The Carpet Boy's Gift
On Monday, I tried out 'narrative object-based inquiry', I love putting all these terms together, based on the book 'The Carpet Boy's Gift'. As we sat, we looked at the carpets around the house and wondered where they come from, who made them, how long they took, how they got to us, what they were made of and so on.
As the children's curiosity were piqued I took out the storybook and we discussed the cover, identifying and comparing and wondering what will unfold in the story. The story, about a boy who was sold off to a carpet factory in Pakistan and how he later escaped to go to school, was set in Pakistan.
The story of course provided the base for teaching the values of being thankful for what we have, for the opportunity to be children and most of all, the opportunity to learn; things I think some Singaporean children,even home-schooled ones, take for granted. The illustration in the book was also beautiful and provided the children with scenes of Pakistan that were new to them.
I was unwell on Tuesday though, and fell back on routine of course and written work. Luckily, my daughter was on a roll already doing her work and we managed to do spelling with the small movable alphabets, even if it was only three words. With Ihsan, I presented the symbols for all the parts of speech with a new twist; I used the rhyme below from ' i before e (except after c)' by Judy Parkinson and thereafter Ihsan labelled sentences with the symbols.
This one, by David B. Tower and Benjamin F. Tweed dates back to 1855-
Three little words you often see
Are articles: a, an and the
A noun's the name of anything.
As: school or garden, toy or swing.
Adjectives tell the kind of noun,
As: great, small, pretty, white or brown.
Verbs tell of something being done:
To read, write, count, sing, jump or run.
How things are done, the adverbs tell,
As: slowly, quickly, badly, well.
Conjunctions join the words together,
As: men and women, wind or weather.
The preposition stands before
A noun as: in or through a door.
The interjection shows surprise
As: 'Oh, how pretty!' or 'Ah, how wise!'
The whole are called the parts of speech,
Which reading, writing, speaking teach.
If you noticed; pronoun is missing in the rhyme above so I also read to Ihsan the anonymous one below:
Every name is called a noun,
As field and fountain, street and town.
In place of noun the pronoun stands,
As he and she can clap their hands
The adjective describes a thing,
As magic wand and bridal ring.
The verb means action, something done-
To read, to write, to jump, to run.
How things are done, the adverbs tell,
As quickly, slowly badly,well.
The preposition shows relation,
As in the street, or at the station.
Conjunction joins in many ways,
Sentences, words, or phrase and phrase.
The interjection cries out, 'Hark
I need an exclamation mark!'
Through poetry, we learn how each
Of these make up the Parts of Speech
It is important to stress on the part that the rhyme is trying to explain since is purely auditory unless you write it out on where the child can see it and can instead emphasis through colour or underlining. It would not be a good idea to use this as a first lesson on grammar as it will be too much to gather at one time, but you know your student best.
For younger children, you can also explore 'virtual' object based inquiry through the Backyardigan's cartoon 'The Tea Party' where they explored, what else, tea!It would help if your child have seen, touched and smelled tea of course.
As the children's curiosity were piqued I took out the storybook and we discussed the cover, identifying and comparing and wondering what will unfold in the story. The story, about a boy who was sold off to a carpet factory in Pakistan and how he later escaped to go to school, was set in Pakistan.
The story of course provided the base for teaching the values of being thankful for what we have, for the opportunity to be children and most of all, the opportunity to learn; things I think some Singaporean children,even home-schooled ones, take for granted. The illustration in the book was also beautiful and provided the children with scenes of Pakistan that were new to them.
I was unwell on Tuesday though, and fell back on routine of course and written work. Luckily, my daughter was on a roll already doing her work and we managed to do spelling with the small movable alphabets, even if it was only three words. With Ihsan, I presented the symbols for all the parts of speech with a new twist; I used the rhyme below from ' i before e (except after c)' by Judy Parkinson and thereafter Ihsan labelled sentences with the symbols.
This one, by David B. Tower and Benjamin F. Tweed dates back to 1855-
Three little words you often see
Are articles: a, an and the
A noun's the name of anything.
As: school or garden, toy or swing.
Adjectives tell the kind of noun,
As: great, small, pretty, white or brown.
Verbs tell of something being done:
To read, write, count, sing, jump or run.
How things are done, the adverbs tell,
As: slowly, quickly, badly, well.
Conjunctions join the words together,
As: men and women, wind or weather.
The preposition stands before
A noun as: in or through a door.
The interjection shows surprise
As: 'Oh, how pretty!' or 'Ah, how wise!'
The whole are called the parts of speech,
Which reading, writing, speaking teach.
If you noticed; pronoun is missing in the rhyme above so I also read to Ihsan the anonymous one below:
Every name is called a noun,
As field and fountain, street and town.
In place of noun the pronoun stands,
As he and she can clap their hands
The adjective describes a thing,
As magic wand and bridal ring.
The verb means action, something done-
To read, to write, to jump, to run.
How things are done, the adverbs tell,
As quickly, slowly badly,well.
The preposition shows relation,
As in the street, or at the station.
Conjunction joins in many ways,
Sentences, words, or phrase and phrase.
The interjection cries out, 'Hark
I need an exclamation mark!'
Through poetry, we learn how each
Of these make up the Parts of Speech
It is important to stress on the part that the rhyme is trying to explain since is purely auditory unless you write it out on where the child can see it and can instead emphasis through colour or underlining. It would not be a good idea to use this as a first lesson on grammar as it will be too much to gather at one time, but you know your student best.
For younger children, you can also explore 'virtual' object based inquiry through the Backyardigan's cartoon 'The Tea Party' where they explored, what else, tea!It would help if your child have seen, touched and smelled tea of course.
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