Week 23 Fourth Grade

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton: Amazing Americans Civil War and Reconstruction 1850-1877 (Non-fiction, Level 13, Stage 3) by Veda Boyd Jones

This book comes with Guided Lessons that provide for 2 weeks of instruction. During that time students have the opportunity to read and write about several influential women in American history as well as suffrage, abolition, courage, temperance, and the way laws are made in the United States, among other related topics. Additionally, students are encouraged to complete a graphic organizer to answer the following items: My prior knowledge about Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton; My new knowledge about them; Where I found this information; Things I would still like to know about them; and Where I might find this information. We had so much fun learning with this book this week, and we were amazed at how much information is packed in just 30 pages!

The activity I want to highlight this week is the AlphaSkills spelling activity with letter cards provided. Each week’s lesson plans come with a laminated sheet of letter cards with the following instructions: Teacher should make one copy of this page per student. Return original page to lesson plan for book. Student should cut out letter cards quickly and use to make words pronounced by teacher. This activity each week helps my little fourth grader in the area of spelling more than I can say. For several years now Elijah has been working to improve his spelling skills as this is not something that comes naturally for him. So we practice spelling in several different ways each week, with the AlphaSkills letter cards being one of them, and I have to say that it is really encouraging to see him improve each week. I believe working on spelling in this way helps each student build skills they may not otherwise build by only spelling with pen and paper, and I look forward to seeing the fruits of our labor in this area.

So many times I am blown away by how much AlphaSkills is doing for my homeschooling! It’s like having a curriculum expert on call every single day sending the best materials for my boys week after week. For more information about the AlphaSkills Read with Sarah curriculum and our family, see the AlphaSkills Blog Introduction.