Pasta Apostrophe Catastrophe

Say that three times fast.

The apostrophe is SUCH a hard working piece of punctuation. To review how it's used in contractions and to show possession my son and I grabbed a great book and some elbow macaroni.

I wrote a fun story for my son about Punctuation Pete who acts out by stealing apostrophes from Marley's town. By showing kindness to him, the apostrophes are returned and grammar is restored to the city. Friendship mends the apostrophe catastrophe!

The story was segmented into 15 cards and the apostrophes were eliminated from the text. A number (i.e. 1, 2, or 3) was added to each card to indicate the number of apostrophes that are missing. I printed, cut apart, and scrambled the order of the cards.

Download a 5-page PDF of these segmented
story cards from Google Drive here.

Before all this grammar greatness could ensue, we read an incredible book, which served as the inspiration for this activity.

The Girl's Like Spaghetti: Why You Can't Manage With Apostrophes! shows kids how the use (or lack of) an apostrophe changes the meaning of a sentence.

For example, one 2-page spread shows the difference between "Those smelly things are my brother's", where children stare and point to a pair of filthy sneakers, and "Those smelly things are my brothers", where a group of children with clothespins clipped on their noses run away from two young boys playing among dirty trash.

My son spent a long time studying the pictures and the sentences to really understand the way one simple punctuation mark could make such a huge difference.

After we were finished reading Lynne Truss' book, I pulled out the segmented story cards. With some school glue and dried elbow macaroni (the pasta apostrophes), my son added the missing punctuation. 

And then put the story in order as best he could.

This was a simple review of one very important piece of punctuation. It was fun too!

Westward Bound! {A Lewis & Clark Board Game}

Our oldest son loves all things history-related. I wanted to teach him about the Lewis & Clark expedition and the group of adventurers (the Corps of Discovery) that explored the lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase and the Oregon Territory.

It took a little more work and research than I'd planned, but at long last, the board game I made to retrace their steps and learn expedition facts was complete. It was time to play!

What you need is a die and small game pieces. We used two different colored glass babbles. Small buttons would work great as well.

I'll supply the rest. Well, except for the paper. You'll need paper. Eleven pieces to be exact.

With your printer fired up, download and print this free PDF. The first five pages are the game board. If you anticipate giving this lots of play, print on heavyweight cardstock for added durability.

The last six pages are the game cards. I printed mine on colored office paper, punched a hole in one corner, and threaded them through a metal ring. This kept them in order, but isn't a necessity.

Before my son and I played Westward Bound!, we read a phenomenal book by David A. Adler. This provided precisely the background my son needed to understand how truly phenomenal exploration of the western United States was in the early 1800s.

To play the game, we put both game pieces on the black circle near St. Louis, Missouri. We took turns rolling the die and moving our game pieces forward (westward) the number of spaces rolled. The number we landed on, determined the card we read (for example, if we rolled a six, we moved six spaces, landed on 33, and read the 33 card).

Encourage players to read the cards aloud so that all players learn more facts and milestones.

At the bottom of each card are instructions to either stay put or move forward or backwards. The player must move their game pieces if the card dictates. The player will not read the card for whatever number they eventually land on during their turn, though.

Play alternates between players until one player reaches Fort Clatsop in Oregon first. This player is the winner (which unfortunately, was not me). The good news, though, is that my son has already asked to play again!

DISCLAIMER: Is this board game perfect? No. Some of the dates and events don't match with the geographic location noted on the board. I did my best to match them up when possible, but in order to pace a child's progress along the westward route, and not have all the stops grouped together, sometimes it just wasn't possible. So while the events are historically accurate, the geography isn't always.

After School Linky (10-14)

Welcome to the After School Linky!

102 blogs were linked up last week. One hundred and two!! Do you believe it?!?

This After School Linky has some great momentum going. I love it!

Here are five phenomenal posts linked up at the October 7th party.

Short Vowel Spelling Game {1-2-3 Spell It!} at This Reading Mama.

Free Gross Motor Printable List at 3 Dinosaurs.

DIY Stethoscope Tutorial at Fantastic Fun and Learning.

 {Sight Word Game} Apple Tree Words at JDaniel4's Mom. 

Mystery Book Activity: Fingerprint Detectives at Coffee Cups and Crayons.

Cohosted By

The Educators' Spin On It 

Afterschool for Smarty Pants 

Boy Mama Teacher Mama

Coffee Cups and Crayons 

Little Wonders' Days 

Mama Smiles 

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Measured Mom 

This Reading Mama

What Do We Do All Day

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, homeschool, or on the weekend! When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board or Feature on our After School Party next week! Don't forget to follow along and join our After School Enrichment Community.

Glow Stars and Sticks Constellations

It's been too long since our last space escapade. And while we've studied constellations before (check out If I was a Constellation and Oatmeal Container Planetarium), I wanted to keep the interest alive for my oldest son.

With packages of glow-in-the-dark stars and glow bracelets, it was time for star gazing. Our windowless laundry room provided the best spot for this afternoon adventure.

I placed the stars on the floor, making three constellations: Little Dipper, Orion, and Cassiopeia. I left the light on, to power up the photoluminscent stars. And I waited.

When my son got home from school, we read Constellations by Martha E. H. Rustad. It jogged my son's memory about these connect-the-star formations in the night sky and introduced a handful of the most popular constellations.

When he finished reading, I grabbed glow bracelets and we bent and cracked them to get the glow going.

Now we went into the laundry room with the book in hand. I explained to him that he needed to find the three constellations in the stars on the ground. Once he found the patterns, he placed the glow sticks between the stars to complete the constellations.

When he had trouble getting started, I pointed out that the Little Dipper has the North Star (which I had represented with the largest of glow stars from the package).

He referred back to Rustad's book often, flipping the lights on to review the number of stars in each constellation. This frequent on-and-off kept the stars charged up and glowing.

Having completed this activity, we'll be reviewing H. A. Rey's Find the Constellations book throughout the remainder of the week. 

After School Linky (10/7)

Welcome to the After School Linky!

Last week's party was chock full of ideas, activities, and crafts sure to inspire -

many of which are great ways to learn and create to celebrate autumn.

Here are some of my favorite activities from the September 30th linky.

Free Spelling Game for Fall at The Measured Mom.

(Anna has done it again, providing a fun and engaging way to learn while playing. Kids might actually look forward to spelling practice with this printable board game!)

Air Pressure Experiment for Kids at Kids Activities Blog.

(This is a great way to help kids see the force of air as it moves objects!)

Off Screen with App: Water Wheels at iGameMom.

(Talk about a great STEM activity! Kids will love making a water wheel out of some plates, egg carton, skewer, and LEGOs!)

Halloween Science Experiments at Science Sparks.

(Turn the Halloween holiday into a hands-on learning opportunity with five creepy experiments!)

Activities to Go Along "Haunted Castle on Hallow's Eve" at Play Dr. Mom.

(This is SUCH a wonderful extension to one of the phenomenal Magic Tree House books. I think ghost writing might be my favorite ... although the Raisin Raven is pretty awesome too!)

5 Incredible Books to Read with Your Kids at Rediscovered Families.

(Sharon lists five favorite books to read aloud with kids, even when they're old enough to read to themselves. This is a GREAT list!)

Reading Activities with an Apple Theme at JDaniel4's Mom.

(What a great fall-inspired way to work on syllables!)

Cohosted By

The Educators' Spin On It 

Afterschool for Smarty Pants 

Boy Mama Teacher Mama

Coffee Cups and Crayons 

Little Wonders' Days 

Mama Smiles 

Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational

The Measured Mom 

This Reading Mama

What Do We Do All Day

We would love to have you link up your School-Age Post (Ages 5 and up) about your learning week after school including Crafts, Activities, Playtime and Adventures that you are doing to enrich your children's lives after their day at school, homeschool, or on the weekend! When linking up, please take a moment to comment on at least one post linked up before yours and grab our after school button to include a link on your post or site! By linking up you're giving permission for us to share on our After School Pinterest Board or Feature on our After School Party next week! Don't forget to follow along and join our After School Enrichment Community.