3rd Grade Spelling

My third grader needs extra help with her spelling, so I create a weekly program for her to practice. In addition, both girls have to write their definitions for all spelling words. They also have to choose from assignments like writing in cursive three times, putting words in alphabetical order (elementary level) or writing a song, developing a crossword puzzle, writing a poem or story.

I've found that my programs have given my 3 grader the extra edge she needs. She went from f's on her spelling test to B+ & A's.
They are clickable, but I deliver them to her in pdf format. That way they can't be altered.

Here is a downloadable version
Here's version 2.

Here are some screen capture of the program.

To Kill a Mockingbird Book Report By Aja

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

This year I read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It was published in the year 1960. This book has 296 pages. The genre is American Literature and Southern Gothic. This book is basically showing how diversity was frowned upon in era of time. The people who were not in the right circle had troubles with being themselves. The different people are forced to be like others but they are not,so everybody was trying to “kill their mockingbird”.

The purpose for this book was to explain some of the injustices that went on when the author was a child. The story took place in Maycomb County, Alabama. This story is told by and about the main character, Scout or Jean Louise. The many other characters are Calpurnia, the cook and their caretaker, Atticus, her dad and a lawyer, Jem, her brother, Dill, her friend, and Aunt Alexandra, her nosy aunt.

In the beginning, Scout and Jem meet Dill during the summer before she begins school for the first time. They begin talking about plans to make Arthur “Boo” Radley come out of his house. The Radleys are a very peculiar people because they stay in the house all day. They only come out on grocery days and on Sunday.

When Scout goes to school she gets into trouble. She gets into trouble for talking bad about the Ewells and the Cunninghams because they are not inside of the common class. The people in Maycomb don’t like the Ewells because they don’t value education and they also don’t like the Cunninghams because they are very poor. This is an example of classism Later on Scout’s Aunt Alexandra comes to town to “help” Atticus out with the kids. This is a god example of sexism. She keeps telling Scout to be a young lady because she is a tomboy. Atticus does not like this but he lets her stay anyway. During her stay, Atticus, a white lawyer, is defending a black man named Tom Robinson. He was accused of raping Mayella Ewell. Everybody is calling Atticus a Negro lover and Scout doesn’t like it. Sadly Atticus loses the case and his defendant goes to the Electric chair.


This book was a little bit difficult to read because of all of the very different events happening, however it all ties in and comes together at the end. I think that the author achieved her purpose to explain the injustices that were going on in the 30’s, like racism, sexism, and classism. This book has many strong points like expressing the many prejudices of the south in the thirties. I found this book very interesting because of the surprising series of events. In conclusion I think this book is well written and I liked it.

Uruguay Geography Project

The girls went to Globetrotters, a homeschool Geography club today. Here is their presentation on Uruguay. I didn't help them, they are pretty good at using keynote, so I just gave them feedback on what information they should include in their presentation.

What's New at our School

The girls have started sewing, and jewelry making. My oldest daughter is becoming quite the baker. She is getting to the point where she can add little bits of love (special ingredients) to her baked goods. She made a great Pumpkin Bread, and the following morning I asked for Pumpkin waffles and voila they appeared.

Last week we went to the Fernbank Planetarium & Observatory. We saw a great show of the stars in Atlanta in February and in Africa in February. It was pretty cool. After the show we traveled up stars and saw actual stars through the observatory. The next day we worked on Astronomy for Science are going to track moon phases every night.

My 7th grader is starting 9th grade Algebra. It's moving along. She's also working on a book report for the To Kill A Mockingbird. We have to make regular trips to the library because the girls read a bunch.

So far, going so well. We will be standardized testing soon.

OBAMANIA

Our mom told us to write about our experience at the inauguration so this is what I wrote:

On Tuesday, January 20, we went to the inauguration for Barack Obama. Barack Obama is the first black president.
" Yesterday Bush, Today Obama" my grandmother said about 5 times the day after the inauguration. At the inauguration everybody was selling stuff like, Obama puppets, hats, shirts, pins, pens, calendars, mugs, even comics. We were walking a lot. We could've waited for two hours at a gate or walked for one hour to another train station. It was a very big crowd. It was also very cold. Even though it seemed unorganized, IT WAS HISTORIC !

August Wilson

On Monday, yes Monday we stopped going to the Co-op, my children had a guest teacher. I had to go to a pitch meeting to bring some money into the house, so my friend with a Ph.D. filled in. She told the children all about August Wilson, the playwright. He wrote a series of ten plays each from a decade in the 20th century.

Today, our ex-Seton Hall Professor friend brought the girls a tape of the Piano Lesson to watch. They love this play by Mr. Wilson. I am happy to have received such quality teaching for the children. They have to write a movie critique, so it will probably show up on their book review blog.

In other news, I am preparing my 7th grade daughter for the SAT. It will be her first go round. Duke's Talent Identification Program makes it possible for her to take the test. I'll report the results when she gets them

Atlanta Botanical Gardens

We took our first field trip to Atlanta Botanical Gardens about a week before we actually began homeschooling. It was homeschool day and we wanted to see if would see anyone we knew that might homeschooling now. Turns out we did see my youngest daughter's old classmate. His mother is homeschooling group and we are part of the same ning group.

Anyway, we got a shared membership with a nice family I met at Atlanta Botanical Gardens, and went back on a family field trip. My husband took these wonderful images in the Orchid Garden. We all learned so much about succulents, orchids, Orangeries, and even frogs. I look forward to going back at different times of the year to see different blooms.