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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!
