Holt McDougal World Geography 6-8

Walk Two Moons...that's a great idea. I read this one with my class many years ago. I will look into "Williwaw". Yes! Definitely nothing too depressing.

I'm trying to create a list of possible titles for my seventh grader to choose from for his literature studies. We are doing a year of World Geography and I was trying to match titles with regions. I think I have a good selection for him for every area EXCEPT the USA! I'm not looking for historical fiction, I feel we have read plenty of those. Maybe something that reflects the current culture of our country and that is appropriate for 7th grade. Any suggestions?

Yes! Fantastic suggestions! I've been lost on YouTube wasting soooo much time. Thank you!

I'm working with a group of teens who are writing a script for a skit they are performing. I'm trying to think of songs with two parts to share with them. I want the two parts to be kind of arguing with each other...like Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better Than You. They will be writing their own song, I just want to show them a few examples. Do you know of any songs that fit this requirement? They can be any genre of music...just looking for that musical back and forth

I'm working with a group of 7 middle/high school boys. One of the things they are struggling with is sharing an idea and then letting it go, not being emotionally attached to that idea. For example, there are two boys who are working together on a script writing project. They both have great ideas, but neither one is willing to give up his own idea and go with the other. Are there any activities we can do to work on this? I'm thinking of some type of team building exercise, just not sure what. What Do You Do With an Idea? might be helpful to read and discuss. I haven't read it so not sure if it fits what we need.

This is interesting. Although he's a bit "reluctant" to put motions with sounds I do them anyway when I'm modeling. I catch him doing the motions without realizing it! I will have to brush up on my signs!

I don't have experience with dyslexia, but that did enter my mind. Thanks for posting about the Barton pre-test. I will do that with him next week. Unfortunately, I only see him for two 30 minute sessions per week. I wish I could see him every day...all day! He lives with his grandmother and she does all she can for him, but funds are very limited for private evals. I am going to be on her to be on the school though! When I started with him at the end of the school year last year I was confident I'd have him up to speed when school started in August. I was hoping the school would reconsider and place him in first grade if he could pass the assessments. He can't pass them though and they won't move him on. I think if they could have done private testing over the summer and had a diagnosis to take back to the school they would pass him. I'm thrilled with the progress he made, but he's not where he needs to be. I totally understand every child learns to read when they are ready and I agree 100 %. However, there is definitely something else happening. I did find a dyslexia clinic at a local children's hospital. Again, the $$ for testing is a problem. Also, getting him there would be nearly impossible. ?

Do you mean sign language?

I am tutoring a boy who is repeating Kinder at the PS. I asked on the Pre K/K board for some help and got great ideas, but they also suggested posting here. The child is 6.5. He can not name all of the letters. There are about 10-12 he still struggles with. However, the letter sounds...no problem. He has low phonemic awareness though...does not identify rhyming words, has trouble telling me the first sound of cat (for example), how many sounds are in the word ____,etc. I've been using Elkonin boxes with some success. Sight words, which they worked on all year last year in K, are not happening for him. Today I noticed he has trouble telling words apart. I had words from our Bob book spread around the room and we were walking the path of words. He would come to a word and not recognize that the same word was on the card 3 spots back. Then I had him walk around and find all the "has" cards. He thought has and hot were the same. Even when I pointed out that the first letter is the same, but the other letters are different, he wasn't seeing it. Any suggestions? He has been tested at school but so far only qualifies for Speech/Language.

https://kellehampton.com I haven't read this blog in quite a while, but I followed it in the early days when she found out her baby has DS. I remember it being realistic, but with a twist of optimism.

It was suggested to jump right to phonics. I have been doing letter names and the sounds. I've been working on the letters he doesn't name automatically (so a random assortment) and I started Spalding phonics at the beginning (a,c,s...). We are about 10 sounds through Spalding. He is definitely picking up the sounds more quickly than the letter names. Does anyone know why this happens? I'm just happy he's learning, but curious as to why he can pick up the sounds, but not the names. He immediately told me the "qu" says /kw/ and he named a bunch of Q words, but he couldn't tell me the letter was q. I think he was having trouble articulating the name. When I said it and had him copy he told me it makes his tongue tickle to say "Q". I've learned some great tips here, just curious if there are any more thoughts out there...

Wow! Thank you!! His phonemic awareness is extremely low. Does not get the concept of rhyming words, has trouble segmenting sounds...I was using Elkonin boxes with him for CVC words. He would say "ne" and "t" for net. Or "n" "et". I'm really enjoying working with him. You've shown me some ideas and websites that are new to me so I'm super excited! Thanks again!!

Great ideas! Thanks for the suggestions. I'll put some to use tomorrow.

I worked on letter names for a while, but then moved to phonics. I keep working on the names for the ones he doesn't know because he will be tested on those as soon as school starts again. He will be repeating Kindergarten this year.