Need LA suggestions to prepare dd7 for b&m school

[A home for their hearts]

My dd7 may be going to school next year.  I don't tend to use a curriculum at this age for things like literary analysis, reading comprehension, etc.  I need something that would cover those things to prepare her.  When I talked to the assistant principle of the  school she said it would be a good idea to look over our state standards and make sure that we are covering those areas this year so she will  be prepared.  

[Momling]

I wouldn't worry much. It's unlikely she's not as academically prepared as all other kids. In the spring before she goes, she could read some books that involve school kids, visit a classroom, look at some student homework or samples of work or textbooks so she doesn't stress about it. Teach her the pledge of allegiance if they do it at your school, tell her about raising hands and riding buses and eating in a cafeteria. If your materials don't include it, show her how to answer cloze (fill-in-the-blank) and multiple choice questions and how to put her name and date on her papers.

[alisoncooks]

My DD is using a workbook from a company called Shell Education called Read and Succeed: Comprehension. (Sorry, hard to link on iPad, but bought it from Amazon and there's a "Look Inside" for it.)

 

Our purpose for using it is because DD is a struggling reader, but I still wanted her to be exposed to some of those LA terms, even if she's not able to tackle typical 3rd grade programs. It is broken up into skills: main idea, using prior knowledge, setting, character, details. Each lesson has a short passage on one page and a few questions on the facing page.

 

DD likes it and I like that it's (briefly) hitting those public school-type skills.

[mohini]

BJU reading is very thorough and traditional. It also includes lots of nice projects.

[kiwik]

How is she with writing?

[A home for their hearts]

I wouldn't worry much. It's unlikely she's not as academically prepared as all other kids. In the spring before she goes, she could read some books that involve school kids, visit a classroom, look at some student homework or samples of work or textbooks so she doesn't stress about it. Teach her the pledge of allegiance if they do it at your school, tell her about raising hands and riding buses and eating in a cafeteria. If your materials don't include it, show her how to answer cloze (fill-in-the-blank) and multiple choice questions and how to put her name and date on her papers.

 

Thanks for these suggestions, they are things I hadn't thought of yet!

 

My DD is using a workbook from a company called Shell Education called Read and Succeed: Comprehension. (Sorry, hard to link on iPad, but bought it from Amazon and there's a "Look Inside" for it.)

 

Our purpose for using it is because DD is a struggling reader, but I still wanted her to be exposed to some of those LA terms, even if she's not able to tackle typical 3rd grade programs. It is broken up into skills: main idea, using prior knowledge, setting, character, details. Each lesson has a short passage on one page and a few questions on the facing page.

 

DD likes it and I like that it's (briefly) hitting those public school-type skills.

 

Thanks!  This looks like it might be helpful.

How is she with writing?

 

She isn't writing yet.  We are still working on learning to read.  She just started reading cvc words a couple of weeks ago.

[Ellie]

Spalding. It would be everything she'd need (she doesn't really *need* literature analysis): reading, spelling, penmanship, capitalization and punctuation, simple writing.  Her actual ability to read and write--as in handwriting, not necessarily paragraphs and whatnot--will affect almost everything she does in school. And if she's reading well (which she could be, if you do Spalding with her), she'll be able to catch on to anything else.

[bluedarling]

I'm in a similar situation with dd8.  I picked up a workbook at Costco called Sylvan Super Reading Success that covers spelling, vocabulary and reading.  I really like it for dd.  It has things like alphabetizing, syllabication, short writing assignments, and basic reading comprehension. The spelling isn't memorize this list kind of stuff, but just working with words.  We don't do it all the time because that plus Easy Grammar was just a LOT of workbook pages, so we use it intermittently.  It fills the gaps for us, though, and my dd finds it sort of fun (crosswords and such.)   I plan to meet with the school soon to discuss what I can do to prepare dd, but you're ahead of me there!

[kiwik]

I would work on the writing as much as you can. My seven year old is expected to write multi-paragraph stories and reports.

[Arcadia]

Is she going into 3rd or 4th grade? My kid covered plot diagram in language arts/literature in PS in 3rd.

 

Link to sample plot diagram pdf

http://vashonsd.org/hello/images/plot_diagram.pdf

 

Link to an example of literary devices that was covered for my older

http://www.pps.k12.or.us/departments/curriculum/2079.htm

 

Mainly it's the writing volume goes up every grade for PS. Everything requires writing so my older boy's hand gets tired.

[LLMom]

I would teach her at least to write a basic paragraph and have some spelling and basic grammar down (mostly punctuation and basic parts of speech) and reading well.

[Roadrunner]

Sandlier Oxford has a new CC aligned language arts program. It's all you need.

http://www.sadlier.com/school/english-language-arts/common-core-ela-program

[kiwik]

Is she going into 3rd or 4th grade? My kid covered plot diagram in language arts/literature in PS in 3rd.

 

Link to sample plot diagram pdf

http://vashonsd.org/hello/images/plot_diagram.pdf

 

Link to an example of literary devices that was covered for my older

http://www.pps.k12.or.us/departments/curriculum/2079.htm

 

Mainly it's the writing volume goes up every grade for PS. Everything requires writing so my older boy's hand gets tired.

I wonder if I was never taught that or if I was reading under my desk.

[Ellie]

I wonder if I was never taught that or if I was reading under my desk.

 

I know that I was reading under my desk. :laugh: But I also know those things were not taught to little persons who were only 8 or 9yo. I'm thinking that we didn't discuss them until 7th grade and higher, which IMHO is appropriate.

[ByGrace3]

Honestly if she is only starting to read CVC words, I would say to focus on reading. Public school kids are pushed via a combination of sight words/phonics and are rushed to the 4th grade level usually by 2nd grade. Getting her reading well would be my primary concern.

 

Next would be writing. They write paragraphs in kindergarten. They are not well done, but the output is heavy. I would be sure she could write a basic paragraph focusing on basic grammar and spelling.

[MeganW]

My kids went to public school (3rd & 2nd) this fall for the first time.  It was a one semester deal - they are coming back home at Christmas.  We are in an excellent school district, in a great school, so we felt like we wanted to give it a try.)  

 

Being able to read needs to be your top priority.  Everything else is less important.  

For writing, it is all about volume.  My kids were writing one and two sentences at home.  Good sentences with proper punctuation, subject/verb agreement, etc.  At school, they are just told "write in your notebook", and they all sit quietly and write for 30 minutes.  No topic is given, and no one is reviewing any of it.  Needless to say hand stamina was a major problem for the first month of school, but it's been fine since.  The teacher says "heads down pencils moving" a LOT.  Handwriting, writing on the lines, proper pencil grasp, etc is not important at all in school.  If it's halfway legible, it's good enough.

For math, be SURE they have a really solid understanding of place value and number sense (for example, 1428 means 1000 + 400 + 20 + 8;  100 is 10 10s;  etc).  

We had very little technology at home.  For the 2nd grader, it hasn't been an issue as they basically retaught everything from 1st, but my 3rd graders have found that area to be a challenge.  It's little things like browsing on the internet (what words, where to type, etc.), logging in with a password, turning the volume up and down, knowing how to move around and click, etc., that they have struggled with.
 
If you cover those three areas, you should be fine.


 

[A home for their hearts]

Oh my I'm getting a little nervous.  If she goes next year, by age she would be in 2nd grade, however they may put her in 1st depending on where she's at academically.  She only writes cvc words, we haven't started writing sentences yet.  What would be a good writing program to get her up to speed?  I will be pushing hard reading and math.  Once her reading is underway we will start focusing on writing.  For math we are using singapore 1a.

[busymotherof4]

Evan-Moor has some nice work books. Their daily 6 trait writing workbook teaches public school type writing. I like their material because it is easy to use and helps us meet public school type goals.

[reign]

I would work extra hard in reading and math. Have your daily lessons in each and if you have computers/tablets get some extra practice that way. I would also start copy work now. I would want to get her writing stamina up. Figuring what to write is much more difficult if you can't physically write much. Once her writing has gotten easier I would have her start journaling. Look on the scholastic website for some writing prompts to add in. How schools interpret state standards can really vary. If possible try to ask someone whose children have been to the school what academics look like. Our local school is really into non fiction reading, interpretation, and writing. I've added a bit of this to our regular curriculums just in case.

[73349]

Don't panic. She can make a lot of progress in eight or nine months! In March, DS was reading single words; now he can read a chapter of an Amish Pathways reader. We've been using Logic of English Foundations B and C at a gentle pace.

 

For reading comprehension, work on talking about stories you've read to her. (What happened in the beginning, middle, and end? Which character did she like best? What would she do in a similar situation?) Then when she develops more in her ability to get words on paper, she will be used to the thought process and can focus on writing it down.