Thursday, September 15, 2011

Pressing Autumn Leaves

So autumn is just around the corner, it's time for the last hurrah of summer, harvest fairs are happening everywhere and farmers markets are in full fall harvest swing. Autumn begins in the month of September, on the 23rd , which happens to be a Friday this year. Days are getting shorter, leaves are changing color – in my neck of the woods the Maple trees are starting to turn a magnificent shade of bright red, and while days are warm, the nights are getting very cool.

A great activity is to go on a nature walk and find leaves to press in wax paper. Bring home your selection of leaves and then take them to the table. Find the flattest and most colorful leaves to press and lay them out on one foot squares of cut wax paper.

Press them with a hot iron, with a tea towel under the iron, to keep the wax paper from melting entirely into the hot iron, and label with a sharpie and there you go – autumn artwork to last the whole year.

Please be advised and inform your students that no matter how much they see wild animals eating acorns, this activity won't work with acorns and that eating an acorn raw can be a very bad thing and lead to acorn poisoning.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Types of Sentences

This entry is geared to the homeschooler looking for curriculum material for sentences.

Sometimes we run blind – and the unschoolers just run...
So here's a little guidance to take or leave as you see fit.

Kinds of Sentences - first what are you going to explore. There is a world of learning out there available and it's all in your hands to guide. Lead your little learner to the lessons and watch them soak them up.

Fun to start with is of course,"Run-on Sentences." A run-on sentence is a sentence that runs into another sentence. Two or more parts of a run-on sentence can stand by itself. Interestingly, run-on sentences can exist in both short and long sentences. The length of a sentence does not determine whether that sentence is a run-on sentence.

Then you have to venture into "Types of Sentences" - will they be Declarative, Imperative, Interrogative, or Exclamatory? A great example that will get your little learner is as follows.
Declarative: My cat has fleas.
Imperative: If your cat does not get a flea collar it will get fleas.
Interrogative: Does my cat have fleas?
Exclamatory: My cat has fleas!

This is a great time to introduce punctuation to your little one who has not started to learn to use it.

Have fun and see what types of sentences your child/children can come up with - share some examples with us below!