all, but I avoid the MSG which irritates it more. I have only had to take the prescribed migraine medicine once, since applying the no MSG to my diet. Read your labels it is also called monosodium glutomate. That's it, just thought I would share that will all my fellow migraine sufferers.


Lesson plans for 09/08/09:

Caitlin:
Phonics: HOP pg 3 say the sound, listen to CD
Beginning sounds: worksheet
Land or sea cut and paste: animal classification
Reading: Book one Cat HOP
Site words: Hat, Cat, Dog, Sun, Mom, and Dad
Alphabet book: Letter A
Cutting practice: worksheet

The alphabet book you can start at the beginning of the year. We will put the book together once the whole alphabet has been completed. If you do not own a Hooked on Phonics program, I highly recommend it. I bought one used, but complete, for 9.99 on Ebay, it has already helped tremendously. I use TLS books, and DLTK websites for free kindergarten printables, they are excellent.

DJ:
Language Arts: subject and predicate, prefixes, synonyms and antonyms
Spelling: write each spelling word two times each
Vocabulary: look up the definition for each vocabulary word.
Writing: 10 things about me blog award, thanks Tes
Math: Add, subtract, multiply, divide
Science: Animal classifications, falling leaves project
Reading Comp: worksheet

As you can see we jump right back in, and review old material to be sure it has been remembered, then add new stuff as we go on. I used Lesson Snips this year, for both Science, and Social Studies lessons, they are wonderful. I also have workbooks for each as well, for projects. Here is a cool, and easy Science project for your fourth grader.

Purpose to demonstrate that a leaf's death is not what causes it to fall from the stem.
You will need: sprig with four or more green leaves attached, and a small vase.
Procedure:
1 break a sprig with four or more leaves attached off a bush, or tree.
2 Stand the sprig in the vase.
3 Set the vase where the sprig can be observed, but not disturbed, for four weeks or more.
4 Observe the leaves as often as possible, but do not touch them.

We will post the results, and why, after the experiment is completed. If you do this with your kids, be sure to do the same.

This week we may need Friday, to play catch up, due to DJ needing a hand xray one morning this week, and playgroup fun on Thursday. Whew what a week it is going to be. Have fun, and happy schooling.

Math, Math, and More Math

A few people love math, but most really dislike it, and some even have a hard time with it. My children are no different. For my son DJ, we do at least three math papers every day. We cover new, harder material, and then review of material we have already learned. I find this works best to keep the information fresh, and in his mind. Last year we started division, and I was nervous, as to how to teach it. I found this nifty video below, if you need some ideas on how to teach division. For me, we started with flash cards first. We did the flash cards every day, for two months, before we even tried doing it on paper. I think that really helped because he already had the concept down. For this upcoming year, the hardest part of our math curriculum has been finding lessons on Roman Numerals. After doing a lot of searching I found a few, they will be listed below. I wanted to share with everyone, if you look to the left hand column of my blog, that I am collecting 100 dollars to give to the local food pantry, for needy families at Thanksgiving. Not only will you be entered to win the lovely ring pictured, but you will get your blog link posted on the Kindness Hall of Fame, for six months after the contest ends. Now if you do your math, you will see that is an awesome deal, for only a 5 dollar donation. I have collected 8 dollars so far from my good blogging friends Betchai, and Rochelle, you can see their site links at the top of this blog. That means I need 92 dollars more to meet my goal of 100 dollars. Ha see math is not so hard LOL. Come on and join, you won't be sorry. Here are some of my favorite sites for free math worksheets. I use these to supplement our work book, or for when we complete the workbook. They are great, and free.

http://www.tlsbooks.com/fourthgradeworksheets.htm
http://www.kidzone.ws/grade4.htm
http://www.worksheetlibrary.com/gradelevel/grade4/math/
http://www.lessonsnips.com/lesson/romannumeral

The last link Lesson Snips, is the newest one I found, while looking for Roman Numeral lessons. It is an awesome site. If you need lesson plans, check it out, you will not be disappointed.

Only One Week Left

There is only one week left to American Idol season 8. I think it is going to be one of the closest years ever. They were all good last night. Not even one did poorly. At first when Adam did One, I thought maybe he would be in trouble, but when I listen back to it, it really is phenomenal. The video can not be shared yet, but you can listen to him singing it.



DJ is starting to learn concepts of a paragraph. I found this helpful short video. If you, need a little help understanding the concepts of a paragraph, you might find it helpful too.



Lesson Plans for 5/14/09:

Health: none curriculum is complete
Math: Graphs, multiplication, division
Writing: Write a letter to Nonie
Language Arts: Concepts of a paragraph, sentences, adverbs
Spelling: Lesson 31- alphabetical order
Vocabulary: Lesson 31- Write each vocab word, and meaning, two times each

Earth Day, and Scientific Method

Tomorrow in Science we are learning about Scientific Method. Since my son is only in third grade, we are not covering the more complicated issues this year. We will be watching the short video below, with discussion to follow.



Earth Day is Wednesday April 22nd. We already do a lot of the things to help save our Earth. We pick up garbage, when we are out walking. We turn off our lights when not in use. Car pool, when we can, and do not drive if not necessary. We do not turn on our air conditioning until we have to, and then set it at the most bearable level. We reuse items when we can, rather than throw them away. We conserve our water, whenever possible. We also use those new GE energy lightsaver bulbs. I have to say they are pretty cool. We also plant a small garden ever year, I will get to that another day.

On Wednesday we will be planting a rose bush, for Earth Day. We already have quite a few trees, so we decided with the plant this year.

School Express offers several free themed units, for Earth Day. We chose the one on Pollution, and will be starting it tomorrow. I also found some other great sites for Earth Day, check them out, and use them in your teachings, if you choose.

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/earth-day/printable-book/54010.html?detoured=1
http://www.theteachersguide.com/earthdaylessonplans.htm
http://www.earthday.net/kthrough4


Lesson Plans for 4/20/09:

Reading: Pages 77-97 Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
Math: Problem solving, multiplication, division
Movie Day

Lesson Plans for 4/21/09:

Science: Scientific Method, Pollution themed unit
Writing: Write a science story
Spelling: Lesson 28- Write each spelling word 2x each
Vocabulary: Lesson 28- Look up the definition for each vocabulary word
Math: Problem solving, multiplication, division
Language Arts: Practice spelling with double consonants, pronouns
PE: 30 minutes

Wow Nasty Storms, Flooding, Satellites

I have been awake since 3:30 AM dealing with nasty rain, thunder, lightning, and wind. My husband, and kids pretty much slept through it, but my loving dog needed to sit on my lap, for six hours. I finally could just get back online, the wind kept knocking out the power. We have been in tornado watches, since last night. They finally ended for us, but it just came over the weather radio that one was spotted just south of here, in Pasco, and Lake county. We really did not need the 4 or 5 inches of rain, we got over night. All the local springs, Manatee, Hart, and Fanning are all flooding, as well as the Santa Fe, and Suwannee Rivers. They are not expected to crest until sometime Saturday. While we are not immediately close to any of these bodies of water, we do know people who are. It is a stressful kind of time.

Today for science we are covering Satellites. I came across this very cool website, that is free, and awesome. Check it out for all your space learning needs. Go here to check it out.

Lesson Plans for 4/15/09:

Social Studies: Cultures- Chinese New Year
Writing: Write a story about respecting others
Math: Subtract 4 digit numbers, multiplication, division
Language Arts: review skills, possessive pronouns
Spelling: Lesson 27- write each spelling word two times each, and circle the vowels
Vocabulary: Lesson 27- use each vocabulary word in a sentence.

Ron's Pond Scum Very Cool Science

Today for Science class we will be exploring different protozoa , at Ron's Pond Scum This website is so cool. He has taken algae, and other slimy stuff, from his garden pond, and put them under a microscope. He shares the microscope pictures, and details of what each little critter is. This is a great Science project for all kids learning about Protozoa, and such. This is part of our animals, and habitats lesson studies.



Lesson plans for 3/25/09:

Social Studies: History and development of communication
Writing: What is the best form of communication, and why
Math: Multiplication, division, problem solving by adding or subtracting
Language Arts: Compound words, singular and plural nouns
Spanish: review
Spelling: Lesson 25- Write each spelling word two times each, and circle the vowels
Vocabulary: Lesson 25- Use each vocabulary word in a sentence

Our Changing Earth

Today for Science class, we are learning about our changing Earth. Here are 3 vidoes that we will be using to supplement, the lesson plan. I find my kids learn best, if they can see it as well as hear it, or read it. Fell free to watch them, and use them. The 4D Globe one, is really cool.






Lesson Plans For 2/25/09:

Fire Drill Week
Reading: Chapter 6 of Vacation Under the Volcanoes
Social Studies: Shelters of animals and people
Language Arts: commas, proof reading
Math: Line plots, multiplication, division
Writing: We need teachers
Spelling: Lesson 22- write each spelling word and circle the consonants
Vocabulary: Lesson 22- think of a synonym for each vocabulary word
Spanish: review

Final Fire Prevention, Fire Drill Week

Tomorrow will start our final Fire Drill/Prevention week of this school year. We go over fire prevention, escape routes, fire drills, and safe meeting places, and alternate routes of escape. This is the video we will be watching, and then a themed unit on Fire Safety will follow.


Lesson Plans for 2/23/09:

FD week
Reading: Chapter 4 of Vacation Under the Volcanoes
Language Arts: Commas, proof reading
Math: Tally charts, multiplication, division
Writing: My best friend is
History Channel: John Adams 60 min
Spanish: review
Spelling: Lesson 22- write each spelling word 2 times each
Vocabulary: Lesson 22- look up the definition for each word
Art: Presidents Day

Diet And Exercise With Heart Disease

I found this short video to be very informative. It is always important to remember that if you already have a diagnosis of Heart Disease to consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program. Depending on the severity of your Heart Disease may be harmful.




Lesson Plans for 2/9/09:

Spelling: Lesson 19- write each spelling word 2x each, print, and cursive
Vocabulary: Lesson 19- Look up the definition of each vocabulary word
Reading: Read chapter 7 of Ghost Town at Sundown
Language Arts: Capitalization, punctuation
Math: Measuring maps, multiplication, division
Writing: My favorite food is
Arts and crafts: Learn to draw Vugita, Heart wreath itp
Music: Grammar rock, itp

The Discovery Channel Online, Simple Egg and Ham Dinner

We love the Discovery Channel. There are many learning opportunities, to be had. My son wanted to know when Shark Week started, so he went to their website to check dates, and times. What we discovered was that their website, is another portal for learning. They have all kinds of videos, on Space, Health, Planet Earth, Global Warming and a ton of other things. You have access to all the info for free, too. It is a great supplemental learning site.

Need a quick, and easy dinner idea. I got this recipe from Rachel Ray, and her 30 minute meal show. I like quick, and easy. All you need is, some slices of ham, eggs, onions, cheese, or any other variety of these items that your family likes. Here is how I made it. Preheat oven to 350, spray a muffin pan with non stick spray, in each muffin slot put a slice of ham, then add sauteed onions, cheese, and the egg on top. Place in the oven until eggs are the consistency your family likes. We like the yolk a little runny, so this took about 30 minutes. They slide right out of the muffin tin, the ham is crispy, and the onions add a lovely taste. Try it, you might love it too.

Lesson Plans for 1/26/09:

Reading: Chapter 9 of Dolphins at Daybreak
Language Arts: Sentences, punctuation
Math: Multiplication, division, adding 3 digit numbers
Writing: You won the lottery, write about what you plan to do now that you are rich
Spelling: Lesson 17- write each spelling word 2 times each
Vocabulary: Lesson 17- look up the definition of each vocabulary word
Arts and crafts- Valentines Day
Music- 30 minutes if time permits

Presidential Inauguration History And Events

Monday is Martin Luther King Jr day. For ideas, and printables you can see my post below. Tuesday January the 20th is Inauguration Day. Like that is not special enough, this country is Inaugurating its first African American man. I probably will not watch it on TV, but I am sure soneone will post clips of it on youtube for all of us to view. I did find some great reading material, and free activites on the Presidential Inauguration

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday. My mom came over to celebrate her birthday, and we were actually able to go outside for a bit, without freezing. Tomorrow will be even warmer, yay.

Florida Dept Of Education Announces Improvements

The Florida Dept of Education, has announced that the overall ranking of Florida schools, has jumped from a score of 14, to a 10. This is the statement given to the public: Governor Charlie Crist today announced that Florida’s education ranking jumped from 14th to 10th in the nation, and its overall grade improved from a C-plus to a B-minus, according to the 2009 Quality Counts: Portrait of a Population report released today. The report, issued annually by Education Week, tracks state policies and performance across key areas of education and assigns each state with an overall letter grade to signify their education standing in the nation. This is obviously good news, to anyone that uses the public school system, in Florida. Even though I homeschool, I find this encouraging, you never know if you might have to send your children to public school someday.

Lesson Plans for 1/12/09:

Reading: Read chapter 2 of Dolphins at Daybreak
Language Arts: Adverbs, capitalization
Math: Multiplication, division, place value
Writing: If you could be one age forever, what would it be, and why
Fire Drill week: practice fire escape routes
Spelling: Lesson 15- write each spelling word, 2x each
Vocabulary: Lesson 15- look up the definition for each word
Spanish: Food and utensils part 3
Art: Feb puppy picture

My Husbands New Toy

We go back to school on Monday, so I will be posting lesson plans again, starting tomorrow. Whenever we are out of school, I find different things to blog about. It could be related to family, parenting, education, Florida, or the county we live in. Ideas, tips, and other info is also valuable for me to blog about. Sometimes I just pick something totally random, that I think is interesting. I find this helps to keep my blog diversified, and not boring. I hope everyone had a nice Christmas break, and time to get back to school.

That is my husband on his brand new toy, and whole gift package for the year of 2009. Ever since we bought this house, he has been nagging me to buy him a riding lawn mower. To me this is a waste of money, the yard is big but not that big. Anyway I finally gave in, and it was delivered all shiny and new yesterday. We were able to finance it, and I only agreed because he said it would cover all his gifts for 2009. That includes Valentines Day, Easter, Fathers Day, Birthday, and Christmas. At 1,300 dollars I guess that is more than reasonable.

Have a great Saturday, everyone.

A Little Behind

I have not posted any of my lesson plans for the past two days. I have been trying to get in some paid posts, through Social Spark, well it seems you can not do two posts next to each other in another words two in a row. So I spent all that time doing them, to not have them approved, and can not be edited, just poof nothing for your efforts. So just a note, if you do paid posts through Social Spark, you can not do two posts in a row. Tomorrow is test day, so I have no lesson plan for tomorrow. We will be having movie afternoon, after school, and watching Kung Fu Panda.

Lesson Plans for 11/19/08:

Reading: Read Chapter 10 of Pirates Past Noon
Writing: Write what you are thankful for
Social Studies: Government and Citizenship this will be a multi week lesson, with some cool virtual field trips
Spelling: Lesson 10 write each spelling word, and circle the consonants
Vocabulary: Lesson 10 think of an Antonym for each vocabulary word
Language Arts: Phonics review, action verbs
Math: Multiplication, addition, subtraction, ordinal numbers. Division will start again after Thanksgiving
Spanish: food and utensils

Lesson Plans for 11/20/08:

Reading: Write a book report, on Pirates Past Noon
Writing: Write 5 questions you would like to ask a Pilgrim
Health: Health and Safety Drugs
Spelling: Lesson 10 put spelling words in alphabetical order
Vocabulary: Lesson 10 write each vocabulary word and the definition 2x each
Math: Multiplication, addition, subtraction, ordinal numbers
Language Arts: Phonics review, verbs
Spanish: Food and utensils

Take A Virtual Field Trip On The Mayflower

With the holidays coming, I have had some crazy weeks. I am glad I saved all these cool field trips, to my computer for easy access. My sister is coming to stay with us for Christmas. We only get to see her about once a year, maybe even every other year. So we are preparing for that. She has to have her gallbladder removed right before Thanksgiving, so her finances are getting tight. She has already bought her bus tickets, but is worried about extra money, for gifts. We have been very fortunate this year, after several years of financial toughness. I will be informing her, that she doesnt have to worry about cash, we will help her with gifts for the kids. Which really, her just being here should be the gift, but I know she will not be satisfied with that. My lovely job, is refusing to grant me my requested days off, so I can be here when she is here. Technically they can not do that, because my status is prn, and they can not tell me I have to work, I work when I want. They can however, make things difficult for me, so I am geared up for a fight.

As part of todays lesson plan, we are taking a virtual field trip on the Mayflower http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/voyage/journey.htm
This particular virtual field trip is cool, and they have other activities, such as the first Thanksgiving feast, and daily life of the colonists. This will cover our curriculum need, for settlers, and colonists. Check it out, it is pretty neat.

Lesson Plans for 11/18/08:

Science: Simple Machines
Spelling: Lesson 11 write each spelling word, and circle the vowels
Vocabulary: Lesson 11 use each vocabulary word in a sentence
Writing: Describe how your family celebrates Thanksgiving
Reading: Read chapter 9 of Pirates Past Noon
Language Arts: Phonics review, using a thesarus
Math: Multiplication, addition, subtraction, number names
Spanish: Food and utensils
Art: Draw a turkey

I Have Some Football To Watch

Just a quick post today, as I am going to actually relax and watch some football. If you saw my post last Monday, I told you School Express, would have a free activity set to go with the Free themed unit, on Thanksgiving. Be sure to go to their website, and sign up for their free newsletter, to get a new free unit study every week.

Lesson Plans for 11/17/08:

Spelling: Lesson 11- write each spelling word 2 times each
Vocabulary: Lesson 11- look up the definition to each vocabulary word
Reading: Read chapter 8 of Pirates Past Noon
Writing: Write a poem about Thanksgiving
Math: Multiplication, addition, subtraction, and number names
Language Arts: Phonics review, use glossary
Virtual Tour Field Trip on the Mayflower
Arts and crafts- Pilgrim paper dolls
Spanish: Food and utensils
Music: 30 minutes If time permits

Have a great Sunday, everyone.