Finally, our first day of the new school year!
I know we're off to a REALLY late start when compared to most, but I wanted to wait until after our fall vacation to Florida to start fresh. Being able to keep such a flexible schedule is one thing I love about homeschooling.
Tessa isn't happy I labeled her a kindergartner this year. She insists that she's in first grade. It's hard to disagree since she finished kindergarten-level curriculum several months ago. I tried to explain that she would be in kindergarten, if she went to public school. She didn't know what to think about that. I didn't even know that she cared!
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| Tessa's first day of kindergarten! |
We school year round, so we just picked up where we left off in phonics and math. Our new subject today was history. We will rotate it with science. In a couple of weeks, we will add Spanish and art. Handwriting will be in the mix as well.
We are using
History Odyssey: Ancients, Level 1 by Pandia Press for our study of ancient civilizations this year. On today's schedule was the "What is History?" pocket from Evan-Moor's supplemental resource,
History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations, Grade 1-3. (We are using the
digital version from
TeacherFileBox.com.)
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| For the "Cut and Paste Words to Know" portion of Tessa's first history pocket, she matched words, definitions and pictorial representations for the words "ancient," "basic needs," "civilization" and "history." |
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| Each history pocket is comprised of several parts. I feared Tessa may grow weary, but she seemed to enjoy her work. |
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| Instead of creating pockets out of over-sized construction paper as directed by Evan-Moor, I used untabbed Manila pocket dividers and colored card stock to fashion something a little more functional. Tessa was quite proud of her completed pocket. She admired it several times. |
Would you mind giving a little bit more detail about what you did to retrofit the manila dividers? We have been using history pockets, but I've put them aside for several weeks because storing the oversize folders is such a hassle. I'd like to pick them up again if I can find something more workable!
ReplyDeleteSure! We had created an Evan-Moor literature pockets book a while back and as much as I loved the idea of it, I hated the over-sized end product as well. Didn't care for the flimsy construction paper either.
DeleteSo, what I originally wanted were colored paper pockets that I could slip into Tessa's history binder. I looked high and low for these. I can't find that they exist. Everything is plastic these days. Then, I searched for over-sized colored card stock that I could fold into pockets and then punch holes in. Couldn't find what I wanted for this idea either.
All that I could come up with where these double pocket dividers (www.staples.com/Avery-Double-Pocket-Dividers/product_462804). They are very simple...just plain Manila pockets that fit in a binder. I believe Amazon has some too, but they are more expensive there. Since the ones at Staples are only available online, I ordered them and had them shipped for free to our nearest Staples store.
To pretty the pockets up a bit, I bought colored card stock from the scrapbook section at Hobby Lobby and then cut each piece in half at the pocket line. I used a tape runner to attach them to the pockets. If you don't have a tape runner, I'm sure a glue stick would work just fine. A bought two extra pieces of card stock to use as a front and a back...to create a history pockets "book" within the binder.
Since the history pocket titles (and maybe a few other random things) are too big for the smaller binder pockets, I reduce them a bit when printing. I can't remember whether I reduce them to 70 or 80 percent at the moment. One of the two, I think.
Hope this helps. Let me know, if you need further clarification on something. Best Wishes!
Thank you so much. I've been trying to figure out how to do this for the some of the same reasons, and you've saved me a lot of time!
ReplyDeleteYou're quite welcome...enjoy!
ReplyDeleteHope you have a fantastic school year.