go fish!

This week we have had fun playing Go Fish! during math. I can't take credit for this idea because it came from our math curriculum - Singapore Math 1a. It's a great idea and easy to make. While the girls can recognize numerals 1 - 10 and can count (one-to-one correspondence), they still needed help reading the number words. So, this game was perfect and fun for them!

materials -
30 blank index cards
magic markers

a set of 3 cards is a match!

read to learn ~ chrysanthemum

"Until Chrysanthemum started kindergarten, she believed her parents when they said her name was perfect. But on the first day of school, Chrysanthemum begins to suspect that her name is far less than perfect, especially when her class dissolves into giggles upon hearing her name read aloud. That evening, Chrysanthemum's parents try to piece her self-esteem back together again with comfort food and a night filled "with hugs, kisses, and Parcheesi." But the next day Victoria, a particularly observant and mean-spirited classmate, announces that Chrysanthemum's name takes up 13 letters. "That's half the letters in the alphabet!" she adds. Chrysanthemum wilts. Pretty soon the girls are making playground threats to "pluck" Chrysanthemum and "smell her."

We read this book last week and did a couple of learning activities to go along with it. We did a text to self writing activity and talked about adjectives.

writing prompt -
"If I could choose any name, I would choose ____________________ because____________________________________."

adjectives -
We took each letter of the girls name and thought of an adjective that started with that letter.

Great
rowdy
awesome
crazy
intellegent
elegant

Elegant
loving
loveable
awesome

*I would love for you to share a read to learn activity that you have done with your child/children!

math journals

This year I want to focus a little more on math than I did lastyear. We will be doing math journals every morning during our math time. Can I just say that the girls LOVE math journals (so far)! It's simple and inexpensive and a quick way to reinforce math skills already learned.

Monday's journal entry was to draw different shapes -

Ella, age 5

Gracelyn, age 6

Today's journal entry was to do 25 tally marks -

Ella, age 5

Gracelyn, age 6

learning goals for 1st grade

I finally finished our learning goals for 1st grade! I ALWAYS feel overwhelmed when I start thinking about all we need to do and learn. And, I ALWAYS feel better when I make a list of learning goals for the year.

phonics
distinguish between short and long vowel words
silent e
compound words
simple contractions
r-controlled vowels
reading/fluency
reads 60 words correct per minute
self corrects
reads with inflection
comprehension
retells stories
distinguishes fact from fiction in a text
identifies the main idea and supporting details of informational text read or heard
recognizes cause-and-effect relationships in text
vocabulary
identifies words that are opposites (antonyms) or have similar meanings (synonyms)
language arts
nouns (singular and plural)
verbs
adjectives
writing
response to literature
correct letter formation
word spacing
use commas in a series of items
math
count and model up to 100; divide into equal parts
identify, make fair trades with pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters up to one dollar
identify bills and make fair trades ($1, $5, $10, $20)
place value notation for the numbers 1 to 99 (ones and tens)
add and subtract numbers less than 100
inverse relationship between addition and subtraction
skip-count by 2s, 5s, and 10s
apply addition and subtraction to 2 digit numbers without regrouping
solve and create word problems involving addition and subtraction to 100 without regrouping
identify, label, and relate fractions (halves, fourths) as equal parts of a collection of objects or a whole using pictures and models
compare and/or order the length, height, weight, or capacity of two or more objects
tell time to the nearest hour and half hour
know number of days in a week and months in a year
build, draw, name, and describe triangles, rectangles, pentagons, and hexagons
build, represent, name, and describe cylinders, cones, and rectangular prisms
read and use tally marks, picture graphs, and bar graphs
pose questions, collect, sort, organize and record data using objects, pictures, tally marks, picture graphs, and bar graphs
earth science
weather patterns
seasons
physical science
sound
shadows
magnets
life science
characteristics of living things
basic needs of living things
identify basic parts of a plant
Social Studies
Benjamin Franklin (inventor/author/ statesman)
Thomas Jefferson (Declaration of Independence),
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark with Sacagawea (exploration)
Harriet Tubman (Underground Railroad)
Theodore Roosevelt (National Parks and the environment)
George Washington Carver (science
folk tales
John Henry, Johnny Appleseed, Davy Crockett, Paul Bunyan, and Annie Oakley
geography
identify and locate city, county, state, nation, and continent on a simple map or a globe
locate all continents: North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Antarctica, and Australia
locate the major oceans: Arctic, Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian
identify and describe landforms (mountains, deserts, valleys, plains, plateaus, and coasts)

Here are last years' learning goals for Kindergarten!

summer break

So... I unintentionally took a summer break from school and blogging. I had planned to school through the summer, but it just never happened! Instead we enjoyed lots of swimming, reading chapter books together, blueberry pickin' and eatin', summer youth camp, vbs and a nice long vacation!

I have been slightly addicted to Pinterest though! I guess that is how I've been fulfilling my techie time this summer! That and Words with Friends :)

I have started planning and ordering our curriculum for this upcoming year. Check back tomorrow and I will post our Learning Goals for 1st Grade.