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Grammer Island/How does this thing work?


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I started with Grammar Island.  We just read to a good stopping point each day.  Then we did Sentence Island, again reading to a good stopping point each day.  We skipped most of the assignments in Sentence Island because I couldn't stand them.  Then we did the practice book, one sentence per day.  At the same time we did the vocabulary book (again simply reading to a good stopping point each day) followed by the poetry book.

 

When I first started with MCT, I felt like I was stepping off a cliff planning-wise.  But once we got into a rhythm with it, it was fine--and was actually the highlight of our year.

 

 

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Agree with EKS. Just start reading Grammar Island with child, then, the whole thing just flows from there, and it won't seem so scary. I was really concern with how to start it too. But once I just started doing one books at a time Grammar Island>Sentence Island>Building Language>Poetry>practice book (at one or two sentences a day), it worked so well. Good luck!

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I know this isn't the easiest to interpret, but check it out. http://www.rfwp.com/pages/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/LA-ELEM1.pdf

 

Skip to page 54 and see the flowchart of how the books work together. Then go back and see how each layer builds on the next.

 

I have personally found it remarkably hard to afterschool with MCT materials. There's just not much dedicated time to do this kind of work, "sit and read together (with sister butting in) and talk about language and maybe analyze a sentence on the whiteboard" vs. "do a few pages of Beast workbook in order to remember that we love math." But we're getting back into it now and it's going...okay. Last year we slowly, slowly worked through Grammar Island up through the parts of speech, but found it tough to make time to get back to it. We tried Building Language and Music of the Hemispheres but both started a bit slow. It's been months now since we've done any of it, and I knew DS loves Mud the Fish (reading the online samples of SI are what got us to purchase the whole level), so this week we went ahead and jumped into Sentence Island. It's off to a good start now, DS loves thinking about language like this. We'll have to get back to GI and get to the point where we can do four-level analysis soon, but at least now the lure of Mud is here to help with motivation.

 

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Okay, so we are reading the grammer island now teacher manual and then I will go to the sentence island book when we are done with the grammer island?  Is this correct?  When do I use the Practice Island book?

 

Once grammar has been taught in Grammar Island, it's continually practiced with sentences from Practice Island. Just a few at a time, intermittently with the other books (Sentence/vocab/poetry/literature) you might be doing as well. Just to cement the concepts and keep them fresh. Make sense?

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Okay, so we are reading the grammer island now teacher manual and then I will go to the sentence island book when we are done with the grammer island?  Is this correct?  When do I use the Practice Island book?

 

We used it after we were done with Sentence Island (but we didn't do the assignments in Sentence Island, so it didn't take as long as it might).

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So do you guys read the whole grammar island book first  and then go to Sentence Island and read that whole book etc.  Am I undertanding this correctly?  Then you go to Practice Island book and that is where they just practice writing complete sentences correct?

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No, Grammar Island teaches parts of speech and parts of a sentence: how to take an *already-written* sentence and point out which are the nouns, which are the conjunctions, etc.; what part constitutes the subject and what part is the predicate, and so on. Then Practice Island *practices* that skill by giving you *already-written* sentences and asking that you analyze them for the grammar.

 

Sentence Island is the composition/writing book for this level.

 

Do you have the books already? If you open them up you'll see a bit more what they entail.

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No, Grammar Island teaches parts of speech and parts of a sentence: how to take an *already-written* sentence and point out which are the nouns, which are the conjunctions, etc.; what part constitutes the subject and what part is the predicate, and so on. Then Practice Island *practices* that skill by giving you *already-written* sentences and asking that you analyze them for the grammar.

 

Sentence Island is the composition/writing book for this level.

 

Do you have the books already? If you open them up you'll see a bit more what they entail.

Yes, I have the sentence island, grammer island, the reading books, and building language books, but they all say teacher manual on them.

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So do you guys read the whole grammar island book first  and then go to Sentence Island and read that whole book etc.  Am I undertanding this correctly?  Then you go to Practice Island book and that is where they just practice writing complete sentences correct?

 

Not exactly.  We read through Grammar Island, followed by Sentence Island (since some of the grammar is actually taught in Sentence Island).  Then we did one sentence from the practice book each day.  This is where the student does a four level analysis of a sentence:  First finding the parts of speech (noun, verb, adjective, etc), then parts of the sentence (subject, predicate, subject complement, direct object, etc), then phrases (prepositional, infinitive, gerund, etc), then clauses (dependent, independent, etc).

 

It's a very powerful technique and a great lead in to diagramming if you're so inclined.

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Okay, so when do you use the four-level analysis #1 in the book Sentence Island, it looks like the answers are already in the book.  I am so sorry, I am trying to figure out how the books interact together.  I went to that website and it's so confusing.

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Mom2, I am listening in on this post because I also find MCT confusing.  In fact, I printed out this thread earlier so I could "study" it.  Not presuming to be able to answer your question but I will try.  Didn't you say you have all the Teacher's Manual editions?  Then likely you will have the answers printed in them.  I don't think the student editions do but I am still working on figuring MCT out.  I took a break from figuring it out last May when I learned my older boys would get MCT materials in their new school this year but I think I need to go back and look at them again.  My oldest missed 3rd and 4th grade at this school so didn't get to use whatever MCT materials they use those years.  I'd like to go back and do those with him. 

 

It is funny though.  I wouldn't have even known what MCT was at the orientation if not for this forum.  So I was excited to see those materials on my kids' program lists at the orientation in May.

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I also don't know if the MCT sequence is different for those using MCT in homeschooling/afterschooling versus public school use.  My sons' school uses Building Language and Grammar Island in 3rd grade and Caesar's English I and Grammar Town in 4th.  For 5th grade, Caesars English II and Grammar Voyage.

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Thank you for being so understanding.  I feel like I am the only one that doesn't understand.  Grammer is not my best subject, but I am learning too with my 3rd grader.  LOL.  By now, I should know english grammer, I am just trying to really understand it before I can teach my daughter.  

 

That is awesome Nurse Bee that they are using it in the school.  My daughter's school isn't the best and I feel like I need to do more at home.

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Okay, so when do you use the four-level analysis #1 in the book Sentence Island, it looks like the answers are already in the book.  I am so sorry, I am trying to figure out how the books interact together.  I went to that website and it's so confusing.

 

I had the budget so I went ahead and splurged on both the teacher and student editions. The student book ends at page 255. Everything after that is for the teacher's information, to explain the teaching method, and to provide assignments. "For this teacher manual, there is one section for each student chapter, to make it clear and usable for the classroom teacher, into whose hands these ideas are now entrusted."

 

On the Four-level Analysis #1 page you'll see a blue box that explains that you should "Show students the study sentence on the following page with four blank lines below it, and let them work out the grammar in cooperation with you." In my house I'd do that on the white board.

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Angela over at Satori Smiles wrote a good post about the whole MCT Island level curriculum and how the components fit together.  She then wrote the detailed schedule that Crimson Wife linked above.

 

Wendy

 yes, I printed that out, but on the good post I say a page 147 and I don't have that page.  What book is that in?  The Sentence Island or Grammer Island?  That was very, very helpful.

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My problem with figuring out MCT is I can't get my hands on the materials unless I buy the whole set from MCT.  With something that expensive, I like to look at it at a homeschooling conference first before buying if I can (imagine the shipping on a full MCT return!).  Or in the case of All About Spelling which I was also very interested in earlier this year, I was able to find some used copies at a local homeschooling group for a good price.  Sometimes I just need to have the books in hand and flip through them to understand the material better.  I was able to get a used copy of Grammar Town and Building Language teacher and student books on the classifieds here last May so that is why I even have some little idea how the MCT teacher's manuals look compared to the student editions.

 

All the posts here were really helpful to me too!

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