Wonders Unit 4 Week 2 Primo: A Letter to My Cousin Games Around the World Happy New Year Second Grade Supplement Activities Table of Contents: Pg. 3-9 Let’s Play - Color the balls depending on how the word is spelled. Copy page B on the backside. Write your spelling words in the correct columns. Illustrate four of your spelling words and label them. Three choices 1. ten spelling words 2. ten spelling words, two review words 3. ten spelling words, two review words, three high frequency words Pg. 10-12 er, ur, or, ir – Copy pages A and B back to back. Fold on the solid line and cut on the dotted lines. Lift up each flap to write your spelling words. Write the special r-controlled vowel with the specific color shown on the back. Write the rest of your spelling word with a pencil. Pg. 13 Use It! – Use as many of your vocabulary words as you can in a story. Pg. 14-16 Helping Verbs – Copy pages A and B back to back. Fold on the solid line and cut on the dotted lines. Flip up each flap. Use the helping verb in a sentence to write about the picture. Pg. 17-19 action verb, helping verb, linking verb – Fold on the solid line and cut on the dotted lines. Flip up the flaps and write a sentence to show an example of each type of verb. Pg. 20-23 Pocket Full of Verbs – Fold the paper and glue along the lines to form three pockets. Cut out the sentence strips. Circle the action verbs with red, the helping verbs with blue, and the linking verbs with green. Place the sentence strip into the correct pocket. This would be a great project to do in buddies or small groups. Pg. 24-26 Let’s Write Book Titles – Cut out the books, fold them, and glue them into the boxes. Pictures should be inside. Write a title for each book. Be creative and use the correct capitals. Pg. 27-34 The Country/City Life is for Me! – Choose if you would prefer to live in the country or the city. Give examples to back your choice up. Copy the patterns onto the correct colored construction paper. Put together as seen in the example. Pg. 35-43 Take a Walk Around Town – A game to practice your high frequency words. Directions are on the game. Copy onto cardstock and laminate for durability. Pg. 44 Thanks and credits

Making butter used to be a hard, time-consuming job. But of course, for centuries, almost everyone did it. When my kids and I read a story book about

This is the culminating activity we did after a 4 (or 5) week hands-on unit on the Medieval Period. We held a festive feast complete with entertainment and much merriment. Also included are the field trips we took during our unit. My lessons are geared toward 4th-5th grade level children and their siblings. These are lessons we created to do with a weekly homeschool co-op. We meet each week for 2 1/2 hours and have 33 children between the ages of 1-13. Use these fun lessons with your class, fami

A fun and educational story poem for kids about the Boston Tea Party

There is one question that I am asked more frequently than any other by my homeschooling friends and acquaintances: How do you make Tapestry of Grace work for you? It seems that TOG is one curriculum where many people who have contemplated its use decide they will forever have a love/hate relationship with it. They love the depth, quality of literature, unit study, “living books” blended with classical approach, etc. that TOG offers, but hate the fact that they just can’t seem to find their rhythm with a curriculum that at first glance (and 2nd, and 3rd!) appears daunting. I am so incredibly thankful for, and enamored with, TOG. It has transformed our homeschool. It has been the tool that allows me to achieve my goal of providing a meaningful, Christ-centered, academically rigorous, “real books” as opposed to “text books”education for my children. I am always excited by the opportunity to share my TOG experiences with others. My goal for this post is to offer a glimpse into a typical TOG week in our homeschool, explaining how we continue to learn and grow, one day at a time, with God’s blessing and Tapestry of Grace. My hope is this will lend encouragement to new TOG users, provide a “jumping-off point” to help get your feet wet, and perhaps minimize the legendary “TOG fog.” Our week “begins” on Friday… On Friday, I give students a very brief (like 5 minutes) overview of what they will be studying in the week ahead. Together, we break up any lengthy reading assignments (e.g. history, literature, church history) into daily chunks. The children begin reading these assignments that very same day. This provides 3 extra reading days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday) so that the kiddos are not overwhelmed trying to read a 200 page book in 3 or 4 days the following week. (Ask me how I learned this tip the hard way!) Over the weekend, the kids continue to read from the week’s selections (according to the chunks we determined on Friday). They usually read before bed or when they wake up in the morning, leaving our days free for sports, church, friends, and general fun! As their teacher, I also have a few “assignments” to complete over the weekend. I read through the Teacher Notes (and usually listen to PopQuiz) in preparation for Tuesday’s lecture. I make sure all photocopies for the week are prepared (if they haven’t been previously) so I’m not scrambling for necessary materials during the week. Also, since I am using the library for approximately half of the TOG resources (I purchased the other half), the weekend is the time I order books for 3 weeks ahead (using the library’s online request system). Each weekend, I order books for that third week in the future. This way, I always have the books I need in plenty of time. I have yet to have to wait longer than 2 weeks for a resource to arrive at my local branch. Monday is our co-op day. The children continue independent TOG reading in the evening. Tuesday is “History/Geography Lecture Day.” On Tuesday morning, all kiddos gather together with me to begin our in depth discussion of the week’s topic. I “lecture” using the teacher’s notes and the “General Information for All Grades” sheet from the TOG week plan. I highlight the most important concepts with the goal of helping the children gain a general understanding of the “flow” of main events during this particular period they are studying. I don’t go too in depth here, but rather give them a basis for further understanding everything they have been reading and will continue to read this week. Also, we do our group mapping at this time. I lead the children in mapping any important places, or changes in geographic or political boundaries, in order to give them a clearer picture of what they will be studying in history throughout the week. Individually, the kiddos will continue their weekly reading assignments later in the day. Wednesday is “Timeline & Church History Day.” Together, I lead the kiddos in discussing the “people” we’ve encountered this week, as they glue timeline figures into their timelines and list important dates. This is the day we “make connections” to events we’ve studied previously. For example, during our study of the Byzantine Empire, the kiddos were timelining the beginning of the controversy in the Eastern Church and the rise of the Iconoclastic movement, which eventually led to the Great Schism (split into Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox Church). Through timelining, the kiddos made the connection that at this very same time the Anasazi tribes were building pueblos and settling throughout the “Colorado” plateau. Also, this time period was the very height of the Mayan civilization on the Yucatan Peninsula. Timelining helps us to view “His-story” as a whole, rather than segmenting it into nice, neat, independent, random events. Since timelining only takes 10 minutes or so, we also talk about the “character” and “characteristics” of the historical figures we’ve encountered in our reading. How do they measure up to God’s standards? What were their motivations? Etc. Also, we review the discussion questions for our “church history” readings on Wednesday. I usually have the kids complete the church history reading by Wednesday morning so we can answer the questions together and discuss. Keep in mind that by Wednesday, the children have been reading from their selections for 5 days already (F-Tues) so they have a general understanding of the people and events by this time. They can actively participate…and I expect them to! On Thursday, we use the TOG “Dialectic” or “Rhetoric” discussion outline (this will only apply to older students) to wrap up all the history we’ve been studying throughout the week. We complete all History Thinking Questions and Accountability Questions. We also watch a video (if applicable) on Discovery Streaming to support the topics we’ve studied this week, provide a fun visual resource, and enhance understanding of the topic. Lastly, if there is any additional mapwork (transparency overlays to show changing boundaries, etc.) we will take care of that as well. For younger students, this can be “Fine Arts Thursday”. Review any information from “Fine Arts” reading and select one or two crafts to complete. Also videos that reinforce topics studied are great for this age. On Friday, older students participate in our literary analysis lesson, using the “Literature Discussion Outline” in the Teacher Guide. We also complete the literature worksheets, and learn any new literary elements that can be effectively applied to the week’s literature selection. All of this information is provided in the Teacher notes (discussion outline) so it takes no effort on my part…I just need to ask the questions! Since TOG’s Literature program is so rich and in-depth, we devote at least an hour to discussion/analysis of the week’s selection and completion of the student activity page(s). Younger students can complete the worksheets and perhaps make a “narration page” about the literature selection. We end our Friday “TOG-time” by introducing the next week’s topic and breaking down the reading selections so kiddos can get started over the weekend (bringing me right back to the beginning of this blog post!) Several notes: 1) TOG includes history, geography, writing, literature, fine arts, government (for older students), and philosophy (for older students). I have opted to use a different writing program this year, so I omit the TOG writing assignments. If I were to use TOG writing (as I did in the past), I would introduce the week’s writing assignment on Tuesday morning (after the students have had some exposure to the material), and require that the assignment be turned in on Friday, adding the assignment review onto the end of our Literature discussion. Our Math, Latin and/or Spanish, Science, Spelling, and Grammar studies are completely independent of TOG. 2) We do all of our TOG “group” discussions/activities in the morning, along with our other mom-intensive subjects, leaving independent TOG reading and other independent subjects for the afternoon. 3) We complete all the Primary Resource readings each week, but we rarely use the Alternate Resources. Only my Lower Grammar student uses the Alternate Resources because she is a voracious reader and she tends to read all the LG selections on the first day! Since the TOG primary resource reading selections for older students are quite lengthy, I can’t imagine ever having additional time to dig into the alternate resources. It is not uncommon for older students to have upwards of 200-300 pages to be read each week (total reading in all TOG subjects). Adding any more would be overkill, imo. 4) I try to make each activity fun. For example, my kiddos LOVE mapping because they LOVE using transparency overlays (don’t ask me why, because I have NO idea!). If I provide paper maps, they are only mildly enthused. But when we add “overlays” to our paper maps, it’s as if they’ve won the lottery! Also, I’ve found that the more excited I am about the material, the more responsive my kiddos are. 5) I always try to complete crafts with my youngest dd (LG level). I require my older students to complete the Fine Arts readings, but not the hands-on projects. 6) The only thing required of me, as a teacher, is my weekend work (see info. above), and finding a video on Discovery Streaming to enhance our studies (my kids like videos!). The teacher notes provide EVERYTHING I need! I hope you’ve found this post to be helpful if you’re considering adding TOG to your homeschool journey. Be encouraged…you can do it! And TOG makes it easy. Just find your rhythm and continue marching to the beat. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the “comments” and I’ll be sure to answer.

French Revolution 1789-1799 Unit Study & Lapbook. Free homeschool unit study about the French Revolution. Free unit study, lapbook & hands on

Ron DeMarco, head of props at Emerson University, had these images on a CD he shared with me showing a visual history of the telephone. It's great for research!

Join us as we discover what it was like in Valley Forge during the American Revolutionary War with these fun hands on activities and free printables.

Yesterday was the first session in my after school Medieval Art Class! What a blast! I have a great group of kids and a nice mix of boys and girls! Aren't these fabulous?! We did a variation on a project I saw in the book, "Medieval Projects You Can Do" by Marsha Groves. The image is pretty much the one Groves uses, but I used the Contact paper technique that I've developed with my students over the last couple years. I showed the children pictures of stained glass from medieval times, making sure that I had examples of traditional stained glass (tall and rectangular), some details showing the brushed-on enamel details, and an example of a rose window with its circular design. I then provided them with a guide that had the dragon image on it with all of the sections labeled so the children would know what was fire, what was dragon and what was background (sometimes that gets confusing). Using a template like this is actually very traditional. In medieval times artisans would sketch the designs for windows onto wooden panels and the artisans would fabricate the windows on top of the wooden templates. The end results of this project were gorgeous! It is funny how different the pieces can be even thought they are all the same subject. One bit of warning, using tissue paper squares with children can be, um...tricky. This group wasn't bad at all: I had the tissue paper squares in a tray in the center of each table and I warned that crazy movements can cause the squares can fly up and get on other people's work (not cool!). Once the tissue paper is on the Contact paper, it cannot be removed, so the children need to be mindful of their neighbors' pieces and move slowly and carefully. I do hope you try this project, it really is a cool one! Here's the method: Dragon (Faux) Stained Glass Supplies Needed: Template (I copied mine on 8 1/2" x 11" paper) Pencils, Ruler & Sharpie to create your template Piece of clear Contact paper slightly larger than your paper guide Clear tape Four 3/4" x 12" strips black construction paper "(for frame) About four 1/4" x 12" strips black construction paper "(for leading) Many 1" squares of tissue paper, assorted colors Scissors 1 clear sheet protector, optional Directions: 1. Make your template: Draw a border around the copy paper that is about 1/2" wide. Use the pencil & ruler to create a simple, bold image made up of straight lines. Don't make anything too detailed! You can use the dragon image for inspiration. Once you have your design down, use the Sharpie to go over the lines. These will be the guide lines you will use when placing your construction paper leading. You may want younger children to work from a template image you've created, but older children could create their own over a period of classes. 2. Tape the template to the table using clear tape. 3. Remove the paper backing from the Contact paper and place it on top of the template sticky side up. You will be doing all of the work on the sticky side of the Contact paper. Tape the Contact paper to the table using a couple pieces of clear tape to hold it in place while you work. 4. Place the 3/4" pieces of black construction paper over the areas of the template designated as your border. Place the paper strips directly onto the sticky side of the Contact paper and press lightly. It is OK if the strips extend beyond your template--you'll be trimming the piece later. 5. Using your template as a guide, place the 1/4" strips of construction paper over the leading lines on the image you drew. Simply rip (or cut) the construction paper strips to the proper length to cover your leading lines. Cover all of the lines in your drawing. 6. Once you have the border and all of the leading lines covered in construction paper, start filling in the remaining sections with colorful pieces of tissue paper. The squares can overlap each other and can overlap the black construction paper lines a bit (you are actually working on the piece from behind). But take care to make sure the tissue paper goes where you want it to. It is almost impossible to remove the tissue paper from the Contact paper once it gets on there. 7. Once all of the sections are filled in with color, trim the piece down to 8 1/2" x 11" and slip it into a clear sheet protector to protect it. Other options would be to use another sheet of Contact paper on the other side of the piece to seal the tissue paper and construction paper safely inside. Or you could run the piece through a laminator (maybe), I don't have one at my disposal, so I'm not sure of that, but it may work. Place in a sunny window and enjoy! Working on our dragon (faux) stained glass windows. Everything is taped down with clear tape and the tissue paper squares are in the center of the table in cardboard trays.

This free Native American Unit Study for homeschoolers provides meaningful hands-on lessons and lots of living literature suggestions for family study.

I am collecting resources and ideas to go along with our studies in Tapestry of Grace. We have already covered Ancient Egypt, and as much as I would love to start from the beginning, I don't think the boys will enjoy it. So we are starting with Ancient India for which I have gathered a ton of resources on my Pinterest board. I am going to narrow them down to a few that we might actually use. Tapestry of Grace Ancient India Resources Hindu Avatars Ancient Indus Valley Map Four River Valleys Activity The Vedas Cut & Paste Sheet Indian Caste System Cut Outs The Vedas Activity Vedas Worksheet Use comic strip "Big squares with story line" to illustrate each of the Vedas Use a ladder or up-flowing sheet to show the Caste system Use a 12 "squares" or "Big Finish" comic strip to paste pictures of each Hindu Avatar Use 5th comic strip in second set to draw or paste a picture of Buddha, then write a description and describe the 4 nobel truths in the 4 surrounding boxes Buddhism Worksheet Cut & paste worksheet on Hinduism Stages of life as a Hindu Use comic strip #9 in second set to paste pictures & write a description of the Hindu Trinity Ancient India Worksheet Worksheet on city of Mohenjo-Daro Worksheet on the Taj-Mahal Ancient India Architecture notebook page End of Unit Assessment Worksheet Hindu Gods Do you have any resources to add to the list? Leave a comment! This post was written by Janeen from www.sproutingtadpoles.com Janeen

Make history come alive for students as they study early explorers like Henry the Navigator and Marco Polo for Kids with hands-on activities and printables!

One of my new Common Core ELA Units is called "Figure it Out." It is about notable people who overcame challenges to become successful in life. We read about Helen Keller, Leonardo da Vinci, George Washington Carver and Thomas Edison. We created lap-books using an Invention Brochure that I bought on TPT from This Little Piggy Reads. The printables fit nicely on the file folder. Here are some samples of my student's work. I made a sample but allowed my students to use their own creativity. It also fits in with our electricity unit. Click for Link

Today we are working on finishing up our lapbook. We are adding the final touches and reviewing all the information we have added to it. I have found some pretty cool resources and I hope they are helpful to others. Visit our Native American Pinterest Page Visit Our Native American Resource Links Page Click each day to see what we have been doing with our unit. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Day 8 Free Native American Lapbook Source: http://eclecticeducation.squidoo.com/native-american-lapbook Native American Clip Art Resources *Great for your lapbooks Native American Clip Art Native American Indian Clipart Native American Indian Clipart and Graphics Lapbook Templates Free lapbook templates Labook Lessons - Templates We also read out loud together parts of the Secret World - Native Americans book. We are also reviewing some Native American vocabulary words. Click Here for a list of words you can use. I find it helpful to write the words on the front of index cards and the meaning on the back. I then flip through them with the girls. It also helps with word recognition. Native American Math Game Resources Click Here to look at this fantastic Native American math game I found. Too Cute! Sandpainting Math Sticks and Stones

See Cindy's thorough description of her 6th grader's middle ages study that was full of lapbooking, literature, and creative hands-on activities.

It's not the holidays in my mind until these Spritz cookies come out of the oven. My Mom and I got together for our traditional Swedish baking fest, and my main goal of the day was to successfully veganize these family favorite cookies. These cookies are so simple to make, and work best if you have a cookie press. You could make these into any shape, but over the years we have perfected these little circle wreaths and find they come out the best. Spritz Cookies adapted from love like a vegan 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 C sugar 1 C vegan butter 1/2 C plain soy yogurt 1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract variation - use almond extract instead of vanilla Preheat oven to 350 F. With an electric mixer, cream together the sugar and butter. Add the soy yogurt and vanilla, and mix well. Sift in the flour and salt and mix until a dough forms. Put your dough into a cookie press and form cookies onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. Watch carefully so they don't start to burn. These cookies came out just right! They're perfectly buttery, crunchy cookies with a little touch of vanilla. From my little corner of the internet to yours, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season! Thanks for stopping by!

The Declaration of Independence is a famous document, but without historic context, it doesn’t often make sense to us in the 21st century. Every single word of the Declaration reflected the events a

We have been focusing on the 20th Century for Blaze's history lessons this year. We are currently learning about the Great Depression, but we spent quite a bit of time learning about World War 1. The causes of WW1: We read the following two novels: When Christmas Comes Again was about a young military telephone operator during the war. After the Dancing Days was about a girl dealing with the loss of a beloved uncle during the war and the injured and deformed soldiers who returned to the United States after the war. Blaze was particularly interested in aviation during WW1. We found a simple model of the Red Baron's plane that Blaze was able to assemble without help, at a local hobby shop. We watched two movies about German pilots, The Blue Max and The Red Baron, along with some short documentaries about WW1 planes on YouTube. We then focused our attention on trench warfare. We also watched War Horse. Blaze used a shoe box to make a diorama of a WW1 trench with American soldiers. The soldiers were paper dolls that were originally printed in 1918 and can be found here. We didn't use the paper stands for the dolls, but instead glued them onto 1-inch wooded blocks, so they wouldn't tip over so easily. To give the shoe box diorama a real "hole in the ground" look, Blaze painted the entire box with school glue and sprinkled it with dirt. After the glue was dry, I sprayed the whole thing with clear coat, so the dirt wouldn't fall off. The sandbags were made from Crayola Model Magic. The culmination of all of our WW1 studies was Blaze's display for the Tallahassee Homeschool Group's International (Social Studies) Fair. Here is a recipe for the donuts that were passed out by the Salvation Army to soldiers during WW1: http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/bread/sweet-bread/original-salvation-army-world-war-1-donut.html

Middle Ages Unit Study: We made a medieval paper village. Medieval towns are known today for their half-timber houses, watch towers, and village walls. As part of our Middle Ages Unit Study we constructed a medieval village. This project is excellent because in addition to covering history, it works the fine motor skills and kids learn to visualize how two-dimensional objects can be transformed into 3D. Engineers often use this technique when constructing parts from sheet metal and other flat materials. A similar template to the one we used can be obtained by emailing Wesen's Art Blog. The houses were cut out, folded into shape and then fastened together with tape. For more great hands-on history activities, please visit our History Page. Be sure to check out these blog hops for more great kid educational activities.

Well, I thought the last week of term would be spent winding down, finishing off, filing away, getting ready for the long summer hols, oh how wrong I was! My youngest had watched a film on Marie Antoinette and wanted to know more about her, this of course, led on to the French Revolution, which led onto a lapbook. There's nothing wrong with this, it's great, home ed in action, but it was the last week, I was winding down and filing things away ready for the holidays... sigh! So here it is the fastest printed out and put together lapbook in history! Most of the information was from here and here. We learned about the 3 estates, Marie Antoinette, Louis 16th, Napoleon, The Bastille, The Guillotine, The Tennis Court Oath, The French Flag, Voltaire and Rousseau, The Declaration of Man, The New Constitution of France and general French geography. The printout lapbook flaps came from here and I really can't thank the person enough because we just wouldn't have been able to do this lapbook without her! Below is a printed out power point presentation of the Lady who started this whole thing off! I took a photo of the front cover only. Below is a 'made up' diary of someone who attended the beheading of Louis 16th. And even though this whole project was 'a rush job' my daughter remembers in detail the things she learned, just goes to show that if the interest is there, they retain the information.

This post contains affiliate links. I was compensated for writing this post. Before I began teaching this Modern History Unit Study, I was shocked by how

Making this lets me pretend I’m about to go strolling around Cape Cod in late Autumn. Slump, also called grunt or cobbler depending who you’re asking, is a classic New England dessert of fruit and biscuits. You’re about to see some blueberries in action, but I’m raring to try it again with raspberries.READ MORE

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As a voice teacher, people ask all the time about different voice types. I love this question because people are so surprised to learn their true voice type

Summer between 2nd and 3rd grade; supplemental study; More about a homeschool unit study on Ancient China; includes printables for many of the mini-books shown.

Learn about the Pacific Northwest Tribes with hands-on Native American worksheets and FREE printable activities.