Fortis 1st Grade (T/Th): October 2023

1st Grade T/Th- Week 13- October 31 - November 6

1st Grade Week 13	Tue, Oct 31	Wed, Nov 1	Thu, Nov 2	Fri, Nov 3	Mon, Nov 6	Co-Teacher Notes
Virtue	Respect- "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others." -Phil. 2:3-4
Bible	GP Week 13, pg 198-201	GP Week 13, pg 198 & 202-204	GP Week 13, pg 205-207	GP Week 13, pg 208-210	GP Week 13, Optional Fun Day, pg 211	What is God's plan? God's plan is to rescue His people from captivity.
Math	HIG pg 76-77; TB- N/A; WB Ex 46 pg 110	HG- pg 76-77; TB- N/A; WB Ex 47 pg 112, HALF of the problems in Ex 48 pg 113-114 (not necessary to complete all the problems in Ex 48 unless your child needs extra practice; choose 5 problems from #1, 2 problems from #2, and 1 problem from #3)	Review #5	Re-teach missed problems 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 a subsequent week for ongoing review)
Spelling	Review key cards; Review usage of c, k, or ck; Dictate Step 9 / Lesson 11 sentences 4-6	Review/correct dictation from Tuesday; Prepare for test tomorrow on Step 9 (including supplemental pages) / Lessons 11 & 12	Step 9 / Lessons 11 & 12 Assessment	AAS B&W version: Teach Step 11- Blends with Vowel-Consonant-E on board first, then in journal [Note: We are intentionally teaching Step 11 this week and Step 10 next week.] AAS Color version: Teach Lesson 13- Blends with Name Game syllables on board first, then in journal	Review Step 11 / Lesson 13; Dictate Sentences 1-3 in Spelling journal	Check test from Thurs & add missed words to Review portion of card box
Grammar	FLL Lesson 41: Proper Nouns (Months of the Year), pg 61	FLL Lesson 42: Introducing copywork sentences: "My name," pg 62	FLL Lesson 43: "The Months," copywork: "My birthday," pg 63-64	FLL Lesson 44: Nouns (Ideas), Copywork: "Love," pg 65-66	.	Complete FLL copywork in the back half of the Spelling and Grammar Journal (after the tab)
Writing	Continue Scripture or poetry copywork	Copybook pg 47- Copying (step 4); Write neatly and accurately.	Continue Scripture or poetry copywork	Copybook pg 47- Proof/Correct and Illustrate (steps 5 and 6)
Reading	Review 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/, pg 184; 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 /o͞o/ (OPG L106)	Review all phonograms (add OO) SF Week 12, Day 4, pg 26-28; OPG Lesson 106: The Vowel Pair OO as /o͞o/, pg 186-187; Dictation: zoo, mood, broom, smooth 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 105: Review of the Long-U Vowel Pairs and Patterns, pg 185; 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 Click here for a link to sight word flash cards
Read Aloud	The Cat of Bubastes, pg 218-222	The Cat of Bubastes, pg 223-227	The Cat of Bubastes, pg 228-232	The Cat of Bubastes, pg 233-237
History	Intro 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.
Science		G&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 11/9
Geography	Horn of Africa & East Africa, due 11/16
Memory Work	SCRIPTURE: Psalm 23 KJV (ongoing); New Testament books in order- Due 11/30 MATH: Fact flash cards (ongoing) QUARTER 2 POEM; "Count Your Blessings," due 11/16 GEOGRAPHY: Horn of Africa & East Africa, due 11/16

* 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
MM- Mental Math (see appendix in HIG)
CCC- Complete, check, correct
AAS- All About Spelling (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...

Tuesday, October 31- Historic Dress Up- students may dress in costume as a historical figure from their grade level history study. Details below.

Thursday, November 9- Spirit Day (no pizza)

November 21-27- Thanksgiving Break

December 12 - January 8- Christmas Break

Historic Dress Up- October 31st: Costumes must be in the theme of our historic 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. Have fun thinking of ideas; I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Service Project Opportunity:

Student Council is collecting donations for Operation Christmas Child boxes. We have a goal of 50 boxes! Please deliver all donations to the front desk receptionist.

Click here for a link to the recommended items.

Click here if you would like to make a monetary donation for shipping costs or filling items.

Thank you for helping us bless 50 children this year!!

**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 their bounty comes 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, try giving your student a chance to fix items that you have identified as incorrect 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 built in for you to review and re-teach any concept your student struggles with. The lessons from next week until Christmas will be much simpler than the past few weeks, and you'll have time to work on review, individualized for your child. Please take advantage of this time!

Reading:
Sadly, we've come to our last story in "Frog and Toad All Year." We've had so many fun discussions about these two friends! Even after their stories are no longer assigned, I hope you'll continue to follow their 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

Spelling:

B&W version users will be doing lessons out of order this week, so pay close attention to what is assigned. I have found that switching the order of these two lessons prevents students from getting confused as we introduce words in OPG that have a similar sound but are spelled differently.

Color version lessons are already in the order I prefer, so you will be teaching Lesson 13 after Lessons 11 & 12 as you would expect.

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 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:
Have you ever wondered why a spider does not get caught in its own web? This week as we study Lesson 8, we'll discover lots of interesting information about spiders as well as their fellow arachnids. They may be creepy, but God has a special place for them in the design of His world!

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

Arthropod projects due next week!

Geography:

Horn of Africa and East Africa Due 11/16

Memory Work:

Quarter 2 poem: Count Your Blessings. Due 11/16

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 11/30

1st Grade T/Th- Week 12- October 24-30

1st Grade Week 12	Tue, Oct 24	Wed, Oct 25	Thu, Oct 26	Fri, Oct 27	Mon, Oct 30	Co-Teacher Notes
Virtue	Loyalty- A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.- Prov. 18:24
Bible	GP Week 12, pg 182-185	GP Week 12, pg 182 & 186-188	GP Week 12, pg 189-191	GP Week 12, pg 192-194	GP Week 12, Optional Fun Day, pg 195	What is God's plan? God's plan is to rescue His people from captivity.
Math	HIG pg 72-74; TB pg 66 #7 and #8a, WB Ex 44- #1-#2 pg 105-106	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 #4	Look 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 complete	See below if you need explanation for MM 17
Spelling	Step 8 / Lesson 10- Dictate sentences 4-6	Review/correct dictation from Tuesday; Prepare for assessment tomorrow	Step 8 / Lesson 10 Spelling Assessment	AAS B&W version: Teach Step 9- C or K for the Sound of /k/ (include supplemental pages that were emailed); spell words with tiles first, then in journal AAS Color version: Teach Lesson 11- C or K in Name Game Syllables AND Lesson 12- C or K in Initial Blends; spell words with tiles first, then in journal	AAS B&W version: Review Step 9 (including supplemental pages); Dictate sentences 1-3 in journal AAS Color version: Review Lessons 11 & 12; Dictate sentences 1-3 from Lesson 11 in journal	Check test from Thurs & add missed words to Review portion of card box
Grammar	FLL Lesson 37: Nouns (Identifying nouns in a story), pg 56	FLL Lesson 38: Proper nouns (Days of the Week) pg 57	FLL Lesson 40: Proper nouns (Months of the year), Oral usage: See/Saw/Seen, pg 59-60	FLL Lesson 39: Addresses, Common and proper nouns (Aunts and uncles) pg 58
Writing	Continue Scripture or poetry copywork	Copybook pg 45- Copying (step 4); Write neatly and accurately.	Continue Scripture or poetry copywork	Copybook pg 45- Proof/Correct and Illustrate (steps 5 and 6)
Reading	Check 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 5 OPG Lesson 101: O alone as /ō/, pg 181; 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; OPG Lesson 103: The Vowel Pair UE as /ū/, pg 183	Review all phonograms SF Week 11, Day 4, pg 10-12; OPG Lesson 102: Review of the Long-O Vowel Pairs and Patterns, pg 182; 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 pg 164, 170, 176-177, and 182); 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 Click here for a link to sight word flash cards
Read Aloud	The Cat of Bubastes, pg 198-202	The Cat of Bubastes, pg 203-207	The Cat of Bubastes, pg 208-212	The Cat of Bubastes, pg 213-217
History	Special guest visit			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.
Science		G&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 11/9
Geography	Horn of Africa & East Africa, due 11/16
Memory Work	SCRIPTURE: Psalm 23 KJV (ongoing); New Testament books in order- Due 11/30 MATH: Fact flash cards (ongoing) QUARTER 2 POEM; "Count Your Blessings," due 11/16 GEOGRAPHY: Horn of Africa & East Africa, due 11/16

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

COMING SOON...

Tuesday, October 24- Picture Retakes day

Thursday, October 26- Spirit/pizza/DOGS day

Friday, October 27- Fall Festival

Tuesday, October 31- Historic Dress Up- students may dress in costume as a historical figure from their grade level history study. Details below.

November 21-27- Thanksgiving Break

Service Project Opportunity:

Student Council is collecting donations for Operation Christmas Child boxes. We have a goal of 50 boxes! Please deliver all donations to the front desk receptionist.

Click here for a link to the recommended items.

Click here if you would like to make a monetary donation for shipping costs or filling items.

Thank you for helping us bless 50 children this year!!

Math:

Our students are being equipped with multiple strategies to add and subtract within 20. These are probably very different from how we learned as children! Nevertheless, they are powerful strategies that emphasize flexibility with numbers and operations. We want the students to have a strong conceptual understanding of math, not a just a procedural understanding.

Some students may find the first approach of subtracting from the 10 (HIG pg 72-73) confusing or uncomfortable. If your child prefers the second approach of subtracting down to a "friendly" 10 (pg 74), that is also a great approach. The ultimate objective of this lesson is to develop a strategy, outside of memorization, to subtract numbers that are not so friendly to subtract. 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. If you need any clarification on the different approaches, please reach out to me!

A note of explanation for MM 17:

Keep in mind that this exercise is more about showing understanding of the strategy and less about finding the numerical answer to 12-10 (for example). Use manipulatives liberally!

Reference the first paragraph on HIG pg 72, especially the 10-frame diagram, for these problems. If the example of 15-7 on HIG pg 72 was on MM 17, it would read: 15-7=____ + 5, and your student would fill in 3 for the blank.

Here's why: 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.

Stated another way, build 15 on 10-frames as 10 and 5. "10 and 5" minus 7 is the same as "3 and 5."

Again, we are not trying to do algebra here. The idea is not for the student to figure out 15-7 by counting up and getting 8, then go to the other side of the equation and ask "___+5 =8? Oh, the blank is 3."

For those of you who are visual, this might help. These are the first two problems on MM17:

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 Key Card 8 / Rule Card 11 (AAS Step 14 / 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 practicing 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.

Spelling:
The spelling dictation sentences are nearly identical in both Step 8 and Lesson 10, so the only discrepancy I need to bring to your attention is in the first sentence I will dictate in class. The one I will use is: My name is Beth.

When we start Step 9 / Lesson 11 & 12, we'll continue some work with silent e, this time in relation to deciding when to use C or K to make the /k/ sound. In addition to the new teaching that "we always use K in Vowel-Consonant-E (or Name Game) syllables," you might find this chart helpful for recalling rules that tell us when to use C vs K in other spelling situations.

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. Remember, 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 show your student the pictures on pg 31 rather than removing the page from your textbook. Please skip the Mound Maze section, as we will cover it in class.

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

Arthropod Project due 11/9

Geography:

Horn of Africa and East Africa Due 11/16

Memory Work:
Quarter 2 poem: Count Your Blessings. Due 11/16.

Books of the New Testament, due 11/30. Here is the song we practice with in class.