• Synonyms and Antonyms (movie), Synonyms, Squanky the Tooth Taker: Quiet Quest for Opposites, Squanky the Tooth Taker: Tooth Tally, Same Difference
• Main Idea (movie), Main Ideas, Summarize As You Read, Reading Nonfiction (movie)
• Power Proofreading, Comma Confusion
• Compare/Contrast Guide (notes), Compare/Contrast Essay Helper
• Wordworks, Root Words, Short Circuit, Prefixes Say Plenty, Spelling with Suffixes, Fish Tanks, Rooting Out Words (review practice)
• Step Up to Writing, Step Up to Writing #2 (notes + examples)

Mathematics: Double-Digit Multiplication, Long Division, Fractions/Decimals, Prime Numbers, Line Types, Radius & Diameter, Area & Perimeter

• Two-Digit Multiplication (notes), Two Digit by One Digit Multiplication Steps, Two Digit by Two Digit Multiplication Steps (review practice)
• Long Division Lesson (sample problems), Snork’s Long Division (review practice), Math Baseball, Sum Sense (division fact games) [Divide (Dad), Multiply (Mom), Subtract (Sister), Bring Down (Brother), Remainder (Rover)]
• Study Jams! (video), Basic Parts of a Whole (movie), What’s a Fraction?, Death to Decimals, Comparing Fractions and Decimals, Fresh Baked Fractions, The Decifractator, Saloon Snap, Tony Fraction’s Pizza Shop (challenging fractions)
• Prime Numbers (notes), Prime Numbers, Prime Factorization (notes), Prime Factorization (notes/review practice)
• Lines (review practice), Matho (review of all geometry terms), Area and Perimeter, Everyday Area, Find the Area, Measuring the Area and Perimeter (review practice), Shape Surveyor, Area: Fitting In (games)
• Trimester Two Math Helper (front), Trimester Two Math Helper (back)

Social Studies: Chapters Two & Three – California’s Native Americans & Exploration and Early Settlements

• Chapter Two Study Guideline Notes (also found in the front of your notebook)
• First Californians/North Coast Region, S. Coast/Cent. Valley/Desert Tribes (vocabulary practice)
• Chapter Three Study Guideline Notes
• Explorers/Newcomers, Settlements/Missions (vocabulary practice)

Science: Chapters One & Six – Living Things Need Energy & Electricity

• Chapter One Resources (vocabulary practice, videos, etc.)
• Dirt Made My Lunch, Producers, Consumers, Decomposers (songs from class)
• Parts of a Plant, Photosynthesis, Plant Life Cycle, Food Chain (videos)
• Illuminating Photosynthesis, Root Factory, Life Cycle of Plants, Food Chains and Food Webs, Food Chains Science Desk, Fun With Food Webs, Eat or Be Eaten, Diversity of Life on Earth (review practice)
• Chapter Six Resources (vocabulary practice, videos, etc.)
• The Blobz Guide to Electric Circuits, Conductors and Insulators, Series and Parallel Circuits, Building Circuits, Heat (movie), Light (movie), Electricity and Magnetism

Happy Holidays Multiplication Practice

English/Language Arts – First Trimester

• I can show that I understand words that have several meanings. [Ex: trunk -- 1) an elephant's long nose, 2) the large stem of a tree, 3) the back area of a car used for storage]
• I can tell the difference between cause and effect, and fact and opinion. [Ex: Cause -- The action that happens first in chronological order which creates a reaction; Effect -- The action that happens as the result of a cause; Fact -- Something that can be proved; Opinion -- Personal thoughts and feelings]
• I can find information in my texts using its index, table of contents, glossary, maps and charts, etc. [Ex: The student understands the parts of a textbook and knows which to use in order to find the proper information. Some parts of other books include the preface, dedication/acknowledgments, and appendix.]
• I can speak and write in simple and compound sentences. [Ex: See here for the difference between simple, compound, and complex sentences. The most important piece is the students' understanding of how to use correct conjunctions in order to combine pieces of a sentence.]
• I can speak and write using all kinds of verbs, adverbs, prepositions, and the correct connecting words in my sentences. [See Grammar Gorillas for a practice of all necessary parts of speech.]
• I can capitalize names of magazines, newspapers, works of art and music, organizations, and the first word inside a quotation. [Ex: Little House on the Prairie, San Francisco Chronicle, "I'm a Little Teapot"]

Mathematics – First Trimester

• I can read and write numbers from 1 to 999,999,999. [Ex: three million, four hundred two thousand, fifty-one and thirty-three hundredths = 3,402,051.33]
• I can order and compare whole numbers and decimals. [Ex: 39.1; 82; 0.145 ordered from least to greatest is 0.145; 39.1; 82. Line your numbers up vertically by decimals, then begin with the numbers on the left. This is similar to finding words in a dictionary.]
• I can round numbers through the millions to the nearest ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, or hundred thousand. [Ex: In order to round, identify the place you are rounding to (underline it). Draw an arrow to the right and determine whether the arrowed number is four or less, or five or greater. If it is four or less, your underlined number stays the same. If it is five or greater, your underlined number will increase by one. All numbers to the left of the underline stay the same while all numbers to the right of the underline turn into zeros. 4,516,098 rounded to the nearest ten thousand would be 4,520,000; 32.978 rounded to the nearest tenth would be 33.]
• I can make a reasonable estimate and then add or subtract whole numbers and decimals. [Ex: Estimating is rounding before adding or subtracting. If the place to be rounded is not specified, you must round to the "greatest place of the smallest number". For example, 412 + 32 would require you to round to the tens place, since 32 is the smaller number and the tens place is the greatest place in that number. 412 + 32 would turn into 410 + 30, which equals 440.]
• I can show when and how to add and subtract numbers with many digits. [Ex: 45,610 + 1,984 = 47,594. 56,009 - 3,899 = 52,110. Be sure your child knows how to borrow in subtraction as well as when to add versus subtract when reading a word problem.]
• I can show that equals added to equals are equal. [Ex: If 9 + 3 + 5 = f + 5, then f = 12.]
• I can show that equals multiplied by equals are equal. [Ex: If 4 x h x 2 = 2 x 12, then h = 3. If 6s=30, then s=5.]

1) Multiplication Facts: 0-3 — Multiplication Chart, Fact Families, Mr. Nussbaum’s Multiplication Games, Multiplication.com

2) Names of All Mathematical Places — Place Value Made Easy, Place Value and Number Forms, Scooter Quest, Place Value Pirates, Everything in Its Place, Place Value Puzzler

3) Names/Locations of Seven Continents & Five Oceans — The Continents and Oceans, Name the Continents, World Continents Quizzes, Test Your Geography Knowledge

Language Arts: Sentence Types, Complete Sentences, Expanding Sentences, Finding Information in Books

• Types of Sentences (video), Four Types of Sentences (notes), Sentence Clubhouse (review practice)
• Complete Sentences: Subjects and Predicates (notes), Complete, Subject, or Predicate? (review practice), Expanding Sentences (printable practice page)
• Parts of a Book (notes), Reading Nonfiction (video), Parts of a Book, How to Locate Parts of a Book (review practice), Using a Dictionary (review practice and notes)

Mathematics: Place Value, Standard/Written/Expanded Forms of Numbers, Multiplication Facts

• Place Value and Number Forms (notes), Scooter Quest, Place Value Pirates, Everything in Its Place, Matching Math (value), Place Value Puzzler (review practice)
• What’s Your Name?, Decimals of the Caribbean, Mystery Picture, Really Big Numbers, Cookie Dough (review practice)
• Multiplication Chart (notes), Fact Families, Multiplication.com (review practice)
• Trimester One Math Helper (front), Trimester One Math Helper (back)

Social Studies: General Global Geography; Begin Chapter One — California’s Geography

• The Continents and Oceans, Name the Continents, World Continents Quizzes, Test Your Geography Knowledge
• Latitude and Longitude (video), Latitude and Longitude Game, Basic Geography: The Equator and the Prime Meridian
• Water and Land (song we’ll practice in class), Reading Maps (video)
• California Geography (notes), CA’s Location/Regions of CA (vocabulary practice)

Are you feeling trapped in the house this winter? Looking for a solution for the mid winter blahs? Break up the boredom by opening up a few reference books and playing a few games.

Reference books can be as dry as toast made in the Sahara and as boring as watching paint dry on a rock, but with gentle competition, your family can practice using reference materials and still have fun!

Here are several games to play as individuals, teams, or a family using a dictionary, a set of encyclopedias (the old-fashioned kind, not the computer kind), an atlas, and a phone book (like the Yellow Pages). These games will not only break up the long winter day but also reinforce skills that might have been overlooked during the course of the year. Most of these games are suited for fourth graders and older, but younger readers can still benefit with assistance from a parent or older sibling.

Dictionary

Dictionary skills include alphabetizing, using guide words, and recognizing parts of speech. These games reinforce those concepts while adding a bit of fun. Nearly any dictionary will work for these games, but the more complete the dictionary, the more fun the game and the more the student will learn. Picture dictionaries are not recommended.

The Biggest Entry
1+ players
Ordinary words like walk, play, or read have multiple definitions. As a group, or even individually, brainstorm for simple words that have many meanings. With a ruler, measure from the top of the first line of the definition to the bottom of the last line to find out which of these words has the longest entry, using centimeters, not inches. Record which words have the longest entries, or even estimate their length before measuring. Words to consider: plane, house, bear, set, rock, run, stand, cup, pitch, sink.

Guide Word Trap
2+ players
Guide words are the words at the top inside and outside corners of each page in the dictionary. One player opens to any place in the dictionary and reads the two guide words aloud. The other players must say or write a word that they think should come between the two guide words. For example, the guide words might be “candle” and “carry.” Players who say words like “carpenter” or “cantaloupe” are correct and get a point because those words are alphabetically correct. Points can be acquired with each correct word. Players should take turns finding the guide words, looking through the dictionary for hard words to try to stump the other player.

Word Drills
3+ players
Each player needs his own dictionary. One player says a word (either from another dictionary or off the top of his head). Players wait with their dictionaries closed until given the signal to go. When the signal is given, players try to find the word as fast as possible. Points are given to the fastest finders, and players take turns coming up with the word to look up.

Syllable Score
2+ players
Students take turns rolling three dice to come up with a three-digit number, which becomes a page number. For example, player 1 rolls a 1, a 3, and a 5-135. He turns to page 135 in the dictionary and finds the word on that page with the most syllables. The number of syllables in the word is the number of points he receives for that turn. In my dictionary, the longest word on page 135 is bouleversement, which has 5 syllables. I would get 5 points. The next player rolls the dice, turns to that page (1, 3, and 5 could be page 531, 351, or 153), and finds another long word, hopefully one longer than five syllables. As the students take turns, they collect points. Whoever gets to 25 points first is the winner.

Encyclopedia

Encyclopedia skills are similar to dictionary skills, because alphabetization and guide words are used. However, other skills, such as finding the main idea, timeline, and summarizing can also be reinforced with these games. These games require a full set of books, such as World Book or Encyclopedia Britannica, but it doesn’t matter how recently they were published.

Six Degrees of Biography
1+ players
Each player selects a famous person such as Queen Elizabeth I and searches that person’s entry for the name of another famous person, such as William Shakespeare. The student then goes to the second person’s entry to find another famous name. The student continues with this process until he finds the name he started with. Many famous people in history are connected to each other. The point of this exercise is that within six entries, the original entry should be found. No fair looking up people who were partners, spouses, or known adver- saries. Your six “degrees” may look like this: Elizabeth I, King Henry VIII, Thomas Cromwell, Pope Clement VII, Martin Luther, and so on. This can be a time-consuming project and is recommended for upper grades.

Where Am I?
1+ players
Find where your name, as well as the names of your friends and neighbors, would fall alphabetically in the encyclopedia. What entries would be before and after it? Do any seem funny or fitting to the person’s name?

Apples to Apples, The Encyclopedia Version
4+ players
This game is played much like Apples to Apples. Using your green adjective cards from your Apples to Apples game (or a lengthy list of adjectives), each player opens a volume from his encyclopedia set, say, the G book. Each player chooses an entry from the volume that best describes the adjective (or green card) given by the judge (for instance, “clumsy”). The judge then chooses which entry is the best fit for that adjective (or the most humorous, if you play like my kids do).

Thesaurus

A thesaurus, a collection of antonyms and synonyms, requires dictionary skills. These games can familiarize a student with how to use a thesaurus and build vocabulary, all while having a bit of fun.

ABC Opposites
2+ players
With a thesaurus for each player, write down a pair of antonyms for every letter of the alphabet (for example, antecedent and after, bulky and bantam, cheerful and complaining). Once the lists are completed, or after a set amount of time, compare lists. Any duplicate answers between the players are omitted and only original answers count as a point. The player with the most points wins. Recommended for sixth grade and older.

Who Has the Most?
1+ players
Choose one of these simple words: big, happy, pretty, fast, smart. Each player predicts which word has the most synonyms, antonyms, or both. Look each word up in the thesaurus to find out. Can you find other words that have more? Brainstorm for your own words and find their entries too. Recommended for lower grades.

Describe Yourself
1+ players
Think of ten words that describe yourself, such as short, funny, cheerful, compassionate, and cute. Then with the thesaurus find multi-syllable synonyms of each of these words (for the given words, for example, diminutive, whimsical, effervescent, commiserative, and pulchritudinous). Try describing others in your family, your pets, or your friends.

Phone Book

A phone book also requires dictionary skills. Even though this isn’t an academic pursuit, learning to use a phone book is a necessary life skill, especially during an emergency. The following games require commercial telephone listings (Yellow Pages)-the bigger, the better.

Fairy Tale Fix-It
1+ players
Consider your favorite fairy tale, such as “The Three Bears.” What businesses might the Three Bears consult in order to avoid the whole Goldilocks fiasco? A home security company? A furniture repairman? A caterer who might provide a breakfast that is “just right”? Search the phone book for businesses that might help the poor bear family and discuss their ads, the words they use to market their business, and their location. Try this same exercise with “Cinderella,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “The Three Pigs,” and any other stories in your memory.

It’s a Dirty Job
1+ players
Each player creates the columns “Jobs I Would Want” and “Jobs I Would Not” on a piece of paper. Search through the Yellow Pages for 10 jobs to list in each column. To make this a competition, compare lists with other players, eliminating duplicates and assigning a point per original job. For an even greater challenge, find 26 jobs you do or don’t like, one for every letter of the alphabet.

Opposites
1+ players
Your community is full of businesses that have opposing or contradictory jobs or services. Flip through the phone book for examples of this, such as obstetricians and funeral directors, construction and demolition, swimming pool supplier and snow removal, wedding chapels and divorce lawyers. Brainstorm for more examples and count them up. With more than one player, compare the number of pairs each player can identify to determine the winner.

Try these reference book games on a snowy afternoon. You might break up a dull routine, learn a great word or two, and perhaps even have a little fun!

Copyright 2008.
Originally appeared in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, Winter 07/8.
Used with permission.
www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com

• Compare/Contrast Guide (notes), Compare/Contrast Essay Helper, Compare/Contrast Characters
• Figurative Language (notes), Fling the Teacher, Paint by Idioms, Batter Up
• Step Up to Writing (notes), How to Write a Five Paragraph Essay
• Guess What Comes Next, Making Predictions
• Main Idea, Reading Nonfiction (movies), Summarize As You Read (review practice)

Mathematics: Order of Operations (PEMDAS), Coordinate Graphing, Length of Line Segments, Number Lines + Review of Degrees/Turns

• What is PEMDAS? (video), Operation Order (PEMDAS), Order of Operations (PEMDAS)
• Coordinate Graphing, What’s the Point?, Billy Bug #2
• Finding the Length of Line Segments (notes)
• Line Jumper, Racing Along the Number Line, The Decimal Detectives, Find Grampy
• Degrees and Turns Slideshow (notes), Angles (degrees), Banana Hunt, Degrees to Turns Converter

Social Studies: Chapter Four — Mexican Rule in California

• Study Guideline Notes — Chapter Four
• Mex Freedom/Econ/Rancho Life (vocabulary practice)

Science: Chapter One — Living Things Need Energy

• Chapter One Resources (vocabulary practice, videos, and more)
• Dirt Made My Lunch, Producers, Consumers, Decomposers (songs from class)
• Parts of a Plant, Photosynthesis, Plant Life Cycle (videos)
• Illuminating Photosynthesis, Root Factory, Life Cycle of Plants (review practice)
• Food Chain (video), Food Chains Science Desk (review practice)
• Fun With Food Webs, Eat or Be Eaten, Diversity of Life on Earth