Writing Printables

How to Teach Cursive Writing

April 17, 2020 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

As homeschool moms, we teach our children so many things to give them the best education possible. Across the board, teaching cursive penmanship is a dying art. Many schools no longer teach cursive. However, it is a valuable skill that helps to build your brain and develop cognitive abilities. Cursive is also helpful for children with dyslexia and is actually easier to produce than manuscript printing. You may be wondering where to begin, though. Here is a complete guide on how to teach your child cursive writing.

Must-do Pre-Writing Activities

Like everything, teaching your child to write requires laying a solid foundation. This is where pre-writing exercises and activities come in. These help strengthen hands, increase pen control, and teach important strokes. Here are some ideas for pre-writing cursive activities:

Pen Control Workbook
Practice strokes and shapes in sand with your finger or a stick
Draw in chalk on the driveway, sidewalk, or chalkboard.
Write letters or words in cursive on large sheets of paper, have the child “trace” the letters in dots using a bingo marker
Use Wiki Stiks or yarn to create loops, curves, and angled lines

How to Teach Cursive Strokes

Once you have completed enough pre-cursive activities that your child feels confident, it is time to start practicing strokes. Cursive writing is a series of strokes. These make up the basic form of the letters. Practicing strokes, helps children master letter formation before learning any of the letters. It also makes it easier to write fluidly once letter formation begins. The best resource I have found to demonstrate cursive strokes is this video. You can also use a tracing board that has strokes, and shapes on it for practice.

How to Teach Individual Cursive Letters and in What Order

Writing is made up of letters, so it is important to learn and master the letters one by one. Unlike manuscript printing, which is usually taught in alphabetical order, cursive letters are taught in groups. Each group has similar strokes. Generally, the groups progress from easier to more challenging strokes. Teaching the individual letters in this order will make learning cursive easier and more enjoyable.

Here are some additional resources for teaching individual letters:

Practicing Simple Words in Cursive Penmanship

Now, your child is ready to start writing simple words. It is best to start with short words and gradually try longer ones. Remember to look back at the letter order. Choose words with simpler letters when children are first learning to combine letters into words. Use pre-made worksheets with common words or make your own. A cursive template is really useful for this, to get the examples perfect. However, do not expect perfection from your child. Mastering handwriting takes abundant practice and is something that improves with age. Young children, especially, are still building muscle control and hand/eye coordination.

Once your child has mastered short, simple words, it’s time to move on to sentences. Here are some excellent resources to get your child using his new cursive skills in various subjects.

Complete Cursive Writing Curriculum Choices

If you are looking for a ready-made curriculum to teach cursive writing to your child, here are some recommendations. A complete curriculum will offer the ease of having it done already. You should feel free to incorporate resources and items listed above to meet your child’s individual needs and increase interest.

Handwriting without Tears Cursive workbook and kit
Handwriting for A Reason Cursive
IEW Cursive Knowledge

Writing Prompts for Kids

April 10, 2020 By Crafty Team Leave a Comment

Writing is an essential skill, and it requires practice. But, how do you get children to write? If you have told a child to “write a story.” more often than not you have been met with resistance. What you need are writing prompts. Take the struggle out of learning to write by using kindergarten writing prompts with your child.

What are Writing Prompts?

Writing prompts are story starters, scenarios, and ideas that inspire writing. These can be short sentences, partial sentences, “what if” statements, or or direct prompts. Each is used to “prompt” the student to write about a certain topic. Some examples include:

Tell me about the most exciting day last summer.
What if you could fly, how would your life change?
I woke up and then suddenly…
I once had the biggest surprise ever. (finish the story)

What are the Benefits of Using Writing Prompts?

Story prompts spark imagination and gets their writing juices flowing. They eliminate the anxiety of deciding what to write about. Students can just dive in and start writing. Story prompts are easy to use because they inspire or elicit ideas that the student already has. They also increase critical and creative thinking. Even professional writers use story prompts to prevent writer’s block.

How do I Write a Prompt?

Writing prompts can be fun and easy. You will need to do some creative thinking yourself. First, brainstorm ideas for stories. Think about everyday life experiences that your students could describe. Come up with some fantastical and creative ideas that would make wonderful fairy tails or science fiction type stories. Then consider story starters. Try to have a variety of prompts. Mixing up the style and type of prompt helps to develop stronger writing skills. This also keeps kids interested because the writing prompts are not predictable. Some children may gravitate to one type of prompt or excel in a certain type of writing. Mixing them up allows them to practice all types of writing, but also shine when their preferred style prompt is offered. Create a list of the prompts and keep it somewhere safe.

When to Use Writing Prompts

Writing prompts can be used in a variety of situations. First, you could use them as a daily journal starter. Set aside a certain amount of time each day, for example 20 minutes, for journal writing. Give your child a new prompt each day to complete in his or her journal. These can be rotated with free writing days where students can write about anything they wish.

Writing prompts can also be used in spelling and language arts lessons. The prompts could contain spelling words or be topics that could easily include certain spelling words. You can set a number of how many spelling words to include, or list the words you want worked into the story. The same thing can be done for language arts lessons on grammar. These are more advanced skills, but after some practice with story prompts will be a fun way to practice spelling and grammar. For younger students, especially kindergarten, focus more on idea formation and story telling than spelling and grammar.

Where Can I find Free Kindergarten Writing Prompts?

You could write your own prompts, but sometimes you just don’t have time. Plus, if you are not accustomed to writing prompts, this could be a difficult exercise for you. There are many books available with story prompts already created, however these cost money. You will also have to wait for them to arrive. Here’s a treasury of kindergarten story prompts that are available for instant download:

Tips and Tricks for Teaching Kindergarten Students to Write

Make it a habit. Do writing at the same time each day or week.
Encourage inventive spelling. Kindergarteners have big ideas but limited spelling skills, encourage them to spell the best they can and focus on the content more.
Work on grammar gradually. Like spelling, grammar is a budding skill. Ignore grammatical mistakes in the beginning and then gradually introduce one concept at a time, gently. Keep it simple! Focus on creative thought, not grammatical correctness.
Encourage the child to draw a picture to go with the story.
Be patient, writing is a skill that takes time to develop.
Write together and share your stories.
Allow younger or reluctant students to narrate their writing prompts until they feel comfortable with the process. Take it one step at a time.
Use story prompts as part of handwriting practice.
Need a place with a treasure trove of writing prompts? Try our Interactive Writing Prompts for Kindergarten!

Kindergarten Writing Prompts

January 6, 2020 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

Does your child needs extra practice with their writing skills? Or, maybe you’ve picked up on a few clues on their eagerness to write and you want them to develop a love for writing. For each month of the year, we’re creating interactive and highly engaging Kindergarten writing prompts to encourage handwriting with your students. If you desire to build strong, creative students, you’ll love this monthly growing bundle with daily writing prompts!

What are Kindergarten Writing Prompts? They are simply sentence starters to give your child a healthy boost to get their creative writing juices flowing. Have they ever stared at a blank page or seemed unsure where to start? We are simply skipping this stressful step with our fun and lively writing prompts. It not only gives them innovative ideas to begin, they gain more confidence in their early writing career.

Kindergarten Writing Prompts for September

Let’s begin with the fresh, new school year month of September. September is a perfect time for giving your child the gift of learning how to write. notice a few handy features in these thematic sets. You’ll be thrilled about these low prep pages designed for beginning writers and busy schedules.

These daily writing exercises are easy to implement and require no preparation. Students simply copy the writing prompt onto the writing lines, then use words from an included word bank to finish up their response. Teachers love the independence it brings and kids love the extra guidance.

October Writing with Story Starters

Daily writing activities will strengthen your child’s writing skills and fine motor skills. With our October Kindergarten writing prompts, you’ll get a thematic set of ideas to get the kids excited about the fun events during the fall season. With each daily writing prompt, your students will discover their own unique ideas. And, their personalities will shine as they show off their writing samples. Plus, the simple word banks will encourage productivity in an independent way.

October sneaks in a fun fall theme including a Halloween Party, Spiders, Bats, Pumpkins and more!! Plus, teachers and homeschoolers everywhere can rejoice hearing that they have all the necessary materials at home (composition notebook, pencils, scissors, glue stick, crayons) to begin today!

November Daily Writing Prompts

As your child’s writing practice continues to soar, you may notice these handwriting exercises turn into opinion writing prompts. Your child will want to express themselves more and their confidence is rising. This may be the perfect time to motivate your child to add a few more words or sentences.

Plus, our November guided writing prompts continue to grow right along with your child as their skill sets surge. November promises to build your student’s knowledge with writing a list, taking a poll, opinion writing, letter and comparison writing. Plus, your student will also practice writing with recipes, acrostic poetry, comparison writing, and the list goes on!

December Daily Writing Prompts

For December, our low prep writing prompts for kindergarten continue to include 20 special activity pages. However, this month’s writing variety pack holds creative fiction, poetry, expository, reports, and more! As promised, with each month you’ll find skill-building writing exercises.

And, with each month’s writing pack, you’ll also find that each Picture Writing Prompt cut out on thick lines. Then, they’ll paste their precious work into a writer’s notebook. A spiral notebook works best for gluing each prompt per page.

I’ll give you a little hint at some festive writing themes for December! You’ll find winter weather, snowman, ugly sweaters, gingerbread, and of course, Christmas! And, don’t forget – these writing prompt notebooks are wonderful as keepsakes. Or, try them as a writer’s portfolio to show growth throughout the year.

January Writing Prompt Exercises

January represents new beginnings, fresh starts, and new writing skill sets! This month’s writing themes include snowmen, New Year’s Eve, Penguins, Martin Luther King and more! Plus, they may just learn about a new creature in the arctic!

This month’s writing exercises continues to build upon the past few months learning skills. Your student will gain knowledge on how to set goals and how to write life cycles. Plus, they’ll learn how to draw, and even dabble in adjective and nouns. Not only will their writing fine motor skills increase, they are also gaining so much more! They are learning new terms and concepts in a simple and engaging, yet effective method of teaching.

If you love these wonderful writing resources, you’ll love our budget friendly 200+ interactive guided writing prompts! Pick up our year-long bundle today!

Pre Writing Activities to Start with Your Toddler

November 15, 2019 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

Writing is a fundamental skill to learning. Toddlers love to scribble and pretend to write. Pre-writing activities for toddlers give the skills and muscle tone they need to write. Writing doesn’t come until later. However, laying the foundation will make learning to write easier. Wondering which activity is part of the prewriting process? Here is not just one, but five, fun pre-writing activities to start with your toddler, today.

Playdough

Playdough is fun and easy to use. Kids love to squish and mould it. Just playing with playdough helps strengthen little hands. It develops fine motor skills and increases muscle tone. Both are very important for writing. Rolling out the playdough into long ropes helps develop pre-writing skills. Then you can make other writing shapes. Make circles, and x’s out of playdough. Roll out a horizontal rope and a vertical rope. Using your finger, trace over the shapes. Use a paint brush or stick to make decorations on each shape. You can use clean stamps to practice going in a line. Just stamp one after another across a flattened piece of playdough.

Painting

Who doesn’t love to paint? It’s fun, colorful, and messy. Toddlers love messes. Moms, not so much. Painting is a wonderful prewriting activity. Making long strokes with a paint brush develops hand eye coordination. If you are looking to avoid the mess, try painting with water. You can paint with water on a driveway, brick, or construction paper. The water will change the surface color, however it is mess free. Make sure to teach your child how ot hold the paintbrush properly. This will help him to learn how to hold a pencil. Paint straight lines, squiggle lines, and loops or circles. Older siblings can join in by practicing letters, spelling words, or shapes.

Sand or Salt Tray

Long before a child can hold a pen, he can use his finger. Drawing with fingers build coordination, fine motor skills, and confidence. Start with a tray covered with sand and salt. Make the sand deep enough to move with your finger. Have the child experiment with moving the sand with just one finger at a time. Practice lines, squiggles, and circles. Once the child is ready, give him a card with a shape, letter, or number to copy into the sand.

Transferring

A classic Montessori task, transferring is actually an important pre-writing activity. Using tongs or tweezers children transfer objects from one bowl to another. This teaches how to follow a line. It also develops fine motor skills and coordination. Pom poms, beans, marbles, seeds, or acorns are perfect for transferring practice. Really anything can be used. Raid your pantry and get transferring.

Stickers

Stickers, they are one of the great joys of childhood. Stickers are perfect for the pre-writing stage. Moving stickers from the sheet to your page, is an important skill to develop. Once children master putting stickers onto paper, their clothes, or themselves, you can do more complicated activities. Draw a horizontal line and have the child place stickers along the line. You can later progress to shapes and letters. Making lines out of stickers is fun and forgiving. So the child practices tracing the line without getting frustrated.

What pre-writing activities do you do with your child?

Paragraph Writing Prompts

April 13, 2017 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

Today we have a handy set of writing freebies to share with you! This collection includes five different writing prompts, each with fill-in-the-blank paragraph frames for students to fill in. Across the top is room to draw in sequenced pictures of the story.

My Birthday: Paragraph Writing Prompt

A free kindergarten paragraph frame for students to complete. Children write about their birthday and draw sequenced images to match.

Field Trip: Paragraph Writing Prompt

A free kindergarten paragraph frame for students to complete. Children write about a field trip and draw sequenced images to match.

Favorite Relative: Paragraph Writing Prompt

A free kindergarten paragraph frame for students to complete. Children write about their favorite relative and draw sequenced images to match.

Park Trip: Paragraph Writing Prompt

A free kindergarten paragraph frame for students to complete. Children write about a trip to the park and draw sequenced images to match.

Animal: Paragraph Writing Prompt

A free kindergarten paragraph frame for students to complete. Children write about an animal and draw sequenced images to match.

Print Paragraph Writing Prompts Free from KindergartenMom.com

Looking for more? Try our new How to Write a Paragraph Pack:

100 Sentences 4 Summer

May 20, 2016 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

One of my children is excellent at reading, but his writing could stand some extra practice! I designed this activity pack to provide him with a fun Summer challenge; Write 100 Sentences over Summer Break!

100 Sentences 4 Summer Challenge

This pack includes:

How to Write a Sentence Chart
Vocabulary Words (Verbs, Adjectives, Family Words, Color Words, Pronouns, and Prepositions)
100 Cut and Paste Story Prompts
25 Sentence Strip Sheets (4 sentences per sheet)
Super Writer Awards (Boy & Girl)

Here is how it works:

Print up the entire notebook (1 for each child) and Bind it together if possible.

Everthing prints in assembly order with the reference charts and vocabulary boxes in the front.

Each day children will choose one picture story prompt, cut it out and paste it to the sentence sheet on the following page

Children then write one small sentence inspired by the picture they chose. (They can choose to draw their own picture as well.)
There are two lines of writing provided, so younger children can write short sentences like, “I am a skunk,” and older children can write sentences with more detail, “The little skunk smells a red flower.”

You can also encourage the children to try to use different end marks (. ! ?) for each page they fill up.

Two printable awards are included but we also recommend having a tangible treat or item for children who do complete this book. Best of all, this pack is print ready! You can bind them and send them home with students over the Summer break and invite them to bring back their completed notebook for a special prize!

Check out more Photos of 100 Sentences 4 Summer Here

We’ve got a ton of new teaching resources headed your way, so stay tuned!

PIN This:

Hamburger Paragraph Chart

May 1, 2016 By Valerie Mcclintick 1 Comment

Learning the structure of a paragraph is an important step in the writing process. Today I’ve got a Free Hamburger Paragraph Chart you can use in your classroom. If you’ve never heard of this before, this is a fantastic resource for teaching young writers just exactly what they need to include inside a paragraph. The visual of a hamburger shows them to include an Introduction, Detail, Detail, Detail and then a Conclusion. I’ve also created a fun follow up worksheet for children to build their own hamburger paragraphs!

Free Hamburger Paragraph Classroom Chart

Free Hamburger Paragraph Worksheet

Find More Writing Guides Here:

As a homeschooling mother of four, I understand the need for children to build self-led learning skills and I’ve designed our step-by-step guides to encourage this development. Each guide features five steps of instruction, explaining to the child what is required for that step, and what specific worksheets need to be completed. You can assign these steps to children simply by following a 5 day a week teaching schedule or by adding a due date next to each check box. Read more about our Step-by-Step process below, and view samples of our guides in our eStore.

Letter of the Week Preschool Curriculum

August 23, 2015 By Valerie Mcclintick 2 Comments

It’s ready!

I’ve been working on this curriculum ALL Summer…..

This is MONTHS of hard work poured into 650+ pages of Letter of the Week activities.

Our Alphabet Curriculum Notebook gives you an instant Letter of the Week Binder and is designed for Preschool and K4 students.

It’s massive, but it’s designed to be low prep, low ink and perfect for the busy mom who is looking for structure.

Honestly, there is just way too much to list (25 pages for each letter), and I’m working on a post to tell you all about it, but for now you can read our product page, view photos and samples in our eStore.

This will be the core of our curriculum for my K4 child this year, so I’m sure you’ll hear lots about it as we work our way through.

For now check it out in our eStore!

Simple Daily Homeschool Journal

Homeschool writing curriculum doesn’t have to be expensive. We offer many affordable writing guides for children in our eStore, most of them under $5.00, but you can also put together a custom writing journal without breaking your homeschool budget. Using three different notebooks, you can provide children with simple writing opportunities they can use to build important independent writing skills. Purchase an inexpensive set of lined notebooks with the appropriate spacing for your child. Use the printable schedules and title pages below to build and customize your writing journals. (Alternatively, you can use these to create one single writing binder by using our printables as dividers in each section.)

Print these four daily journal printables then read below for complete assembly and tips.

How to Set up a Daily Vocabulary Journal

Step 1:
Paste the title of the journal on the outside of the notebook. On the inside cover paste the instructions. Additionally you can customize these with your own instructions by writing them in.

Step 2:
Make two pockets to hold your spelling words. Glue the first pocket to the front and write NEW on it. Glue the second pocket to the back and write OLD on it. Then cut index cards in half and write the words you want your child to work on. Do an online search of grade specific vocabulary words (or choose from the list you’ll be making with your Daily Helper Journal.)

Step 3:
Place a paper clip at the top of the first page and your ready to go! At the end of the week have your child place the word into the OLD pocket in the back. Every so often you can use these index cards as flashcards, for review purposes or to create additional learning opportunities. (i.e. play an alphabetical order game, or match cards by number of syllables….etc.)

How to set up you Daily Spelling Notebook:

Step 1:
Paste the title of the journal on the outside of the notebook. On the inside cover paste the instructions, filling in the blanks according to your child’s ability level. Alternatively you can write in your own custom weekly instructions as well. You might also consider adding in some fun spelling websites or games on Friday for children to practice typing their words.

Step 2:
Make two pockets to hold your words. Glue the first pocket to the front and write NEW on it. Glue the second pocket to the back and write OLD on it. Then cut index cards in half and write the words you want your child to work on.

Step 3:
Place a paper clip at the top of the first page for your child to store the current word list. At the end of the week have your child place the word into the OLD pocket in the back of the book to keep for later review. You might consider providing children with additional hands on spelling ideas such as our alphabetical order train or letter tiles, making one day a week for games or review.

How to set up your Daily Writing Journal

Step 1:
Paste the title of the journal on the outside of the notebook. On the inside cover paste the instructions, filling in the blanks accordingly. For my young daughter I decided to have her write five sentences or for at least 10 minutes. This seemed to encourage her to write a bit faster :) Older children can easily write more so you can choose what is best for your child.

Step 2:
Setting up a daily journal is very simple! Print a list of Story Starters, ( a quick internet search will pull up a ton, you can find age/theme appropriate for your child) and cut them into strips. Store them in a pocket in the front of your notebook. Provide a paper clip for your child to place the story strip at the top of their sheet of paper.

How to set up your Daily Helper Journal

Step 1:
Paste the title of the journal on the outside of the notebook. On the inside cover paste the instructions.

Step 2:

Provide children with tabs, paperclips or bookmarks to organize this journal into different sections. Label the sections with the suggested titles above or with your own as you see fit. This journal can be used as a reference for newly learned words, grammar rules, and for keeping track of future words to add to spelling and vocabulary lists.

Step-by-Step Writing Guides are now available in our eStore

Come Check them out today!

Shamrock Poetry Printables

March 4, 2014 By Valerie Mcclintick Leave a Comment

St. Patrick’s day is coming soon, and we’ve got a great freebie for your kiddos!

This is a concrete poetry template in the shape of a shamrock. Â Children follow the brainstorming and Â instruction sheet, then compose and write their poem around the shamrock.

Shamrock Template

Concrete Poetry Instructions

If your kiddos have fun with this one be sure to check out our complete Poetry Pack in our eStore!

Poetry Notebooking Printables

April 28, 2013 By Valerie Mcclintick 16 Comments

Happy Monday!
We’ve got another awesome freebie for our Subscribers!

Our Poetry Notebooking pack is just what you need to guide your children in the process of starting a poetry journal! We cover nine different forms of poetry:

Couplet
Triplet
Quatrain
Acrostic
Concrete
Haiku
Limerick
Cinquain
Diamante

For each type of poetry we’ve made these handy guides that provide children with the specific rules of form, an example, and a brainstorming exercise.

There are “Final Draft” notebooking pages as well so children can display all their creativity in a fun and colorful way.

If you’re looking for a fun unit to finish up your homeschool year, this may be just the thing!

This freebie is no longer available. Please Subscribe for our current Subscriber Freebies.

It’s free to join and you’ll received updates and exclusive offers.

You can purchase our Writing Poetry Pack from our eStore.

Stay tuned for more helpful resources,
Come visit me on Pinterest for more poetry inspiration!

Writing a Biography Printables

August 30, 2012 By Valerie Mcclintick 1 Comment

With all the back to school mayhem going on at our house,
I haven’t had much time to tackle my “to-do” list.

One thing I really wanted to work on was posting more of our Writing Guides.
(I get emails about these all the time)

So I did scramble an extra evening to add in some more resources for writing a biography:

Here is what this set includes:

Purpose and Description of a Written Biography
5 Step Instructions for Writing a Biography
Brainstorming Subject Sheet
Three Fact Finding Worksheets
Writing Tools Guide for a Biography
Fact Organization Sheet (First Draft Guide)
Self Editing Sheet
Final Draft Decorative Paper

You can print this entire set FREE here.

I’ve also posted some more helpful printables for your aspiring writers:

Citing Sources
A simple guide for children that you can print and keep inside your writing binder.

Transitions:
This is a list of helpful words children can refer to when the right words just won’t come.

Both of these would be great to use alongside any research report, not just a biography.

Just as a side note here, I was up extra late last night finishing these,
so if you notice a typo please do let me know and I’ll fix it ASAP!
I am NEVER offended by the extra help!

If you don’t already, be sure to subscribe for updates!

Can History be Engaging?

July 23, 2012 By Valerie Mcclintick 2 Comments

Warning: Soapbox Post Ahead
The printables and Free Curriculum Offers are at the bottom, scroll if you must.

So, what do you think?

CAN History be engaging?

If you would have asked me that 20 years ago,
I would certainly answer that with a big fat,

NO!

In fact,
I can even go further and tell you the specific night
that I decided that I HATED History.

H.A.T.E.D.
I would use a milder word,
but it really wouldn’t convey my actual (10 year old) feelings about History

(and yes, if you do the math that makes me 30)

Ahem…..

So, it was 20 years ago and
I vividly remember sitting in my uncomfortable wooden chair,
with my gigantic 5th grade (public school) History book propped on it’s spine.
The tendons between my thumb and pointer finger ached from holding
this monster of a book upright.
It was massive.

I was tired.
It was late,
Homework was due,
and I had more pages to read then I cared to count.

I tried my best to read. I willed myself to focus.
Self motivation kicked in; “You can do this!”
With heavy eyelids I read a full page.

Great!
Until I realized,
I hadn’t a CLUE what I just read.

(ever done this?)

Giggling at myself,
I started to read again…..this time outloud.

An hour passed, until I just couldn’t stomach any more.
I had no idea who these “historical” people were.
I had no personal frame of reference for where they were at in the world,
or even what period of time they existed in.
There were dates and numbers and facts,
graphs and arrows and lists of accomplishments.
I had no connection to any of it.

My brain was jumbled.

That was the moment I realized my complete ~~hate~~ disregard towards History.
(yes, I was a moody young girl and my feelings quickly swept from hatred to apathy)

I closed my book,
went to bed and
took an incomplete on my lesson the next morning.
No Joke.
Big fat ZERO.

And, now that I’ve written that all out,
It is almost sad to remember how much
I actually loathed History lessons.

I know better now.
I’ve actually become quite fond of History over the past few years,
Mostly from reading His-Story from an entirely different perspective,
but also out of a necessity to teach it to my own children.

I want my children to actually connect with the people and stories they read about.

This is one reason we will be using many living books
from our Heritage History Curriculum.

PSSST…..
If you are making a purchase at Heritage History use
coupon code: valerie7
It will give you the Spanish Empire Library FREE
with any Curriculum CD purchase! Ends 10/31/12Click Here for more details

So mostly I’ll be assigning these living books during independent reading time,
but for some of the titles I’ll be following up the reading time with
actual assignments. It is for those times that I made a set of Notebooking pages:

And of course I couldn’t wait to share them with you too!
If you use living books or any kind of chapter book as part of your weekly lessons,
you’re going to love this 5 day spread of self-guided notebooking assignments.

You can read all about each daily assignment and print the free notebooking pages here.

TIP: Print up an extra set and keep them in a folder
for one of those “mom is sick, everyone pick a book” moments.

Happy Notebooking!

Notebooking Cover Printables

July 16, 2012 By Valerie Mcclintick 3 Comments

It’s that time of year again.

Time to P.O.P

Plan. Organizie. Print.

And there is lots of POPing going on over here,
let me tell ya!

This year, because we’ll be using more notebooking techniques,
I’m really trying to get a jump start on all the organizing.

So you know what that means right….
Back-to-School Walmart Shuffle

You do these trips too right?

The ones where you literally
FILL your cart to the top with 50 cent crayons,
gluesticks, notebooks, and binders.

People are staring at you because
you’ve got the entire paper-products aisle in your basket,
And even though you have burried your toddler in school supplies,
you feel like a good mom because at least he’s finally sitting down.
Win-Win.

So yeah, I did the Walmart shuffle.

Armed with my new notebooking ideas, I snagged quite a few three-ring binders,
envisioning them neatly lined in a row.

Don’t you love when your “homeschool vision” comes true?

I even whipped up some Notebooking Covers for my children:

I think they turned out super cute,
so I figured I’d make a blank version to share with y’all:

Check out all 8 covers and binder labels here:
Free Notebooking Cover Printables

You can add in your children’s names at the top to customize them.

We’re mainly using these in our three-ring binders,
but they make great covers for bound notebooks as well.

Happy Notebooking!

Writing Notebook Printables

August 28, 2011 By Valerie Mcclintick 4 Comments

Oh, golly.

This is one of those posts that has been sitting in my “draft” box,
patiently waiting to be published.

It was meant for May.
(of 2011….so not too bad, but still)

Do you ever do that?
Get a post half finished then forget about it.
For months.

I do.
(obviously.)

However this time I think I lucked out,
because there is nothing Seasonal (i.e. Christmas in July)
about this post.

And it happens to be perfect timing for “Back to School”
so perhaps it was just meant to be.

I suppose I COULD delete this introduction and PRETEND that I planned it this way…..

But I guess what’s done is done, so without any further ado,
I present to you May’s post: TODAY~

Writing Notebook Printables:

I’ve been working (behind the scenes) on a writing notebook for Sissy.

Sissy is going into the 3rd grade this year, and writing is NOT her favorite subject.
(I’m sure she would say it a bit more eloquently, but you get the picture)

So to ~~trick~~ inspire my dear daughter into working on those NECESSARY
(and not something you’d want to cut from your school curriculum) skills, I came up with this Writing Notebook idea.

And I know, I’m re-inventing the wheel here,
but sometimes having just the right method for just the right child
can work AMAZING miracles.

The front of the notebook has a custom cover page,
(I made a boy or girl version you can snag too)

The back of the notebook has an editing marks sheet for reference.

Please know that these might not be PERFECT printables.
There might be a spelling error.
The font is kinda funny and
my grammar might be incorrect.
(I’m sure the police will point that out to me shortly)

But they are what they are and I’ll be using them to inspire my little girl this year,
(I’ve got high hopes!)

So far I’ve uploaded a printable writing guide that will take children through the
steps needed to write an Instructional Paper.

And if you jump over to the main website, you might notice
quite a few more titles that I’ve got in the works.
(please read that to mean: Whenever I get a spare second)
(and please read Spare Second to mean: When pigs fly)

Oh the plans of a homeschooler…….