Just like last week, everyone was exhausted by the end of this one. We are all still in summer mode, so with a field trip to the beach mid-week and a visit to the local library two consecutive mornings, I'm beat. And Friday afternoon was no better for Bubs, or Babe's concentration levels. But despite all the activity, Babe is cruising through First Grade and learned a ton this week.
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Math:
We started Chapter 7 this week which covers reading, interpreting, and creating bar graphs. Babe was set on counting how many bars were in each...bar...haha, and it was hard for me to convince her to actually read the graph. Once she did, she realized it was faster and started doing it more. We cruised through the week, one lesson at a time. Nice and simple for our super busy week.
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Reading/Writing/Comprehension:
As with Math, Babe is moving along in Reading and Writing. I'm doing my best with making each lesson tougher for her, and I think it's working well. I realized this week that the thing I need to work on with her is her critical thinking.
This week I started having Bubs join us for story time - where I read a short story or poem aloud and ask related questions. We started the week reading a poem about white sheep on a blue hill that move with the wind. Babe was supposed to make the connection that the white sheep were actually clouds, and the blue hill was the sky, but she couldn't figure it out. I started asking Bubs the same kind of questions:
"What else looks like white sheep that also move with the wind?"
Babe: "A rabbit!"
Bubs: "Clouds move in the wind!"
"Good! Now, what else can be blue like the hill in the story?"
Babe: "Water!"
Bubs: "The sky is blue!"
I realize that Bubs probably didn't actually comprehend the story and make the direct connection between clouds and sheep, but asking the questions should have triggered something with Babe and it didn't. She seems to take things at face value, so this I will have to work on. It's actually very odd to me because she has such a huge imagination that I thought for sure this would be a no-brainer for her.
But the same thing happened with a poem about a secret that the author, a tree, and a robin had. I read through the story with rhythm to make sure Babe would be able to guess what the secret was (a nest), but she had a very hard time with this as well. It wasn't until I started asking very specific questions that she finally understood what it was.
Then once she had the answer, I asked her the comprehension questions:
"Why the robin would know the secret best?"
"Because the robin made the nest!"
"How did the tree tell the author if the tree can't talk?"
"The nest was on a branch of the tree, so the author looked up and saw the nest!"
"Why would the secret be out when the little birds fly about?"
"Because then everyone will see the babies and know there was a nest there!"
So see? She is perfect at comprehending stories, so not being able to figure out that one little thing really confuses me. I really think it has to do with critical thinking, since she struggled a bit with this in Science as well.
Speaking of Science...
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Science:
This week Babe was introduced to the Scientific Method. She was able to memorize the order of the steps within the second day of the week, but understanding what each step is was a different story. We read in the textbook about students who did an experiment about what snails eat. Before I read her the actual steps of their experiment, I asked her how she would figure out what snails eat.
She was able to tell me the exact way. She really surprised me! So all throughout the week, we read piece by piece about the students' email experiment. Then on Friday, she was able to do her own experiment!
I was just as excited as her because I wasn't quite sure what the results would be!
So I handed her the related worksheet and showed her the list of ingredients. I then helped her gather them all.
Once they were gathered and I read through the steps of the experiment, she had a good understanding what we were about to do. Then I asked her to predict what was going to happen with the noodles.
"They are going to get bubbly!"
Then she set up the experiment. She added the dye to the soda and measured and snapped the noodles accordingly.
Then we played the waiting game! Once the noodles were dropped in, I set the timer for five minutes and gathered Bubs and Z to the table to watch, too.
I asked Bubs what she thought was going to happen to the noodles.
"They are going to turn green!"
Also a good guess.
After five minutes, I forked the noodles out of the jar so everyone could observe them.
"Aww they did turn green! I was wrong and (Bubs) was right..."
Yes, she did have a slight fit. I explained to her that predictions are wrong all the time, because it's a complete guess about what's going to happen.
"Well we have to do the experiment again right? So can I predict what's going to happen but use a different color?"
"That is a very good idea! And good job for remembering that we have to repeat the experiment! That's part of the Scientific Method!"
"Yeah! Just like you taught me!"
I was pretty impressed with this. I let her pick whatever color she wanted again, this time she picked pink.
"Now my prediction is that the noodles will turn pink. But my next prediction is that they might turn orange because pink is kind of like red and red and yellow make orange."
Wow. OK then. haha
So we repeated the experiment!
After five minutes, we observed the results!
"They are very pink! I was right!"
So after completing the worksheet, I asked her what she thought would happen if we kept the noodles in the soda for longer than five minutes.
"Then they will get very VERY pink! Can we try it!"
So we did. I left the noodles in the soda for another two hours. Then forked them out.
"Now they are all wiggly! Like spaghetti!"
Leave it to the girly girl to pose with them like earrings. haha
Ending on that high, fun note was a great idea for a Friday afternoon. I told Babe to make sure she remembers the Scientific Method because we will be doing more experiments in First Grade. Then she proceeded to recite the steps to me.
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Social Studies:
This week I concentrated on a few famous symbols of the US. Monday and Tuesday I focused on Betsy Ross and the American flag. We read books on the subject and learned that George Washington had originally wanted six-pointed stars on the flag because they were easier to make, but Betsy said five-pointed stars are just as easy. She showed Washington how she could make the star with only one snip of the scissors!
So we tried it!
First we measured!
Then after folding all those folds, we cut the one snip!
And voila! A perfect, five-pointed star!
Amazing! This was such a cool activity.
Tuesday, I discussed with Babe how colors are important on flags, and how every country has its own flag. We looked at a number of different flags and compared them. I pointed out how some have stripes, some have stars, and some have crosses.
Then I handed her a sheet of paper and had her go into her bedroom. I explained to her that I wanted her to look around her room and design a flag for her bedroom - to notice the colors and symbols in her room that she might want on her flag. The only rule I gave her was "NO WORDS!"
About 30 minutes later, she came out and showed me her flag for her bedroom.
I wasn't surprised about the variety of color. She explained to me that all the rectangles were for all the books in her room.
"And I like to read!"
So true. So cute.
Thursday we read about the Statue of Liberty and how it was a present from France. She immediately recognized it as a symbol of the US, so we didn't spend too much time on it.
Friday I introduced the Liberty Bell to her. We read books about it, looked at pictures, and talked about the famous crack and how it cracked the very first time was rung! She also got a big kick out of Pennsylvania being spelled wrong on it! I did not know until the weekend that when the bell was built, Pennsylvania did only have one 'n' in it, so I couldn't explain it to her. However, either way, it's spelled wrong and Babe was amused.
After Bubs and Z woke up from their nap, we made our own Liberty Bells! Once they colored their bells brown and laced the ribbon through the bell, I handed them scissors so they could crack it!
Babe obviously went above and beyond and spelled Pennsylvania wrong on her bell, too. :)
And with that, Social Studies (and the second week of First Grade) were over!
But thanks to 3 Dinosaurs, Bubs and Z had a blast continuing with their Beach Unit, this week still concentrating on the book "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell."
Bubs practiced first letter sounds, writing letters, and loves putting those puzzles together. This pack from 3 Dinosaurs is so great, and finding related printable activities online is just awesome.
We have been visiting a beach weekly, too. I have been planning it where we go to a different one so Babe can compare and contrast. Bubs will also immediately recognize something (this week a crab hole!!!) and tell me that "Crab starts with C!" This week I asked her if she was going to swallow it like the Old Lady. She got a big kick out of that, then asked me if I was going to swallow the sand or the wave or the gull.
So yes! Overall, a very productive second week of First Grade! It's insane the amount of work we are doing but I'm determined to keep it fun and to keep Babe in summer mode, hence the beach activities and other fun field trips planned for the month of July.
The end of the week exhaustion is almost worth all the fun we get to have during the week!
On to the third week!
