Second Month. Second Week.

Lots to cover this week! Here we go!

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Math:
Babe started learning addition with sums higher than 10, which she was already able to do using her fingers. But Calvert has an incredibly awesome way to help with doing the calculations quickly called a Ten Frame. Babe picked this up amazingly and with my own homemade ten frames and connector blocks, she was doing the math very, very fast.

However, when I introduced Calvert's next way of learning this kind of math, Babe struggled. Doubles Facts and Doubles Facts Plus One were a little tough for Babe to pick up. She kept asking if she could use the ten frame instead. I let her. haha. But I did want to make sure that she at least knew her doubles facts so we practiced those all week.

As always, moving right along in Math.

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Reading:
So I switched Reading around a little this week and instead of having Babe read the Phonics Library books silently and her Reading textbook stories outloud, I had her read her Phonics Library books outloud, and the textbook stories silently. I noticed that the Phonics Library stories give her better practice with enunciating, speaking slowly, and making sure every work is picked up. So while she reads them, I can listen to her to see if she needs extra help pronouncing a word, etc.

So this whole week she not only read the textbook stories silently to herself, she answered questions I had about them, AND she added three chapter books from the library to her Reading Log. Amazing. Like I said, she is inhaling books and I couldn't be more proud.

So the three chapter books she read this week were:
"Cork and Fuzz" by Dori Chaconas
"Cork and Fuzz: The Swimming Lesson" by Dori Chaconas
"Prairie Friends" by Nancy Smiler Levinson

I had her pick her favorite of the three. When she chose "Prairie Friends", I asked her to write ten sentences about the book. I didn't concentrate on story order or spelling (though I told her the character names had to be spelled correctly). I just wanted her to free write about the book. When she was done, I had her read what she wrote to me.

She did awesome. She was so cute when she read it, adding fluctuations in her voice. I officially love hearing a kid read.

Babe is itching to read "no picture chapter books" but I think we will wait another couple weeks, since the illustrations help her to define words she doesn't quite understand yet.

Reading was very successful this week.

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Science:
This week, Science was all about plants, and the differences between living and non-living things. While Babe did already know the difference between the two, she couldn't really tell why. This week changed that. The Science textbook Calvert provides is so perfect for her age and the pictures make everything so easy to understand.

To give her a little bit more enrichment on the topic, I took her to a local park with a small walking trail.  

 

I had her collect and draw both living and non-living things, then we took them home to compare.

She finished the week very strong in Science, answering the Critical Thinking question on her worksheets to a T. Her writing this week has improved tenfold. It's amazing to see.

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Social Studies:
Babe worked more with reading maps this week, but as opposed to last week, Calvert introduced the terms north, south, east, and west to correspond with her learning top, bottom, left, and right.

I took her outside and gave her my phone to play with the compass app. I showed her that no matter which way she is facing, north is always the same way. I had her face north and point to which way north was. Then I had her turn around and point to north, to make sure she understood that it never changes.

She had a hard time understanding that there's no real way to tell which way is north without a compass, but I told her about the North Star at night.

After taking the compass away, I had her draw a compass rose on the driveway, starting with remembering which way North is. She did! :)

 

We went inside and she completed more of her Maps workbook, which she really likes. I then brought out the US map, had her identify the compass rose, and asked her to name states in different directions.

She picked it up quite nicely.

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And that's it! First Grade is going great!

Second Month. First Week!

Is anyone else completely shocked that it's August already? I mean, really. I feel like 2012 just started, let alone it being almost Fall. It's kind of insane.

Anyway, let me get right to the point.

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Math:
As previously stated, Babe is cruising through Math. I've been doubling up lessons where I see fit and it's been working out great. We started the week off by naming how many tens and ones were in a number, but I took it a step or two further and added the hundreds and thousands places.

When I previously asked her to write the number "one thousand, six hundred, forty two", she would write it something like this:

100060042.

Which makes completely sense if you are six years old. 

But by the end of a couple days, she was able to write any number I gave her correctly, and name how many of each place there was.

Next she worked on counting on by fives, tens, and twos, starting at a random number between 1-100. To my surprise she struggled with this a bit, but after waking her brain up a bit more, she did it with ease.

For this, I asked her to get five or so stuffed animals from her room, asked Bubs to get five baby dolls. I had them line up all the toys against the wall, then Bubs and I stood next to them on the wall.

"OK Babe, how many legs are we, all standing together here."
"1, 2, 3..."
"Hmm...isn't there an easier and faster way to count how many legs?"
"Ohhhhhh yeah! 2, 4, 6, 8, 10..."

When she got to the end, I asked her how many legs there would be if her mom and dad were standing next to me.

"OK, so there's 22 here now, so there'd be 26!"
"Perfect!"

We continued this exercise with fingers, toes, eyes and ears. She did well with each one.

I then had them each bring five pairs of their shoes out to the living room.

I took away one of each pair, but this exercise was moot once Babe told me there were 20 shoes in all because "10 plus 10 equals 20." I mean, before I even asked her any questions she knew what I was doing. I made her count by twos anyway...haha.

Babe ended the week by taking her Chapter 8 test AND her Lesson 80 test. A great way to end the week.

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Reading:

As said in the previous post, Babe is blossoming in Reading and we started something new and exciting for her this week - silent reading! This whole week, I have handed over Calvert's Phonics Reading books to Babe for her to read silently and answer questions.

I know these books are way too easy for her to read, but I also know that the way these books mix vowel sounds within sentences are great practice for her to be able to read smoother for the future. Since I know she can read these out loud, this week I did something new.

I gave each book to her each day, had her pick a quiet spot in the house, and had her read them silently on her own time. When she was sure she read everything, I handed her a sheet of questions I made up to make sure she comprehended everything correctly.

(The last question and answer combo still crack me up and this was days ago.)

Once she answers the questions, we then discussed the books. She did well. So well that I introduced her to Level 3 illustrated chapter books, which she is inhaling.

This week I will have her read silently the stories in her Reading text book, and depending on how well she does with that, Junie B. books might make a small entrance next week! 

EXCITING!

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Social Studies:

Babe has been getting a good dose of geography during the Olympics and has consistently been able to locate various countries in Asia and Europe during our medal counting activity.

We have yet to complete it due to lack of time, but this week we will finish it up and do some major counting to record some statistics. We all had Olympic fever and once Babe and Bubs watched a few volleyball games, they were determined to learn how to play.

Buuuut since it's nearly 100 degrees outside, the lesson ended ten minutes later. We will have to wait until Fall.

Aside from the Olympics, Babe also dove into her new Maps text book this week. We worked on how to read and how to make maps.

I started with having her count the major furniture in her bedroom, then grab dollhouse items to match them. Then I had her create her bedroom using the dollhouse furniture.

I then gave her a sheet of paper and had her map out her room! She really liked this activity! Once she drew the map of her bedroom, I asked Bubs to go stand somewhere in her room. Then I asked Babe to take the map she created of her bedroom, locate Bubs, then draw a red X on the map to where Bubs was standing.

She. Loved. This. 

We did this numerous times.

Then I drew a pink circle on her map and asked Babe to go stand where the pink circle is.

She did!

Next, I took the dollhouse furniture away, then asked her to draw a map of the other bedroom in the house.

She was able to do it with ease, and we repeated the Bubs-locating activity as well. Many times.

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Science:

This week, Babe learned about reading a thermometer. We did the Science worksheets and kept track of the temperature outside every hour. During one of the hours, it rained, and the temp was lower than normal.

"Why do you think the temperature is lower than it was last hour?"

"Because it's raining, and the rain cools everything down, because it's water!"

"That's a good thought. Can you think of another reason why it's not as hot?"

"Because the sun is behind the clouds!"

"YES!"

She understands weather pretty well and when I had her record the temperature when she got home from gymnastics that night, it was a much lower number and she knew right away why.

"Because it was getting dark and the sun was going down, so the sun couldn't make it hot out!"

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And that's it for the first week! Bubs starts preschool next week (tomorrow), which will give her a good handle on how school works, then she will be starting Calvert Kindergarten in no time! Gah! 

July Review

Soooo I've been slacking. Sorry! But with family issues, visiting family members, and my own short vacation, I've had no time to sit and blog. I have been reading more, though! 

Anyway, the end of July/beginning of August was crazy so I'm going to give you a short, in-a-nutshell rundown of what's been happening.

Babe has been blowing through Math, already halfway done with First Grade Math. We will be doing double digit addition soon!

She's also been cruising through her Reading lessons, and this week we started something very exciting that I'm excited to write about in the next blog.

If you remember from the last entry, during all of July, Babe learned about important events in US History, including a review on Presidents Washington and Lincoln, the Civil War, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad, and American symbols including the Liberty Bell and the Statue of Liberty.

She was also learning to sing our National Anthem. And by the end of the month, both Babe AND Bubs had is memorized!!! It's so cool hearing the song come out of such young mouths!





At the end of the month, we headed to our usual stomping ground of the women's nursing home where we delivered home made patriotic cookies and where Babe sang the songs Star-Spangled Banner and You're a Grand Old Flag.

The ladies loved our visit and one even sang along with Babe! It was adorable!

 

We have also been traveling to different area beaches and have hit four so far, with Babe writing reports on each one. She has noticed many differences and it's been fun playing at different ones!

At the very end of July, we ended our Beach Unit by heading to Sea World!!! We saw many different animals and watched the One Ocean Shamu show, too. Bubs had no idea what to do with herself while watching real "Willys" in the water. She was more shocked than anything, I think. And if you happen to be a Florida resident, the new Turtle Trek 360 degrees 3D show is REALLY amazing and totally worth the visit. 

A regular school routine started back up for Babe this week (August 13). I think I found a great routine that will work with dance and gymnastics, and this week was the smoothest week yet for school. Since Bubs starts preschool next week, we are going on one last WOOHOO field trip to end "summer vacation" tomorrow, although, since it's still summer, a beach trip here and there isn't out of the question. :)

Look back this weekend for an update on the first week of the second month of school!