*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, January 30- Spirit/Pizza/DOGS Day
Friday, February 7- Daddy Daughter dance (tickets available for purchase)
Thursday, February 13- Class Valentine's Day party; see note below
Saturday, February 15- Talent Show
Dear Parents,
I want to encourage you this week to meditate on the limitlessness of God. There is no way to measure Him or contain Him. His love, His mercy, His goodness, His patience...every attribute He has is never-ending. As humans, we have all sorts of limitations! We can stop expecting ourselves and others to be perfect, and instead let our shortcomings remind us to glorify our infinitely amazing Heavenly Father.
Love, Mrs. Kuhn
Valentine's Party: We'll be celebrating Valentine's Day with a small party on February 13th.
Students may bring valentines from home to be passed out to each classmate. The names of the 12 students in our class are below. Students are welcome to write who each valentine is for if they wish. They do not have to leave the "to" section blank unless they prefer not to write each name.
Class list: Lydia, Lillie, Edalyn, Kasen, Reuben, Ella S, Gisele, Harper, Ella T, Layne, Rosemary, Syla
Students will need to bring TWO containers. One is for carrying the valentines they are going to hand out. A gallon ziplock, paper bag, plastic grocery bag, etc. is good for this purpose. The second container is for collecting valentines from others. Be as creative or simple as you like in decorating this box or bag. Larger openings are preferred over small slits as they allow the kids to distribute their valentines more easily. From experience, I've found that it does not work well if kids bring their collecting box already full of what they plan to hand out. So again, please make sure they bring their own valentines in a separate bag from their collecting bag.
We'll have a short and sweet party at the end of the day where we'll exchange Valentines, read a Valentine book, and enjoy a special treat.
Math:
We'll spend this week focusing on place value and order of 2 digit numbers through 40 using many different manipulatives and charts. Your child's binder contains a number chart through 110 as well as a place value mat, both of which will come in very handy!
At the risk of sounding redundant...keep practicing math facts!
Flashcard Games for math facts (or phonograms!)
Reading:
The students are growing so much and I'm seeing many of them really start to click with reading. Be encouraged to keep up the hard work at home. It is paying off!
Check your phonogram review cards as well as your sight word review cards to make sure you're covering all the newly introduced cards as well as reviewing older ones. For phonograms, your child should practice and know all phonograms from assessments 1-4 (found in their binder), plus AW and AU. Sight words up to this point include: the, I, a, of, have, give, to, two, too, was, said, do, who, friend, eye, buy, shoe, could, would, should.
Continue to read the stories in The Early Reader's Bible along with your student, filling in the words we have not taught them to decode yet.
Decodable words in "Jacob Sees a Ladder" (sight words in parenthesis): Sees, a, (was), sad, he, had, to, go, home, so, all, day, when, it, dream, saw, went, the, way, up, and, on, then, God, I, will, with, you, (said), help, sat, me, him
Decodable words in "God Takes Care of Joseph" (sight words in parenthesis): God, takes, (of), did, not, like, him, they, to, kill, (said), no, sell, he, will, be, a, slave, (have), did, but, took, then, a, man, put, in, jail, king, had, dream, mean, (could), tell, can, you, [been- we learned that "been" is a rule-breaker in AAS, but it's not officially a sight word from OPG], with, sent, will, so, told, (was), good, put, my, all
Read Aloud:
This week we'll be reading several famous Greek myths to the students to give them a basic understanding of this part of Greek culture, as it is the basis for much of the art and literature that they will study in the future. Like when we discussed the false gods that were worshiped in Egypt and the golden calf that was worshiped by God's own people, when we talk about Greek culture, we contrast the gods of Greek mythology with the one true God. The assigned stories can be found in this Mythology Stories PDF. If you would like to delve deeper into the lesser-known myths, many can be found in a book called "Greek Myths for Young Children," which was an optional purchase on the Fortis 1st grade book list.
We will continue Aesop's Fables and begin Jimmy Skunk next week.
Writing:
Spelling:
Lesson 20 introduces a new syllable type: R-controlled, also known as Bossy R. When a vowel is followed directly by an R, the R changes the sound of the vowel (more on this in future OPG lessons). An important reminder for students this week will be the Every Syllable Rule: "Every syllable has at least one vowel" (Rule Card 10). If they spell the /er/ sound using just the letter r, have them check to see if the syllable they just spelled contains a vowel like it is supposed to. Make sure to have your student read through the word bank for ER to improve their visual memory of words with this spelling.
Geography:
West Africa Due 1/30- this Thursday! For this assessment, I would like the students to be able to sing or say the names of the countries in front of the class. They do not need to point to each individual country.
History:
Discussion questions for Ch. 24: After fighting against each other for so long, why did Athens and Sparta decide to become friends? Do you think the Spartans should have helped the Athenians in the Battle of Marathon? Why is a 26-mile race called a marathon today? What kind of art did the Greeks become known for? Do you agree with the Athenians strategy to stay safe inside the city walls instead of fighting? Why didn't their strategy work? Why do you think Alcibiades decided to become a traitor?
Journal sentence: The Peloponnesian War left Greece in a weakened state.
Science:
Lesson 3 of our new Marine Biology unit discusses tides and intertidal zones. We can see the faithfulness of our God even in the consistency of high tides and low tides, twice each day, every day.
Journal Sentence: Many sea creatures live in tide pools as a way to hide and survive.
Memory Work:
Quarter 3 poem: A Child's Prayer will be due 3/11. This poem is a great starting point for a dialogue with our Heavenly Father, and a sweet reminder of His gentle care.
Books of the Old Testament: Genesis- Job due 3/13. Here is a link to the song we practice in class. The Old Testament will take the rest of the school year to master. This quarter we will focus on Genesis through Job. As always, 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.
