For Science this summer we read two books: the first one was "Whales, The Gentle Giants." We started this one in May, when he was still in school. Between finishing the school year and going on vacation in June, it was slow going with the reading. We did not finish it until the end of July.We reviewed and did the test in early August. I was a bit disappointed with the results. I didn't even score it. Was I disappointed only because of the "score?" No, it was more than that, I don't think I did a very good job of picking out the 5 basic relevant facts of the book that Samuel could connect with. Maybe there weren't that many relevant facts, maybe there were only two or three! In making up this test I used a combination of things that were used in his tests at school this past year: multiple choice, selection, and fill in the
blank. Maybe it was just overkill staying with this one book two months. I thought I did a good job of doing minimal reading each day to keep Samuel from melting down as we worked. Maybe he was only just so interested in the book, and not that much at that. 
Shortly after we finished this book we started on the next book: "What Makes Day and Night" This is a subject that has been of great interest to Samuel this summer. He has been interested in sunsets, and his interest in "planet Earth" goes back to a Blue's Clues episode about the planets (ever heard "The Planet Song"? ) Anyways, this book was much easier reading, of much greater interest to Samuel, and we finished it in a few weeks, rather than a few months. As we read it each day it was easier for me to pick out the five relevant facts that I wanted him to know. In fact, I even added an extra fact because it was so easy
to pick out.I typed up a study sheet and went over it with Samuel. He answered questions orally and then the next day he took his test. It went very well! He answered all the questions orally and then I had him write a few of the answers himself. He wrote "day" and the number "24" without any spelling assistance!
I suppose there are lots of ways to look at these two events and analyze them, but in my amateur opinion I'd say we both were more successful with the second book!
4 comments:
I often do that too [skip the write the answer bit, and get the oral response first] I know that they know it, but if I put the barrier of 'written' into the equation, the whole thing goes to pot.
Best wishes
Same thing with Samuel, sometimes the prospect of having to write something can send Samuel into a meltdown. So, answering orally for now is an "accomodation". I'm hoping that after we go over handwriting a bit more in the coming school year he'll be more agreeable to it(we're going to backtrack a bit because they did not teach him according to "Handwriting Without Tears" last year.. I want to see if it might help). If it's that much of a problem then hopefully once he gets into keyboarding he'll like "writing" more.
Ironically my eldest writes better than he prints. And I swore I'd never teach him cursive writing... Again nothing surprises me anymore.
His handwriting is terrible. We'll see how he manages in Gr 3 this year. Last years teacher let him scribble (he can print, and neat too) and then had him read it to her.
Starts tomorrow... UGH!!!!
Samuel has always printed school. His classmates started learning cursive in first grade but he has stayed with printing. A few times this summer he tried to connect his printing, almost like he was trying to write in cursive!
Samuel and his younger brother are starting their new school year tomorrow. My oldest is waiting until the following week because he and his Dad are busy this week with racing things.
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