English

How We Build a Solid Foundation in Our Elementary English

September 3, 2015 by Meredith

building bricks — Building Bricks by Hannes Grobe/Wikimedia Commons/CC 3.0

Children love building tall towers. Their goals can be quite lofty (literally) and sometimes others are enlisted to complete the project. At some point, the simple tower always seems to come crashing down. For an unsuspecting child, his response to the fallen tower is often tears or outbursts of frustration. But a “demolished” tower made from building blocks can easily be rebuilt.

When it comes to your children’s education, the process of building their tower of success is more intricate and complex. It requires establishing a solid foundation before adding more levels of learning. Their future is at stake, and that’s not something to play around with.

One subject that affects your children’s educational success “tower” is their mastery of the English language. It plays a key role in preparing them to communicate clearly through their academic papers and projects now as well as for their meeting presentations in the future.

Did you know that all our BJU Press elementary English textbooks have been written with those goals in mind? Each textbook presents the parts of speech in a similar chapter order and includes alternating chapters on writing to provide immediate application. Every grade level also adds a more detailed explanation so that your children understand foundational concepts before their knowledge is increased.

Sentences are defined as expressing complete thoughts in English 2. This concept is then used to help students identify and properly use the parts of speech. By the time your child enters sixth grade, his grasp of the English language should allow him to form compound and complex sentences.
Nouns may be the easiest part of speech to understand in comparison to the others largely because they relate to what children are already familiar with—people, places, and things.
Verbs come next. They add another layer of understanding by showing action. Other types of verbs such as helping and linking also receive special attention in a separate chapter.
Pronouns are gradually introduced in English 2 to make sure students can distinguish between a noun and a pronoun. English 3 through English 6 include a separate chapter just for this part of speech.
Adjectives are explained in English 2 by relating them to the five senses—how things look, smell, sound, taste, and feel. Specific types of adjectives are included in later grades.
Adverbs come in English 3 where they are compared with adjectives. This pairing of the two parts of speech continues all the way through English 6.
Conjunctions appear in English 3. The role of this part of speech is outlined more thoroughly as your child learns to write compound sentences.
Prepositions are first presented in English 4 after the nouns and pronouns are clearly defined. They are connected with learning about phrases.

Children try to build their towers so that they reach the ceiling, and all of us at BJU Press want your children to reach their full potential when it comes to using the English language.

Check out the “Look Inside the Book” feature for our elementary English products.

Dates to Remember: August

July 30, 2015 by Meredith

Most people—especially students—would agree that learning should be fun and memorable. The question is how to meet that goal? One way is to include different events in your everyday life. With this idea in mind, I’ll be putting together a list of events to watch for each month. Here are some activity ideas for the month of August. Enjoy!

wood engraving of Francis Scott Key — Francis Scott Key/Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

August 1

Celebrate the birthday of Francis Scott Key (1779–1843) by singing our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.” He wrote the lyrics after seeing the American flag proudly wave as “the bombs [were] bursting in air” during an important battle in the War of 1812. Did you know that there are four stanzas to the song? Read all the lyrics online and then have everyone in the family pick a part to sing. If you need a soprano, let me know.

Christopher Columbus arrives in America by L. Prang & Co., Boston/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain

August 3

“In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.” This little rhyme helps me every time to remember the year that Columbus came here. This day marks when Columbus left Spain on his first voyage to the New World. He and his crew would arrive in the Caribbean several months later. Columbus’s discovery changed the course of history despite the fact that he never made it to the North American continent. Don’t Celebrate Columbus Day? offers discussion points for how Christians should identify this explorer.

August 9

It’s officially National Book Lover’s Day. Taking a trip to the library or acting out a story are just two ideas mentioned in Summer Fun Meets Summer Reading. But if it’s a rainy day, spending time reading aloud together would be my vote.

August 13

Raise your left hand for International Lefthander’s Day! If you’re left-handed like I am, we can celebrate the fact that we’re always in our right minds. But sometimes our sanity doesn’t help when it comes to completing daily tasks in a dominantly right-handed world. We lefties often have our own “angle” for doing things. Get out some paper and pen to see what each left hand can do; it’ll be fun, ink smears and all.

poetry in letterpress type — © iStockphoto.com/marekuliasz

August 18

If you aren’t very poetic, don’t worry because this day is National Bad Poetry Day. Maybe your family would enjoy a bad poetry competition. Share a haiku, sonnet, “Roses are red / Violets are blue” rhyme, or autobiographical poem on the BJU Press Homeschool Facebook page.

Street in Pompeii overlooking the Vesuvius. Pompeii is an ancient Roman city died from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. — © iStockphoto.com/scaliger

August 24

Get ready for an explosion of volcanic proportions! On this day in AD 79, Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying Pompeii, Italy. The city remained covered up for centuries until it was discovered and archaeologists unearthed it. Make Your Own Volcano to demonstrate the force behind a natural eruption.

August 25

Visit the great outdoors for the birthday of the National Park Service (NPS). Get tips on preparing for an enjoyable family hike and download a hiking trail journal.

Subscribe to the blog to receive my upcoming event post about events in September.

Grandmothers Can Be the Best Teachers

May 5, 2015 by Meredith

image of a grandmother and granddaughter video chatting.

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, I don’t want to overlook a very important group of women. They’re called grandmothers. And every child, no matter how old, knows just how grand they are. In fact, grandmothers often have the ability to encourage, inspire, motivate, and instruct children in a way that their own mothers cannot. At least, that’s the role my grandmothers have played in my own life, especially during the years I was homeschooled.

Distance often kept me from seeing my grandmothers face-to-face, but that didn’t stop them from taking an active part in my education. Here are some of the ways they got involved.

Language Arts

Grandma knew written words could make people feel special, and when I had to practice letter writing, she became my pen pal. Her round, flowing script wasn’t always easy to read, but what she wrote told me that I had sent her something important.

Another favorite past time Grandma shared with me as a child was reading. She would often send me books that Mom would incorporate into my lessons. Some of my favorite stories were the ones we read out loud while seated on her high, comfy bed. Uncle Wiggily was and still is quite the character.

Other ideas: Kids love solving puzzles, so try asking your grandkids to help you solve the newspaper’s daily crossword puzzle. Playing a simple game of hangman can reinforce proper spelling. Or start a reading club with just the two of you and later expand it to include their cousins and friends.

Math

Most of my time with both grandmothers was not spent in a kitchen. But in recent years, I’ve had the opportunity to collect their special family recipes and cookbooks. Cooking and baking can be great ways to practice math fractions, especially since the hard work results in a tasty treat.

Other ideas: Counting games are another way to teach sums and times tables. They can be done around the house or while running errands. If you work from home or own a business, your grandkids could play “office” by calculating orders. This teaching moment might work best with a mature young person.

History

Grammie told me stories she remembered about our family heritage. When I had a family genealogy project in elementary school, she sat on the couch for hours telling stories. This trip down memory lane for her gave me a deeper understanding of our family and broader perspective on the society in which she grew up.

Grandma took day trips with me and Mom to historical sites. It became “the thing to do” every time we visited. We often explored places on Georgia’s Antebellum Trail as well as the home sites of famous authors.

Other ideas: Share your perspective on a historical event that has taken place during your lifetime. Introduce your grandkids to people of character that you’re related to or who come from your area. This teaching moment can be done by viewing pictures or art, reading newspaper clippings, and visiting different places.

Science

Every morning Grammie would check her blood sugar and prepare her insulin. That daily routine of hers greatly fascinated me as a young child. It also helped me realize that science has many different facets—even if I didn’t want to learn them!

Other ideas: Demonstrate a plant’s life cycle by asking your grandkids to help you plant flowers or do yardwork. Spend time stargazing on a clear night, and share how our wonderful God made this planet a special place for us to live.

My grandmothers were my favorite teachers because they made ordinary events extraordinary and mundane tasks exciting. They helped me to gain perspective on the past, present, and future. But most importantly they simply invited me to be a part of their lives.

To all grandmothers: Thank you for choosing to invest in the next generation. May God bless you this Mother’s Day!

When Am I Ever Going to Use This?

February 10, 2015 by Eileen

If your child hasn’t asked this question yet, he will. You probably asked it yourself many times while you were in school. And it is a valid question.

I don’t know many adults who do long division without a calculator or go through the newspaper underlining subjects once and predicates twice.

But consider how many of those grade school subjects have played important roles in your adult life. Were you thankful for your multiplication and division facts while standing in the supermarket last week deciding which brand of detergent to buy? Or when you wrote that important letter for your boss, were you glad you had finally grasped some of those tough spelling words? Did you still think music entirely unnecessary when you had to lead your Sunday school class in the opening singing time?

Depending on our individual fields of interest, we find much of what we learned as children is useful in some way. Even if we never use a particular skill again, learning it builds our overall knowledge and enhances our scope of appreciation. Practice develops our self-discipline, and knowledge develops discernment. How can we communicate this hope-giving truth to children?

Talk about the practical uses of school subjects as you encounter them in everyday life. Around the house, point out the ways you use math: measuring wall space for hanging a picture; adjusting recipes for cooking; balancing your checkbook and paying bills; figuring out medicine dosages; doing simple home repairs or rearranging furniture; measuring and cutting fabric for sewing. Let your child help you do some of these chores as part of his math lesson one day. Or encourage him to count the number of times in a day that he encounters the need for grammar in ordinary tasks—such as making a phone call or writing a journal entry. Have him write a letter to a family member on the computer and use the spell checker to correct his spelling.

For a practical idea on teaching your child how his school subjects may impact his life in the professional world, read How Would I Ever Use This?

How do you share practical uses of school subjects with your child?

Write a Novel in a Month?!

November 3, 2014 by Guest Writer

Looking to inspire those budding novelists under your tutelage?

November is the perfect opportunity to get them to stretch those creative muscles. By introducing them to National Novel Writing Month, you just might see even timid and procrastinating writers start baby-stepping their way to literary greatness.

While the average novel is around 100,000 words, National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo as it is called) cuts that requirement in half, asking writers to produce a 50,000-word short novel in thirty days. By producing a shorter work, your writers are being trained to make it “meatier”—with no droning on about superfluous details or patience-testing fillers. This project calls for cutting to the chase, keeping things moving, and only letting in the important stuff. NaNoWriMo is all about getting a story on paper and worrying about fine-tuning it later.

Writers are also forced to map their strategy and organize their time. We all have other stuff to do, especially during the holiday season. Not many of us would choose to skip Thanksgiving dinner to write. So your writers will have to divide the number of words they need by the number of days they will actually be writing throughout November. A realistic goal would probably be a chapter a week.

Needless to say, having a firm grasp of the basics of fiction writing will go a long way toward your students’ success with this project. A review of plot, characterization, description,and so on before plunging forward will give added direction and confidence. Who knows where the journey will lead, once the first step is taken? NaNoWriMo mini-novel today, best-seller tomorrow.

NaNoWriMo Writing Project Tips

1. 1. Decide on the required number of words. Your students have other classes and projects, so you may need to make your minimum word count smaller than 50,000.
  2. Choose the start and end dates for the project. You can go with the traditional month of November time frame, or you can have it go shorter or longer if you need to. Whatever you decide, make sure it’s a reasonable period of time to meet your word-count requirements.
  3. Determine the grading criteria. Will you grade based on completion only or will you also check the quality of writing—sentence structure, spelling/grammar, and such? Be sure to let your students know this at the beginning of the project. (NaNoWriMo is typically focused on completing a rough draft.)
  4. Implement weekly (or other periodic) checks. If left alone, some of your students will fall behind in their writing. Help them out by giving occasional due dates and telling them what you will be looking for in those checks.

• • • • •

Rebecca is a work-at-home freelance writer, novelist, wife, and the mom of two bright-eyed little ones. She credits her success in writing and her love of books to her own mom, who homeschooled three kids from pre-K through high school.

Have you ever participated in NaNoWriMo or adapted it for your students? Tell us about your experience in a comment.