Now that Christmas is approaching, you might not want to do real work with your children. There are all kinds of wonderful Advent activities to enjoy and each activity is a learning experience. BUT you just might feel a little uncomfortable not doing anything substantial. (You know it s all in the mind, but maybe you DO feel better when your children sit down and do something more tangible!) Well, if that is how you are feeling, print out my Christmas GIFT to you. It s a unit from my upcoming e-book entitled Language Adventures for Younger Students. So while the cookies are baking or the glue is drying, give your child this unit to attempt.
Here is the GIFT for you from Miiko Gibson, MEd www.miikogibson.com Download it here! If you like similar free units, or if you want the answer key to the unit, just e-mail me. miiko@hiwaay.net subject line: LA Answer Key
This is from the soon-to-be published e-book titled Language Adventures for Younger Students. Each unit covers five major areas of language learning for lower elementary students. Grammar Definitions of grammar items and examples of usage. Exercises to reinforce understanding and usage. Thinking Skills Exercises to encourage your child to think logically. Comprehension Challenging questions to encourage your child to apply his comprehension, inference and interpretation skills. Vocabulary Meaningful and fun exercises for acquiring new words. Writing Workship Exercises to cultivate creative thinking and writing. PAGE 3
UNIT ONE GRAMMAR Simple Past Tense THINKING SKILLS Sequencing COMPREHENSION SKILLS Rabbit and Mr. Hawk VOCABULARY Story Puzzle WRITING WORKSHOP Animal Adjectives
A. GRAMMAR : SIMPLE PAST TENSE When we talk about things that have already happened, we use verbs in the simple past tense. We add -ed to most verbs to make the simple past tense. conquer > conquered, play >played, look >looked For some verbs, the spelling changes. leave >left, do >did, swim >swam Exercise 1 Underline the correct verb in each sentence. 1. The old man (live, lived) in that cabin for thirty years. 2. The horse (jump, jumped) over the fence just now. 3. Samuel (anoint, anointed) David a long time ago. 4. The girl (play, played) with her pet hamster every day. 5. They (listen, listened) to the thunder all night long. 6. She (scrub, scrubbed) the sink daily. PAGE 5
7. Moses (cried, cry) for his mother when he woke up. 8. The nurse (turned, turn) off the light just now. 9. The snake (kill, killed) the goat yesterday. 10. He (take, took) the driving test two hours ago. Exercise 2 Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs in the brackets. Once upon a time, there (live) an old farmer. He (have) three daughters, Alice, Betty and Cindy. Alice only (love) beautiful clothes. Betty just (like) to eat. Cindy (read) all day long. The three daughters (is) selfish and lazy too. They also (do) not care for their family. PAGE 6
Their father the farmer, (feel) very sad. He (wish) his wife (is) alive. One day, the farmer (fall) very sick. He nearly (die). When that (happen), the three daughters (become) sorry for their bad behavior. They (love) their father. They (promise) their father that they would be less selfish and more hardworking. They also (promise) to care of one another. PAGE 7
B. THINKING SKILLS : SEQUENCING A sequence is an order in which things happen or are arranged. Look at the sequences below. Complete each sequence using the correct word in the box. Be careful as there are more words in the box than you need. Example: September, October, November November three after March April hour 6 Wednesday o clock autumn tomorrow empty spring hour five two 6 o clock week small future nine two 9 o clock after boy Wednesday full month four 9 o clock small tomorrow grapefruit four 1. second, minute, 2., four, five 3. six, four, 4. 12 o clock, 3 o clock, 5. February,, April 6., half-full, full PAGE 8
7. day,, month 8. large, medium, 9. before, during, 10. Monday, Tuesday, 11. three, six, 12. yesterday, today, 13. summer,, winter 14. past, present, PAGE 9
C. COMPREHENSION SKILLS Rabbit and Mr. Hawk Rabbit was humming to himself one day when Mr. Hawk swooped down upon him suddenly. He gripped Rabbit so tightly that Rabbit thought he was going to die. Rabbit begged and cried, but that did not do any good. He kicked and groaned, but Mr. Hawk held him even more firmly. Then Rabbit lay still and said, Please let me go, Mr. Hawk. I am so thin. I am not good to eat. Please let me go. I will grow fatter in two weeks time and I will taste better then. Mr. Hawk said, But I am hungry now. Rabbit said, If you let me go, I promise to hop into those bushes and drive out some plump partridges for you. Mr. Hawk thought that was a good idea so he let Rabbit go. But the cunning rabbit smiled and hopped into PAGE 10
the nearest hole. Answer all the questions using complete sentences. 1. What was Rabbit doing when Mr. Hawk swooped down upon him? 2. Why did Rabbit think he was going to die? 3. Why did Mr. Hawk catch Rabbit? PAGE 11
4. List four things Rabbit did to try to escape from Mr. Hawks grasp. 5. Why did Rabbit ask Mr. Hawk to wait for two weeks? 6. What did Rabbit promise he would do if Mr. Hawk let him go? PAGE 12
7. Give a reason why Rabbit was cunning. 8. Did Rabbit keep his promise to Mr. Hawk to drive out the partridges from the bush? Explain your answer. PAGE 13
D. VOCABULARY : STORY PUZZLE Below are clues to 8 words used in the story. Fill in the blanks to form the words. in the same position and not moving I fat or rounded M firm and securely I opposite of bad O moaned in pain O D sly and smart in a bad way U the past tense of lie A came down suddenly through the air E PAGE 14
E. WRITING WORKSHOP 1. Write three describing words (adjectives) to describe Rabbit. - - - 2. Write three adjectives to describe Mr. Hawk. - - - 3. How do you think Rabbit felt when Mr. Hawk let him go? Write that down in one sentence. PAGE 15
4. How do you think Mr. Hawk felt when Rabbit did not keep his promise? Write that down in one sentence. PAGE 16