Literature Guides Schedule 3M

[Brittany]

Hello MP Pros,
I'm gearing up for my first full MP year and trying to wrap my head around the scheduling. I'm finding that the literature guides schedule feels very random (more specifically my 3M student....I haven't looked at my 2M student yet). Some days they are doing vocabulary, then reading. Other days they are doing vocabulary, then reading, then doing comprehension questions, then enrichment and maybe even reading the next chapter.

Is there a rhyme and reason to this that I'm missing?

Or does anyone simply assign a daily literature rhythm that will get it all done in the year?

Would love to hear your thoughts!

Thank you,
Brittany

[momgineer]

Literature is the one big subject with MP that throws my rhythm off. Just about everything else has a very clear daily and weekly rhythm. Literature does not. I think it’s because the timing is such that they can’t take two days for every lesson as there isn’t enough days and they can’t take one day for every lesson as that is too fast so they do a mix of a lesson in a day, a lesson in 2 days, and some weird thing where it takes 3 days for 2 lessons. Usually I look at how many lessons I need to finish that week and just do those lesson that week my way. We also take Friday off for co-op so if they assign new work on Friday, I have to fit that in earlier. Often Friday is just reread or poetry, but there are also a number of Fridays where new work is assigned in the literature book.

[enbateau]

Everything Debbie said. Your child may need to spread out vocab, readings, answering questions and writing those answers over a few days. My child who was an accelerated reader enjoyed doing it all on one day, so literature often wound up being reduced to 2-3 days per week. Because that child read the entire chapter aloud with excellent pacing, inflection, and comprehension, I usually let the second reading be silent. My youngest is still emerging with his reading skills, and he fatigues of reading aloud for stretches greater than 20 minutes, so that may not be the way we go. By the time you get to 5A/6M, most of the vocab, reading, quotes and questions will be on the same day (save for long RL Green chapters that are split into two days), and by 6A/7M students will tackle 5 chapters per week with two Enrichment activities and a quiz, so it's definitely a skill to work toward. While we have split up vocab with a reading on one day and a second targeted reading with comprehension questions on another day, I found that the continuity suffered a bit and that it was often better discussed the same day. Now, when we read a new chapter, I like to have my kids recall what was happening when we last left off & make predictions about the new chapter heading, pictures, plot, etc, but waiting a whole day to discuss it and reread portions that were forgotten burns time I don't always have (especially once you get to 4th grade as those chapters are long).

[tanya]

Hello.

We spend an hour a day on literature at HLS, and our plans reflect what we feel students and teachers can manage in that hour. But the plans are just a guide for you. Feel free to edit them to work for your family. Our teachers don't all follow them exactly either! Some days, they get more done than scheduled, some days less. They are meant to be flexible, but also to help you make sure your pacing will get you to the end of the scheduled books by the end of the year.

Tanya