Serendipity

Lively Language Lessons - Collective Nouns

Collective Nouns

  We have identified nouns as a person, place, thing or idea, analyzed the difference between proper and common nouns  as well as those that are abstract and concrete, considered three types of compound, and how to make plural nouns.  Now we turn to collective nouns and for this study, Mrs. Heller offers another beautiful book for inspiration.  After reading the pages in Merry-Go-Round that address collective nouns, turn to A Cache of Jewels and read it in its entirety.  This book goes into great detail about the many different collective nouns in our language. A batch of bread, a cluster of grapes, and a bevy of beauties are just three of the many lovely examples given in this beautifully illustrated book.

  After reading, ask your child to make a collective noun page in his Main Lesson Book.  Perhaps he will be able to come up with examples of collective nouns on his own.  If not, A Cache of Jewels is full of wonderful examples.

   On another day use your child's written narrations or writing assignments for analysis.  Review previous grammatical concepts by asking her to highlight all concrete nouns in one color and challenge her to use a collective noun in each paragraph, highlighting them in a different color.  We have found that the children's narrations from the books we are reading throughout the week work well for this grammar exercise.  An older child who is independently writing his narrations will benefit from analyzing his work.  If your child is only narrating orally, type her narration at the keyboard and print it out to analyze together.  Here is an example of Peter's oral narration of Elsa Beskow's The Sun Egg. You can click on the image to enlarge it and you will find that Peter circled the nouns in blue (pronouns were not discussed at this point) and colored in proper nouns in purple. 

    On the last page of A Cache of Jewels, the author explains that one collective noun can describe many groups and offers the examples of a host of angels, a host of monks, a host of thoughts, etc...  Ask your child to think of one collective noun that can describe many groups and make another page in her Main Lesson Book. 

    Mrs. Heller goes on to explain that one group can be described by more than one collective noun.  She offers the examples of a gam of whales, a mob of whales, a pod of whales, etc...  Ask your child to think of one group that can be described by many different collective nouns and add one last collective noun page to the Main Lesson Book. 

Lively Language Lessons - Nouns

For the next few weeks we will begin our long term study of language with a focus on nouns.  Using Heller's beautifully illustrated picture book Merry-G0-Round: A Book About Nouns, we will spend time each week reading about this important part of speech within the context of enjoying beautifully illustrated and well-written verse.

#1 What is a Noun?

Nouns name a person, place or thing...
a damsel, a forest, a dragon, a king.
These NOUNS are COMMON, and they're very nice,
but PROPER NOUNS are more precise.

The children should make pages in their Language Main Lesson Book as they creatively come up with their own examples of a person, place, thing or idea. These examples should be illustrated and will offer the foundational information for the study that lies ahead.

#2 Proper and Common Nouns

Talk about the differences between a common and proper noun.  (Common nouns name any person, place or thing and are not capitalized, while proper nouns name a specific person, place, or thing and are capitalized.)  Have your child make a page illustrating common and proper nouns in his Language Main Lesson Book. In your child's writing this week, ask him to identify the common and proper nouns used in the composition.  Ask your child to highlight every common noun in his composition with a yellow highlighter and every proper noun with a blue highlighter.  Ask him to check his writing and make sure that every word that is highlighted in blue is capitalized.

A younger child who is not yet working on formal writing can spend the week creating both a common noun and proper noun page in the Main Lesson Book.

Offered here as a sample, Peter created a fairy tale-themed page about common nouns while

Stephen used a soccer theme to demonstrate proper nouns.

#3 Abstract and Concrete Nouns

Concrete nouns refer to a definite object which one can observe with at least one of the five senses, while abstract nouns refer to ideas or concepts.  With your young child you can play a game referring to the five senses to distinguish the type of noun.  Can I see it?  Can I hear it?  Can I feel it with my hands?  Can I taste it?  Can I smell it?  If the answer is yes to one or more of these questions, then the noun is concrete.  If not, then it is an abstract noun. 

Continue the discussion by asking your child to identify common and abstract nouns in her writing.  Use two colors of highlighters (on paper or in a computer program) and have your child mark all concrete nouns in one color and all abstract nouns in the second color.  A young child who does not have writing samples to analyze can spend a few days making both a concrete noun page and an abstract noun page. 

 

#4 Compound Nouns

There are three different types of compound nouns:

combined compound nouns, separated compound nouns and hyphenated compound nouns. 

Discuss the different forms with your child and ask him to create a compound noun page in his Main Lesson Book illustrating and labeling each form. 

 

Ask your child to make compound word pictures as another opportunity to reinforce this topic.  For example, a picture of a cup plus a picture of a cake equals the word cupcake.  These fun drawings can be added to another page in the Main Lesson Book.

This week we're recommending a few sources for compound word matching cards. Alison's Montessori's Compound Word Match Up and Montessori for Everyone's Compound Matching set are both available for download at a reasonable price. For a free download, you can make use of Montessori Materials' Compound Word and Compound Word Puzzle cards. These cards should be printed on card stock and, if you would like, laminated before cutting for added durability. 

 

#5 Singular and Plural Nouns

RULE #1
Add -s to end of noun.

Ask your child to make a page in her main lesson book by dividing one page into four rectangles. We will be using this one page for four different days.  The first rectangle in the top, left corner should be labeled "Add -s."  In this rectangle ask your child to illustrate and label nouns that follow the rule of adding -s to the ending.

RULE #2
Add -es to nouns ending in -s, -z, -ch, -sh, and -x.

Label the second rectangle in the top, right corner of the main lesson book page with the title "Add -es" and ask your child to use a variety of nouns with these five different endings to demonstrate this singular-plural rule. 

RULE #3
If a noun ends in -y, drop the -y and change to an -i and then add -es.

Go back to the main lesson book page and direct your child to label the bottom, left rectangle with this rule.  Next, illustrate and label examples of this rule underneath the title.

RULE #4
If a noun ends in -f or -fe, change the -f to a -v and add -es.

The last rectangle on the main lesson book page should be labeled with this rule.  Merry-Go-Round offers an example of this rule.  Ask your child to come up with others and add them to this last space on the page.

Now that we've introduced and considered the first four rules for making singular nouns plural, use your child's writing for analysis.  You can use a written narration, an oral narration that you have recorded at the keyboard or any other writing assignment for this purpose.  Using four different colored pens or pencils, ask your child to analyze her writing by underlining an example of Rule #1 in red, Rule #2 in blue, Rule #3 in green and Rule #4 in purple.  As an additional challenge, ask your child to circle any collective nouns in a fifth color.  The color of the pens or pencils isn't so much important as the effect of marking the different rules with different colors.  If you are doing this exercise with a younger child you will want to analyze the writing sample with your child.

Alison's Montessori sells a PDF of Singular-Plural matching cards that cover 11 different rules.  These cards will be a great help in reinforcing this topic as well as offering a fun and easy way to review in later weeks

Lively Language Lessons - Introduction

Is it possible to come up with a plan to present the rules and forms of our language (grammar) to a child without turning the study of language into a dry and boring chore?  Is there a way to present the parts of language while continuing to foster an appreciation for the beauty of the whole? 

Language is a most beautiful expression of the human person. Our ability to communicate from the depths of the heart was lost after the Fall and the invention of the written and spoken word is an outward expression of our deepest desire to be in communion with one another.   Language is the tool by which we share ourselves, our deepest thoughts and innermost feelings with others.  How quickly the discovery of this beautiful tool is turned into a task for many children.

In designing a language main lesson for our children, we wanted to preserve the beauty of the whole as we processed through the parts.  Exposure to well-written literature is the primary and most essential ingredient in teaching language to children, but at some point the whole must be dissected and the parts must be identified and understood.  After recently discovering Ruth Heller's World of Language series, we've designed a main lesson block that will concentrate on the parts of speech, rhythmically weaving each part into the fabric of our children's curriculum. 

For the next few weeks we will begin our long term study of language with a focus on nouns.  Using Heller's beautifully illustrated picture book Merry-Go-Round: A Book About Nouns as well as her companion book A Cache of Jewels and Other Collective Nouns, we will spend time each week reading about this important part of speech within the context of enjoying beautifully illustrated and well-written verse. 

In planning this unit it was important that the needs of all our children were met.  We wanted something that would offer each child exactly what he or she needed at the time.  Whether it was an introduction for the youngest children or a review for the older ones, we found that Heller's books offer the correct amount of grammatical food for each child within the framework of one cozy family read-aloud.

Using their imagination and expressing these abstract concepts creatively, the older children are left with the work of incorporating the understanding of language into their own writing.  Whereas the young child is prompted to identify the particular element of language in the world around him, the older child is given the instruction to identify this part of speech in the weekly writing assignment. 

As part of Along the Alphabet Path, our older children are writing fairy tales along with other written narrations.  As they try their hand at this literary genre, we have asked them to highlight the part of speech we are studying each week throughout their weekly rough draft.   

The plans will change a bit each week as we continue to uncover the mystery of our language.  Of course, those plans will be posted here and main lesson book samples will be kept in a sidebar album. As we cycle through the World of Language we will cover nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, interjections, and conjunctions.  And while these richly illustrated books may appear at first sight to be a simple series of picture books, the amount of grammar dealt with in their pages is surprisingly advanced.

Lively Language Lessons: Adjectives

For these lessons, we'll use Many Luscious Lollipops by Ruth Heller. This bright, colorful book is an amazingly thorough coverage of verbs. Following is a step-by-step outline of the topics covered. I'll (try to) upload pictures of children's main lesson books for each topic as they are completed.
#1 What is an adjective?An adjective is a word that describes a person, place, thing, or idea. Adjectives describe nouns. They tell us what kind, how many, or which one. after studying the first four 2-page spreads, create a main lesson page that shows at least four different nouns described by at least two adjectives each.

#2 Non-specific adjectives give a vague idea of certain characteristics. When discussing these pages, make a point to talk about how much more information a specific adjective would be when trying to describe something in writing or speech.As a rule, be careful not use adjectives that really don't have much to say in the first place. Create a main lesson page with "some, few, and many"--see how vague these words are?

#3 Specific adjectives paint a much clearer picture. Brainstorm a list of specific adjectives. Using that list, make a new main lesson book page with specific adjectives and the nouns they describe.

#4 It makes no difference how many adjectives you use to describe a noun if you put them all before the noun. When you put them after the noun, you  need to use two or more. This two-page spread (with the umbrellas) is a good opportunity to discuss how to punctuate a series of adjectives as well. To use commas or not, that is the question!

If the adjectives are coordinate, you use commas between them. If the adjectives are noncoordinate, no commas are necessary. Here's how to tell the difference.

Coordinate adjectives can pass one of two tests. When you rearrange their location in the series or when you insert and between them, they still make sense. Look at the following example:

The fresh, crisp, juicy peaches tasted like summer sunshine.

Now read this revision:

The crisp, juicy, fresh, delicious, peaches tasted like summer sunshine.

The series of adjectives still makes sense even though the order has changed. And if you insert and between the adjectives, you still have a sound sentence:

The fresh and crisp and juicy peaches tasted like summer sunshine.

Noncoordinate adjectives do not make sense when you rearrange their location in the series or when you insert and between them:

Patrick picked two plump peaches from the highest branch.

If you switch the order of the adjectives, the sentence becomes nonsense:

Patrick picked plump two peaches from the highest branch.

Also, you cannot insert and between the two adjectives:

Patrick picked two and plump peaches from the highest branch.

Children who are able, should make a page showing sentences with both coordinate and non coordinate adjectives. younger children should make a page with nouns described by a series of adjectives.

#5 Some adjectives come after "to be" verbs. These are predicate adjectives. This main lesson page will show examples of sentences with predicate adjectives.

#6 Some adjectives ask about the characteristics of a noun. For the page with the puzzle of the parrots, construct your own sentences that are questions that specifically ask about the noun, using adjectives.

#7 The demonstrative adjectives this, these,that,those, and what are used as adjectives to modify nouns or noun phrases, as in the following     sentence:

When Katie climbed that tree, she went up too far and needed help to climb back to the ground.

For this page of the main lesson book, write and illustrate one sentence for each of the demonstrative adjectives shown above.

#8 Possessives are very straightforward: they show whose.Create a page of sentences with possessive adjectives.

#9 An article is a kind of adjective. The words a and an are indefinite articles because the noun that goes with them is general. The word the is the definite article and describes a specific thing. Use a before nouns which don't begin with vowels and an before vowels which do begin with vowels. Create a page with three sentences using each of the three articles.

#10Proper adjectives take a capital letter, just like the proper nouns from which they came.

#11Adjectives can be created from nouns or verbs by using inflected suffixes: hopeful, trustworthy, villainous mountainous, renewable, dangerous, breakable, truthful. how many more can you brainstorm? Using your list and the adjectives in the book, create at least four pictures and sentences to illustrate created adjectives.

#12 Some adjectives compare two nouns.Notice that the word than frequently accompanies the comparative. The inflected suffix -er  forms most comparatives out of one syllable adjectives (smaller) , although we need -ier  when a two-syllable adjective ends in y (curlier); otherwise we use more  when an adjective has more than one syllable. Make a page comparing four sets of two things each.

#13Some adjectives compare three or more nouns. These are superlative adjectives. The word the precedes the superlative. The inflected suffix -est forms most superlatives, although we need -iest when a two-syllable adjective ends in y (curliest); otherwise we use most when an adjective has more than one syllable. make a page comparing three sets of three things each.

#14 When making a comparison between quantities we choose between the words fewer and less.  Generally, when we're talking about countable things, we use the word fewer; when we're talking about measurable quantities that we cannot count, we use the word less. Next time you are at the grocery store, notice the grammatical error at the Express Lane. It's NOT supposed to be ten items or less;-)! This is one of my pet peeves, but it's admittedly tricky. Less means 'not as much'. Fewer means 'not as many'.

A shower takes less water than a bath, so take fewer baths and more showers.

This can be tricky when referring to quantities. For example, we say less   than four months, not fewer than four months, because we are not referring   to four individual months, but to a single period of time which lasts four months.Make one page using the word fewer correctly--with countable items. Make another page for less--quantities that can't be counted. Be on the lookout for all the places mistakes are commonly made. Start with the checkout lane.

#15 The end of the book deals with irregulars. Pay close attention. Go through them slowly and make sentences and pictures demonstrating correct usage for all of them.

Make color-coded sentence diagrams with nouns, verbs, and adjectives.

Lively Language Lessons: Verbs

For these lessons, we'll use Kites Sail High by Ruth Heller. This bright, colorful book is an amazingly thorough coverage of verbs. Following is a step-by-step outline of the topics covered. I'll upload pictures of children's main lesson books for each topic as they are completed.

#1 What is a verb? In Language of God, Level E, Christine Schintgen defines a verb as "the action word and the key word of the sentence. The verb gives meaning and focus to all the other words in the sentence...You might even say that the verb is like the 'soul' of the sentence; just as the soul animates the body, so the verb gives life and form to the sentence. If the verb is missing, the sentence is dead." I really think this is the finest definition of a part of speech I've ever read. I keep applying the definition in different situations and it always works. For this lesson, the children used pictures of  simple verbs in their books.

#2 Vigorous Verbs: These are verbs of lively action. Sometimes they even sound a bit like their meanings. We had a good time brainstorming words to illustrate the concept of "vigorous verbs."Most obvious are verbs of activity: play, speak, run,  read, swim, stretch, sing, kick, jump, and drive. Verbs which indicate a change of state are vigorous verbs: become, change, strengthen, ripen,grow, deteriorate, die, go, come, fall.  Also include verbs of sensation: hurt, ache, sting, smart, itch.    

#3 Verbs of less action: These are the quiet verbs. For example, there are verbs of cognition: forget, know, perceive, prefer,remember, want, understand. These verbs have less to do with action since they involve mental  processes. Also consider verbs of perception:feel, hear,see, smell, taste . There are verbs of relation: consist of, own, have, seem, resemble.   

#4 Linking Verbs: these are the verbs of being. We focus on verbs that express the simple action of being or becoming.

#5 Helping or auxiliary verbs: These link to other verbs. Here is a helpful little story to cue memorizing helping verbs.

#6 Irregular past tenses: Most verbs change their tenses by adding "-ed." But some do not. Some verbs don't change at all (i.e. "cut"). Some verbs change their vowels (get-got). Some verbs change completely (catch becomes caught). The three most important irregular verbs are be, have and do.Be takes on different forms depending on the subject.
I was
you were
he/she/it was
we were
they were

Have becomes had and do becomes did. A chart of the common irregular verbs should be completed and memorized. Here is an online exercise.

#7 Regular past tenses: These should be a breeze after lesson #6:-)

#8 The imperative mood: In this mood, verbs make a request or give a command. Often, the subject is dropped.

#9 Indicative mood: This is the way verbs are usually used in English. They state a fact or ask a question. Write and illustrate some "regular ol' verb" sentences.

#10  Subjunctive mood: A verb is in the subjunctive mood when it expresses emotion, wishing, doubt, or fiction. It is most often found in a clause beginning with the word if. The subjunctive mood is expressed in clauses expressing a doubt, a wish a regret, a proposal, or a demand. The following words usually are followed by the subjunctive. Create sentences and pictures for each of them: ask, demand, determine, insist, move, order, pray, prefer, recommend, regret, request, require, suggest, and wish.
REALLY IMPORTANT NOTE: The subjunctive mood of the verb to be is be in the present tense and were in the past tense, regardless of what the subject is.

#11 The voice of the  verb: The passive voice of a verb means the form of the verb used when the subject is being acted upon rather than doing something. The active voice of a verb simply means the form of the verb used when the subject is the doer of the action. When writing, it is usually best to use the active voice because it is clearer and more direct. Practice writing sentences in both voices. Pay particular attention to voice in narrations this week and change some passive sentences to active ones.

#12 There is a two-page spread of lots of verbs in  sentence on near the end of the book. Create your own two page spread of an illustrated sentence with lots of verbs.

#13  Make a chart of verb contractions.  Practice with Montessori Lori.

Nouns: Lesson Five

Singular and Plural Nouns

Our study of nouns continues this week by introducing the first four rules for changing singular nouns into plural.  There are a series of pages in Merry-Go-Round that address this topic.  Read these pages to your child, one day per each rule.  Alison's Montessori sells a PDF of Singular-Plural matching cards that cover 11 different rules.  These cards will be a great help in reinforcing this topic as well as offering a fun and easy way to review in later weeks.

On the first day read the pages in Merry-Go-Round that demonstrate that some nouns are made plural by simply adding an -s to the ending.  Ask your child to make a page in her main lesson book by dividing one page into four rectangles. We will be using this one page for four different days.  The first rectangle in the top, left corner should be labeled "Add -s."  In this rectangle ask your child to illustrate and label nouns that follow the rule of adding -s to the ending.

On the second day read the pages in Merry-Go-Round that address the rule that nouns ending in s, z, ch, sh and x are made plural by adding -es to the ending.  Label the second rectangle in the top, right corner of the main lesson book page with the title "Add -es" and ask your child to use a variety of nouns with these five different endings to demonstrate this singular-plural rule. 

The next rule taken up in Merry-Go-Round is, "If a noun ends in -y, drop the -y and change to an -i and then add -es."  After reading these pages, go back to the main lesson book page and direct your child to label the bottom, left rectangle with this rule.  Next, illustrate and label examples of this rule underneath the title.

On a fourth day, discuss the rule "If a noun ends in -f or -fe, change the -f to a -v and add -es."  The last rectangle on the main lesson book page should be labeled with this rule.  Merry-Go-Round offers an example of this rule.  Ask your child to come up with others and add them to this last space on the page.

Now that we've introduced and considered the first four rules for making singular nouns plural, use your child's writing for analysis.  You can use a written narration, an oral narration that you have recorded at the keyboard or any other writing assignment for this purpose.  Using four different colored pens or pencils, ask your child to analyze her writing by underlining an example of Rule #1 in red, Rule #2 in blue, Rule #3 in green and Rule #4 in purple.  As an additional challenge, ask your child to circle any collective nouns in a fifth color.  The color of the pens or pencils isn't so much important as the effect of marking the different rules with different colors.  If you are doing this exercise with a younger child you will want to analyze the writing sample with your child.

RULE #1
Add -s to end of noun.

RULE #2
Add -es to nouns ending in -s, -z, -ch, -sh, and -x.

RULE #3
If a noun ends in -y, drop the -y and change to an -i and then add -es.

RULE #4
If a noun ends in -f or -fe, change the -f to a -v and add -es. 

We will continue our study of nouns with additional singular-plural rules in January.  Until then, spend time reviewing what we've learned in these five language lessons and allow the material an opportunity to settle in the mind of your child.  If your child continues to work on writing assignments and/or narrations during the break, ask him to analyze them.  Use the compound noun and singular-plural noun matching card kits for review during these weeks as well. 

Nouns: Lesson Four

Collective Nouns

    In these four weeks we have identified nouns as a person, place, thing or idea, analyzed the difference between proper and common nouns as well as those that are abstract and concrete, and considered three types of compound nouns.  This week we turn to collective nouns and for this study, Mrs. Heller offers another beautiful book for inspiration.  After reading the pages in Merry-Go-Round that address collective nouns, turn to A Cache of Jewels and read it in its entirety.  This book goes into great detail about the many different collective nouns in our language. A batch of bread, a cluster of grapes, and a bevy of beauties are just three of the many lovely examples given in this beautifully illustrated book.

    After reading, ask your child to make a collective noun page in his Main Lesson Book.  Perhaps he will be able to come up with examples of collective nouns on his own.  If not, A Cache of Jewels is full of wonderful examples.

     On another day use your child's written narrations or writing assignments for analysis.  Review previous grammatical concepts by asking her to highlight all concrete nouns in one color and challenge her to use a collective noun in each paragraph, highlighting them in a different color.  We have found that the children's narrations from the books we are reading throughout the week work well for this grammar exercise.  An older child who is independently writing his narrations will benefit from analyzing his work.  If your child is only narrating orally, type her narration at the keyboard and print it out to analyze together.  Here is an example of Peter's oral narration of Elsa Beskow's The Sun Egg. You can click on the image to enlarge it and you will find that Peter circled the nouns in blue (pronouns were not discussed at this point) and colored in proper nouns in purple. 

    On the last page of A Cache of Jewels, the author explains that one collective noun can describe many groups and offers the examples of a host of angels, a host of monks, a host of thoughts, etc...  Ask your child to think of one collective noun that can describe many groups and make another page in her Main Lesson Book. 

    Mrs. Heller goes on to explain that one group can be described by more than one collective noun.  She offers the examples of a gam of whales, a mob of whales, a pod of whales, etc...  Ask your child to think of one group that can be described by many different collective nouns and add one last collective noun page to the Main Lesson Book. 

Up next week?  Singular and Plural Nouns and a host of ways to make them. 

Nouns: Lesson Three

Compound Nouns

This week our focus is on compound nouns. But before you introduce this new topic, spend some time with your child and go through his or her Main Lesson Book.  Review the previous topics from the last two weeks.  Move at your child's pace.  The goal is for them to comprehend the material and not to simply cover it. 

If your child is ready to move on, read the pages in Merry-Go-Round that address compound nouns.  The author points out three different types: combined compound nouns, separated compound nouns and hyphenated compound nouns.  Discuss the different forms with your child and ask him to create a compound noun page in his Main Lesson Book illustrating and labeling each form. 

This week we're recommending a few sources for compound word matching cards.  Alison's Montessori's Compound Word Match Up and Montessori for Everyone's Compound Matching set are both available for download at a reasonable price. For a free download, you can make use of Montessori Materials' Compound Word and Compound Word Puzzle cards.  These cards should be printed on card stock and, if you would like, laminated before cutting for added durability. 

Use your children's written narrations, copywork or other writing assignments as an opportunity for analysis.  Rather than only concentrating on compound nouns this week, review previous topics by asking your child to highlight the proper and concrete nouns in two different colors in one writing sample and common and abstract in another.  Challenge your child to use compound words in her writing. 

Ask your child to make compound word pictures as another opportunity to reinforce this topic.  For example, a picture of a cup plus a picture of a cake equals the word cupcake.  These fun drawings can be added to another page in the Main Lesson Book.

Next week we will be discussing collective nouns and will be reading from both Merry-Go-Round and A Cache of Jewels.  If you have not purchased or borrowed this book from your library, you may want to acquire it now. 

Nouns: Lesson Two

Proper and Common Nouns
Abstract and Concrete Nouns

This week we continue our in-depth study of nouns.  Last week we focused on nouns in a general sense and this week we begin focusing on different types of nouns.  These lesson plans are offered as an overview and source of ideas.  Only you, the parent, will know what is appropriate  and beneficial for your child. 

If your young child has not yet mastered the concept of a noun as a person, place, thing or idea, do not move on to the next concept.  Move at your child's pace.  A child who is having trouble grasping this concept may benefit from spending a few weeks on the introduction.  One week one could be focused on nouns as the names of persons, while week two could be focused on nouns as the names of things, etc... When this concept is understood, then come back to this post and continue. (The entire series of posts in this main lesson is archived in chronological order in the Lively Language Lessons page on the right sidebar.)

If your child is ready to move on, the next concept introduced in Merry-Go-Round is the distinction between common and proper nouns.  Read the pages in the book that address this concept.  Talk about the differences between a common and proper noun.  (Common nouns name any person, place or thing and are not capitalized, while proper nouns name a specific person, place, or thing and are capitalized.)

Have your child make a page illustrating common and proper nouns in his Language Main Lesson Book. In your child's writing this week, ask him to identify the common and proper nouns used in the composition.  It does not matter whether your child is using copy work for writing practice or written narrations or even another writing program.  Use this opportunity to incorporate grammar lessons into the natural process of writing.  Ask your child to highlight every common noun in his composition with a yellow highlighter and every proper noun with a blue highlighter.  Ask him to check his writing and make sure that every word that is highlighted in blue is capitalized.  (The colors really don't matter so long as two colors are used to distinguish between the two types of nouns.) Another option is to ask your child to type his composition in a program such as Word and highlight the different nouns in two different colors by using the highlight function built into the program.

A younger child who is not yet working on formal writing can spend the week creating both a common noun and proper noun page in the Main Lesson Book.  Offered here as a sample, Peter created a fairy tale-themed page about common nouns while Stephen used a soccer theme to demonstrate proper nouns. 

The older children can move on to the concept of abstract and concrete nouns later in the week.  (Consider saving this concept for a younger child until next week.) Read the pages in Merry-Go-Round that address abstract and concrete nouns.  Discuss the distinction between the two noun forms. (Concrete nouns refer to a definite object which one can observe with at least one of the five senses, while abstract nouns refer to ideas or concepts.)  With your young child you can play a game referring to the five senses to distinguish the type of noun.  Can I see it?  Can I hear it?  Can I feel it with my hands?  Can I taste it?  Can I smell it?  If the answer is yes to one or more of these questions, then the noun is concrete.  If not, then it is an abstract noun. 

Continue the discussion by asking your child to identify common and abstract nouns in her writing.  Use two colors of highlighters (on paper or in a computer program) and have your child mark all concrete nouns in one color and all abstract nouns in the second color.  A young child who does not have writing samples to analyze can spend a few days making both a concrete noun page and an abstract noun page. 

Main Lesson Book samples will continue to be uploaded in the Lively Language Lesson album on the left sidebar.  You can check back during the week for more ideas.

Lively Language Lessons

Is it possible to come up with a plan to present the rules and forms of our language (grammar) to a child without turning the study of language into a dry and boring chore?  Is there a way to present the parts of language while continuing to foster an appreciation for the beauty of the whole? 

Language is a most beautiful expression of the human person. Our ability to communicate from the depths of the heart was lost after the Fall and the invention of the written and spoken word is an outward expression of our deepest desire to be in communion with one another.   Language is the tool by which we share ourselves, our deepest thoughts and innermost feelings with others.  How quickly the discovery of this beautiful tool is turned into a task for many children.

In designing a language main lesson for our children, we wanted to preserve the beauty of the whole as we processed through the parts.  Exposure to well-written literature is the primary and most essential ingredient in teaching language to children, but at some point the whole must be dissected and the parts must be identified and understood.  After recently discovering Ruth Heller's World of Language series, we've designed a main lesson block that will concentrate on the parts of speech, rhythmically weaving each part into the fabric of our children's curriculum. 

For the next few weeks we will begin our long term study of language with a focus on nouns.  Using Heller's beautifully illustrated picture book Merry-G0-Round:  A Book About Nouns as well as her companion book A Cache of Jewels and Other Collective Nouns, we will spend time each week reading about this important part of speech within the context of enjoying beautifully illustrated and well-written verse. 

Nouns name a person, place or thing...
a damsel, a forest, a dragon,  a king.
These NOUNS are COMMON, and they're very nice,
but PROPER NOUNS are more precise.

Merry-Go-Round expands upon this very basic introduction by going into greater and greater detail as the musical language continues.  In this 8-week unit we will cover:

• common and proper nouns
• abstract and concrete nouns
• compound nouns
• collective nouns
• 7 rules for changing singular into plural nouns
• possessive nouns
• determiners (including number, articles and possessives)

In planning this unit it was important that the needs of all our children were met.  We wanted something that would offer each child exactly what he or she needed at the time.  Whether it was an introduction for the youngest children or a review for the older ones, we found that Heller's books offer the correct amount of grammatical food for each child within the framework of one cozy family read-aloud.

Each week we will concentrate on one of the topics listed above.  We began by reading Merry-Go-Round in its entirety, giving each child a basic overview of the concepts to be explored in the following weeks.  The next day we reviewed the first concept introduced in the book, A Noun is a person, place, thing or idea.  The children made pages in their Language Main Lesson Book as they creatively came up with their own examples of a person, place, thing or idea. These examples were illustrate and offer the foundational information for the study that lies ahead. 

The younger children will stop here for the week.  A few times a week we'll go back and revisit their artwork in the Main Lesson Book.  And as we casually point out the people, places, things and ideas all around us, the younger children will soon begin to realize that this very abstract concept describes a reality that surrounds them.  Pretty soon identifying the nouns in our world becomes a game for a young child.  This introduction lays a foundation for later years of study.  Some young children will be ready and able to use the verses of this book  for copy work, which is an excellent tool in teaching a child correct form and usage. The poetic language also lends well to memory work and the natural melody of the verse offers the child something to learn by heart.

After using their imagination and expressing these abstract concepts creatively, the older children are left with the work of incorporating the understanding of language into their own writing.  Whereas the young child is prompted to identify the particular element of language in the world around him, the older child is given the instruction to identify this part of speech in the weekly writing assignment. 

As part of Along the Alphabet Path, our older children are writing fairy tales along with other written narrations.  As they try their hand at this literary genre, we have asked them to highlight the part of speech we are studying each week throughout their weekly rough draft.  This week, as our children are writing their tales of The Fox and the Horse, they are also identifying the nouns that fill the pages of their own re-tellings.  Each week, as we concentrate on a different type of noun, we will either ask them to identify that particular form in their own writing or require that they use them in their writing assignment.

The plans will change a bit each week as we continue to uncover the mystery of our language.  Of course, those plans will be posted here and main lesson book samples will be kept in a sidebar album.  As we cycle through the World of Language we will cover nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, prepositions, interjections, and conjunctions.  And while these richly illustrated books may appear at first sight to be a simple series of picture books, the amount of grammar dealt with in their pages is surprisingly advanced.