*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, September 12- Spirit Day (no pizza)- Students may wear Fortis t-shirts along with jeans or shorts (see handbook for length and color requirements).
Saturday, September 14- Dodgeball Tournament
Hello Parents!
It is no exaggeration when I say that I am blown away by your children! They are kind, considerate, respectful, artistic, clever, creative, funny, and intelligent! They are a reflection of the loving care and time you pour into them as parents. It is truly a joy for me to work with them and learn about them during our time together at school. I pray they are feeling both challenged and encouraged by the work they are doing in 1st grade.
With love,
Mrs. Kuhn
Mrs. Kuhn
A note about 9/11- I will be reading 14 Cows for America by Carmen Deedy to the class this week. This beautifully illustrated book tells the true story of Kimeli, a young man from Kenya who was in New York City on September 11, 2001 and whose heart was stirred to do something special to ease the pain of grieving Americans. The events of 9/11 are mentioned in an age-appropriate way, and our discussion will focus on how we, too, can show love to others who are hurting.
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| "Because there is no nation so powerful it cannot be wounded, nor a people so small they cannot offer mighty comfort." -14 Cows for America |
If you would like to read more about the gift to America from Kimeli and his tribe, click here.
Math:
We've been discussing some of the ways math reflects God, its creator: It is always orderly, true & consistent. There is always one correct answer as Jesus is always the one correct answer. It never changes, and we can rely on it just as we rely on God who never changes.
When students complete their first math Review in class this week, I will be making a copy of their test to bring home with me for grading and they will bring their ungraded test home in their folder. The following day, you will look over their test to find any errors, then reteach/review those concepts as part of your home day math assignment. I will grade my copy of their tests and enter their grades in Alma.
We'll continue Mental Math with MM 2 and MM 3 this week. Our strategy will still be "find the larger number and count on." Keep encouraging your child to use that language when describing their strategy. Students may need a reminder to "lock in" the larger number and then count up from there.
A new unit begins this week- subtraction. We'll start by telling subtraction stories to understand what it means to "take away" a part of the whole or "take apart" the whole and find what is left. It's important to gain this understanding first rather than going straight to memorizing facts. Take time to read through HIG pg 34 before you start subtraction on Friday.
Reading:
OPG Lesson 76 covers three "sight words": to, too, and two. Remember to use the steps in your binder for teaching irregularly spelled words. "To" is irregular because in an open syllable, we would expect the o to make its long sound. "Too" is irregular because students haven't learned the /oo/ sound yet. This will no longer be an irregular word later this year once they have learned that sound. Lastly, "two" is irregular because the w and o are not making their expected sounds. In fact, the w is silent!
A new unit begins this week- subtraction. We'll start by telling subtraction stories to understand what it means to "take away" a part of the whole or "take apart" the whole and find what is left. It's important to gain this understanding first rather than going straight to memorizing facts. Take time to read through HIG pg 34 before you start subtraction on Friday.
OPG Lesson 75 provides a great chance to review AAS Rule Card 5, The CK Rule and Rule Card 3, The Soft C Rule. CK is only used right after a short vowel (Rule Card 5), so when we have a /k/ sound in a word with silent e, we must use K to spell /k/. If we used a C in that spot, it would spell the /s/ sound because of the silent e that follows it (Rule Card 3). The words lick and like are good examples. We will have a spelling lesson dedicated to this concept later in the year, but this is a great chance to show your student how reading and spelling are closely connected!
I've heard from the children that they are loving the Little Bear book! Keep reading and re-reading the Little Bear story each week, as this will help with reading fluency. Some words your child should be able to decode in "Little Bear Goes to the Moon": and, fat, cub, with, no, wings, if, jump, up, will, fast, with, big, plop, but, just, me, in, be, back, lunch, spot, things, shut, top, hill, he, then, sat, well, like, this, that, go, yes, am, same, thing, can, his, it. Have your child decode these words when you come to them in the book! If they get stuck, remind them not to guess, but to sound out each phonogram in the word. If they don't remember one, go ahead and tell them the sound. Rule Card 8 will be helpful in decoding open syllable words like be, he, go, and no.
Week 5 is our last week of kindergarten review, so if there are any lessons your child has not mastered, take the time to practice those. It will be expected that they can decode and blend words from those lessons without hesitation as we go forward!
Week 5 is our last week of kindergarten review, so if there are any lessons your child has not mastered, take the time to practice those. It will be expected that they can decode and blend words from those lessons without hesitation as we go forward!
Read Aloud:
Sadly, we have reached the conclusion of Avon and Edward's adventures in The End of the Beginning. Not to worry, though. Rabbit Hill is coming up next, so get your copy ready!
Writing:
One-on-one individualized instruction is one of the many beautiful aspects of the homeschooling portion of our model. Don't neglect this when it comes to something as foundational as handwriting. Bad habits now will affect your child in the future. Again, here is the link for individualized practice sheets to help break those bad habits one mile at a time.
Spelling:
Kindergarten (AAS Level 1) review is complete and we are moving on to Lesson 2 on Friday! Be sure to review phonogram cards and rule cards each day before starting the lesson. These are cumulative, so keep reviewing past cards even as we add new ones.
Spelling:
Kindergarten (AAS Level 1) review is complete and we are moving on to Lesson 2 on Friday! Be sure to review phonogram cards and rule cards each day before starting the lesson. These are cumulative, so keep reviewing past cards even as we add new ones.
On Friday, have your student practice spelling the words with letter tiles first. If they are having trouble hearing each distinct sound in the blends, have them segment the words as shown on pg 50.
On Monday (after practicing phonogram cards and sound cards) review the new teaching and dictate the 10 words from the green word cards for your student to write in their journal under the heading "Lesson 2 words." You can write the heading for them, or they can write it neatly and accurately. Then create another heading called "Lesson 2 sentences" and dictate the first 3 sentences from the Dictate Phrases and Sentences section. In class next Tuesday we will add sentences 4-6 to their journals, and finally on Thursday of next week we will have our first spelling test!
As you work through this lesson with your child, you may notice they write "jr" instead of "dr" in a word like drift, or "chr" instead of "tr" in a word like trust. Because of the close articulation of these sounds in the mouth when speaking the words, it can be hard for students to distinguish jr from dr and chr from tr. You may tell them what I tell them in class, which is that no English words start with the blend jr. As for chr, there are also no words that begin with chr making the /ch/ sound. We do have words like Christmas and chrysalis, but the ch is spelling the /k/ sound in those words. Therefore, if they hear "jr" it must be spelled dr, and if they hear "chr" (with the /ch/ sound), it must be spelled tr.
History:
This week you will read Chapter 7 and consider the laws in the Code of Hammurabi. The following Tuesday in class we'll have a discussion about Hammurabi's religious practices and contrast those with God's instructions to His people.
Science:
Bzzzz...it's all about bees in science! The importance of bees to our ecology and food supply can hardly be understated, and they are a great example of cooperation as they work together in their hives to get the job done. We'll explore pollination and why it is so important. God's intricately detailed design is on full display with these busy insects!
Journal sentence: Bees are one of the most important pollinators.
Geography:
Map & Song and Game to help learn all the continents and oceans- due this week on Tuesday, 9/10.
On Thursday we will begin Northern Central Africa and Northern Africa maps. Both of these will be due 10/15.
Memory Work:
Persevere, due 10/1
