1st Grade T/Th Kuhn- Week 14- November 10-16

1st Grade Week 14Tue, Nov 10Wed, Nov 11Thu, Nov 12Fri, Nov 13Mon, Nov 16Co-Teacher Notes
VirtueFortitude- "Then David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He won’t leave you or abandon you until all the work for the service of the LORD’s house is finished." -1 Chron. 28:20
BibleGP Week 14, pg 214-217GP Week 14, pg 214 & 218-220GP Week 14, pg 221-223GP Week 14, pg 224-226GP Week 14, Optional Fun Day, pg 227-228What is God's plan? God's plan is to rescue His people from captivity.
MathHIG pg 80; TB, pg 68-70; WB Ex 50 pg 124-126 & Ex 51 #1 pg 127Parent read HIG pg 79; HIG pg 81; TB pg 71-73; WB Ex 51 #2 and #3 pg 128-129, Ex 52 pg 130-132, & Ex 53 pg 133-134; MM19 (last 10 problems)HIG pg 82-83; TB pg 74-75; WB Ex 54 pg 135-136HIG pg 84; TB pg 76-77; WB Ex 55 pg 137;
MM20 (first 10 problems)
WB Ex 46 pg 111;

MM20 (last 10 problems)
SpellingLesson 13:

Review Sound Cards;

Review Blends in Name Game Syllables;

Dictate second three sentences on pg 123
Lesson 13:

Review/correct dictation from Tuesday;

Review a selection of Sound, Rule, and Word Cards from your card box;

Student read third and fourth sections of Word Bank for Name Game Syllables Part 2, pg 71 in activity book

Use Let's Fly a Kite activity (see Teacher's Manual pg 122) to review Blends with Name Game Syllables
Lesson 13 written assessmentLesson 14, Long U:

Parent read pg 125;

Review a selection of Sound, Rule, and Word Cards from your card box; student read one section of your choice from Word Bank for Name Game Syllables Part 2, pg 71 in activity book

Review Previous Concepts, pg 126;

Use letter tiles for New Teaching, pg 126-127;

Student read Word Bank for Long U, pg 79 in activity book

Dictate Word Cards 91-95 in spelling journal
Lesson 15, Spelling the sound of /z/:

Parent read pg 131;

Review a selection of Sound, Rule, and Word Cards from your card box; student read Word Bank for Long U, pg 79 in activity book;

Use letter tiles for New Teaching, pg 132-133;

Student read Word Bank for the Sound of /z/, pg 85 in activity book

Dictate Word Cards 96-105 in spelling journal
Check assessment from Thursday and add missed Word Cards to Review tab of card box; file Word Cards that your student has mastered in Mastered tab
GrammarFLL Lesson 45: Noun Review, Copywork: Four types of nouns, pg 67-68FLL Lesson 46: Introducing pronouns, Oral Usage: Ordering "I" and "me", pg 69-70FLL Lesson 47: Pronouns (you, your, yours), Copywork: Pronoun list 1, pg 71-72FLL Lesson 48: Pronouns (he, she, him, her, it, his, hers, its), Copywork: Prounoun list 2, pg 73-74Reminder- FLL copywork goes in the Grammar Booklet
WritingFruit of the Spirit copyworkCopybook pg 49- Copying (step 4); Write neatly and accurately.Fruit of the Spirit copyworkCopybook pg 49- Proof/Correct and Illustrate (steps 5 and 6)
ReadingReview all phonograms;

SF Week 13, Day 1, pg 32-34;

Introduce the vowel pair OU as /ſ/ (OPG L107)
Review all phonograms (add OU)

SF Week 13, Day 2, pg 35-36;

OPG Lesson 107: The Vowel Pair OU as /ſ/; Dictation: you, soup (remind students that today we are using the vowel pair ou to spell /ſ/; they are not expected to know that spelling rule yet)

Read decodable book
"Scamp Gets a Bath" (see Co-Teacher Notes column)
Review all phonograms;

SF Week 13, Day 3, pg 37-38;

Introduce U Plus a Silent E as /ſ/ and Single O as /ſ/ (OPG L108)
Review all phonograms;

SF Week 13, Day 4, pg 39-40;

OPG Lesson 109: The Vowel Pair UE as /ſ/; Dictation: true, blue, glue (remind students that today we are using the vowel pair ue to spell /ſ/)
Review all phonograms;

SF Week 13, Day 5, pg 41-42;

Re-read words and sentences from OPG L108 & L109
"Scamp Gets a Bath" is found online at FlyLeaf Publishing. Click the title, then scroll down to access the book.

All sight words that should be learned and reviewed thus far: the, I, a, of, have, give, to, two, too, was, said, do, who, friend, eye, buy, shoe
Read AloudQuest for the Lost Prince, pg 37-43Quest for the Lost Prince, pg 44-50Quest for the Lost Prince, pg 51-57Quest for the Lost Prince, pg 58-64
History
Thanksgiving- Life as a Pilgrim
SotW Ch. 17: Babylon Takes Over Again!, pg 137-142; Discussion questions below;

Journal sentence: Nebuchadnezzar the Great created the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
ScienceFinalize Arthropod Project presentation for tomorrow! Make sure your student's project follows the guidelines.Arthropod Project presentations!
GeographyHorn of Africa & East Africa, due 11/17
Memory WorkSCRIPTURE: Romans 12 (ongoing)
New Testament books in order, due 12/3
QUARTER 2 POEM: "Count Your Blessings," due 11/19
 *Note anything underlined in the table above or in the notes below is a clickable link for your convenience *

Key to Abbreviations:
GP- The Gospel Project- Home Edition
HIG- Singapore Math Home Instructor's Guide (click to print addition or subtraction cards)
TB- Singapore Math Textbook
WB- Singapore Math Workbook
EP- Singapore Math Extra Practice
MM- Mental Math (see appendix in HIG)
AAS- All About Spelling teacher manual (click here to print any missing phonogram cards)
FLL- First Language Lessons
SF- Sounds First Phonemic Awareness Program (click here and scroll down to Grade 1)
OPG- The Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading (click here to print OPG sight words)
SotW- Story of the World
G&B/A- The Good and The Beautiful, Arthropods
G&B/MB- The Good and The Beautiful, Marine Biology 

Coming Soon:

Thursday, November 19- Spirit/pizza/DOGS Day

November 24-30- Thanksgiving Break

December 15- January 11- Christmas Break (electives do meet on December 11)

Tuesday, January 12- School resumes


Dear  Parents,
In a letter written by “E.W.” (Edward Winslow) to a friend in England, he says: “And God be praised, we had a good increase…. Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling so that we might after a special manner rejoice together….” Winslow continues, “These things I thought good to let you understand… that you might on our behalf give God thanks who hath dealt so favourably with us.” (Source) 

As we approach Thanksgiving, may we recognize along with Edward Winslow how very favorably God has dealt with us! He not only provides for our physical needs, but especially our deepest need: spiritual rescue from death to life in Christ. Then let's share with others so that they might give God thanks with us.
One thing to be especially thankful for is a special place like Fortis where we are free to share our faith with the children, training them up to be proclaimers of truth, goodness, and beauty in our society.

Math: 
This week we will be covering some less intense math concepts as we discuss and explore shapes. This provides a good opportunity to continue strengthening the addition and subtraction within 20 strategies that we covered in the last unit. Mental Math and extra practice exercises are assigned with that goal in mind. 

It may seem to your student that showing two parts being added on their fingers and counting them up is the easiest way to add. They may prefer to draw hash marks for a whole number, cross out the amount being subtracted, and count the remaining to find the difference. However, these counting-based approaches are quickly going to fall apart next semester when we move into numbers within 40 and eventually numbers within 100. We want to train their brains to manipulate the numbers. Now is the time to practice, practice, practice with "make a 10 to add" and "subtract from the 10" or "subtract to a friendly 10, then subtract the rest." Take advantage of the Mental Math exercises to work on these important strategies. (Note- Despite the name, students at this stage are not expected to do Mental Math problems completely mentally. We are working toward that! But first they must master each strategy, so number bonds and manipulatives are fine to use in the meantime.)

Spelling:
In the last set of combined lessons for the year (phew!), we will cover both Lessons 14 and 15 in the same week. Familiarity with the word banks for these lessons will be very helpful when it comes to spelling the words correctly. 


Reading:
This week I am assigning a decodable reader "Scampt Gets a Bath" from the FlyLeaf Publishing website. (Unfortunately, they can only be read online at this time.) This reader is completely decodable using phonograms, spelling rules, and syllable division rules that we have already taught the students. The exceptions are the word "bubble" and the "er" in "under," so just give your student a quick, simple explanation of those. This reader should be fairly simple for your child, so focus on guiding your student's fluency- reading accurately at a natural speed, with a natural voice, and good expression. Important!- If you notice your child relying on the picture to guess the words instead of decoding, please cover the picture while they read the text. Then allow them to enjoy the picture after they read as a reward for their diligence in sounding out the words. Do you notice how much your child's reading has improved already this year? Isn’t it amazing?

Phonogram practice resources: 

Read Aloud:
This week we'll get to read about the miraculous deliverance of Kaboo from the Grebu. When you reach pg 44-45, you will notice that it seems like a whipping is about to be described and you may feel that you should skip that passage. However, I want to give you a spoiler and ask you to keep reading: Kaboo does not get beaten. In fact, this passage is one of the most important in the book because it describes how Kaboo was rescued from the hands of his tormentors in an amazing way. You and your student will rejoice with Jova and Kaboo when you find out what happens!

Science:
I'm looking forward to hearing from the students on Thursday (11/12) about their Arthropod projects! They will display their written projects on their desks for the class to enjoy (just the written observation sheet, no poster boards or display boards!), and they will share their oral presentations as well. Their presentation should include the type of trap used, how the project was conducted, and their observations. Refer to the presentation guidelines for full instructions.

History:
SotW Ch. 17 Questions for Discussion:  What caused Nebuchadnezzar to lose his mind and act like an animal? What did he finally realize about himself? Why do you think he never realized this before? Why did Nebuchadnezzar want to marry Amytis? Tell about some of the things he gave her. Why was Amytis still unhappy? What did Nebuchadnezzar do to bring a little bit of Persia to Babylon? Design and draw the garden you would build for your yard.

Journal sentence: Nebuchadnezzar the Great created the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Geography:
Memory Work: 
Quarter 2 poem, Count Your Blessings: Due 11/19

Books of the New Testament: Due 12/3;  Here is a link to the song we are using in class (New Testament starts at 1:23), but if you or your child are already familiar with a different song, I'll assess that as long as the books are said in order.

1st Grade T/Th Kuhn- Week 13- November 3-9

 
1st Grade
Week 13
Tue, Nov 3Wed, Nov 4Thu, Nov 5Fri, Nov 6Mon, Nov 9Co-Teacher Notes
VirtueFortitude- "Then David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He won’t leave you or abandon you until all the work for the service of the LORD’s house is finished." -1 Chron. 28:20
BibleGP Week 13, pg 198-201GP Week 13, pg 198 & 202-204GP Week 13, pg 205-207GP Week 13, pg 208-210GP Week 13, Optional Fun Day, pg 211What is God's plan? God's plan is to rescue His people from captivity.
MathHIG pg 76-77; TB- N/A; WB Ex 46 pg 110HIG pg 76-77; TB- N/A; WB Ex 47 pg 112 and HALF of the problems in Ex 48 pg 113-114 (choose 5 problems from #1, 2 problems from #2, and 1 problem from #3; it is not necessary to complete all the problems in Ex 48 unless your child needs extra practice)Review #5Re-teach missed concepts from Review #5;

Review any math strategies your child might be struggling with from this unit

MM 19 (first 10 problems)
Review any math strategies your child might be struggling with from this unit

WB Exercise 49 pg 115
(Note- WB Ex 46 pg 111 will be assigned in an upcoming week for review)
SpellingLesson 11 & 12:

Review Sound Cards;

Review C or K in initial blends and Name Game syllables;

Dictate fifth sentence on pg 111, dictate fifth and sixth sentences on pg 116
Review/correct dictation from Tuesday (fifth sentence on pg 111, fifth and sixth sentences on pg 116);

Review a selection of Sound, Rule, and Word Cards from your card box;

Use Bake the Cakes activity (see Teacher's Manual pg 110) to review C or K in Name Game Syllables
and
What Am I Flying activity (see Teacher's Manual pg 116) to review C or K in Initial Blends
Lesson 11 & 12 written assessmentLesson 13, Blends with Name Game Syllables:

Parent read pg 119;

Review a selection of Sound, Rule, and Word Cards from your card box;

Review Previous Concepts, pg 120;

Use letter tiles for New Teaching, pg 120-121;

Student read first and third sections of Word Bank for Name Game Syllables Part 1, pg 51 in activity book
Lesson 13:

Review a selection of Sound, Rule, and Word Cards from your card box;

Student use tiles to spell words you select from "Practice More Words" section, pg 121;

Student read first and second sections of Word Bank for Name Game Syllables Part 2, pg 71 in activity book

Dictate Word Cards 81-90 in spelling journal;

Dictate first three sentences on pg 123 in spelling journal
Check assessment from Thursday and add missed Word Cards to Review tab of card box; file Word Cards that your student has mastered in Mastered tab
GrammarFLL Lesson 41: Proper Nouns (Months of the Year), pg 61FLL Lesson 42: Introducing copywork sentences: "My name," pg 62FLL Lesson 43: "The Months," copywork: "My birthday," pg 63-64FLL Lesson 44: Nouns (Ideas), Copywork: "Love," pg 65-66.Complete FLL copywork in the Grammar Booklet that was sent home on Tuesday
WritingFruit of the Spirit copyworkCopybook pg 47- Copying (step 4); Write neatly and accurately.Fruit of the Spirit copyworkCopybook pg 47- Proof/Correct and Illustrate (steps 5 and 6)
ReadingReview all phonograms;

SF Week 12, Day 1, pg 16-19;

Introduce the vowel pair EW as /ū/ (OPG L104)
Review all phonograms (add EW)

SF Week 12, Day 2, pg 20-22;

OPG Lesson 104: The Vowel Pair EW as /ū/; Dictation: few

Read "Christmas Eve" from Frog and Toad All Year, allowing your child to read words they have learned to decode (see below); Orally narrate & discuss
Review all phonograms;

SF Week 12, Day 3, pg 23-25;

Introduce the Vowel Pair OO as /ſ/ (OPG L106)
Review all phonograms (add OO)

SF Week 12, Day 4, pg 26-28;

OPG Lesson 105: Review of the Long-U Vowel Pairs and Patterns;

Begin re-reading "Christmas Eve" from Frog and Toad All Year for fluency
Review all phonograms;

SF Week 12, Day 5, pg 29-31;

OPG Lesson 106: The Vowel Pair OO as /ſ/; Dictation: zoo, mood, broom, smooth

Finish re-reading "Christmas Eve" from Frog and Toad All Year for fluency
All sight words that should be learned and reviewed thus far: the, I, a, of, have, give, to, two, too, was, said, do, who, friend, eye, buy, shoe
Read AloudQuest for the Lost Prince, pg 9-15Quest for the Lost Prince, pg 16-22Quest for the Lost Prince, pg 23-29Quest for the Lost Prince, pg 30-36"Quest for the Lost Prince," by Dave & Neta Jackson was purchased as part of your required textbooks.
HistoryIntro Thanksgiving: Read Aloud "The Pilgrim's First Thanksgiving"SotW Ch.16: The Return of Assyria, pg 129-134:
Discussion questions below.

Journal sentences: Ashurbanipal was an unkind king. He also created the first library.
ScienceG&B/A Lesson 8: Arachnids: Insect or Arachnid, Escape the Web, Sticky Web, Spider Bites, and A World Without Spiders, pg 38-40 (skip the word search that is mentioned on pg 40);

Journal sentence: Ticks, mites, scorpions, and spiders are all arachnids.
G&B/A Lesson 8: Arachnids

Read aloud: Spinning Spiders

How does a spider eat? demonstration
We are skipping G&B/A Lesson 7 for the time being

Arthropod Project due next week 11/12
GeographyHorn of Africa & East Africa, due 11/17
Memory WorkSCRIPTURE: Romans 12 (ongoing)
New Testament books in order, due 12/3
QUARTER 2 POEM: "Count Your Blessings," due 11/19

*Note anything underlined in the table above or in the notes below is a clickable link for your convenience *


Key to Abbreviations:
GP- The Gospel Project- Home Edition
HIG- Singapore Math Home Instructor's Guide (click to print addition or subtraction cards)
TB- Singapore Math Textbook
WB- Singapore Math Workbook
EP- Singapore Math Extra Practice
MM- Mental Math (see appendix in HIG)
AAS- All About Spelling teacher manual (click here to print any missing phonogram cards)
FLL- First Language Lessons
SF- Sounds First Phonemic Awareness Program (click here and scroll down to Grade 1)
OPG- The Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading (click here to print OPG sight words)
SotW- Story of the World
G&B/A- The Good and The Beautiful, Arthropods
G&B/MB- The Good and The Beautiful, Marine Biology 


Coming Soon:

Thursday, November 19- Spirit/pizza/DOGS Day

November 24-30- Thanksgiving Break


Dear Parents,
I always find Thanksgiving an interesting holiday in our culture. Everyone's hearts turn toward being thankful, but many stop right there and never consider where the good things in their lives come from! By God's grace, we understand that He is the giver of every good gift ("Every good and perfect gift is from above..." - James 1:17), and it is our desire to thank HIM for all of our many blessings as we count them... one by one. 

With love,
Mrs. Kuhn

Math:
We'll finish up Unit 6 this week and assess the students' understanding with Review #5. After the Review is returned to you,
identify which problems are incorrect and try giving your student a chance to fix those items on their own first without help. If they're unable to do so, see if there's a misunderstanding about instructions.  If not, the concept needs re-teaching and more practice. 
Time has been intentionally built into this week for extra review. Please take advantage of this time to work on individualized review for your child!

Spelling:
Lesson 13 combines two concepts we have been practicing: blends and Name Game syllables. Though there are only 10 green word cards in this lesson, there are lots of other examples in the "Practice More Words" section on pg 121 that your student has the skills to spell. When asking your student to spell words, make sure to vary the patterns by throwing in a Floss Rule, multisyllable, or Never Ending Rule word now and then. This forces them to think about the sounds and the rules they've learned, rather than just knowing they are supposed to add a silent e to every word in this lesson. 

Grammar: 
Beginning with FLL Lesson 42, most grammar lessons will now include a short copywork assignment. Your student will bring home a bound booklet on Tuesday in which they should write the FLL copywork. The title at the top of each page in the booklet corresponds to the lesson that should be written on that page. Grammar booklets will need to be brought to school each day. Please add a sticky tab to help your student quickly find the correct page in class. To keep the pages from ripping out, I suggest keeping the booklet in the “bring back to school” side of your student’s folder for transportation back and forth.

Reading:
Sadly, we've come to our last story in "Frog and Toad All Year." Even after these stories are no longer assigned, I hope you'll continue to follow Frog's and Toad's adventures on your trips to the library! 

Words from "Christmas Eve" that your child should be able to decode, and sight words in parenthesis: On, Eve, Toad, a, big, he, the, tree, Frog, is, late, (said), at, his, clock, it, (was), broken, hands, (of), did, not, I, am, if, has, deep, hole, and, cannot, get, will, see, him, more, path, lost, in, cold, wet, by, big, with, teeth, up, my, (friend), (have), rope, with, this, show, way, pan, hit, that, to, help, ran, be, so, glad, new, (two), sat, fire

Read Aloud:
This week we'll be starting "Quest for the Lost Prince," by Dave and Neta Jackson. This book tells the story of Samuel Morris, born prince of the Kru tribe in Liberia and raised in slavery to a neighboring tribe. After enduring brutality from his enslavers, the prince received a vision from God and escaped. Through a series of miraculous events, he made his way to the United States with the goal of becoming a missionary among his own people. 

This is a story filled with action and adventure, and while it is written for children, the beginning of the book does deal with physical harm done to the prince. I recommend that you preview the first couple of home day assignments so that you're aware of any passages that could be too intense for your child, particularly on page 34. You're welcome to summarize these sections by saying something simple like, "The Grebo chief hurt Kaboo's body on purpose." After chapter 3, the prince escapes his captors and the physical beatings are no longer an issue.

History:
While you'll continue studying chapters in SotW at home, in class we are taking a time warp from ancient history to the 1600s to visit Plymouth Plantation in anticipation of Thanksgiving! 

Questions for SotW Ch. 16 discussion:
Why were the Assyrian soldiers so hard to conquer? Was Ashurbanipal a kind leader? Do you think it's better to obey someone because you love them or because you are afraid of them? Why did Ashurbanipal decide to start collecting books? What kind of information was collected for Ashurbanipal's first library?

Journal sentences: Ashurbanipal was an unkind king. He also created the first library.

Science:
Next up in science... spiders. Eek! These small yet wise creatures toil day by day and inch by inch spinning their webs. How does a spider's patient work bring it closer to its goal?  Discuss this with your student and see how they can apply it to their life, education, and faith! 

Journal sentence: Ticks, mites, scorpions, and spiders are all arachnids.

Arthropod projects due next week, 11/12!

Geography:

Memory Work:
Quarter 2 poem: Count Your Blessings. Due 11/19

Books of the New Testament: Here is the song we're practicing in class (New Testament starts at 1:23), but if you or your child are already familiar with a different song, that's just fine. As long as the books are said in order, that is what matters! Due 12/3

1st Grade T/Th Kuhn- Week 12- October 27 - November 2

1st Grade Week 12Tue, Oct 27Wed, Oct 28Thu, Oct 29Fri, Oct 30Mon, Nov 2Co-Teacher Notes
VirtuePrudence- "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age." Titus 2:11
BibleGP Week 12, pg 182-185GP Week 12, pg 182 & 186-188GP Week 12, pg 189-191GP Week 12, pg 192-194GP Week 12, Optional Fun Day, pg 195What is God's plan? God's plan is to rescue His people from captivity.
MathHIG pg 72-74; TB pg 66 #7 and #8a, WB Ex 44- #1-#2 pg 105-106 (modified)Review HIG pg 72-74 including Reinforcement section (note: skip the entire paragraph on pg 73 that starts, "Give your student a 10-rod of multilink cubes..."); TB pg 66 #7 and #8b; WB Ex 44 #3 pg 107; MM 17 (first 10 problems)Review #4Look over Review #4 and reteach any missed concepts

MM 18 for 10min
HIG pg 75, TB pg 67, WB Ex 45 pg 108-109, MM 18 continue for 10 more minutes or until completeSee below for help with MM 17
SpellingLesson 10:

Review Sound Cards;

Review Name Game Syllables;

Dictate second three sentences on pg 104
Lesson 10:

Review/correct dictation from Tuesday;

Review a selection of Sound, Rule, and Word Cards from your card box;

Student read third and fourth sections of Word Bank for Name Game Syllables Part 1, pg 51 in activity book

Use Home Sweet Home activity (see Teacher's Manual pg 103) to review Name Game Syllables
Lesson 10 written assessment
Lesson 11, C or K in Name Game Syllables:

Parent read pg 107;

Review a selection of Sound, Rule, and Word Cards from your card box; Review "Previous Concepts," pg 108;

Student read first and second sections of Word Bank for Name Game Syllables Part 1, pg 51 in activity book

Use letter tiles for New Teaching, pg 108-109;

Dictate Word Cards 61-70 in Spelling Journal;

Dictate first three sentences on pg 111 in Spelling Journal
Lesson 12, C or K in Initial Blends:

Parent read pg 113;

Review a selection of Sound, Rule, and Word Cards from your card box;

Student read third and fourth sections of Word Bank for Name Game Syllables Part 1, pg 51 in activity book

Use letter tiles for New Teaching, pg 114-115;

Dictate Word Cards 71-80 in Spelling Journal;

Dictate first three sentences on pg 116 in Spelling Journal
Check assessment from Thursday and add missed Word Cards to Review tab of card box; file Word Cards that your student has mastered in Mastered tab
GrammarFLL Lesson 37: Nouns (Identifying nouns in a story), pg 56FLL Lesson 38: Proper nouns (Days of the Week) pg 57FLL Lesson 40: Proper nouns (Months of the year), Oral usage: See/Saw/Seen, pg 59-60FLL Lesson 39: Addresses, Common and proper nouns (Aunts and uncles) pg 58
WritingFruit of the Spirit copyworkCopybook pg 45- Copying (step 4); Write neatly and accurately.Fruit of the Spirit copyworkCopybook pg 45- Proof/Correct and Illustrate (steps 5 and 6)
ReadingCheck Phonogram Assessments

Review all phonograms;

SF Week 11, Day 1, pg 1-3;

Introduce O alone as /ō/ (OPG L101)
Review all phonograms

SF Week 11, Day 2, pg 4-6; For detailed explanation of today's Manipulating Phonemes exercise, see Week 11, Day 1, pg 2-3

OPG Lesson 101: O alone as /ō/; See below for important note on how to teach this lesson; Dictation: sold, most, both

Read "The Surprise" from "Frog and Toad All Year," allowing your child to read words they have learned to decode (see below); Orally narrate & discuss
Review all phonograms;

SF Week 11, Day 3, pg 7-9;

Introduce The Vowel Pair UE as /ū/ (OPG L103)
Review all phonograms

SF Week 11, Day 4, pg 10-12;

OPG Lesson 102: Review of the Long-O Vowel Pairs and Patterns;

Begin re-reading "The Surprise" from "Frog and Toad All Year," for fluency
Review all phonograms

SF Week 11, Day 5, pg 13-15;

Long Vowel Review Day (OPG Lessons 88, 93, 97, and 102); see below for details

Finish re-reading "The Surprise" from "Frog and Toad All Year," for fluency
All sight words that should be learned and reviewed thus far: the, I, a, of, have, give, to, two, too, was, said, do, who, friend, eye, buy, shoe
Read AloudRabbit Hill, pg 108-112Rabbit Hill, pg 113-117Rabbit Hill, pg 118-122Rabbit Hill, pg 123-127Get Quest for the Lost Prince ready for next week
HistoryRead aloud "Exodus from Egypt"

Re-enact the escape from Egypt
SotW Ch. 15: The Phoenicians, pg 123-127; orally narrate and discuss (questions below);

Journal sentence: The Phoenicians were famous for blown glass and purple dye.
ScienceG&B/A Lesson 6: Ants- Ant Farm Observation, Ants Around the World, Ant Anatomy Review, and Amazing Ants, pg 28-29; please see details below;

Journal sentence: Each ant has a special job that benefits the whole colony.
G&B/A Lesson 6: Ants- Mound Maze, pg 29; Read aloud: Are You an Ant?Arthropod Project Due 11/12
GeographyHorn of Africa & East Africa, due 11/17
Memory WorkSCRIPTURE: Romans 12 (ongoing)
New Testament books in order, due 12/3
QUARTER 2 POEM: "Count Your Blessings," due 11/19
 *Note anything underlined in the table above or in the notes below is a clickable link for your convenience *

Key to Abbreviations:
GP- The Gospel Project- Home Edition
HIG- Singapore Math Home Instructor's Guide (click to print addition or subtraction cards)
TB- Singapore Math Textbook
WB- Singapore Math Workbook
EP- Singapore Math Extra Practice
MM- Mental Math (see appendix in HIG)
AAS- All About Spelling teacher manual (click here to print any missing phonogram cards)
FLL- First Language Lessons
SF- Sounds First Phonemic Awareness Program (click here and scroll down to Grade 1)
OPG- The Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading (click here to print OPG sight words)
SotW- Story of the World
G&B/A- The Good and The Beautiful, Arthropods
G&B/MB- The Good and The Beautiful, Marine Biology 

Coming Soon:

Thursday, October 29- Historical Dress Up- students may dress in costume as a historical figure from their grade level history study. Details below.

Thursday, October 29- Spirit/Pizza/DOGS Day- Fortis spirit shirts and shorts or jeans may be worn.

Historical Dress Up- October 29th: Costumes must be in the theme of our history studies this year, which will cover nomads through the beginning of Christianity (see SotW Chapters 1-37). Guidelines: No weapons, no gore, nothing scary, students need to be able to move and sit properly and use the restroom on their own. 

Math:  
Our students are being equipped with multiple strategies to add and subtract within 20. The ultimate objective of these lessons is to develop a useful strategy for subtracting numbers that are not so friendly to subtract. We want the students to have a strong conceptual understanding of math, not only a procedural understanding.

These strategies are probably very different from what we learned as children! Nevertheless, they are powerful strategies that emphasize flexibility with numbers and operations. Just be cognizant of the fact that even though a particular approach may seem confusing to you as an adult who learned a different way, your student very well may catch onto it and be able to use that strategy effectively. 

Some students may find that rather than the strategy of subtracting from the 10 (HIG pg 72-73), they prefer the strategy of subtracting down to a "friendly" 10 (pg 74). Both are great strategies! We want to familiarize students with both strategies, but they will naturally gravitate toward using the one that makes the most sense to them. Therefore, I have modified workbook page 106 to allow them to choose the strategy they would like to use. In class, they will do the problems from page 106 on a handout that I will provide instead of writing in the actual workbook. 

Here are a couple of short videos I have created to give you a visual of both strategies.

If you need any more clarification on these different approaches, please reach out to me!

Help with MM 17:  
Keep in mind that this exercise is about showing understanding of the "take from 10" strategy and not about finding what each side equals.  Use manipulatives liberally! 
Study the first paragraph on HIG pg 72, especially the 10-frame diagrams, for help with these problems. You can also reference the "take from 10" video above. Let's use the example given on HIG pg 72 of 15-7. 
If 15-7 was written in the same format as MM17, it would look like this: 15-7=____ + 5. Since we're starting with 15, we show that on a 10-frame as 10 and 5. We want to take away 7, but looking at the ones, we only have 5 of them, so we cannot take 7 from there. However, we CAN take 7 from the tens. We remove 7 from the full 10-frame, which leaves 3 there. In addition to those 3, we still have the 5 ones. So 15-7 is the same as 3 + 5. (Some problems on MM 17 leave a blank for the other addend, so they might have 15-7=3+___ instead. The process is the same, but this time they want the student to fill in the 5.)

Here is that same strategy applied to the first two problems on MM17:

Spelling:
I'm noticing that some students are having trouble writing the correct phonograms when I say the sounds orally. Please make sure you're doing this exercise with them at home daily in addition to the reverse exercise: showing them the phonogram cards and asking them to say the sounds. 

Lessons 11 & 12 are really both reviewing the same spelling concept: the Soft C Rule (c spells /s/ before e, i, or y).  It is important to practice this rule in regard to Name Game (VCe) syllables as well as in initial blends, so I would like the students to practice and be familiar with the words in both lessons.

One quick corollary I will add is that if you've been having your student write the vowel, leave a space for the consonant, write the silent e, then go back and fill in the consonant (see Week 10 blog for full explanation), this upcoming lesson where they have to decide whether to use C or K for /k/ in a Name Game (VCe) syllable will be much easier.  

In addition to the new teaching that "we always use K in the middle of Name Game (VCe) syllables," you might find this chart helpful for recalling rules that tell us when to use C vs K in other spelling situations.

Take special note of the initial blends in skunk and skull, which your student might expect to be spelled with C rather than K. Skull is related to skeleton, so using K instead of C connects the meanings of those two words. Some think that the spelling of skunk is related to its original Native American roots, but there isn't a specific reason why K is used instead of C. It's just something students will need to remember!

Reading:
The Sounds First phonemic awareness curriculum generally gives detailed explanations of new exercises on Day 1 of the week they are introduced. Since your home assignments begin on Day 2, if you ever need more information on an exercise, flip back to Day 1 to see if they addressed it at the beginning of the week. 

Note for OPG L101: This week at home, you will be teaching OPG Lesson 101. Similar to OPG Lesson 96, Lesson 101 says that O alone is "disobedient." Disregard that! Instead, we teach the concept found in AAS (Lesson 19- we aren't there yet!) which is known as the "Find Gold" rule: I and O often say their long sound when followed by two consonants. We taught the students this rule for I, so they have heard it before, and will now add O along with I to the rule. 

Note for Long Vowel Review Day assignment: Ask your student to read the words from the OPG pages listed above. If they are having trouble with any of the vowel pairs or patterns we have covered so far, spend time today going back to those OPG lessons and practicing those types of words. If they are not having any trouble, encourage them to improve their fluency by reading more smoothly and naturally.

Keep reviewing all of those phonograms!  A good practice is to make the connection between the phonogram cards/flashcard practice and actual text your child can read. In "Frog and Toad," for example, take time to preview the upcoming paragraph and let your child point out the phonograms they know. Have them practice what sound they will make when they get to that word. 

Words from "The Surprise" that students should be able to decode, plus sight words (in parenthesis): It, (was), the, had, off, trees, they, on, will, go, to, Toad's, (said), Frog, rake, (of), that, (have), his, be, a, shed, these, run, ran, so, not, see, him, grass, came, is, he, who, got, home, pile, clean, up, leaf, wind, land, that, had, must, get, and, my, both, when, each, went, bed. 

Read Aloud: 
The students have enjoyed getting to know all of the little critters- and the Folks- who inhabit Rabbit Hill! For our next read aloud, we adventure to Africa in Quest for the Lost Prince. Get your copy ready for next week!

History:
Questions for discussion: Can you list the steps for making glass? Why do you think blown glass was the most expensive kind of glass? What shape would you like to make with blown glass? Why did Dido want to live close to the water? What was her clever trick for buying lots of land?

Journal sentence: The Phoenicians were famous for blown glass and purple dye.

Science:
"Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!" Proverbs 6:6 NIV

They are the most commonly found insect in the world... ants! This week we will take a closer look at these tiny but mighty insects. Scripture says we can learn from their ways. What did God want us to learn from ants, I wonder?

For the Ant Farm Observation section, setting up an actual ant farm is optional, but please do watch this video on YouTube and discuss the questions in the text. Pro tip- you can slow down or speed up YouTube playback speed as desired. 
For the Ant Anatomy review section, you do not need the student journal page. You may use pg 30 of the textbook and review the body parts that way.
For the Amazing Ants section, you may simply show your student the pictures on pg 31 rather than removing the page from your textbook.
Please skip the Mound Maze section on pg 29, as we will cover it in class.

Journal sentence: Each ant has a special job that benefits the whole colony.

Arthropod Project due 11/12

Geography:

Memory Work:
Quarter 2 poem:  Count Your Blessings.  Due 11/19. 
Books of the New Testament, due 12/3.  Here is the song we practice with in class.