Division Flashcards, and Free World U

This week's freebie from CurrClick is just the thing for my 4th grade daughter. We can print these on index cards, clip them together with a linking ring, and practice on the go. (It seems like we are always on the go to somewhere. What ever happened to home schooling?)

• Division Flashcards

If you like this product, be sure to check out the other flashcard sets from Homeschooling with Index Cards.

And if your students enjoy learning with flashcards, here is one more resource to consider:

• Free World U

This website offers a wide variety of online flashcards for K-12 students. I spent some time browsing and tried a couple of their card sets (high school biology, and 4th grade social studies). I don't know whether we will end up using the site, but it is an interesting concept.

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Related Posts:

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• Ambleweb Math Games by Kids
  
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Bridge to Reading

[Photo by The Jamoker.]

Is your child ready to learn to read? Here is a downloadable program that can help your student make the transition from letter sounds to true reading.

• Bridge to Reading

From the first screen, the child is reading and writing a (very simple) fairy tale adventure. Pictures, sound, and animation help hold a child's interest. Bridge to Reading has a continually increasing reading level, beginning with small words like cat and dog, and building to 10-15 word sentences.

A quote from the website

Words are gradually introduced through the events on the screen that provide a meaningful context for their comprehension. Introduction of new words is carefully spaced out, so that previous words have become familiar, but there is constant learning... By the end of chapter seven, children will have learned 105 of the most common English words...

Bridge to Reading is fundamentally different from most of the educational games and 'edutainment' programs currently on the market. It has no 'shoot-em-ups', high scores or other distracting elements. In most educational programs, the reward, in sound and animations, is extrinsic to the action the child is supposed to perform; it is a treat given for a trick. In this program, the reward is intrinsic.

Programs for Pre-Readers, Too

Bridge to Reading does require children to have basic familiarity with letters and their sounds. If your student is a complete beginner, try playing with these games first:

• Learn Letters
  Free Software for learning the alphabet.


• Letter Sounds part 1
  Free Software for learning beginning phonics.


• Letter Sounds - Blends
  Blending consonants to make the initial sound of a of a word.


• Letter Sounds - 'S' Blends
  Blending 's' and another consonant to make the initial sound of a word.


• Letter Sounds - Short Vowels
  Selecting the correct short vowel to begin a word.


• Letter Sounds - Long Vowels
  Selecting the correct long vowel to begin a word.

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Related Posts:

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Multiplication Drill Games

Heading into 4th grade, Princess Kitten needs to master her multiplication facts. She has been enjoying these online games so much that she wrote about them on her blog:

• Multiplication.com Interactive Games

Kitten's current favorite is the very girly Fairy Fun game. After working her way through some number of problems (she's never paid that close of attention, but it's more than 30), she gets to decorate her own fairyland scene. She has assigned each fairy a name and personality, developed their family relationships, and carefully puts each one "to bed" on a flower before closing the browser.

If your students aren't quite so "pink and frilly," there is still plenty of fun for them. Kitten also enjoyed the make-your-own-scene finale of Knights of Math. And Beach Rush is a great way to cool off in the hot summer, with a Mario-like side-scrolling game as a "reward" for each level of multiplication practice.

Of course, even in the summer, school is not just fun and games. So if you need a few tips for teaching multiplication:

• Teach the Times Tables
  From the same website as the games above.

• Multiplication: An Adventure in Number Sense
  My favorite multiplication resource! Explore the times table and discover some interesting things about how numbers work.

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Related Posts:

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Free Homeschooling Lapbooks

[Photo by jimmiehomeschoolmom.]

Take a file folder, add a bit of folded paper or cardstock, toss with a dash of creativity, and you have a recipe for one fantastic hands-on project. A lapbook is a summary of whatever topic your student has studied --- a book review, a science project, an era of history --- presented in bits and pieces for easy review.

If you have been wanted to try a lapbook project, but didn't know where to start, check this out:

Free Homeschooling Lapbooks from Homeschool Helper Online

Website host Amy Smith writes: "I started this site in 2006 as a way for homeschoolers to share the unit studies, lapbooks and other resources they have created with other homeschoolers. It seemed like the hardest part of creating activities was just finding an idea or getting started. With this site I get to help others by posting some of the work my children are doing. In return, I get to use all the wonderful ideas that are submitted with my children. Oh, and best of all, everything is FREE."

The site offers a wide selection of downloadable topics: Holidays, History/Social Studies, Language Arts, Math, Science, and more.

More lapbookingarticles, ideas, and tips:

• To Notebook, Lapbook or Scrapbook...That is the question!

• If You Give a Boy a Lapbook...

• Spice up your learning by making lapbooks!

• Lapbooking on a Shoestring

• Multiplicaton Lapbook and more

• Election Lapbook and many more

• Free Presidential Elections Lap Book Folder

• Sugar Plum's Lapbooks

• Let's Try Lapbooking!

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Related Posts:

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• KidsArt Blends Art and History
  
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Let's Celebrate the Fourth!

[Photo by Bob Jagendorf.]

On the fourth day of July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress, setting the 13 colonies on the road to freedom as a sovereign nation. As always, this most American of holidays will be marked by parades, fireworks and backyard barbecues across the country.

2.5 million = In July 1776, the estimated number of people living in the newly independent nation.

304 million = The nation’s population on this July 4th.

$107.2 billion = Dollar value of trade last year between the United States and the United Kingdom, making the British, our adversary in 1776, our sixth-leading trading partner today.

Read more interesting facts and figures: U.S. Census Bureau.

4th of July fun from USA.gov:

• Kids' Quiz
  See what you know about Independence Day.
• Patriotic Melodies
  Stories behind the songs, with links to sheet music and sound recordings.
• Recipes from and for Americans
  Tasty favorites from Presidents, Senators, and just plain folks. We're going to try Mamie Eisenhower's Million Dollar Fudge --- how about you?

Test yourself: Could you pass the latest citizenship test?

Activities and crafts from Enchanted Learning:

• Create your own fireworks picture
• America acrostic poem
• Freedom acrostic poem
• July 4th wordsearch
• July 4th alphabet code

And more things to try, from Family Fun:

• Patriotic Party Puzzle
• String of Stars
• Can-do Stilts
• Fold-and-snip Stars
• Fourth of July Twirlers

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Writing a Story, Part 1

[Photo by Pingu1963.]

A friend forwarded the link to these Creative Writing Lesson Plans by Jamie Amini (I particularly enjoyed her brainstorming list of opening sentences). As I read those articles, I realized that we haven't done freewrites or other writing assignments for ages. My kids do quite a bit of writing on their own, but sometimes they do need a spark to relight their fire.

So I started browsing the Internet for other ideas, and I discovered a great batch of writing tips from real authors:

• How to Write a Story
  by Bruce Hale

• Explore Fractured Fairy Tales
  with Jon Scieszka

• Folk Tale Writer's Workshop
  with Alma Flor Ada and Rafe Martin

• Mystery Writing
  with Joan Lowry Nixon

• Myths Writing Workshop
  with Jane Yolen

• And finally, here are three Poetry Writing Workshops
  with Karla Kuskin, Jean Marzollo, and my son's favorite poet, Jack Prelutsky

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If It's Slimy, It's Biology

[Photo by MyAngelG.]

That's from a quote at The Lab of Mr. Q, on how to distinguish the sciences:

"If it stinks, it's chemistry.
If it's slimy, it's biology.
And if it doesn't work, it's physics."

There is one more "if" that he doesn't mention: If it's a free, 36-week biology curriculum for elementary homeschoolers, it must be...

Classic Science: Elementary Life Science

Mr. Q describes it this way:

"Each week has been broken down into three separate days to make it easier for you to set up a schedule:

• The first day of each week contains a reading assignment and worksheet review for your child.

• The second and third days contain hands-on activities to reinforce each weekly reading.

"Don’t worry about expensive materials for these activities! Most equipment can be found around the home or at a local store. The weekly curriculum has been arranged into four-week units.

"In addition, you will find several weekly activities that are titled Exploring Scientific Procedures (ESP) Activities. These are inquiry-based activities that require a child to set up an experiment and collect data. In essence, these are mini-science fair projects. DON’T PANIC!!! They are not as hard as you may imagine."

Here is an outline of the program:

• Unit 1: Basic Needs/Resources
• Unit 2: Biomes
• Unit 3: Life Cycles
• Unit 4: Classification
• Unit 5: Food Webs
• Unit 6: Senses
• Unit 7: Body Organs
• Unit 8: Cells
• Unit 9: Health and Nutrition

Princess Kitten has been studying biology this year, and I wish I had discovered this program sooner. Still, I should be able to draw several ideas from it to supplement her current work --- and I am looking forward to seeing Mr. Q's Elementary Earth Science program, promised for next year.

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Related Posts:

• Explore Science at the Exploratorium
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Ambleweb Math Games by Kids

[Photo by *clairity*. Article cross-posted from my math blog.]

Princess Kitten and I enjoyed exploring these games and quizzes from Ambleweb.

Math games by elementary students

Each game was designed by (or at least with the help of) 4th-6th grade students at Ambleside CE Primary School.

Callum's Addition Pyramid
"Can you open the Mummy's Tomb?" With three difficulty levels, this will challenge any elementary student's mental addition skills --- and many adults' skills, too!

The Table Trees
Practice your times tables, with a twist --- it's not always the answer that's missing.

Button Beach Challenge
"A taster of our forthcoming Oddsocks --- The Land of the Lost interactive web based mental maths adventure." This addition puzzle is harder than it looks. I can't wait to try the rest of the adventure...

Ambleweb Function Machine
Choose the type of problem you want to guess, or go random for more challenge. My math club kids LOVE function machines.

The Fractotron
You will have to work fast with this game. The questions are not super-difficult, but it doesn't give you much time to think.

Test your problem-solving skills

Challenging mental arithmetic quizzes by the kids at Ambleside Primary.

Brainwave
For early elementary students: "What is half of 10?..."

Braintwister
For middle elementary students: "There are 35 children in a class. 16 are boys. How many are girls?..."

The Braindrainer
For upper elementary or middle school students: "Is 4 a factor of 106?..."

The Totally Mental Machine
Random numbers make a new set of problems every time: "What is 15.7 and 4.7 together?..."

Problems? No Problem!
Includes some geometry: "What is the name of an angle greater than 90 degrees but less than 180 degrees?..."

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Related Posts:

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Play Around with Math Cats

Math Cats offers creative, mathematical fun and games for the home or classroom. My youngest student, Princess Kitten, loves cats --- I bet that's a surprise, huh? --- so I gave her a break from her Singapore Math books to try drawing a cat with coordinates.

Math Cat highlights to explore:

• Logic games & puzzles
  Including a very challenging puzzle, the "Long Line o' Math Cats."
• Counting, estimation, multiplication, and more
  Number quizzes and games.
• Math Cats crafts
  Polygons, string art, tessellations, and more.
• Archive of past questions and answers from the magic chalkboard
  Mouse over the chalkboard to read each answer.

Author Wendy Petti says, "I created Math Cats for children to promote open-ended and playful explorations of important math concepts."

I think she did a good job. Enjoy!

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Related Posts:

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Learn to Read at Starfall.com

[Photo by cesarastudillo.]

What is your least favorite subject for homeschooling? For me, it was phonics and the whole learn-to-read stage. My children and I have always enjoyed stories, but the process of figuring out the secret code to unlock them was a struggle for several of my students.

Then --- in accord with the Murphy's Law that states, "It's always in the last place you look" --- with my youngest child, I finally discovered a host of pain-free reading resources, including www.Starfall.com.

"Where children have fun learning to read"

The Starfall site is divided into four stages of gradually-increasing difficulty:

• ABCs
  Getting ready to read.
• Learn to Read
  Zac the Rat and other tales.
• It's Fun to Read
  "All About Me," poetry, tongue twisters, and more.
• I'm Reading
  Plays, folk tales, Greek myths, and more.

Princess Kitten loved this site and worked her way through all the exercises, games, and silly stories. They took awhile to load on our antique modem connection, but it was well worth the wait. If you have a youngster in the ABCs or early reading stage, be sure to check it out.

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Related Posts:

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KidsArt Blends Art and History

We are packing up supplies for art class, which made me think of teaching art. While my kids LOVE the teacher they have now, and I love the work they are doing with her, that may be one of the expenses that has to be cut. I'm no artist, so how can I teach it?

One of my favorite inexpensive resources are the KidsArt booklets (only $4 each or $17 for a set of 5), which I collected back when they offered them like a magazine subscription. Featuring open-ended, hands-on projects along with snippets of art history or world cultures, these topical studies work for a wide range of ages --- perfect for the homeschool family.

Even better, the KidsArt website offers a variety of free resources, which make it a great place to visit even with a busted budget.

Free art lessons from KidsArt

• What do I do when...?
  Simple solutions to common questions by parents and teachers.

• KidsArt USA Map
  Art projects by kids and for kids around our country.

• KidsArt Quick Art Lessons
  Easy, fast and innovative art activities for children from preschool through junior high.

• And more
  Activities, games, projects and tidbits from art history.

And now, we've gotta run, or we'll be late for class. See you later!

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Related Posts:

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