For the first few weeks of school, I'll be taking a few subjects a week and going into a little more detail about procedures/tips/expectations in the notes below the blog. This will probably be review if you were at co-teacher training but I think it's helpful to pass it out a little more slowly as most of you received a huge information dump during that week!
Reading- Right we are doing review in OPG and many of the students are very strong readers, meaning it may not be necessary at this point for you to review each lesson at home. However, the difficulty will increase and we’ll start tackling some trickier words so hitting each lesson twice (usually once at school and once at home) will be especially helpful.
Comprehension/Writing: Questions for the classical readers at home can be placed in the front pocket of the Fortis Folder. I made a few notes on a few that were turned in yesterday. You don't need to correct returned sheets-just adjust expectations accordingly for the next day’s work. Please regularly remove the returned questions in the back pocket of the Fortis Folder. They don’t need to be kept unless you want them. All reading packets should be completed as copywork on handwriting paper. Student dictates their answer, co-teacher writes down, skipping every other line and then student copies. Please number questions and check over to make sure student copied correctly. Students should be using proper grammar, punctuation, spelling and correct letter formation. I know it feels mean to go back and erase their work when they have made handwriting mistakes, but ultimately, all we are accomplishing when we allow them to do things incorrectly is training them in bad habits. Training them now for careful attention to excellence will reap rewards far into their educational future and beyond!
Poetry-This is a cumulative, oral program meant to develop linguistic and oratory skills. Students should be listening to the poems and reciting along, rather than reading (it might help to read the first few times, but after that, listening is much more helpful.) You are welcome to come in and listen to the cd's so you have an idea of how poems should be recited and I encourage you to make your own audio file reciting the poems to listen to in the car to make frequent practice more achievable. Once we've mastered the first poem, you will see the second poem listed on the blog and then your practice becomes both poems 1 and 2; we'll then move on to 1-3, etc. Assessments will be of a less formal nature in class throughout the quarter. Remember, the emphasis here is on being enthusiastic and expressive with our recitations. Focus should be on inflection, volume, tone of voice, eye contact, etc. We'll be working on this frequently in class as well :)
Read Aloud/Enrichment- These subjects are only taught at school-there is no home requirement for either.
