The literature units for 2012 -2013 are DONE!
And they are all organized in these nifty little hanging bags!*
(Trumpet fanfare...)
Inside each bag: the novel, a vocabulary list, vocabulary activities, and a literature unit with author information, discussion questions, and enrichment activites. The units are mostly from Teachers Pay Teachers or Currclick. (BTW, If you are planning to read The Island of the Blue Dolphins, there is a fantastic novel study available on TPT, and it's FREE!)
We're using The Arrow for The Midwife's Apprentice, and some good, basic vocabulary sheets from TPT. (Just search "vocabulary graphic organizer" and you can choose from a ton of different formats, some free and some a dollar or so. This is probably obvious to you, but for some reason I never figured it out until I was putting together this year's units!)
I'm a firm believer in getting familiar with new vocabulary before reading the book, so I made various puzzles and activities using the tools on ABCTeach. You can make crosswords, word finds, word shapes, and lots more.
Next year our spelling words and our vocabulary words will be the same. We'll also use them to study prefixes, suffixes, and root words. And many of our writing activities will come from literature studies. (I tell my kids all the time: if you want to be a writer, first be a reader!)
We're starting the year with The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes. After that, I'll let the kids take turns choosing the next book. We certainly won't get through all of these, but I made more than we need so there would be plenty to choose from. The choices: A Single Shard, The Egypt Game, The Breadwinner, The Door in the Wall, Dominic, The Magician's Elephant, Seedfolk, Harris and Me, The Island of Blue Dolphins, Pictures of Hollis Woods, The Indian in the Cupboard, Danny the Champion of the World, The Midwife's Apprentice, and Esperanza Rising.
That should keep my little readers busy for quite a while! And anything we don't use this year is ready for the next!
*In case you're curious about the organizer above, it's called a Clip-A-Zip and I can't remember where I got mine. I just looked it up on Amazon and there is no way I would have paid 45 bucks for it! Are you kidding me? Really Good Stuff offers a similar organizer; however you have to buy the bags separately. You homeschooler types are so creative--I'm confident you could find a clever way to make a similar system if you wanted one!
9 comments:
WOW! Truly a thing of beauty! I love, love, love it. I have been taking a break on planning for this coming year, but this post gives me itchy fingers to start the search!
Wow! That IS awesome.
Ok this is just awesome! So you decide on the books right? Then pull together activities for each one? Do you incorporate History in this? Do you do like a book a month? I seriously LOVE this. Is this for both your kiddos? I so want to do this!
Hi, Karen! Yes, this is for both kids. I picked the books based on what I thought they would like, plus a couple that I wanted them to read (The Breadwinner and Island of the Blue Dolphins.)
We often wrap up our day by reading aloud together, but every time we finished a book, there was disagreement about what to read next. Plus I was scrambling to find enrichment and vocabulary info at the last minute. I'm hoping to avoid these headaches by preparing the units ahead of time.
Honestly, this is the first time I've been this organized, so I'm not sure how it will go!
Wow, look at you all organized in June!!! I'm seriously impressed. I've looked at Brave Writer before, but I never checked out the individual Arrow units. Amazing!!! Definitely bookmarking those.
Truly Awesome. I'm trying to be more prepared this year too. But I'm not even in the same ballpark as you are. 19 more days until I leave for India, I better get a move on.
Ha, ha you are all so nice! Of course, what you don't see is all the things I neglected while preparing these units!
It does feel good to have at least one subject ready to go. Next up: math. But my old printer decided to give up the ghost and I can't get my computer to talk to the new one, so it may take a little longer than planned...
Wow! For the entire year? You're my organizing Guru! LOL
The first thing that came to my mind was to reuse the kids hangers with the clips - you know the ones for pants, skirts etc. and get some of the thicker gallon sized freezer bags with zippers. Then you could hang them from pretty much anything - curtain rod, wall mounted towel rack, closet rod....
FANTASTIC IDEA!!!
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