W is for Waves: An Ocean Alphabet Free Notebooking Pages

W is for Waves: An Ocean Alphabet is a wonderful way to study the many aspects of the Ocean.

W is for Waves: An Ocean Alphabet  has beautiful illustrations as well as engaging information about ocean life. This would make a wonderful unit study! Add in hands on projects, experiments or Inquiry based work - (here is my Pinterest Board to get you started) and this would round out a very interesting and diverse study.

I read this book on EPIC! EPIC! is a wonderful way to access many different books including ones in a read along format. I have been enjoying reading a wide variety of books as I prepare for next year's teaching and creating more resources for you!

These W is for Waves Free Notebooking Pages that I have provided have pages with images as well as plain pages without images. I have allowed space for drawing and for writing. I hope that these pages will bless your homeschool!

I hope to do more of these A-Z pages on a variety of topics.

Blessings! Natalie

B is for Blue Planet, An Earth Science Alphabet Free Notebooking Pages

B is for Blue Planet: An Earth Science Alphabet by Ruth Strother is a wonderful way to read about many aspects of our amazing planet earth. This book spans many different aspects of earth science. This book is also available on EPIC!

"How much of Earth's surface is covered by water? How do the northern lights get their colors? Planet Earth has been home to mankind for hundreds of thousands of years and while scientists have learned a lot about it, they're still unraveling many of its mysteries. B is for Blue Planet: An Earth Science Alphabet explains what we do know about our planet and what more we have to learn. Examine Earth's diverse ecosystems (deserts), discover geological wonders (karst caves), learn about weather phenomena (hurricanes), and much more. Ruth Strother has been in the publishing industry for more than twenty years and is the author of fifteen books for children." review by Amazon.

B is for Blue Planet, An Earth Science Alphabet, along with these free notebooking pages above would be a wonderful unit for you and your students! You may want to add in some hands on activities and make it a complete unit study. You can find hands on ideas on my Pinterest board here!

You can read an excerpt from B is for Blue Planet here.

There is a teacher guide available from Sleeping Bear Press. It is very diverse and has many great printables for your unit study. 
I hope to do more of these A-Z pages on a variety of topics.

Blessings,

Natalie

Loonies and Toonies, A Canadian Number Book Free Notebook Pages

"What do Shakespeare, salmon, sled dogs and the Queen of England have in common? They all play a part in Canadian life, and they are just a few of the topics covered in this book. Taking its name from the one-dollar and two-dollar coins in Canadian currency, Loonies and Toonies provides a well-rounded view of the country's past and present. This virtual tour briefs children on the metric system, as well as on Canada's ceremonial link to the British monarchy. En route, they'll be inspired by stories of Terry Fox's courageous run for cancer research and the undefeated record of the Bluenose sailing schooner. Before the trip ends, they'll also discover why its not a good idea to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel!" Review by Amazon.

Loonies and Toonies, A Canadian Number Book Free Notebooking Pages

There is a great teacher's guide available from Sleeping Bear Press to extend learning! Here is the link. Just download the guide along with the notebooking pages and you will have resources for an amazing Canadian Unit Study!
Blessings! Natalie

Canadian Explorers Notebooking pages (part 2)

These Canadian Explorers Notebooking Pages (part 2) go along with The Kids Book of Canadian Exploration. You could read about the explorers and then complete the pages. This set includes Cook, Thompson, MacKenzie and Fraser. Part 1 is available here. 
Blessings, Natalie 

Canadian Explorers Notebooking Pages (part 1)

These Canadian Explorers Notebooking Pages (part 1) go along with The Kids Book of Canadian Exploration. You could read about the explorers and then complete the pages. This set includes Cartier, Cabot, Champlain and Hudson. There is also part 2 available here.
Blessings, Natalie

Middle School Math Journals and more!

I think if you have read any of my posts from the past on math, like this one, you would know that I struggle with ensuring a mathematics education. Having a very creative daughter, it has been even more of a struggle to ensure that she both enjoys math and yet has enough practice that math becomes skills rather than just concepts.

This has not been an easy balance, so this year I decided to try something very different and I think that it is actually working!!

First, I purchased two resources to get me thinking about math in a different way. I liked this Math Journal as this is very much an artistic experience, but I also liked this Hand’s On Interactive Math Journal which feels a little more like a Lap N’Note. I decided to purchase them both. I then read them and started to get some ideas how to even go about doing a math journal. 

In the past I had created some materials for math and so I began gathering some math activities that I had. I then went on the internet and found many creative math ideas like these ones. I have gone to Let’s Play Math many, many times and continue to refer to it. Living Math is also a fabulous site! I went through our Living Math books and purchased a few more, including Who Killed Professor X?

I went through all the manipulatives in our home and looked at which ones would be useful for Middle School.

Finally I purchased a few new spiral bound Sketch Books for the process.

In British Columbia we have our Learning Outcomes set out with Student Acheivement Indicators. These have been very helpful for me to understand what is required. They have also been helpful in understanding what types of journalling Elizabeth would need to do. I have gone through and made a master list of learning outcomes and we are working through them one by one!! This has been alot of work, but I know that it is worth it!! It will continue to keep me focussed on the concepts that need to be covered. 

Based on the topics, I then went to Teachers Pay Teachers to find some activities to go along with each outcome. There are 1667 free resources for Grade 8 Math alone!!

For each topic of learning I am trying to create opportunities for creative expression, concrete activities or games and finally practice, practice and practice! That is where I have been using this site - Math-Drills.com . It has a variety of free math worksheets on topics that are clearly set out. They include answer keys as well. This has been wonderful!!

Homemade math activity to explore integers through differences in temperature 

This year math is feeling so much more like a learning experience! Elizabeth is actually learning something and not just going through the pages of a math book with nothing actually sticking! I encourage you if you get discouraged about math, consider combining a creative math journal and applicable activities with math practice! I will keep you posted!!

Blessings!!
Natalie

One Resource - Two Children - The Body Book

I used this resource with our now 22 year old daughter and ten years later with our 12 year old daughter. Both were in grade 5 when the studied the Human Body. They are very different as you will see in the way that they chose to use this resource. They both learned a lot about the human body, but chose to express themselves in very different ways!! Our children are not cookie-cutters of each other, this is my plea to give them their individuality.

One child chose a lap book and one a scrapbook. One chose to make an almost complete body, the other chose to divide up the human body into systems and parts. One was very matter of fact, and the other added her own special humor!

The Body Book is an excellent resource. There are so many different ways it could be used. I have seen children use this resource and make a "life-sized" model of themselves with all the systems. The Body Book has experiments, explanations and then the models. It is a great resource for studying the Human Body.  Blessings!!