*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
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, February 26- Spirit/Pizza/DOGS day
Thursday, March 5- Equatorial Africa map due
Tuesday, March 10- Q3 poem, A Child's Prayer due
Thursday, March 12- Books of the Bible (Genesis - Job) due
Tuesday - Monday, March 17-23- Spring Break
Dearest Parents,
Can you believe we have just three weeks of school until Spring Break? The time has FLOWN by this semester. You and your students have put in a lot of time, thought, and effort, and the results are so rewarding. Keep persevering!
Love, Mrs. Kuhn
Math:
We have just finished teaching a tricky unit, and we've been working hard! Subtraction with renaming is one of the most challenging concepts in 1st grade math, so we will keep reviewing in class and I will ask you to do the same at home, even as we move on to other units.
We have just finished teaching a tricky unit, and we've been working hard! Subtraction with renaming is one of the most challenging concepts in 1st grade math, so we will keep reviewing in class and I will ask you to do the same at home, even as we move on to other units.
Subtraction reinforcement games (choose one or both to play on Wednesday):
Build a Number, then Subtract: Use two sets of number cards with numbers 0-9 (UNO cards, Phase 10 cards, playing cards with face cards removed, etc). From the first set, use only numbers 1, 2, and 3. Keeping the sets separated into two piles, turn all cards face down. Draw one card from the 1,2,3 pile- this is the tens number in a 2-digit number. Draw one card from the 0-9 pile- this is the ones number in a 2-digit number. Write down the 2-digit number. (Ex: 2 is turned over from the 1,2,3 pile and 9 is turned over from the 0-9 pile; the 2-digit number is 29). Turn over one more card from the 0-9 pile. Have your student subtract the number they turned over from the number they wrote down.
0 or Bust: Use a 10-sided die or 4 sets of number cards with numbers 0-9. Players start with 40 points. Roll the die or draw a card and subtract that number from the start number. That difference is the new start number. Continue until one person hits 0 exactly. If a player's roll doesn't hit 0 exactly, they "go bust" and their turn is over.
Our next unit is multiplication- so fun! At this level, we will be introducing it as repeated addition. Please note, as it says in the HIG: "Students should use mental math to do the repeated addition, not simply count on." We want students to be able to manipulate the numbers easily in their heads so that for 4+4+4+4 they are thinking "I know 4+4 is 8, adding another 4 gets me to 12, and the last 4 brings me to 16," or "I see there are two 4+4's. I know 4+4 is 8, so two 4+4's is the same as 8+8, and 8+8 is 16." This way of thinking about math, rather than simply counting, is so powerful! It opens up many opportunities for higher math functioning when children can manipulate numbers with ease, freeing up brain power for more complex computations.
Keep practicing math facts...yes, still! Again, less effort required in the recall of facts means more "brain power" available to use the facts in more complex calculations.
Flashcard Games for math facts (or phonograms!)
Spelling:
This week Lesson 24 introduces the second job of silent E, which is to cause C or G to make their soft sounds. This is another lesson that will be easier to teach if your student has been writing the silent E along with the vowel, then going back and filling in the final consonant sound between the vowel and the silent E. That approach makes it easy to see that if the final consonant sound is /s/, they should use C, since C spells /s/ before E, I, or Y (S before E usually makes the /z/ sound). Regularly reviewing the Word Bank for Soft C on pg 147 in the activity book will help your student recognize these words as well.
Grammar:
For FLL Lesson 82, you will be using "Mr. Nobody" to point out capitalization in poetry. You do not need to read the stanza three times in a row or have your student repeat it along with you since we're not memorizing this poem. Also note that for Lesson 82 copywork in the grammar booklet, due to space constraints several words in the poem were omitted in order to demonstrate capitalization of the first word of every line.
Reading:
Remember when teaching a new sight word, before showing your student the word, say it to them and ask them to think about and write down what sounds they would use to spell the word. For "build," they will likely spell b-i-l-d. Then discuss which parts of the word are regular (b, l, d) and identify the part that is irregular (the /ĭ/ sound is spelled with UI; this is a rule breaker because UI makes the /oo/ sound). Direct your student to underline, highlight, or use a different color to replace the i they originally wrote with ui, and remind them that this is the part of the word they will need to memorize.
Decodable words in "God's Good Rules" (sight words in parenthesis): God's, good, (what), is, it, some, (said), the, a, big, they, but, (was), with, them, had, lead, take, them, to, this, place, told, go, up, on, he, (would), say, gave, tell, my, do, not, make, think, name, bad, way, rest, day, love, and, kill, wife, steal, lie, want, (have)
Decodable words in "A Calf of Gold" (sight words in parenthesis): A, (of), gold, will, you, do, (what), God, yes, (said), the, we, went, he, to, (was), long, time, come, back, some, must, (have), help, us, so, the, made, from, this, they, it, be, now, but, not, (one), day, came, did, like, please, came, (would), then, bad, died, sad, who, no
History:
This semester's at-home project will allow students to tap into their inner entrepreneur as they set up shop in a recreation of the central Greek gathering place and marketplace, the Agora. Project guidelines can be found here. This project will be presented by the students on April 28th.
SotW Ch. 28 Discussion questions: How were the Roman roads different from most roads in the ancient world? Compare how ancient Romans took a bath with how you take a bath. Why do you think the Romans liked to watch men fighting? What is your opinon about a gladiator fight? Can you think of a different game that people today enjoy watching?
Journal sentence: Ancient Romans built durable roads, many of which are still standing today.
Here is an idea for making an edible Roman road, if you're feeling adventurous!
Science:
Lessons 6 and 7 cover marine invertebrates. We will split each of those by covering half of a lesson at home, then finishing the other half at school. This week, you'll teach symmetry and the cnidarians page of the "My Marine Invertebrates" booklet at home, then we'll study echinoderms and sponges in class. Copies of the booklet will be sent home with your student on Tuesday, Feb. 24th. Please complete only the Cnidarians page of the Marine Invertebrates Booklet on Wednesday at home. Send the booklet to school on Thursday so we can continue with Echinoderms and Sponges. The process will repeat for Lesson 7 next week.
Geography:
Equatorial Africa map and song due 3/5; Students should be able to point to each country as they sing/recite the names.
Memory Work:
The Quarter 3 poem is due Tuesday, 3/10. Each child will present A Child's Prayer in front of the class. Let your child practice in front of an audience of stuffed animals to boost their confidence!
The books of the Old Testament (Genesis-Job) are due Thursday, 3/12.
