What Makes a Fish a Fish?

We got a fun DVD to review that is part of a series called Dive Into Your Imagination. 


The DVD we got was  What Makes a Fish a Fish?



I let A-man pick which one from the series that we wanted to watch, because he is in the targeted age range of 1st through 3rd grades, and, he is the most obsessed with under water things. 

Well, okay, not "things".....just sharks.

The other titles available in this series are:

Who Lives In The Sea?
Dive Into Diversity

These movies were filmed and narrated by Annie Crawley.  Annie has been an underwater photographer, dive instructor and boat captain for more than 15 years.  There is a lot more to her than those few descriptive words and she is available for speaking engagements.  Go take a look around her website and see everything she has done.  It is pretty impressive.

The DVD is fun to just watch, because it is amazing at what lives under the sea.......makes me think of Sebastian.....

Just look at the world around you
Right here on the ocean floor

Such wonderful things surround you
What more are you looking for

Under the sea, under the sea
Darlin’ it’s better
Down where it’s wetter,
Take it from me

Up on the shore they work all day
Out in the sun they slave away

While we devotin’
Full time to floatin’
Under the sea

 
      (Courtesy of Disney and The Little Mermaid)

Like I said, the DVDs are fun to watch.  Fascinating.  Beautiful.  Creepy sometimes.

But, this being a homeschool family, we have to take things a bit further and do some learning along with our watching.

That is why it was so great that an Educator's Guide came along with the DVD.  Although, I will admit, much of it is geared toward an actual classroom setting....I am used to adapting things for use at home, so it wasn't a big issue for me.

And, let me tell you, they packed the learning opportunities in like sardines!

Before I tell you about those, let me start with Ocean Annie's (aka Annie Crawley) golden rule of scuba diving and of life:

“If you get excited, remember to:

 Stop, Think, Breathe slowly and then Act!"

Isn't that awesome advice? It is actually quite useful to this mother of six.....everyday.


So, the Educator's Guide says this....

It is our goal that you use the ocean to engage your students to learn English,

Science, Geography, Communication Skills, Math and Character Education.



Honestly, when I read that, I thought, um, yeah, right....we are going to be able to teach all of that from watching fish.  (Insert sarcastic tone above, as necessary)


But, you know what?  I was surprised.  They actually did and it made sense.


Did you know that Scuba divers use math and physics to calculate dive time and depth limits?


I know.  Once you hear it, it makes total sense.


(Sort of like when I learned that Rainman was a meteorologist.....for an airline.  Never thought about airlines needing weatherman before....but once I heard it....it made total sense.)


The DVD is arrange in chapters, each chapter has a corresponding lesson in the Educator's Guide. You are supposed to watch one chapter of the DVD and then work through the activities.  Rebels that we are, we watched the whole thing first (it was just too fascinating)....then we went back and did each chapter and its activities. 

Each unit in the guide provides several learning station activities, they suggest choosing 2-3 of them for use at a time.  By several....they mean....a lot.  Really.  Just choose a couple.

There is one thing that I thought was kind of cool in the Educator's Guide, that I had never seen available before with other DVDs......

The text/transcript from the DVD is provided so you can select words or review content as needed for use with your kids.  They suggest that you could even have them practice reading the script and then create their own story based on the script.

Love their disclaimer too:

Please note that a script for a DVD is not necessarily grammatically correct, if reviewing from a language/literacy point of view.  Scripts are created so they sound correct to the listener.

Isn't that funny?  Maybe just to a homeschooler.  I don't think most people think that way.  Most people would just watch the movie....not try to use it to teach language and literacy!

Back to the learning activities you can do with the DVD.  There are simple options, like coloring pages and identifying what makes a fish a fish or things like word scrambles and seek and find. 


But, there are things sprinkled in that older students would enjoy and learn from too.  They can write about where in the ocean their fish might live: cold or warm water; a coral reef or kelp forest; deep water or shallow.....you get the idea.  Or, the one I would like to try.... Bioremediation Observations on methods used to clean up an oil spill (that you create in a bowl for them).

There are fun math activities - like using rainbow colored gold fish....separating them....then counting them....then adding purple plus yellow fish, purple plus yellow plus orange.....plus lots of word problems relating to the world beneath the sea.

Each unit chapter has the usual stuff, overview, general concepts, vocabulary words to know, discussion questions....but it also has a character development word that the lesson focuses on:

CREATE.....ADAPT.....UNIQUE.....PATIENCE......CLEAN AND HEALTHY.....COURAGE....GRATITUDE....SELF EXPRESSION

Seriously, they relate every single one of those character traits to what is going on in the DVD.  Really.

There is also section in each chapter on "Ocean Annies How to Help Our Environment"....with suggestions for projects you can do to help the environment.  More information is available at Save Our Seas. 

If you have a future deep sea diver living in your midst, you can even give them a head start on some of the basics, because there is a whole section at the end of the guide where they cover Scuba basics....hand signals....being with a buddy...the equipment needed and what it does....

Oh, and for you moms that are like me out there.  There is a teacher key included that has the answers to all the activity questions.


You can get a copy of What Makes a Fish a Fish? for $19.95

The Educator's Guide will soon be available for purchase ($69.95 for individual guides or $299 for the complete set of guides for all the DVDs).

Buuuuutttttt......right now, blog readers and followers of The Old Schoolhouse or The Homeschool Crew can receive the educator guides free with the purchase of the DVDs. Just mention that you are a homeschool parent when you order the DVDs!

So? What does make a fish a fish?

I am so glad you asked....because I know the answer now!

In order to be a fish, an animal must live primarily in the water, be a vertebrate (with a skeleton), use gills to breathe, have fins for propulsion....and a mouth.

I know.

Never thought about making sure it had a mouth before.

Take a look and see what other TOS crew members thought of Dive Into Your Imagination DVDs.



Disclaimer:  I received a copy of What Makes a Fish a Fish? and the download for the Educator's Guide for free in exchange for an honest review.

Write Shop

I haven't really used a full ("real") writing curriculum for any of my younger kids.  We have just kind of done the few writing assignments that are included in their regular language arts curriculum and then we usually add in a book report or something here and there.....but with no real plan.

I wanted to try an actual writing program to see what would happen.  Then, maybe when they got old and were assigned bigger writing programs, they wouldn't have the deer in the headlights kind of reaction for the first few times.

We got the chance to review a program called WriteShop an incremental writing curriculum that can be used from K - 12.

We used Write Shop Junior Book D, designed for 3rd and 4th grades. 



L-girl, who is in 4th grade, and I worked through this together.  This is definitely a program that you work through with your child....not an independent resource.

I started with the Teacher's Guide and confirmed that I had chosen the correct level for L-girl.  Then it guided me through creating a plan to incorporate this into our lesson plan/schedule.  You can choose from a three week plan or a two week plan to work through one lesson.  We chose the two week plan because L-girl is a go-getter when it comes to her school work.  She is the first one up in the mornings and jumps right into her lessons - usually before she even has breakfast!

One thing that we didn't do that is suggested in the Teacher's Guide was to create a writing center.  It suggests having a clean, organized place set aside for writing.  It talks about this (fictional) place encouraging creativity and will be helpful in developing good work habits for my writers.

Well.  I think that sounds awesome.  I would like a nice, quiet, creativity inducing  writing center for me.  But, in our house (which is NOT a mansion) with six kids and a mom and dad that is not happening. 

I figure I am preparing my kids really well for life in the dorms when they get to college.  There will be noise and chaos and people being obnoxious.  Those poor kids that had a quiet, peaceful study environment at home won't know what to do with themselves.  My kids, on the other hand....will breeze through like it is nothing.  Your welcome, kids.

Back to the writing center though.....the book did have some good ideas that I will use...like having a separate dictionary and things specifically for writing work set aside...not just floating around somewhere in your house for school assignments.....maybe in a plastic storage bin or something that is just dedicated to writing and can be moved around to your writing center.

L-girl and I both had a favorite thing about Write Shop Junior, Book D.  The Fold-N-Go grammar packs. 

Basically, there are miniature reference guides for grammar.  You cut them out and put them together yourself, just using old manila folders.  See how they are put together....

.....with each page behind a little bit wider....so you can see the title of the page.  They are helpful.  They are colorful.  They are smaller than a usual reference book.  Much smaller.

We really liked the Fold-N-Go grammar packs.  I can see keeping those around even as she gets older.  Honestly, I could see myself grabbing one to double check that my own grammar and usage is correct.  Here is what they cover:

1. Punctuation Marks
2. Self-editing (this one is great and has proof reading markings)
3. Nouns
4. Pronouns
5. Verbs
6. Adjectives
7. Adverbs
8. Prepositions
9. Capitalization
10. References

This was a fun product to try out.  The activities were fun and visual.  I like that.  I think I could have tried the next level up for L-girl because many of the things that we worked on she already had a pretty good grasp on from our normal school.  If you want to try this but aren't sure where to place your child, here is some good information on helping you choose the right level.

I could see that this would be well suited for a reluctant writer in this age range.  Actually, I think the whole program would work really well for a child who is a reluctant writer because the lessons are not plain and simple....."sit your butt down and write something"....kinds of lessons.  The activities are fun and the Fold-N-Go sheets are brief and colorful.

The Write Shop website is pretty helpful too.  They have a Parent's Corner that has articles and other resources to help you feel more comfortable teaching writing.  There is also a Kid's Corner that has everything from games to writing prompts to writing contests for them to be a part of. 

The one thing I didn't like was the design of the activity pack.  It is designed like a two sided stack of construction paper.  So, as we were ripping out the things we needed.....other things further back in the pack just sort of fell out.   

Write Shop Junior, Book D Activity Pack student book is available for $39.95.  The Teacher's Guide is also available for $39.95.  And, the the Time Saver pack is available for $13.95. 

The Time Saver pack is just what is says.  It is filled (20 pages) with the stuff (like spinners and cards) you need for the activities already printed on card stock. 



If this program sounds like something you would like, I can get you a great deal! 

WriteShop has offered a coupon code for 15% off any WriteShop Primary or Junior product from the WriteShop store valid until June 15, 2012. Enter the code CREW15 at checkout.

Still not sure?  Go take a look at a sample lesson and see if you think it would be a good fit for your family.  If you decide to try it, don't forget the coupon code is CREW15.


Go take a look and see what other TOS crew members thought of Write Shop for different age levels.



Disclaimer:  I received Write Shop Junior Book D, Teacher's Guide, Activity Pack and Time Saver pack for free in exchange for an honest review.

CapJaxMathFax

What a mouthful, huh?

Guess what this is a review for?  Wait, I just ended that sentence with a preposition, didn't I?

So, let's go out on a limb and announce that this isn't a review for a language arts program.

CapJaxMathFax is a math drill program.



Meet Captain Jack....or Cap Jax.....

 

This program is a software that drills your kid's knowledge of math facts, without you having to flash cards at them. 

We used this for A-man, L-Girl and A-Girl....and I did a few just to see how fast I could be.  I am happy to say that I sailed smoothly through my addition and subtraction levels.



This really is just a fun way for your kids to really get their math facts memorized and quickly accessible.  I remember my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Toll, and our endless parade of flash cards with the entire classroom.....this is waaaaaay more fun than that!

It is not a fancy program.  It does not have fancy graphics or fancy characters to help lead the kids to math mastery.

It is just good old Cap Jax leaning on his chalkboard (yes.....chalk board....not white board.....gotta love that little retro touch!) and a space in the middle of the page where the math facts appear.



Along the edges you can see how you can pick what you want to work on, the level, how many facts per session, etc.  There is also a way you can just play for practice and not play for a rating.  Along the other side, you can see the summary details of how you have done for each selection.  The T-score is the total of all your ratings.

It isn't fancy, but it is effective.


So, do we like this program?

Aye. 

I mean, in theory, my kids are not crazy about sitting down and doing math again on the computer.  This is a supplement....not an "instead of" product.  So, they are doing this in addition to their regular math lessons.

 But, once they sit down, they are hooked. They try to beat their scores and their speed per answer.

I love it because there is virtually nothing I have to do.  As their website says, "Little teacher time or effort is required, but interest and encouragement are vital."  I have interest and encouragement coming out my ears. 


I also love that when you are done playing and want to exit the game you just press the "Bail" button.  Don't know why....but I just think it is funny.

This, to me, is just a good, no-nonsense, math supplement for the kids.  It will help them well into their adult years if they can get those basic facts memorized and are able to actually access the information when they are in the grocery store.  Mrs. Toll's flashcards are beginning to fade from my memory a bit these days.  I need some help!  Come on kids!

You can get this program by either a software download for $29.95 or there is a CD version available that will cost you a bit more than that to cover shipping costs.

Not sure if you understand the program or whether you will like it? 



You can try a free evaluation of it before you decide. 

See what other TOS crew members thought about CapJaxMathFax.



Disclaimer:  I received a software download version of CapJaxMathFax for free in exchange for an honest review.