Teaching Grammar and Reviewing Theology with the Apostles' Creed Prayer

As promised, we have been focusing our home learning efforts on the learning and memorizing the new form of the Apostles' Creed.  To that end we have done grammar study, art work, memorization, copywork, catechism and spelling too.  I will pass along what we have done briefly and give you links to gather the resources for yourself from the new faith area of our resource website.

Memorization
To help with memorization of the Creed and help children learn some of the other prayers said at Mass, I made some new Learning Prayer Cards sets.  The new form of the Apostles' Creed is featured in one of the learning card sets as well as the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel for Protection, which is said after daily masses.  Another learning card set features the Sanctus or Holy. Holy, Holy in Latin and also in English.  The new form is provided.


Grammar
In the grammar department I typed out the new form of the Apostles' Creed as well as the old form and put them on separate sheets.  We then began comparing and contrasting the prayers grammatically.  The Apostles' Creed prayer sheets (plus the text from this lesson) are very useful for reference with many of the activities below.  We made some unique observations.

1. The new form has only two sentences.  The old form has nine sentences.   Don't believe me?  See for yourself. Together the kids pointed out the subject and predicate of each of the long sentences.  Presented in a Who or what/Does what format, it is very simple to pick out the subject (noun portion) and predicate (verb portion).  You will also see the change in the number of pronouns as well.  Because of the reduction of sentences, there isn't the need to use the pronoun "he" very often. 
2. The new form uses quite a few semi-colons and to a lesser degree, commas.  This is the perfect opportunity to highlight the functions and differences in both of these punctuation marks.  The semi-colon is used to separate complex ideas within the sentence - in its simplest explanation, but using your favorite grammar text will help you give further examples of proper use of both the semi-colon and comma.
3. Another addition to this form of the Apostles' Creed includes the use of italics to signal the need for reverence to be given by the person or persons praying. The line which uses italics is: "who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary,"
4. This is a great opportunity to discuss plural nouns. 

Apostles (more than one apostle)

Apostle's (belonging to one apostle)

Apostles' (belonging to more than one apostles or a group of apostles) 

Note the position and proper use of apostrophe.*

Spelling/Handwriting
For our spelling practice this week I selected ten words that best represent the prayer to use as spelling list words for the week.  With only ten words, it can be easily accomplished by kiddos.  I also created a set of Ten Words about the Apostles' Creed copywork sheets.  This set includes trace work in print and cursive as well as a blank version for learners with better handwriting skills.  I simply printed out one sheet to use daily and gave a quick spelling check at the end of the week.

For other copywork, handwriting practice and also as an aide to help learn the prayer, I created copywork sheets for the Apostles' Creed.  Styles include a set for the Apostles' Creed in trace print, a set for the Apostles' Creed in trace cursive, and for more advanced writers, the Apostles' Creed in non-trace style.  With only a few lines per page, one sheet could be given out daily until the entire prayer is completed.


Catechism
One of the easiest things to do with the Apostles' Creed is to pick out the twelve points on which our faith is based as it was proclaimed from the twelve apostles so many centuries ago.  Use the prayer sheets from above to look throughout the prayer.  Have children underline the points with different colors.  Here are the points distinguished with different colors below.  You can also find these in the CCC as well.

I believe in God,

the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, 
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried; 
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
 

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.  Amen.

Art

These coloring art sheets help to distinguish and illustrate some of the important parts of the Apostles' Creed.  Each sheet gives a title, summary of what is occurring in the image as well as a line from scripture or the prayer itself.  Here are the sheets I used:

The Descent of the Holy Spirit Coloring Sheet

The Holy Trinity Joined by the Saints Coloring Sheet - This sheet depicts the Holy Trinity but also the communion of saints.  See if you can note the heavenly Father, the Son (the lamb) and the Holy Spirit (dove), the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Queen of Heaven , St. Joseph, St. Peter, St. Stephen, St. Mary Magdalen, the Holy Innocents, St. Michael the Archangel, St. Gabriel the Archangel, St. John the Baptist, the terms "Ave" (Hail) and Ecce Agnus Dei (Behold the Lamb).

Easter, The Resurrection Coloring Sheet - This last sheet features a portion of the Apostles' Creed in image and words.  Mary Magdalene meets Jesus just outside His tomb.  The angel is present as well.  Note the beautiful pious halo that is above Christ's head.

So, this is what we did this week to begin getting ready for the transition for the New Roman Missal. 

I hope you find this lesson very helpful!

Blessings,
Kalei

Spelling Advice From the Third Grader

One of the good things about having such willful children as I do, is that they are always very clear about what they want to learn and how they want to do it. 

My third grader is the artistic one in the family.  Everything must have color or be able to have color added to it in order to be meaning full.  She loves index cards and Our Learning Cards, but has the tendency to misplace them or lose them especially when she is studying outside under Annie, our big apple tree.  This is such a shame as she has painstakingly defined and illustrated her Latin vocab or spelling words with such vibrancy and color.  But fear not, she has a solution.


Here is the spelling advice from the third grader:

"Mom, I want to make a dictionary with my spelling words."  she said. 

"Okay, that's a great idea."  I replied.  "What should it look like?"

"I want to be able to write the word out, tell what it means, and draw a picture of it.  Can you put the
alphabet across the top so I can see what letter I'm on, too?" she asked.

"Sure," I said like a waitress taking an order.  "Do you want me to bind it up like a set?" I inquired.

"Nope.  I want it to go on the clipboard, then I can take it outside and sit under Annie and work on my words.  I'll just keep it in my binder.  Thanks, mom."  she said as she ran out to swing in her fruit-filled, pomander bearing friend.

And yes, that really IS how resources are born in our home.  Sometimes it's just a very clear idea from very willful minds.

So here are the pages to our Draw it, Write it spelling dictionary.  Feel free to use them for new words the kids are learning in any subject or just keep a master collection.  It is impossible for the words to be kept in alphabetical order within each letter as we hope the children are constantly adding to their collection.  A good rule of thumb is new words or often misspelled words should be added on a weekly basis. 

I hope your kiddos find them fun and useful too.

Download our Draw it, Write it Spelling Dictionary Sheets now.

Blessings,
Kalei

Hop on our Montessori Spelling Train

Let's be honest, sometimes lists of spelling words aren't much fun to work with.  They can lack meaning, be too challenging, or just be plain tedious for youngsters.  But what if you could hop on a Spelling Train and practice your spelling words or learn new words, or even create sentences with fast chug-chug fun?  Of course, I'd want to get on and practice my spelling and vocabulary words too!!  Wouldn't you?

Today's resource, the Spelling Train, was inspired by our recent trip to the Rockies.  The Rockies are train country up here in B.C., Canada and what better way to keep memories of our trip alive then with printable train themed learning fun. 

Print out our free .PDF file.  Cut apart the pieces and instruction card.  Gather a list of words you want to use in your spelling or vocab fun.  Have the kiddos practice spelling the words or making sentences by finding the individual pieces (train cars) and connecting them to the train (steam engine or handcar provided). 

The Spelling Train file contains:
-Four of each letter of the alphabet in four different colours - red, yellow, green, blue.  Vowels are on their own sheet in case more of these popular letters are needed.
-Grammar pieces in four colours including: apostrophe, comma, period, question mark, exclamation point, open quotation mark, and close quotation mark. 

Feel free to make your collection as big or as small as you want.  A larger collection means that children can practice together.  Older kids can play a slightly competitive style of trying to spell words or make phrases the quickest.  Fun for all ages!

We hope that your children enjoy using the Spelling Train and look forward to practicing hands on spelling fun.

Click Here to download the Spelling Train game now.

Blessings,
Kalei

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Need Clarity? See Your Entire Learning Year at Once

See your learning year at a glance

As we get set to go back to school here in a few weeks in our little homeschool, I am just finishing up making my lesson plans.  I find that many times I get overwhelmed with the task and need to break things down.  In the years past I, like many mums, started off with detailed lesson plans only to lighten them up later in the year and leave the details by the wayside.  This year I have fought the urge to over-plan as the kiddos are now even older.   I decided to use an at-a-glance planning style to help remind me of the topics being covered and when they were going to occur in my learning year.  Perhaps this style may help you too.

I am an extremely creative person, I can't find my way out of a box, but I could easily come up with ten ways to use a pop bottle across your curriculum in less than two mins. - but that's another post.  Because I enjoy mixing things up and trying new things, I find that I must be more flexible in my planning and the implementation of my lessons.  The beauty of using this kind of at-a-glance resource is that it uses only a few key words to remind me of the focus for the week and it can be very flexible.  I have based it on a 36 week learning year schedule, but you may want to only use 34 weeks or 35 weeks depending on your family's needs and your homeschooling requirements.

Using this resource is very simple. 

1.  Print out the sheets: the cover, and then back to back pages to accommodate as many subjects as needed.  From there you can simply staple at the left hand side to make a booklet or you can 3-hole punch it on the left hand side and put it into a folder, duo tang, or ringed binder.

2.  Pick a single subject to start with and write it as a single column heading.  Take your main core or spine subject resources (text book, workbook, novel, etc.) and scan the table of contents to figure out the key concepts that will be covered throughout the year.  Many textbooks will have a outline style of concepts to cover and that will make your job easier. 

**Keep in mind and be realistic about what you can actually cover, want to cover and must cover in choosing the topics you will include in your year.  Not every topic has to be covered in a text.  (Keep in mind that most formal school classes do not even finish their text books in many subjects.)

3.  Figure out how many weeks you will school and then divide that number by the number of topics you will attempt to cover from the previous step.  You may end up with something like two weeks per topic and a few blank spots at the end of your year or you may end up with a new topic every week such is the case of using our Timeline of Christ for Children or Yummy Daily Spelling or using more formal programs like Faith and Life.  If you have an odd number of weeks either choose to give more important areas an extra week or keep them as flex weeks for review such as for a program such as Prima Latina or Latina Christiana which will have a week of review after ever five lessons.

4.  Using a pencil and in just a few words, write the concepts to be covered into your schedule.  By using a pencil you give yourself the freedom to accommodate illnesses, births, and even unplanned things like a field trip opportunity that presents itself.  You could simply and quickly switch a weekly focus to match your life and your homeschool reality.

5.  Repeat steps one through four for each subject, for each child.  This process can take a bit of time, but I find it is so worth it as it is a schedule that is tailored specifically to my family and our individual needs.

Click Here to find and download today's resources.
Click Here to find other free helpful planning printables from our Homeschool Helps area of our complete resource website, That Resource Site.

I hope you find today's resources helpful in getting you ready for your next learning year. 
Blessings,

Kalei

July 6 - Spelling In Johnny Crow's Garden

Let's learn to spell the names of Johnny Crow's friends

After reading the story, In Johnny Crow's Garden, we began noting down all of the animals we found.  Although some of the animal's names are easy to spell, some of them present challenges such as whale, hippopotami (a plural), penguin, giraffe, and elephant.  We practiced spelling some of God's most glorious creatures using a few easy fun printable tools.  Choose to do one, two, all, or none.  One a day works very well for the duration of the study.

Johnny Crow Word Artist Worksheets
These are fun little sheets that our children suggest we create for this purpose.  To complete this sheet simply choose two animals from the list.  Draw a picture for each in the boxes provided writing (or hiding) the animal word in the drawing. Sometimes the kids like to hide the words, other times they like to make the word a focus of the drawing.  Lots of spelling practice fun as it could be printed off and used over and over again until most or all of the animals have been used.  You may also want to assign words to certain aged children too. 

Johnny Crow Animal Spelling Cards
These fun cards are great for word practice.  We printed out two sets so that we could play games with them including go fish - we played 3 rounds today, concentration, spelling bee - we had 2 of them today too by request, alphabetizing practice - you can have them race to complete this task if they are on the same learning level.

Johnny Crow Word Scramble Sheet

All of the children loved this activity.  The kids just reorder the letters in the title, In Johnny Crow's Garden, to create familiar words.  Younger children could create any sized words.  Older children had to create words that had 4 or more letters.  Lots of fun.

Johnny Crow Word Search Sheet
Everyone loves practicing spelling and reading words with word searches.  This one also includes an illustration from the book.  The children had fun looking for everyone who showed up in Johnny's garden.  Words can be found in all directions.

Click Here to download the Word Artist Worksheet for In Johnny Crow's Garden.
Click Here to download the Animal Spelling Cards for In Johnny Crow's Garden.
Click Here to download the Word Scramble for In Johnny Crow's Garden.
Click Here to download the Word Search for In Johnny Crow's Garden.


Visit us tomorrow as we highlight Grammar and Writing In Johnny Crow's Garden.  Don't forget to bring your crayons! :)

Blessings,


That Resource Team