scrapbabe Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 I have been a big fan of living math for years. I'm not great at incorporating it but I try. I was just reading The Writer's Jungle (Bravewriter) and was thinking about making language arts more "living". So what kind of things (books, games, etc.) do you use for language arts (grammar, spelling, writing, poetry, etc.) that are fun supplements? Here's a list of things I've come up with. Language Adventure Books http://www.amazon.com/Why-Banana-Split-Adventures-Language/dp/1423620860/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349065032&sr=1-1&keywords=a+banana+splits Eight Ate: A Feast of Homonym Riddles http://www.amazon.com/Eight-Ate-Feast-Homonym-Riddles/dp/0618766766/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1349064991&sr=8-1&keywords=eight+ate+a+feast+of+homonym+riddles Stubborn as a Mule and other Similes http://www.amazon.com/Stubborn-Mule-Other-Silly-Similes/dp/1404867155/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1349064954&sr=1-1&keywords=stubborn+as+a+mule Cooking Up Sentences http://www.amazon.com/Learning-Resources-LER0344-Cooking-Sentences/dp/B0012OELKS/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1349064904&sr=1-1&keywords=cooking+up+sentences Rory's Story Cubes http://www.amazon.com/Gamewright-318-Rorys-Story-Cubes/dp/B003EIK136/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1349065074&sr=1-1&keywords=rory%27s+story+cubes Word Pirates http://www.amazon.com/Haywire-Group-G89623007407-DICEcapades-Pirates/dp/B001ANMQT4/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1349065115&sr=1-1&keywords=word+pirates+board+game I would love to make a huge list of resources, so please share. Also, if some of these that I've listed above you have used, could you tell what you think of it? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
besroma Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 We use Rory's Story Cubes and enjoy them. We love the series by Ruth Heller and by Brian Cleary. Your library will probably have quite a few. Enjoy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 (edited) My favorite for grammar for the lower grades is Lively Language Lessons using Ruth Heller's World of Language books. For poetry, we are very inspired by Awakening the Heart this year. Some other stuff we've loved... Writer's Toolbox (We have the single volumes but this is a collection of many of them.) Rip the Page! Written and Illustrated by... Author: A True Story really inspired my kids. The Furry News Making Books That Fly, Fold, Wrap, Hide, Pop Up, Twist & Turn For young kids, The Write Start Families Writing Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry (good especially for boys) I'm also still in love with No More "I'm Done!" Brave Writer is living language, for sure. You don't even need to buy any of her products to incorporate her wonderful ideas into your school. The Brave Writer Lifestyle is nicely explained here. She also has thought provoking blog entries and posts some assignment suggestions there. ETA: How could I forget Bare Books? They're awesome. :) Edited October 2, 2012 by Alte Veste Academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kolamum Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Hey wait, wasn't this thread just done? ;) I suggested, then, Word Spy & Return Of The Word Spy. There's also a matching activity book. My boys LOVE these books & we use them as a full grammar programme, but you ABSOLUTELY HAVE to read them with enthusiasm. They just beg to be read that way. FWIW, in the US they are called Word Snoop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieF Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 What age are the word spy and the activity books for? I can't find a sample for the activity book. Thanks! Stephanie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Games like You've Been Sentenced, Banangrams, Scrabble, Quiddler... I also think Peggy Kaye's books Games for Reading and Games for Writing are in this category, though they're only for K-2. Also, some of the Tin Man Press stuff - Letter Getters and Just Write. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Hey wait, wasn't this thread just done? ;) Link? I missed it if it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbabe Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 Link? I missed it if it was. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwg Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Grammarland is a fun book about the parts of speech. It is online but ds loved it so much we ended up getting a hard copy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 The Sentence Family And I second the recommendation for Grammar Land. You can get it in print through Amazon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitten18 Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 We use Rory's Story Cubes and enjoy them. Can you give me some ideas on how you use these? We have a set but haven't really used them much.:confused: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbabe Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 oops Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbabe Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 The Sentence Family And I second the recommendation for Grammar Land. You can get it in print through Amazon. Can you explain what the Sentence Family is? I've heard of it and looked at it, but I'm not sure what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 What age are the word spy and the activity books for? I can't find a sample for the activity book.Thanks! Stephanie You can't get it in the US. I'm also still not sure if the US version is the same as the Australian version. I've seen this recommended a few times now (always by Australians, of course!) and I wish we could get it here, but I did quite a search at one point and it seems pretty impossible. Book Depository has had it listed as unavailable for ages: http://www.bookdepository.com/Word-Spy-Activity-Ursula-Dubosarsky/9780143306139 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Can you explain what the Sentence Family is? I've heard of it and looked at it, but I'm not sure what it is. It is a book on the parts of speech. The kids draw pictures of different "characters" (the parts of speech), and I have mine write sentences to go with the story that goes with each character. So, for example, when we did interrogative sentences, dd9 wrote three questions, and ds11 wrote 5. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 (edited) You can't get it in the US. I'm also still not sure if the US version is the same as the Australian version. I've seen this recommended a few times now (always by Australians, of course!) and I wish we could get it here, but I did quite a search at one point and it seems pretty impossible. Book Depository has had it listed as unavailable for ages: http://www.bookdepository.com/Word-Spy-Activity-Ursula-Dubosarsky/9780143306139 I did find it through book finder, but it isn't cheap. Wait.. I think I found it at a reasonable price! HERE And Amazon has it as The Word Snoop for $15 Edited October 1, 2012 by momto2Cs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allymom Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stripe Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Hey wait, wasn't this thread just done? ;) Yes, it was, and my post killed the thread! LOF is to math as "fill-in-the-blank" is to language arts http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=422348 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbabe Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 Yes, it was, and my post killed the thread! LOF is to math as "fill-in-the-blank" is to language arts http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/showthread.php?t=422348 :lol: I'm good at thread killing too. Thanks for the link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Ah. My dislike of LoF made me not even bother looking at that thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolybear Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 The three I came to post about are already here. Lively Language Lessons Grammar Land The Sentence Family link for the Sentence Family http://www.stmichaelschool.us/sentencefamily.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbabe Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 The three I came to post about are already here. Lively Language Lessons Grammar Land The Sentence Family link for the Sentence Family http://www.stmichaelschool.us/sentencefamily.html Can you give me a link for Lively Language Lessons? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 (edited) Can you give me a link for Lively Language Lessons? My favorite for grammar for the lower grades is Lively Language Lessons using Ruth Heller's World of Language books. This is wonderful with artistic students. :001_smile: ETA: Changed the LLL link to include all her blog posts on the topic. Edited October 2, 2012 by Alte Veste Academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 (edited) This is wonderful with artistic students. :001_smile: ETA Fail: :lol: I didn't edit, I quoted myself. I need a nap. :lol: Edited October 2, 2012 by Alte Veste Academy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbabe Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 This is wonderful with artistic students. :001_smile: ETA: Changed the LLL link to include all her blog posts on the topic. I blame pregnancy brain for not realizing there was already a link posted. Thanks for humoring me and posting it again.;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OrdinaryTime Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 The Sentence Family is a wonderful combination of grammar, art, and story-telling! We are just loving it at our house. My kids beg for it. We do the drawings in oil pastels, which I have to take outside to spray with a fixate, so we have this joke in our house that we only do grammar on sunny days. :tongue_smilie: We use it slowly, introducing a character or two a week. We read the story together and then everyone draws their own picture of the character. We then incorporate the Lively Language Lessons by reading the corresponding Ruth Heller and Brain Cleary books and drawing our own examples of the different parts of speech. Then we just talk about the chracters randomly. Like tonight at dinner, any time a person spoke, we had to decide who would have send that sentence (Mr. Declarative, Mrs, Interrogative, Mr. Imperative, or Mrs. Exclamatory). Even my 4 year old knew the different types of sentence from the character sketches! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapbabe Posted October 3, 2012 Author Share Posted October 3, 2012 The Sentence Family is a wonderful combination of grammar, art, and story-telling! We are just loving it at our house. My kids beg for it. We do the drawings in oil pastels, which I have to take outside to spray with a fixate, so we have this joke in our house that we only do grammar on sunny days. :tongue_smilie: We use it slowly, introducing a character or two a week. We read the story together and then everyone draws their own picture of the character. We then incorporate the Lively Language Lessons by reading the corresponding Ruth Heller and Brain Cleary books and drawing our own examples of the different parts of speech. Then we just talk about the chracters randomly. Like tonight at dinner, any time a person spoke, we had to decide who would have send that sentence (Mr. Declarative, Mrs, Interrogative, Mr. Imperative, or Mrs. Exclamatory). Even my 4 year old knew the different types of sentence from the character sketches! Thank you for sharing! I love your ideas!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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