2014-2015 First Grade Curriculum

This is what we are using in school this year.  

We start our math time with Mad Minute everyday.  I think this is her favorite time each day.  Oliver also loves to do it with us.   

 She has 1 minute (sometimes 2) to do as many of the 30 problems as she can.  

Then she gets to graph it.  

Then we continue math with Singapore Math.

For writing this year, Madeline is writing each day in her journal with a few different fun projects thrown in.  

Right now, she is finishing up a fun book called "Diary of a Pig" based on the Diary books by Doreen Cronin.  I will write more about it soon once she finishes it.  She is writing a diary for Wilbur from Charlotte's Web.  

We haven't started spelling yet.  But, I think we will incorporate it into our writing time about halfway through the year.  

But, we are loving All About Reading.  

She has learned about 3 different syllable types so far and where to break words into syllables in order to decode them.  We use this board almost everyday to break apart words, label syllable types and decode them.   

We are almost halfway done.  I will probably move on to the next level.

We are using Apologia science.  We are studying Astronomy.  It has a lot of great information with some fun experiments/projects thrown in.  There are several planetariums in our area we will try to go to this year.  

After reading a few pages in the book, I have Madeline dictate to me something that she remembers from the text.  Then she illustrates it.  

We have been working slowly through Handwriting Without Tears.  I'm not sure I'm in love with it for her.  I think it has great strategies for kids just learning to print their letters.  But, I might be looking for something else for her.  

We are using Sonlight for history.  We are studying ancient history this year.  So far we have just been laying the foundation with learning about different cultures, religions, time periods and archeology.  It has been pretty interesting.  But, we will be starting ancient Egypt very soon.   

Sonlight includes a great list of read alouds.  We just finished Charlotte's Web and are starting Little Pear, which I had never hear of, but it's really cute.

Sonlight also includes a Bible curriculum.  We are reading through Leading Little Ones to God and Missionary Stories.  We have really liked both.  The missionary stories are fun and exciting.  I also ordered some virtue cards from We Choose Virtues.  We are studying 1 virtue for about 2 weeks at a time.  I am trying to be very conscious of observing these behaviors and rewarding them for it.  

So far, I have been very happy with my choices.  

The Sun is a Mass of Incandescent Gas

We are studying astronomy this year.  Right now we are learning about the sun.  It is about 93,000,000 miles away.  And it is so big that a million earths would fit in it.  

We learned about why you should never look directly at the sun by doing a little experiment outside.  We got to melt chocolate with a magnifying glass.   

Of course, I already knew all this since I have heard my dad singing this song for my entire life.

The "They Might Be Giants" version might be a little more enjoyable.  But, it doesn't remind me of dad as much.

Crayon Resist

We recently finished reading Charlotte's Web and I thought we should do a fun art project to go with it.  So, we did a crayon resist.  We drew a very colorful spider and her web.  

  And then we used watercolors over it.  Of course, the crayons resisted the paint and only stuck to the paper, leaving a very fun background.  

I had fun doing a little coloring and painting as well.  Art class is fun :)

First Adventure Club

We are involved with our church's homeschooling co-op.  We call it Adventure Club and we all love it!    We meet on Monday mornings with other Kindergarten through 8th graders.  We all start out together for a morning meeting and then we break up into different classes.  Madeline starts off with the K-4th graders in Chorus class with Mrs. Holmes.  We are working on a Christmas musical to perform at a nursing home in December.  

Then they have P.E. with Mrs. Langelli.  

Eloise goes to the babies class.  And Oliver and Lucy go to the preschool class with Mrs. Meyer.  

After P.E. and a snack break, the Kindergarteners and 1st graders have a Science Fun class.  They learn  a certain science concept and then make a project to explore that concept.  

They end their classes with a Native American Art class with Mrs. Speer.  They have each received a native american name and made a vest in their first class.  

We end our morning with another meeting all together, celebrating birthdays and accomplishments.  It is such a fun morning together.  

F and G

In college, I had these wonderful roommates.  We ended up living in 2 apartments side by side; apartments F and G.  And we always dreamed of knocking a hole between the 2 because that would have made life that much easier.  But, here we are 11 years later and we are still the best of friends.  The kind that doesn't see each other very often.  But, when we do, we all fall right back into place.  

11 years and 14, almost 15, kids later.

I got to spend the best weekend with them in the Outer Banks at the beginning of this month.  We hung out on the beach.  Ate together.  And stayed up until 3am talking together.  And then we didn't have any little ones to wake us up early the next morning.  

It was kind of like college, minus the finals.  

I love these ladies.  It's amazing how different we all are.  But, how Christ can bind us together.  

Here's a little throw back to 2003 when (most of us) were graduating.  We had a friend follow us around campus and take our picture.  (We were funny.)  This makes me want to go back and visit JMU.  Maybe our kids will go there and make awesome friends as well.  

And while I was scanning in pictures, I found these beauts!  Another good thing to come from JMU!