Homeschool Lessons Made Easy - Inspiring Creativity
Written on February 19, 2008 – 6:13 am | by admin
When creating plans for lessons, you can create assignments that encourage students to reach their potential, by both allowing them to work on basic skills and challenging them to expand their thinking. Though this may seem like a challenge, it can be done by progressing from recognition to creation of sentences.
As parts of speech are extremely important in language, consider teaching a lesson on “nouns”. Just as a mechanic understands the inner workings of an engine, a good writer must understand how words work together. One of those words could be a noun (a person place or thing). Once a student understands what a noun is, how it is used and some common examples, they are ready to start applying this knowledge.
Find (or recognition) is the first step. Start by taking a paragraph from a well known novel like “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe” by C.S. Lewis, a short story from “Readers Digest” or a newspaper article. These are good passages to use with students in division two (grades four to six). Have students go through the paragraph and identify the nouns. Once they can identify the nouns they are ready to go on to the next level.
Change (or application) is the second step. A student should be able to replace simple nouns with more advanced or specific ones. This means that they will be able to improve their writing by using words that have more meaning to the reader. Consider the following sentence.
A bird flew near the tree looking for stuff.
The simple nouns can be changed to more specific ones.
A Snowy owl flew near the tamarack looking for mice.
A swallow flew near the evergreen looking for water.
An eagle flew near the birch looking for shelter.
Writing (or creation) is the last step. Writing with the knowledge of “nouns” can be done by filling in blanks with nouns that make sense in a sentence. Although there may seem to be obvious answers, allow students to be creative. Consider the following sentence.
Last night _____ crept across the _____.
This sentence can be completed several different ways:
Last night darkness crept across the valley.
Last night soldiers crept across the fields.
Last night spider crept across the floor.
It can also be completed with more than one word (noun phrase).
Last night a pack of wild wolves crept across the abandoned plains.
Last night a sense of fear crept across the unsuspecting town.
Last night an easterly wind crept across Pacific waters.
Sentences could also be created using an idea or topic for inspiration.
Using this approach to writing allows students to go one step at time. They progress from words to phrases to complete sentences with specific guidance on how to be creative. It gives them clear examples of model sentences. It also gives each student the opportunity for success while being creative with ideas. Writing shouldn’t be just filling in a blank or completing a workbook, nor should it be too open or abstract that only a few students will be able to succeed. It should be a progression where the teacher is a guide for creativity each step of the way.
Darren Michalczuk is the founder of the Brick School. He is an experienced classroom teacher who has developed many programs and resources for math, language and music. The Brick School offers quality educational posters, programs and worksheets online for elementary language arts, math and music. Materials are designed to promote effective learning strategies in an easy to understand, straight-forward format. They offer both practical solutions to learning problems and leading edge technology and techniques. It reaches both struggling students and those who need extra challenges in class.With the latest software and leading edge learning strategies, our materials are paving the way for learning. User-friendly porgrams give students instant feedback while they practice important basic skills. Lessons and study guides also include proven learning strategies and memories techniques. Please visit our website.
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Tags: elementary, homeschool, language arts, language lessons, lessons, writing