EL One

Daily

Read a book, or look at its pictures for 10-20 minutes.

Monday

Reading Aloud 

Read aloud to your parent or another family member for 10-20 minutes. Practice using an animated voice!

If you are not yet reading, look through a book together and tell your family the "story" that you see from the illustrations.

Handwriting Practice

Do 2-3 pages in your handwriting book.

Hairbrush Measurements

Use a hairbrush to measure 5 things in your house. How long is the coffee table? Is it the length of 12 hairbrushes? How about your dinner plate? How many hairbrushes long is that? Make a list if you are writing, tell a family member if you are not. 

Extension: Measure the length of your living room, kitchen, and your bedroom. Which one is the longest?

Tuesday

*Spelling Book (for those spelling)
Do your list and complete your pages in your Spelling Book.

*Beginning Sounds (for those not spelling)

Find 5-10 objects in your house that start with the same sound. Tell them to your family or write a list. 

Typing

Parent note: 4th grade students and up were the only ones set up with this program previously. If your child is writing words and wants to start typing practice, let me know and I will add them to our account.

Practice typing for 20 minutes. To access your typing practice, go to typing.com and choose "student log-in" in the upper right. Your username is your name+fhms, for example mine would be lynnfhms. Your password is "hello"

Secret Messages

Write a message to someone, and then write it again, but backwards. Ask them to figure it out!

Example: I love you! = !uoy evol I 

Extension: Write a paragraph and then write it backwards. Can anyone figure it out?

Wednesday

*Spelling List Practice (for those spelling)
Do your spelling "choice" work. Practice using your spelling word list in some way. You may decide to draw pictures of each word and label them, you could write sentences using the word, you could create a word search (check out this online word search maker http://puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com/WordSearchSetupForm.asp) and then complete it, you could write each word three times, or??? use your own idea.

*Rhyming Sounds (for those not spelling)

Find 5-10 objects in the house that end with the same sound. Tell them to your family or write a list.  

Grouping Objects

Look around the house to find groups of 2 objects, like pairs of gloves or socks. Look for groups of 3’s, 4’s and 5's. Make a list or tell someone what you found.

Extension: Do this with more groups, up to 12's if you can.

Thursday

*Spelling Test (for those spelling)
Ask a family member to give you your spelling test! If you get less than 5 words incorrect, write each misspelled word correctly 3-5 times for extra practice. If you get 5 or more words incorrect, start your next week with a new list consisting of the misspelled words. 

*T-Chart (for those not spelling)

Pick two categories (ex. spheres and prisms or tools and toys or sea animals and jungle animals) and make a "T" chart listing 5-10 items that fit in the appropriate category. If needed, parents can help with writing the words on the T chart.

Care of the Environment

Find a chore that you can do to help around the house. Some ideas are: sweep a floor, weed the garden beds, water plants, clean up your room, or? Look around the house for a need and meet that need with a smile. If you need help with ideas, ask your parent/guardian. 

Crystal Egg Geodes

Materials:

Raw Egg(s)

Craft Glue

Epsom Salt

Food Coloring

Small Containers

Small Paint Brush

Toothpick

Water

Small Pot and Stove

Small Screw Driver (optional)

Activity: To make your egg geode, carefully crack your egg at the narrow end. It may be easier to do this by tapping the end with a small screwdriver. Slowly widen the hole in the egg until it is a little larger than a quarter. Empty the contents of the egg into a bowl. Rinse the eggshell out. Then, gently rub your finger around the inside to remove the egg’s membrane. Once the membrane is removed, turn the egg upside down on a paper towel and let it dry completely before the next step. 

Once the shells are dry, use a paintbrush to coat the entire inside of the shells with a thin layer of craft glue. Sprinkle Epsom salts onto the glue, shaking off any excess. This will act as a starter to help grow your crystals in your homemade geode. Let the glue dry completely. Once the glue is dry, boil 1 cup of water with the help of an adult. Remove the water from the heat source and stir-in 1/2 cup of Epsom salt.  Stir it until it is completely dissolved. Continue stirring in 1-2 tablespoons of salt at a time until the salt no longer dissolves. Your very saturated solution should be thicker than water when you stir it. Place each hollow egg in a small container. Make sure the egg will stay upright. Use a small ladle to fill each egg with your salt solution. Add a drop or two of food coloring and stir it with a toothpick (optional). Place the eggshells somewhere where they won’t be disturbed. Check your egg daily, and use a toothpick to break any thin solid layers that may form on top. You want the water to be able to evaporate! When all of the water has evaporated, you will have your egg geode!

How Geodes Form

Actual geodes are rocks with open spaces, or cavities, inside that are lined with crystals.

The crystals form through a process called sedimentation, where particles (solute) are suspended in fluid (solvent) and then come together, accumulating to form crystals as the fluid disappears over many, many years.

When creating your egg geodes, the Epsom salt acts as the solute and the water as the solvent.  The water is so saturated with Epsom salt that the salt particles fuse together, forming crystals as the water evaporates.

Friday

Handwriting Practice
Do 2-3 pages in your handwriting book.

Self Portrait

What do you look like? Sit in front of a mirror and draw yourself. 

Extension: Have a family member sit for you, and draw a picture of them. Or, use their picture as an example of what to draw.

Paper Chain Patterns

Materials:

3 Different colors of paper

scissors

tape or glue

Activity: Cut paper strips using 3 different colors of paper. Make a paper chain with paper strips and tape. Create patterns by repeating colors and numbers of rings in a regular order. For example: blue, blue, red, yellow, blue, blue, red, yellow

Extension: Use more colors of paper, or a more intricate pattern and create a paper chain. For example: blue, blue, red, yellow, blue, red, red, blue, blue, red, yellow, blue, red, red...or...blue, blue, red, yellow, orange, orange, blue, blue, red, yellow, orange, orange