PhonicsWorks-1st Grade
We spend quite a bit of time with independent "extras" in phonics.
Our routine for sight words:
Monday- introduce with me. Mark which she can read/spell with the date.
Tuesday-Thurs.: Independent practice using the SAY SPELL SAY technique.
Friday- review with me. mark which she can read/spell with date. If she hasn't mastered reading AND spelling a word, that card goes into the next week's practice. :-)
Cup Stacking was this last week's "theme" for practicing sight words. All the kids enjoyed the little cups for stacking. I'll pull out the large plastic ones for free play this next week.
Tuesday: Build the words. We had a lot of words as with the review...I combined the whole week's worth vs. just reviewing a few a day. That way she's practicing them all every day. So early in the morning she worked with half of them...using letter tiles to build the words. Then later in the morning she used magnetic letters to build the words. When they were all done...she was free to use the cups for stacking.
Another day she matched the cups to the cards and then added number manipulatives to each card for the number of sounds she actually heard (finger stretching). :-) That was good practice! (Not the greatest picture though!)
Wish I could remember what she had just said to me here! Ha! She has so many expressions. The snapshot right after this one was blurry but she was laughing like a hyena! Here she is using a printable from Education.com. Word ladder activity where she changes the one letter on each rung. :-)
Letter Tiles that I have used for years (purchased at Wal-mart at one time). These Word Build Boards are from Really Good Stuff. We were practicing spelling out words as well as finger stretching them and emphasizing the short vowel sounds. She's struggling a bit with short o vs. short u. Anyone has suggestions for practice for that I'm open to suggestions!
Short Vowel Practice
Simple tree map with short vowel pictures. She sorted through stamps to add three more for each sound. You can download the tree map here if you would like.
Syllable Sort
We'll be working on this for awhile. Something that is actively taught with K12 is this technique of spelling per syllable and that there is at least 1 vowel per syllable. This has been a huge help for my kiddos. So I really want her to be able to hear these word chunks. Lots of free printables around on the Internet for this. I just need to take the time to print them!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Snack and Lunch Prep!
He really concentrated on making these. :-) Very simple, well enjoyed. Peel and cut a banana in half (or a smaller segment). Stick a craft stick into the banana. Spread with PB, roll in Rice Krispie cereal.
He broke one but it was his favorite. :-) We left the other end of the bananas off for those kiddos that prefer no pb. :-)
Have to get one or two of our preschooler on this blog. Ha! I very seldom get to the preschool blog anymore. Now that he is officially "staying home" for his last preschool year...I'll maybe be able to be more consistent about blogging about his school.
Fridays are icecream snack days. Root Beer Floats were a hit!
------------------------------------------------------------
Science:
I created binders for the first 3 or so Science3 units. However, we didn't get to a lot of the "extras" unfortunately. But...since we do go back and forth between science and history units...he should be able to finish up the Weather binder while working on the History unit next week. :-)
This particular activity was "What's a Meteorologist?" :-)
Simple Craft and Writing Activity.
Fronts exploration: Blue ice for the cold front, warm water in container...add red food coloring.
Idea along with a free printable for the student to draw what happened can be found at Sola Gratia Mom.
Science 5: Aquifer and Water Pollution :-)
Oil spills clean up experiment
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Idiom of the Week
I actually ordered this from Amazon specifically for C. He struggles with his very literal thinking. :-) So, trying to expand his horizons a bit.
Mondays we'll be introducing a new idiom of the week during our morning group lesson. They'll have the week to work on their "actual meaning" pictures to put in the pocket chart. :-)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Math
I find a lot of "worksheets" for K12 Math. Probably no more than the school. However, I find that we do better if we only do about half of a worksheet and the rest hands-on. :-) I need to get more organized though so that we DO the hands-on. Here K. is ordering numbers 1-30 and then she removed all the numbers to leave only even numbers. We were practicing skip counting by 2s. These magnetic number circles were from Really Good Stuff.
A little tip for those that need a bit more organization for their math lessons. I really dislike the hardcover math "workbooks" which aren't workbooks. We've been given permission to write directly in these student books but they aren't in the format for that. Ack! Turning the paper sideways and putting a digit into each "line" helps the visual learner. :-)
Skip counting practice with a hundred chart. It's important that they SEE the patterns. Makes life so much easier! :-)
Magnetic chips and "magic wand" makes it all the more fun. :-D
Outdoors:
We take a break at 10:00-10:30. This is enough time for us to eat a quick snack and play a game or do an activity outside. Sometimes it's Health sometimes it falls under Physical Education. Either way...it's a structured outdoor time. They get free play outdoor time after lunch.
"Volley Ball"
Most of these running pictures blurred, as usual. Here we had been talking about pulse/heart beat and the benefits of exercise. :-)
We always talk about planting sunflowers. Well, we got to it this year...albeit a little late. However, they are definitely enjoying watching them grow right now. :-)
We have had pretty much every stage but the matured stage!
Cool stuff!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"Extras"
K. used a salt tray for PhonicsWorks Dictation this particular week and on Friday I allowed her (and the others) to add primary colored water to the salt. We had discussed primary and secondary colors that particular week also.
Just a "nice" pictures. I don't always get "nice" pictures of C. so I was enjoying this contented look (left) as he was getting done telling me what he was going to do for math manipulative time. And the pic on the right...science...he loves it and does the online lesson usually independently. We're going to try him on history independently this next week and see how it goes. With those two subjects, he works at the kitchen computer so I am aware of what's going on and can more readily help him if he gets stuck with vocab or etc. Considering that he reads at a 5th grade or higher reading level...it's usually not an issue.
School-Age children are NOT too old for dramatic play. :-)
K'nex Roller Coaster :-)
T.-4yrs, often has a sensory choice of the day. Of course, all the school-agers wish to use it also. :-)
FYI: for those with little ones along with your school-agers...a plastic wading pool does wonders at keeping sensory material somewhat contained. It really depends on the material...whether I use our big one or little one. :-)
Symmetrical Butterflies
1st grade Literature was a nonfiction piece of work about butterflies. He created a symmetrical butterfly blot painting and when dry we added the vocabulary words to the back. So T. and K. wanted to make one too. :-) Fine by me! K.'s turned more into a moth than a butterfly...but that's okay!
Getting a bit messy in C.'s room. It happens to be my "work room" also. He spent less time by the end of the week and I wonder if it wasn't because of all the clutter. So going to try harder to keep up with that room. :-) The gaming chair is great for him! (Asperger tendencies)
--------------------------------------------------------
Geography Wall
Still not going to take much time with this yet. Just wanted something this year we could "add to" but always have some of the basic geography terms/maps out and easily accessible since it's something we talk about all year.
Songs we are using this year:
Continent Song
Tune: Frere Jacques
There are seven,
There are seven,
Continents,
Continents,
North and South America,
Europe, Asia, Africa,
Australia,
Antarctica.
The Five Oceans Songs
Tune: The Addams Family
Da-da-da-dum (snap, snap)
Da-da-da-dum (snap, snap)
Da-da-da-dum, da-da-da-dum, da-da-da- dum (snap, snap)
There's Arctic and Pacific,
Indian and Atlantic,
And don't forget the Southern
Five oceans of the Earth.
Da-da-da-dum (snap, snap)
Da-da-da-dum (snap, snap)
Da-da-da-dum, da-da-da-dum, da-da-da- dum (snap, snap)
Daily Detective...books that I used with my school-agers years ago. I'm going to keep on the look out for them...they are great books but my typical "go to" places to find books don't carry them much anymore. You may be able to find them used on Amazon.
country state
We flip over one clue a day. On Mondays we'll flip the answer over. In this picture...you can see that they are putting their guesses on post it notes on the back of the answer. Great conversations take place with this activity! Definitely agree that these are for grade 3-5.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This month has been busy for sure! Hopefully in October I can go more "in depth" with a few things that we do vs. having misc. pictures. :-) We'll have to see!
