The Joy of Teaching

When we teach young children to read, we often start to think of teaching letters and letter sounds. While that is a fine place to start, what do you teach next? Teaching reading can be fun for both us and our kids, and Evan-Moor has several options to help you teach reading in ways that are effective and keep your kids wanting to read! Key #1: Teaching Young Children to Read with Decoding When our children are preschool age, we teach them to name letters and say basic letter sounds. We know these letters will be put together to form words. Most children enjoy learning the letters of their name first, so that is a fun first word to teach them. As our child learns letter sounds, we soon find that letters in the English language can get tricky. Yes, each letter has its own sound, but those letter sounds can quickly change. For example, the letter “g” makes a different sound in “goat” and “giraffe.” Additionally, once we start combining letters, the sounds can change completely (as in “ight” in the word “right”). It is common for children to continue studying phonics rules throughout the elementary school grades. It is so helpful to have a list of these phonics rules to know exactly what to introduce next when teaching young children to read. Evan-Moor has 2 popular options that are great for homeschooling: Daily Phonics and Basic Phonics Skills. Daily Phonics is for grades 1,2,3 and 4–6 — and focuses on particular phonics skills each week. One of my favorite features is that the weekly unit begins with a single page that contains 5 quick phonics lessons for the week (typically one lesson per day). It is so easy to follow! Then there are quick practice pages to allow the child to put the new skills to use. Basic Phonics Skills is for grades PreK–3 and can be used as a curriculum. This book invites the child to focus on one phonics skill per practice page. Personally, I like to have my child work on these in an independent practice (like workboxes) in days following our Daily Phonics lesson. This helps me to see if my child really understands the phonics skill on her own. Key #2: Teaching Young Children to Read with Comprehension As we are teaching young children to read, it is vital that the children understand what they are reading. My favorite way to teach reading comprehension is reading several types of reading materials. We read fiction books, nonfiction books, recipes, instructions, poems, etc. As we read each one, we talk about what we are thinking. We share what we understand with each other. It keeps us all engaged and enjoying reading together. If you want to enrich your homeschooling with time-saving activities, Evan-Moor has multiple options for your reading instruction. One of my favorite features of these publications is that often the practice pages also include skills in other areas like writing, phonics, and vocabulary. Reading Literary Text is offered for grades 1–6. Each unit includes the mini-book or reading passage that is needed for the week. Each unit provides a new story for your child to read! After your child reads the selection, there are practice pages to go specifically with the story. Additionally, each story is leveled in difficulty within each grade level. So homeschoolers can easily set their child up for success when they are learning to read. Once our kids are learning to read, we can also teach them to read to learn. Evan-Moor has a truly fabulous (newly revised) book called Nonfiction Reading Practice. There are about 17 topics per book, typically on science and social studies topics. There is one brilliant aspect of this book: each topic offers 3 reading passages of varying difficulty! This is terrific if you are homeschooling more than one child, so you can select the reading passage that is just right for your child. Reading Informational Text is another powerhouse of lessons and activities to use when teaching young children to read. This series is offered for grades 1–6 and is organized in units on a particular topic. Within each unit, there are ready-made lesson plans for vocabulary, reading comprehension, writing, and more! These topics teach kids to read to learn and provide an opportunity to use other skills related to the topic. Key #3: Teaching Young Children to Read with Fluency When teaching young children to read, we need to teach them to read with fluency. Reading with fluency is reading smoothly (rather than in a robotic or choppy way). There is one vital part of teaching fluency – kids should be reading material they already know how to read. This is not the time for teaching decoding. This is a time to have FUN reading. Do your kids like to entertain you? Our kids like to put on “shows” where they use puppets or act out their favorite stories. How about doing some readers’ theater? This is where your children will retell a story by each reading their parts aloud, often using puppets or acting out what they are reading. When teaching young children to read with fluency, we invite children to have fun reading with expression! Children practice reading out aloud in the way that we naturally speak (and maybe enjoy a little dramatic effect, too!). Leveled Readers’ Theater is available for grades 1–6 and contains topics and stories that kids enjoy. If you are involved in a homeschool co-op, readers’ theater can be a fun way to teach young children to read with fluency! Another EASY option for teaching children to read with fluency is to have them read familiar materials from previous grade levels. Your child can read the previous grade level materials from any of these series that I have shared! Homeschool Tip: TeacherFileBox digital lesson library If you are trying to choose between any of these Evan-Moor books to use in your homeschooling, I have to let you in on my favorite way to get access to ALL grade levels of each of these series in digital format! Evan-Moor has created a digital lesson library of all of these books into TeacherFileBox. You can gain access to TeacherFileBox through a monthly or annual subscription. You can search by skill, grade level, subject, or topic! What is even more amazing if that you get access to ALL grade levels of these books with your subscription. Once you subscribe, you have access to all of the fun books I shared in this blog and over 400 other titles, as well! Subscribe for a month and get the first 30 days free or get the best deal ($79.99 for a year) through the Homeschool Buyer’s Co-op. Which of these books would you like to integrate into your homeschooling? Just let me know in the comments!

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Amy Michaels is a certified teacher with 11 years of elementary classroom experience who is actively homeschooling her own children. Her mission is share the best teaching methods and resources with all homeschoolers. Amy supports parents through her podcasts, webinars, and online training for homeschoolers on her website www.thrivehomeschooling.com.

Presidents’ Day formally honors George Washington, but the holiday opens up the perfect opportunity to salute all of the men who have served our country. Dedicate a few lessons to the study of these great men.

Listed below are a few research and writing activities to inspire your students to think about the importance of individuals within our government. It is possible you may be inspiring a future political leader.

Research

• Presidential term limits and qualifications to be president.
  Write an opinion piece on whether or not the qualifications should change.
• Students choose an influential president to research and write a report about his contributions while in office.
• Study and research the Electoral College and its role within the election process.

Interview
Interview a family member or friend about the president he or she remembers the most and why. (Brainstorm a list of questions.)

Counting in Code Game

• Ask students to count money but list only the names of the presidents on the bills. For example: two George Washingtons, one Abraham Lincoln, and three Andrew Jacksons.
  • $1 George Washington
  • $2 Thomas Jefferson
  • $5 Abraham Lincoln
  • $10 Alexander Hamilton
  • $20 Andrew Jackson

President Word Search

Download your free printable here. (From Seasonal Activities series)

Additional classroom activities for Presidents’ Day

• Writing activity: A conversation with Mr. Lincoln. Students imagine that they could talk to Abraham Lincoln, ask questions, and think about his answers. ($1.99, TeachersPayTeachers)
• Art project: Portraits of Lincoln and Washington. Each activity includes directions & patterns, a list of materials, & an illustration of the completed project. ($1.99, TeachersPayTeachers)
• Compare and contrast paragraph: The First and Sixteenth Presidents. This two-page writing activity provides a form on which students can write paragraphs comparing & contrasting the lives of George Washington & Abraham Lincoln. ($1.99, TeachersPayTeachers)
• History Pocket: Leaders of the Civil War. Information & activities about the leaders of the Civil War: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, and Robert E. Lee. ($2.99, TeachersPayTeachers)

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Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.

As homeschoolers, teaching our children math fundamentals is a priority, but it can be overwhelming.

And even though I taught elementary school for 11 years before I started homeschooling, I still wanted a checklist of math fundamental skills to cover for each of my children each year. Wouldn’t you know, Evan-Moor just released a new publication specifically for teaching math fundamentals that is specific to each grade level, and it is terrific!

Let me share why the Math Fundamentals series works perfectly for homeschoolers! Be sure to download the free sampler and try it with your children.

Math Fundamentals Is Kid-Approved

To quote my fourth grader, “I really like this new math book, Mom! I understand math better, and the pages don’t overwhelm me. Math is fun now!”

Isn’t that what every homeschooling parent wants to hear? She even asked if she could work ahead in her Math Fundamentals book this week! What a compliment to this series!

The Layout of Math Fundamentals

Math Fundamentals divides each set of skills into units. This helps you and your child focus on specific math skills.

Each unit begins with a teaching page. This teaching page can be used by both the parent and child to understand the fundamental math skill the child will learn. It is very helpful to have the skill explained with examples, with all of the teaching points all together on a single page.

Each of the skills showcases simple teaching points. You can work through them one at a time as your child is ready for each step of the math fundamental skill.

Here is an example:

In this unit, the math fundamental skill is telling time by the half-hour for grade 1. There are two teaching points listed: the analog (face) clock and the digital clock.

See how everything is labeled and easy to understand?

Another thing that I really like is the “Think” question at the bottom of the page.

Here is another example for teaching fractions for grade 4. My child and I both found it easy to focus on one skill at a time.

The Practice

There are typically 4–5 pages for each unit. I really like how the pages are arranged. The first page is the foundational math fundamental skill. Then, the next page invites the child to build on that first skill and use the next skill taught on the teaching page.

You can CLICK HERE to select and preview each grade level.

The practice pages are key to helping me to see if my child truly understands the skill.

These pages feature a combination of basic math fundamental skill practice and story problems, which shows me if my child understands the skill outside of a formula. It is a perfect opportunity to see if your child can apply these math fundamental skills to real-life situations!

How to Use Math Fundamentals in Your Homeschooling

Math Fundamentals is a complete math curriculum, so we can simply focus on one unit at a time. You also have the flexibility to work at your child’s pace, slowing down when he or she needs more time or speeding up if it is easy.
For example, if my child breezes through the skill pages, then we can leave the remaining practice pages as workbox review in a few weeks.

If my child is struggling, then it is easy to just slow down and do a few problems together. I also like that the number of math problems doesn’t overwhelm my child. It is focused and purposeful practice – not just “busy” work.

Want Access to All Grade Levels of Math Fundamentals?

Another feature that Evan-Moor offers homeschoolers is including all six grade levels of Math Fundamentals in their TeacherFileBox subscription. TeacherFileBox has all of the Math Fundamentals titles in their digital lesson library!

This is the best value, because you can easily skip ahead to the next grade level if your child is ready without buying another level of curriculum! Likewise, if your child is struggling, you can also go back a grade level to review skills he or she has forgotten.

I don’t know of any other publisher that offers all grade levels of a series to homeschoolers. This is just another reason that I am a fan of Evan-Moor!

Math Fundamentals is a big hit at our house. It helps both my child and me focus on each set of skills for the week. It has made teaching math much simpler. I also have peace of mind knowing that the math fundamental skills are covered for each grade level.

Be sure and CLICK HERE for sample pages and to learn more about the new Math Fundamentals and TeacherFileBox! Once you try it, be sure and leave me a comment to let me know how it is working for you!

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Amy Michaels is a certified teacher with 11 years of elementary classroom experience who is actively homeschooling her own children. Her mission is share the best teaching methods and resources with all homeschoolers. Amy supports parents through her podcasts, webinars, and online training for homeschoolers on her website www.thrivehomeschooling.com.

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