Each lesson in the Third Reader should take at least one week, sometimes two weeks may be necessary when a research or composition project naturally flows from the lesson.
Students participate in creating their own learning experience with each lesson: At this age, students will learn how to create their own learning experience using the 5 points of learning as a model. The Parent-Teacher Guide for the McGuffey Readers by Ruth Beechick may be referred to frequently to help students and teacher determine learning activities associated with each of the lessons. The PDF file at the right is a page of book marks that students may print and copy to record their lesson plans. The Parent-Teacher Guide also includes a glossary with the meanings of words as they are used in the Reader. Thus it can save a good deal of study time over dictionaries, which include fuller information about each word. This glossary will be very helpful to students. The following activities should be considered for each lesson. Define the learning goals for the lesson and record your plans on the bookmark provided at the right. At the beginning of the week students should quickly pre-read the lesson to identify the topic of the lesson with a few main ideas. Each lesson should contain the following elements:
As students become familiar with designing their own lesson plan, they will develop efficiency and will be able to complete the above tasks in 5-10 minutes. This allows time for students to move into the Discovery phase early in the week. Discover: Ask yourself "What do I already know about this topic?" Identify at least three questions to help you learn more about the topic. The following words may help you identify questions to ask: what, why, when, where, who, was, which, would, were, how, is, do, does, did, may, are, could, shall, will, can, have, if Spell and define vocabulary words at the end of the lesson. Include an analysis of roots and affixes. Optional resource: Completing exercises from the book English from the Roots Up by Joegil K. Lundquist provides a great foundation for vocabulary study. Students may follow the suggested learning model from the author of this book and include a few exercises each week in addition to their work with the McGuffey Readers. Midweek: Parents and teachers may guide students as they schedule the practice and apply experiences they have identified for their learning experiences. Choose early in the week if a second week is needed to complete a research, service, or writing assignment. Many creative activities can be done simply in a single day. However, some topics will lend themselves to more extensive research. Practice: Read lesson silently, followed by discussion with mentor. Reread various parts of the lesson to answer questions, enjoy humor, meet new vocabulary words again, or to figure out the meaning of something difficult. Copy at least one paragraph of your choice. Use best handwriting and include all punctuation, capitalization and spacing as modeled in the text. Apply: Practice oral reading of the lesson, using suggestions at the beginning of the lesson. (Poetry—parents or teachers should read it first to model proper expression and inflection). At this point, students should be very familiar with the material to allow for better expression during an oral reading. Spelling test with vocabulary words Grammar study that naturally flows from lesson if applicable. See Parent-Teacher guide for ideas. Optional resource: If you can obtain a copy of Self Aids in English Usage by LJ O'Rourke, you may use this excellent resource to improve grammar skills. The book is out of print, but used copies are currently available on Amazon. Create: Research, Service or Writing project that flows from the lesson. See Parent-Teacher Guide for ideas. |
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