*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:
Tuesday, December 10- Uniform-free Day Fundraiser- pay $5 to support the Costa Rica mission trip and wear clothing other than uniform (must still follow dress code guidelines for shorts/skirt lengths)
Thursday, December 12- First grade Christmas party and classical book exchange! Our book exchange is the highlight of the Christmas party! Please send your student with a book that is wrapped, but not tagged "to" anyone. Books from any of these lists would be appropriate: Kindergarten read-alouds , First grade read-alouds , Second grade read-alouds
Thursday, December 12- Christmas spirit day- Christmas sweaters/outfits allowed
December 13- January 13, Christmas Break (electives do meet on December 13)
Tuesday, January 14- School resumes
** Dear Parents **
I hope you enjoyed a taste of the upcoming long break and are rejuvenated enough to finish out these two weeks strong! I know we've begun a very busy time of year, but you can do it!
Begin thinking now about how to avoid the very real problem of regression over the long Christmas break. Though you will not be teaching anything new at home over the break, I encourage you to still expect your student to keep what you have taught in working order. Their skills represent your time, and you want that investment protected so we can pick up where we left off come January! Consider a daily chart for your child along the lines of:
1. Compute Something
2. Write Something
3. Read Something
4. Play!
~ Mrs. Kuhn
Bible:
We're taking a short break from The Gospel Project until after Christmas. In the meantime, I hope you have some special gospel-centered Christmas traditions to enjoy in your home. I will be sharing The Advent Book with the students, which is something I've done every Christmas with my own personal children since they were infants. If you need ideas for your family, I've provided links to Kids of Integrity Christmas lessons in the home day assignments for Bible. Feel free to use these or to skip them if you have your own Christmas devotional plans.
Math:
We will finish off our units on measurement this week and end the first semester next week with a cumulative test over all concepts taught thus far. (Please do not have your student practice Review 6 or 7 ahead of time.)
We will begin using all three Singapore Math 1B books (HIG, Textbook, Workbook) next semester. However, I do not recommend taking a complete hiatus from math until then. I highly recommend using flashcards, Mental Math, Happy Numbers and whatever other resources are available to keep your student's math brain in working order over the next month. It can be discouraging to realize in January that there's been regression.
Reading:
This week's decodable book is "The Long Hike." Most words are decodable, but you may need to give your child a couple of sounds we haven't taught yet in words like want and some. Remember to encourage smooth, natural reading with proper pauses and expression.
Looking ahead, required books for next semester include:
- "Baby Island" by Carol Ryrie Brink
- "Aesop’s Fables for Children" by Milo Winter
- "The Adventures of Jimmy Skunk" (Dover Children's Thrift Classics) by Thorton Burgess
You should have purchased these at the beginning of the year, but now is a good time to make sure they're accessible.
Again, it is so important that your child continues to read over the upcoming long break. They have gained so much this semester! Protect that investment!
Composition:
Custom Handwriting Practice Sheets are a great way to hold on through the break to all your student has accomplished this semester. Keep it light and fun!
Spelling:
Thus far, the only way we have taught students to spell a long vowel sound is with silent E, but with Lesson 17, we will begin teaching them to use vowel teams as well. Of course they have been learning to read vowel teams in OPG already, but now they will be recognizing them as a new syllable type and spelling them.
Thus far, the only way we have taught students to spell a long vowel sound is with silent E, but with Lesson 17, we will begin teaching them to use vowel teams as well. Of course they have been learning to read vowel teams in OPG already, but now they will be recognizing them as a new syllable type and spelling them.
This usually brings up the question, "How can I teach my student when to use silent E versus when to use EE (or another vowel team for other long vowel sounds)?" Sometimes there are guidelines we can teach them, like the fact that silent E is not often used to spell /ē/ but the vowel team EE is commonly used. Unfortunately, a lot of times there is no guideline and it comes down to familiarity with the words. Familiarity comes by practice with both decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling) the words. Your AAS student manual has a Word Bank for EE on pg 99. Use this list to build that familiarity. Make sure your student reads and spells lots of these words not just once, but several times to internalize which words use this spelling pattern.
A note about the word been: been is the first rule-breaker we will encounter in AAS. You should teach it with the same procedure we've been using to introduce the other rule-breakers we've taught in reading.
Science:
Enjoy the incredible photographs within the Crayfish mini book included in this lesson! There is no journal sentence this week. Instead, the students will write the heading, "Parts of a Crayfish" at the top of a journal page and then glue the crayfish puzzle pieces into place on that page.
We will begin using The Good and the Beautiful- Marine Biology text next semester when we return from the break, so be sure you have your copy handy.
History:
SotW Ch. 19 Discussion questions: Why were the Myceneans called the first great Greek civilization? What made them such great fighters? How were the barbarians different from the Greeks? Why is the time of the Dorians and the Sea People called the Greek Dark Ages?
Journal sentence: The Mycenaeans were the first to use horses and chariots in war.
Geography:
West Africa Due 1/30- There are 16 countries on this map! Practice, practice!
Memory Work:
Books of the Bible: On Dec. 5, I will assess the New Testament books. Then it's on to the Old Testament! It's quite a bit longer than the New Testament, so we'll take the rest of the school year to master it (Quarter 3 Genesis - Job, Quarter 4 Psalms - Malachi). Here is a link to the song we practice in class. Again, if you or your child are already familiar with a different song, I'll assess that no problem, as long as the books are said in order.
Quarter 3 poem, "A Child's Prayer" will be due 3/11/24.
