1st Grade T/Th- Week 1- August 12- 18

1st Grade
Week 1
Tue, Aug 12Wed, Aug 13Thu, Aug 14Fri, Aug 15Mon, Aug 18Co-Teacher Notes
VirtuePrudence- "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, instructing us to deny godlessness and worldly lusts and to live in a sensible, righteous, and godly way in the present age, while we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” – Titus 2:11-13
BibleGP Week 1, pg 6-9GP Week 1, pg 6 & 10-12GP Week 1, pg 13-15GP Week 1, pg 16-18GP Week 1, Optional Fun Day, pg 19-20Big Picture Question: Why did God create the world? God created the world and everything in it for His glory.
MathDiscuss and model proper use of manipulatives and materials;

HIG pg 2-3, TB pg 6-9, WB Ex 1 pg 7-8
Parent read HIG pg 1; HIG pg 2-3 (including Go Fish game on pg 3), TB pg 10-11, WB Ex 2 pg 9-10HIG pg 4-5, TB pg 12-13, WB Ex 3 pg 11-12HIG pg 6 including Reinforcement; TB pg 14-15, WB Ex 4 pg 13-14HIG pg 5 Reinforcement and Game;

Ensure your child has a solid understanding of Unit 1 concepts & review as needed
Read HIG pages i-ii & viii-x; Use printable resources and HIG Appendix a10-a24 to prepare materials if needed
SpellingTeacher presents "About Me" projectComplete "About Me" project (see notes below); Students will present their projects to the class tomorrow.

Send Spelling Journal to school every day. We won't begin using it until next week, but we will begin the practice of bringing it to and from school right away.
Students present "About Me" projectParent: Read Part 1 of AAS "Preparing for Level 2," pg 7-31 & prepare materials.

Download the AAS
Phonogram Sounds App here if you don't have it yet.
If your child did not learn the blue Rule Cards from Level 1 in kindergarten, use the Review on pages 37-42 of the AAS Teacher's Manual now to introduce them to your student. We will be discussing them next week in class.See Spelling notes below for tips on preparing materials
GrammarParent: Read pages xiii-xv of FLLParent: familiarize yourself with end of year expectations from FLL pg 165-166We will begin FLL on Tuesday (8/19)
WritingPractice proper capital letter formation of letters A-M using guidelines in binderReview capital letter formation A-MPractice proper capital letter formation of letters N-Z using guidelines in binderCreate customized copywork pages at this link
ReadingPresent Expectations & Introduce Reading CentersParent: Peruse pg 347-362 of OPG, especially portions of the Q&A section that apply to you or your childReview Reading Centers and expectations;

Assess beginning of year decoding skills
Parent: Familiarize yourself with Sounds First Program (Grade 1, Weeks 1-10) Overview and Appendices, pg 2-18 and Videos;


Review OPG Section 1 and 2 (Short-Vowel Sounds and Consonant Sounds) using yellow phonogram cards A-Z (child sees the card and says the sound(s))
Review kindergarten sight words: the, I, a, of, have, give, to, two, too

Review OPG Section 3 (Short-Vowel Words) using OPG L40, pg 90-91

Using "Routine for teaching Irregular Words/Heart Words" handout in binder, teach your child the word "was" and add that card to your sight words review tab.
Add sight word "was" to Review box; All sight words that should be learned and reviewed thus far: the, I, a, of, have, give, was

See Reading notes below for sight word flash cards
Read AloudFamily choiceFamily choiceFamily choiceStudents should listen to literature above their own reading level for 20-30 minutes every day. Audio books can help fulfill the read aloud requirement and can often be checked out for free from your local library; we will begin our first assigned read aloud book next week.
HistorySotW Intro to History and Archaeology, pg 13-19Read SotW Ch. 1: The Earliest People, pg 21-27 and orally narrate;

Journal sentence: The earliest people were nomads.
ScienceG&B/A Lesson 1: Intro to Arthropods
GeographyContinents and Oceans map - Due 9/9
Memory WorkSCRIPTURE: John 15 (ongoing)
QUARTER 1 POEM: "Persevere," due 9/30
GEOGRAPHY: Continents and Oceans, due 9/9
 * 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:

Tuesday, August 12- First Day of School! Morning Assembly begins in the sanctuary at 8:45am, with our school day officially starting at 9:00am.

Thursday, August 14- Spirit Day (no pizza)- Students may wear Fortis spirit wear (t-shirts) along with jeans or shorts on Spirit Days (see dress code for guidelines on length of shorts).

Tuesday, August 26- Picture Day

Thursday, August 28- Spirit Day/Pizza Day/DOGS Day! Students may wear Fortis spirit wear (t-shirts) along with jeans or shorts on Spirit Days. Pizza lunch will be served for those who have prepaid. Dads of Godly Students (DOGS) will present a fun assembly for the students and visit with them during their lunch time. 



Hello, parents!
Welcome to 1st Grade, and thank you for checking in on the blog! Weekly blog posts are written to provide details and guidance for co-teachers for your homeschooling days. The blog for the upcoming week will be posted at 4:00pm on Monday.


As we kick off this new year, it's good to remind ourselves of the driving force and inspiration behind all that we do. 

Unless the LORD builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. ~ Psalm 127:1

Therefore, through prayerful consideration, my aim is to bring every lesson - be it classroom expectations, the rise and fall of nations, God's marvelous creations, and even proper punctuation- back to our Maker, Savior, and Helper.


He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.  ~Proverbs 25:28

With this verse in mind, one focus the first week is establishing a safe, controlled, and utterly loving environment through which the children can experience genuine peace and joy with each other while they are in my care. I'll emphasize Habits of the Heart and the Fruit of the Spirit this week as we focus on expectations.


I've planned for you to find this week a gentle, peaceful introduction to 1st Grade, and I pray it will be so. I will be checking my emails often, so please reach out if you have any questions!

Your faithful cheerleader,
Mrs. Kuhn 


Discipleship/Bible:
As a school, we will be hiding John 15 in our hearts this year, one verse at a time. I encourage you to learn the verses along with your child. It is always fun and encouraging for children to "test" their parent. It may be more challenging for you than it is for them!

Verses listed in the Virtue section of the spreadsheet will be emphasized in assembly as a part of character building lessons, but are not required memory verses.

The Gospel Project: Home Edition will be our main Bible curriculum. I'm excited to walk through the Old Testament with the students, discovering as we go how God's redemption story has been in action all along. 

The sections of The Gospel Project that you should cover at home are Preparing Their Hearts, Receiving His Word, Apply, and Review Questions. It is also recommended that you read the Prepare To Teach section before teaching the lesson. The teacher guide will suggest that you complete workbook pages, videos, Bible dictionary activities, etc. Those are all optional. At the end of each lesson there is a Bible notebook assignment. It is your choice as to whether you want to assign those to your student. Fun Day lessons are also optional, but encouraged if you have the time! Teach your child to recite the answer to the Big Picture Question on the spreadsheet each week. 


Math:
We start out with math lessons right away this week. Remember, the concrete portion of the lesson (in the HIG- Home Instructor's Guide) is extremely important and not to be overlooked. You may need to prepare manipulatives and the lesson ahead of time. Check the Co-Teacher Notes column in the blog spreadsheet at the beginning of the week.

The "Reinforcement" section of each Home Instructor's Guide lesson is optional unless specifically mentioned in the blog assignment. You will see those sections assigned a couple of times this week.

On HIG pg 2, note that you are instructed to ask your student to read number word cards on their own. However, number words are not decodable yet except six, five, nine, and ten. You may have them read those cards, but for the other number word cards, you may just tell them the word for now. 

On HIG pg 6 (including Reinforcement), spend extra time counting backward. If your child can easily count backward from any number within 10, challenge them with counting down from a number within 20. 

Remember to place a sticky tab in your child's Workbook and move it to the correct page so that they can readily find it when they get to school. 

Spelling:
Spelling Journals will come home on the first day of school. There is no need to do anything with them this week; we are just building the habit of bringing the journal to and from home/school each day.

We intentionally begin official spelling lessons next week so that you have the opportunity to prepare and organize your materials at home this week. It is essential that co-teachers understand pages 7-31 in the AAS Teacher Manual. Please take the time to carefully read that section and reach out to me with any questions that might come up. A couple of tips may be helpful:

Setting up your card box for AAS (see page 21 of Teacher's Manual for reference)
-The following cards are all review from kindergarten. You should start with these filed in the Review tab for each type of card:
Phonogram cards (yellow) 1-32 and 34: letters a-z, th, sh, ch, ck, ng, nk, wh, ph*, tch*
Sound cards (red) 1-32 and 34: letters a-z, th, sh, ch, ck, ng, nk, wh, ph*, tch*
Rule cards (blue): cards 1-8
-The rest of the cards that came in the Level 2 Student packet can be filed in the Future Lessons tab for each type of card. You will pull cards from the Future Lessons tab and add them to the Review tab as we introduce them throughout the year. Eventually they will move to the Mastered tab.

If your child did not already learn the blue Rule Cards from Level 1 in kindergarten, use the Review on pages 37-42 of the AAS Teacher's Manual now to introduce them to your student. We will be discussing them next week in class.

*tch is card #54 and ph is card #63; see the next section for how to print more phonogram cards that were not included in your packet

Printing more phonogram cards
To maximize resources and minimize cost, we will be using the yellow AAS phonogram cards within the spelling curriculum AND "borrowing" them to use along with our reading curriculum. Since spelling is a skill that follows reading, we will be moving through many more phonograms in reading than in spelling. The phonogram cards that came included in the AAS Level 2 packet you purchased will not cover all the phonograms we will learn in our reading curriculum. Therefore, you will need to print the rest of the phonogram cards that we will use for reading from this link. Use double-sided printing to print pages 6-10 (front of cards) and pages 16-20 (back of cards). When you have them ready, you can file them in the Future Lessons tab of your box. You can print another set to use as sound cards, or you can choose to use the same cards as both phonogram cards and sound cards (depending on the way you present the card to your student).

All About Me:
This is a fun project designed for students to get to know one another as we begin to cultivate community within our classroom. The project and instructions will be sent home on Tuesday. Please help your child prepare their project and practice speaking about their family, their favorite color, their favorite book, and their favorite activity. They will be presenting these to their classmates on Thursday.

Grammar:
First Language Lessons includes several poems for memorization. However, we will be memorizing our quarterly poems instead of the poems found in the FLL curriculum. Each poem that we will memorize for the year can be found behind the Poetry tab in your student's white binder.

Writing:
In the Language Arts section of the campus binder, you'll find a convenient reference sheet for the proper formation of each letterWe follow the Handwriting Without Tears guidelines. Remember to sit with your child to coach them in correct pencil grip, letter formation, and letter placement. You can create your own copywork pages for extra practice using this link.

Reading:
After you have printed your extra phonogram cards (instructions in Spelling section, above), you have one more set of cards to print- sight word cards for OPG (click here for link). I suggest organizing these flash cards in the same fashion as your AAS cards and using similar tabs (Review, Mastered, Future Lessons) for them. File kindergarten words (cards L29 - L76) in the Review or Mastered section of your card box as appropriate. File the remaining sight word cards (L91-L156) in Future Lessons section. (Lesson numbers are in small, black font on the bottom right of the card)

You will teach the irregular word (sight word) "was" to your student this week using the "Routine for teaching Irregular Words/Heart Words" handout in your student's binder. OPG does not teach "was" until a much later lesson, but it is useful for students to know it sooner than later, and they have all the phonics knowledge to be able to learn it now. Be sure to print out the flash card for it and keep it in the review tab in your card box. Other sight words that should be in your review box from kindergarten are: the, I, a, of, have, give. 

Read Aloud:
The first titles from the required reading book list that we will use are The End of the Beginning and Little Bear. We will begin reading these soon, so please locate your copies now if you haven't already. This week, read aloud to your child from a book of your choice, and remember to aim for 20-30 minutes total each day. 

History: 
We will generally do a lesson in class on Tuesday which corresponds to reading you've done with your child at home on the prior Friday. 
Remember to have your child orally narrate the sections you read to them. This means that after you read, your student gives you a retelling in their own words. At first, you may want to ask for oral narration after a short passage, with the goal of working up to longer passages in the future. Another goal with oral narration is using complete sentences, so you may need to guide them on how to rephrase their summary into a sentence.
 
On Friday, on the first available page in their history journal (which is the back half of the Science and History Journal), students should copy the sentence for Chapter 1: The earliest people were nomads. They may draw a picture to accompany their sentence, but a picture is not required. 

Geography:
You'll find all maps for the year in the binder behind the Geography tab. We will practice maps in class, but practice outside of class will be necessary for mastery. You can access all the map songs for the year at this link.

You can also find the entire CD of Kathy Troxel Geography Songs to purchase through ChristianBook.com (scroll down a little to find just the CD). 

Our first map is Continents and Oceans, due 9/9.

Science:
Similar to History, readings at home on Wednesdays will lead to class activities on Thursdays, and there will be a journal sentence for your child to copy. However, there is no at-home assignment for Science this first week.

Memory Work:
The poem for this quarter, "Persevere," is due 9/30. Please start working on this soon so your child can have plenty of time to learn it. Find your copy in the Poetry tab of the binder.

Reminders: 
- The Curricula section of the Main Page of the blog is where many of our links come from, and is great to peruse and become familiar with.

- Check the "Left at Home" side of the folder in your child's binder daily for items to be removed and filed at home.  Items in the "Right Back to School" side usually need to be completed and brought back to school, though there may not always be any action necessary on your part. If there are items you would like to keep in your student's binder for reference, please hole-punch them and insert them in the binder rings.

1st Grade T/Th- Week 34- May 13-19

1st Grade
Week 34
Tue, May 13Wed, May 14Thu, May 15Fri, May 16Mon, May 19Co-Teacher Notes
Virtue"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things." -Gal. 5:22-23
BibleSpeak a blessing over our classmates
MathReview 8

Addition Facts timed test

Subtraction Facts timed test
Go over missed problems from Review 8 and have your student make any corrections neededVirtual AuctionMath Workbooks for summer practice, if desired:

Intensive Practice 1A

Intensive Practice 1B
SpellingSpelling ReviewLesson 31 Putting It All Together:

Parent read pg 261;

Complete How to Fix a Car, pg 197-199 in activity book;

Mark the Progress Chart and Celebrate!
Focus on troublesome concepts over the summer; make sure to continue reviewing phonogram, sound and rule cards this summer until they're all behind the Mastered tab
Grammar
WritingScripture or poetry copyworkCopybook pg 91- Copying (step 4); Write neatly and accurately.
ReadingReview / Reading GamesRead "The Knight and the Dragon" story; answer comprehension questions in complete sentences on attached paper (see below)Last Day activities (virtue rocks, clean up classroom, class party, outside games)Hang on to your OPG book for use in 2nd grade at Fortis

Plan your summer reading. What books will you read aloud with your family? What audiobooks can you listen to in the car on the way to the pool? What books will your child read independently? Maybe get them started on a fun series. Will you join a reward program? Check local library programs. Read, read, read over the summer!
Read AloudClass choiceBegin your first summer read aloud; Make sure to sign up for the Liberty Hill Library's summer reading program!Class choice
History
ScienceDraw a life size blue whale
Geography
Memory WorkGreat job on memory work this year! Consider memorizing a Bible passage as a family over the summer!

Dear parents, 

I can't thank you enough for trusting me with your children this year!  Teaching them has been my pleasure, with ALL my heart!  I pray God's blessings on your time together this summer.  May your children continue to grow in virtue and wisdom wherever the Lord leads. I will pray for their sweet little souls by name whenever the Spirit prompts.    

With lots of Love ~ Mrs. Kuhn

Bible:
I encourage you to continue the habit you've built this year of daily Bible study with your child! There are several more lessons in your Gospel Project book to keep you going through the summer.

Math:
If you're interested in having your child maintain their math skills over the summer, I recommend completing the Extra Practice book. If your student would like a challenge that builds upon what we learned this year, let them give Intensive Practice book 1A or Intensive Practice book 1B a try! If you're allowing some screen time, Fluency by Heart is a great way to keep skills sharp. 

Reading:
On Tuesday your student will bring home a passage titled "The Knight and the Dragon," which they should read aloud to you. There are a few words (surprise, awake, hear, alone, people, agrees, doesn't) with sounds that we have not explicitly taught which you may need to guide your student in decoding. An extra sheet of lined paper is provided for students to use in answering the comprehension questions in complete sentences. Handwriting should be neat and all words should be spelled correctly. Please return only the lined paper on Thursday. Keep the story to read again later!

Plan your summer reading! What books will you read aloud with your family? What audiobooks can you listen to in the car on the way to the pool? What books will your child read independently? Maybe get them started on a fun series. Will you join a reward program? Check your local library for details. Read, read, read over the summer! 

Check your email for a PDF packet of summer reading activities. 

Last Day:
Students will not need to bring their binder or any books on the last day of school, but they should still bring their backpack for carrying things, as well as their lunch and water bottle. They won't need an afternoon snack unless you would like them to have something other than the options we will have available: popcorn/chips, fruit, cotton candy, juice, and water. We will be playing outside games in the afternoon, so consider applying sunscreen before school that day. 

1st Grade T/Th- Week 33- May 6-12

 

1st Grade
Week 33
Tue, May 6Wed, May 7Thu, May 8Fri, May 9Mon, May 12Co-Teacher Notes
Virtue"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things." -Gal. 5:22-23
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 195-196Big Picture Question: Who is our King? Jesus is our King forever, and He rules over the world.
MathHIG pg 98; TB pg 93; WB Exercise 69 pg 162-163Parent read HIG pg 99, HIG pg 100; TB pg 94-96; WB Exercise 70 pg 164-166;

MM 27 (first 10 problems)
Review 6/7Go over Review 6/7 and reteach any missed concepts;

MM 27 (last 10 problems)
Extra Practice Book pg 90 and 91

Solidify any concepts that are still confusing for your student; we will have our final math assessment on Tuesday

Basic Math Facts one-minuted timed drill; return to school on Tuesday
SpellingLesson 30:

Review Sound Cards;

Review OW and OU;

Dictate last three sentences on pg 257 in spelling journal
Review/correct dictation from Tuesday;

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

Student read Word Bank for OW and OU (pg 187 in activity book)

Use Whooo, Whooo! activity (see Teacher's Manual pg 256) to review OW and OU
Lesson 30 written assessmentLesson 31 Putting It All Together:

Parent read pg 259-260;

Complete Pizza Party activity, pg 191 in activity book
Lesson 31 Putting it All Together:

Parent read pg 260;

Complete 6 Great Reasons to Have a Spyglass, pg 193-195 in activity book
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 Final Grammar Reivew, pg 166; Return both pages tomorrow for gradingFor Final Grammar Review, students respond orally to the questions and parents write their answers on the hard copy provided.

Return both pages on Thursday for grading
WritingScripture or Poetry CopyworkCopybook pg 87- Copying (step 4); Write neatly and accurately.Scripture or Poetry CopyworkCopybook pg 88- Copying (step 4); Write neatly and accurately.
ReadingReview all phonograms;

SF Grade 2, Week 7, Day 1

Review R-Changed Vowels: OUR as /ôr/, (OPG L159)
Review all phonograms;

Complete Phonogram Assessment #6 (see below);

OPG L160: R-Changed Vowels: OAR and OOR as /ôr/, pg 252; Dictation: oar, roar, soar, door, poor

"Love God When You Hurt" from The Early Reader's Bible, pg 251-257 (see decodable words below)
Review all phonograms;

SF Grade 2, Week 7, Day 3

Review R-Changed Vowels: OAR and OOR as /ôr/ (OPG L160)
Review all phonograms;

OPG L161: R-Changed Vowels: WAR as /wôr/, pg 253; Dictation: war, warm, wart

"A Happy King" from The Early Reader's Bible, pg 259-265 (see decodable words below)
Note: Return The Early Reader's Bible to class on Tuesday
Review all phonograms;

OPG L162: R-Changed Vowels: Review /ôr/ Words, pg 254
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, could, would, should. one, once, build, built, laugh, what, does, gone, are
Read AloudBaby Island, pg 143-148;

Aesop's Fables pg 41- The Birds, the Beasts, and the Bat
Baby Island, pg 149-154;

Aesop's Fables pg 58- The Heron
Baby Island, pg 155-160;

Aesop's Fables pg 59- The Dog in the Manger
HistoryCatacombsSotW Ch. 39: Rome and the Christians, pg 299-306; Discussion questions below;

Journal sentence: Christians in Rome were persecuted until Emperor Constantine put an end to it.
Note: We will cover the "Christians in the Catacombs" section in class; you may choose to read it again along with the rest of the chapter, or just briefly review that section
ScienceOcean Animal Report - Pick any animal from G&B/MB and write a report on the form that was sent home last week; please see guidelines below; due tomorrowRead "Narwhal: A Day in the Life"

Whale color by code
GeographyMap reviewClick here for an interactive online practice map
Memory WorkSCRIPTURE: Philippians 3:7-21 KJV (ongoing);
MATH: Fact Flashcards (Ongoing)
*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, May 8- Spirit/Pizza/DOGS Day

Saturday, May 10- NERF Tournament

Thursday, May 15- Last Day of School

Dear Parents:

It's been a long year, yet a quick year as well. The finish line is definitely in sight! We still have a lot of fun learning ahead this week, and we will squeeze every moment out of the time we have remaining!

"Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? 
Run in such a way to win the prize." -1 Corinthians 9:24

Striving for excellence with you,
Mrs. Kuhn


Bible: 
This will be our last week of The Gospel Project lessons, but I encourage you to finish the final six weeks of the book with your children this summer!

Please return your borrowed copy of The Early Reader's Bible on Tuesday, May 13!

Math: 
We will finish our Singapore 1B books this week! What an accomplishment! I'm so proud of all of the hard work and growth I've witnessed in math this year. I hope you and your student are too!

Reading:
It's time for the last Phonogram Assessment of the year! Please complete Phonogram Assessment #6 and leave it in the Language Arts section of your child's binder. I will look for it there on Thursday, May 8th. 

This week we'll work through the last of the 1st grade OPG lessons, finishing up with phonograms that spell /ôr/. The rest of OPG will be covered in 2nd grade. 

Decodable words in "Love God When You Hurt" from the Early Reader's Bible (sight words in parenthesis): Love, God, When, You, (was), a, good, man, who, so, gave, him, things, (one), day, something, sad, to, man, ran, up, to, and, (said), bad, took, some, (of), your, then, too, then, all, so, these, them, from, me, but, they, sick, (would), not, I, will, at, times, He, told, stop, made, well, new

Decodable words in "A Happy King" from the Early Reader's Bible (sight words in parenthesis): A, King, I, had, dream, (said), the, but, do, not, know, (what), it, means, tell, me, he, to, his, men, then, will, come, from, how, can, we, you, if, my, (have), someone, kill, but, (was), your, God, help, is, so, the, thank, for, telling, me, then, told, his, kind, gave, good, things

Please return The Early Reader's Bible to school on Tuesday, May 13th!
Lesson 31 is called "Putting It All Together," and your student will be playing several games that will allow you to assess their mastery of the topics we covered this year. Use the information you gather to plan some personalized spelling practice for your student over the summer. 

Grammar:
For the Final Grammar Review, students will respond orally to the questions and parents will write their answers. I am providing a hard copy so that you won't need to write in your FLL book and so that you can turn the Final Review in to me when it's complete.

Return both pages of the Final Grammar Review to school for grading by Thursday, May 8th.

Geography:
Since we have successfully learned the names of each African country, now students can use this interactive online map to review all the countries of Africa (click the "learn" button to have the country names read out loud). Have the maps and songs ready to help students as they play!

History:
Questions for discussion for SotW Ch. 39: Our book says that Nero was the worst Roman emperor of all. Do you agree or disagree with that statement? Use examples to tell why. Why did Christians refuse to worship the Roman emperors? What choice would you have made? What idea did Christians have so that they could keep meeting without anyone knowing? Constantine at first worshipped Apollo, but later decided to follow the true God. What was the turning point in his life? 

Journal sentence: Christians in Rome were persecuted until Emperor Constantine put an end to it. 

Science:
Ocean Animal Report: Students may choose any animal from G&B/MB to research and complete all sections of the form. Students should use neat handwriting and write in complete sentences, including proper capitalization and punctuation. All words should be spelled correctly. If your child needs to spell a word that has not been taught, please have them copy the correct spelling. Extra handwriting lines are provided for students who wish to use them instead of or in addition to the lines on the form. There will not be an oral component to this assignment. The report is due by Thursday, May 8th.

Memory Work:
I'm proud of every child's dedication to their memory work. My hope is that the verses, poems, hymns, and books of the Bible would pop back into their minds as the Spirit leads. I pray that the students would internalize in their hearts the truth, beauty, and goodness their minds have memorized.