Sept.: With September lessons starting, we added a more complex structure to our weeks: Each day, we strive to accomplish 7 aspects of the school day-Calendar work, basic skills (Math and Phonics work), Bible study theme and Bible verse, journal writing, Kate's spelling list and read aloud.  This is in addition to the special science/math/social studies/art activities that come about with our specific week theme.  We do 4 day school weeks, leaving the 5th day for review or catch up.

Week 1- Fall/Fire Safety/Johnny Appleseed; Read Aloud: "Meet Felicity" from "American Girls"

Week 2-Fall unit continued here

Week 3-States, "Flat Stanley" (some fall still thrown in)

Week 4-States, "Flat Stanley" unit continued here (some fall still thrown in)

Oct.:  *school first week;  off Oct. second week until Nov. third week – one month off; Basic Skills

Week 1- Halloween/Pumpkins/Scary Animals (bats, spiders)

Nov.:

Week 3- Native Americans/Thanksgiving/Turkeys

Week 4-Native Americans and Thanksgiving continued

*Letters to baby, Journal baby arrival

Dec.: *off week 4 until Jan. week 2 for Christmas break

Week 1- Christmas; Read Aloud: “Heidi” (adapted to 1st grade level)

Week 2- Christmas theme

Week 3- Christmas theme

Jan.: *Start again 2nd week of Jan.

Week1 - Winter/New Year's/Special Birthdays/*Mozart's Birthday

Week 2 - Winter/Winter Animals (Arctic)/Martin Luther King, Jr.

Week 3 - Winter/Winter Animals; Read Aloud: "White Fang" (adapted to 1st grade level)

Feb.:

Week 1 - Groundhog Day/some Valentine's

Week 2 - Valentine's

Week 3 - Valentine's/President's Day (Lincoln and Washington)/*Mardi Gras

March: St. Patrick's Day, Spring, Birds, 100 Unit (Everything's a 100!!)

April: April Fool's, Easter, Arbor Day-Trees, Earth Day-Recycling

May: May Day, Cinco de Mayo, Summer-Oceans, Memorial Day-Armed Forces Day, Mother's Day

Summer '09: Flag Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, Colonial Days

*Extra Units: Ancient Civ. or Nutrition Thematic Unit (Part 2) or Solar System Thematic Unit or Countries and Continents with States review

My Format-2008-09 School Year

`Each week has it’s own theme:  

Sept.: With September lessons starting, we added a more complex structure to our weeks: Each day, we strive to accomplish 7 aspects of the school day-Calendar work, basic skills (Math and Phonics work), Bible study theme and Bible verse, journal writing, Kate's spelling list and read aloud.  This is in addition to the special science/math/social studies/art activities that come about with our specific week theme.  We do 4 day school weeks, leaving the 5th day for review or catch up.

Week 1- Fall/Fire Safety/Johnny Appleseed; Read Aloud: "Meet Felicity" from "American Girls"

Week 2-Fall unit continued here

Week 3-States, "Flat Stanley" (some fall still thrown in)

Week 4-States, "Flat Stanley" unit continued here (some fall still thrown in)

Oct.:  *school first week;  off Oct. second week until Nov. third week – one month off; Basic Skills

Week 1- Halloween/Pumpkins/Scary Animals (bats, spiders)

Nov.:

Week 3- Native Americans/Thanksgiving/Turkeys

Week 4- Native Americans and Thanksgiving continued

*Letters to baby, Journal baby arrival

Dec.: *off week 4 until Jan. week 2 for Christmas break

Week 1- Christmas; Read aloud: "Heidi"

Week 2- Christmas theme

Week 3- Christmas theme

Jan.:

*Start again 2nd week of Jan.

Week1 - Winter/New Year's/Special Birthdays/*Mozart's Birthday

Week 2 - Winter/Winter Animals (Arctic)/Martin Luther King, Jr.

Week 3 - Winter/Winter Animals; Read Aloud: "White Fang" (adapted to 1st grade level)

Feb.:

Week 1 - Groundhog Day/some Valentine's

Week 2 - Valentine's

Week 3 - Valentine's/President's Day (Lincoln and Washington)/*Mardi Gras

March: St. Patrick's Day, Spring, Birds, 100 Unit (Everything's a 100!!)

April: April Fool's, Easter, Arbor Day-Trees, Earth Day-Recycling

May: May Day, Cinco de Mayo, Summer-Oceans, Memorial Day-Armed Forces Day, Mother's Day

Summer '09: Flag Day, Father's Day, Independence Day, Colonial Days

`Each day, we strive to accomplish 7 aspects to the day:

*Calendar work-Print a calendar off Starfall.com and go over the month and day of week each day.

*Basic skills (Math and Phonics work)

~Menu of Basic Skills work to choose from-

`Horizons Workbooks (Kate, Phonics and Math; Dom, Phonics and Math).

`Various worksheets: Kate, money; Dominic, patterns, sorting, etc.

`Extra practice: Kate, money, 10’s, teens; Dom, tracing numbers, letters

`Kate’s First Grade Readers (Horizons and Christian)/Reader's Theater

`Flashcards for Dom: Letters, Numbers, Phonics, Sight Words

~We switch it up and do different basic skills each day. Although, we try to stay consistent with Kate reading form her Readers each day.  Also, we group skill; for example, we will do money for a week, or place value for a week, or vowels for a week, etc. whether that work comes from Horizons or a worksheet.

**Bible study theme and Bible verse-They Memorize a memory verse from Scripture each week.

 *Journal writing

*Kate's spelling list-Kate writes each word 5x. Then she writes a sentence using each word. Finally, by the end of the week, we test on the words.  Our spelling words come from themed reading we get from our trade books each week.

*Read aloud

~This is in addition to the special science/math/social studies/art activities that come about with our specific week theme. 

`We do 4 day school weeks, leaving the 5th day for review or catch up.

`Each week has a set of trade books we use to support the theme.

`Finally, we use very specific binders and notebooks to track our progress:

*Bible verse notebook, Journal binder and Kate’s spelling notebook.

Newsletter 1

*Typical Summer day of school:

The kids and I started our school year at the end of July, as we will be taking a month off when the baby is born.  We have had a lot of fun so far.  Here is what we have been up to:

Journals: We keep journal binders of the kids’ writing progress.

Week 1 (5 journals): Strawberry taste test (applied 5 senses), Ice Cream taste test (applied 5 senses), Lemons taste test (applied 5 senses and compared to limes), Coconut taste test (applied 5 senses and liked or disliked it because…), “Our day at the Beach…”,

 Week 2 (4 journals): “Our favorite family vacation…” (Kate answered Germany, Dom answered Loch Ness, Grant answered Italy-each drew a picture and Kate wrote “Germany”; “If I were a frog I could…If I were a fish I could…But I am glad I am me because…” (we discussed animals we would encounter while camping, swimming or picnicking-hence the animal choices in the journal); “Summer Sunshine” (journaled favorite thing to do in summer and Kate had to see what words she could make out of the letters in: ‘Summer Sunshine’-she came up with 10); “To go on a picnic I would need to pack…If I were camping I would bring…Animals I may see while camping are…”

*When we journal, Kate writes her own words, invented or phonetic spelling is allowed (free writing), Dom dictates to me as I write for him, then I make him copy one or two of the words off to the side, they both illustrate what they wrote most journals.  We keep our journals in a binder so we can see our writing progress over time.

Books: “Gregory the Terrible Eater”, “On Our Way to the Beach”, “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom”, “Arthur’s Family Vacation”, “One Hundred Hungry Ants”. “I Like Bugs”, “Summertime in the Big Woods”, Read aloud- “Meet Molly” from “American Girls” series

*When I say “read aloud”, I mean a book that the kids just listen to me read to them, mostly chapter books with no pictures.  Read alouds are purposely a few levels above the kids’ reading level, as children can comprehend books about 3 levels higher than they can read themselves. SO, since Kate reads at a first grade level (6 years old), I am reading her a book for grade level 3 or 4-“Meet Molly” from the “American Girls” series.  It is about a little girl living in the 1940’s.

Basic skills work: Kate works in a workbook working on alphabetical order, dictionary skills and also works in a workbook where she has to read a 17 page (approx.) story and at the back of the book/workbook answers comprehension questions about the story); Dom works in two workbooks-one on letters and one on numbers-just learning the basics of which is which and how to write them; Grant is working in a workbook on colors and shapes.

Themes: Week 1-Letters, summer fun foods, our five senses

 Week 2-Summer! (family vacation, picnics, camping, beach, swimming)

Each week at a glance (we do 4 day weeks):

Week 1- Theme: Letters, summer fun foods, our five senses

Day 1-

We read: “Gregory, the Terrible Eater”, did a Strawberry taste test (applied 5 senses and journaled), kids did basic skills books (Grant, shapes; Dom, letters and numbers; Kate, Dictionary skills and reading with comp. questions), we made cookies, iced them and topped with candy letters after we spelled our names with the letters, wrote letters in whip cream (put whip cream on a plate and used our fingers to write), Dom and Grant counted beans into an egg carton while Kate and I played her homemade memory game!

Day 2-

 Ice cream taste test (applied 5 senses and journaled), kids did basic skills workbooks, did a craft project, we read, “On Our Way to the Beach” and made sand pudding (vanilla pudding with crushed graham crackers on top).

Day 3-

We read, “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom”, did a Coconut taste test (journaled) and graphed who liked it and didn’t (also tested almond joy and snowballs-talked about what was made with coconut-shredded, coconut extract-tried to crack a real coconut); sang song

Day 4-

We did a Lemon taste test (journaled), lemon and lime compare and contrast (Venn diagram), listened to “Lemonade Girl” on Starfall.com, did Free reading (Dom-“Nessie” and drew a picture of a sea monster, Grant-Sea Animals), read aloud-“Meet Molly” from the “American Girls” series, read “On Our Way to the Beach”, journaled Our Day at the Beach and ate sand pudding (vanilla pud. with crushed graham crackers).

Week 2- Theme: Summer (picnics, camping, family vacations, beach, swimming)

Day 1-

We are starting each day this week by identifying our month and day of the week.  We check out the calendar on Starfall.com.  We read “Arthur’s Family Vacation”, brainstormed what we like to do in summer (vacation, camp, picnic, swim, beach) and read about the season of summer.  The kids then journaled about their favorite family vacation (Kate answered Germany, Dom answered Loch Ness, Grant answered Italy-each drew a picture and Kate wrote “Germany”), then we played beach ball bingo (letters then numbers) by putting the letters on our bingo cards and using little paper beach balls as our markers-I called out the letter and the kids had to cover it on their boards (Dom is REALLY learning his letters this way)-then we did the same with numbers.

Day 2-

We read, “Summertime in the Big Woods”, the kids journaled about summer animals-“If I were a frog I could…If I were a fish I could…But I am glad I am me because…” ; made letters from playdough, kids did basic skills-Kate basic skills-money review and –an and –at word families, Grant shapes, colors; we ended the day by playing beach ball toss with our alphabet and numbers.  I threw it to Kate and she said, “A”, she threw it to Dom and he said, “B”, he threw it to Grant…etc., etc. Then we did the same with numbers 1-10.

Day 3-

We read, “One Hundred Hungry Ants”, we made letters in playdough and journaled “Summer Sunshine” - favorite thing to do in summer and Kate had to see what words she could make out of the letters in: ‘Summer Sunshine’-she came up with 10 (he, sun, sum, she, etc.); and basic skills.

Day 4-

We reviewed our month and date on calendar, read “I Like Bugs”, played more beach ball bingo with letters and numbers, sang a song – “On the Shore” to the tune of “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”, journaled “To go on a picnic I would need to pack…If I were camping I would bring…Animals I may see while camping are…”; did basic skills, Grant looked through a “Winnie the Pooh” book on shapes, and finished the day by making S’Mores.

Newsletter 4

*Typical Fall day of school:

Basic Skills Menu: (This week we will do lots of basic skills; here is the menu we choose from.)

`Horizons Workbooks (Kate, Phonics and Math; Dom, Phonics and Math).

`Various worksheets: Kate, money; Dominic, patterns, sorting, etc.

`Extra practice: Kate, money, 10’s, teens; Dom, tracing numbers, letters

`Kate’s First Grade Readers

Books used all week and next week: Fire Safety-“Stop, Drop and Roll” by, Margery Cuyler; “Arthur’s Fire Drill” (activities with this book)

Johnny Appleseed- “Johnny Appleseed”; and Apples-“ How Do Apples Grow?” (activities with this book)

Fall-“ I Am a Leaf”, “Why Do Leaves Change Color?”, “Country Fair” (“My First Little House” book series), “The Deer in the Wood” (“My First Little House” book series).

Journals ( 3 ): “Johnny Appleseed planted…”, “I like football because…”, wrote a letter to Johnny Appleseed

Read Aloud: The book is, “Meet Felicity” from the “American Girls” series.

Verse and Bible Theme:  John 15:12, “This is my command, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Theme: Adam and Eve

Spelling Words: (Taken from our Johnny Appleseed reading): apple, plant, tree, hero, money (Kate wrote these words 5 times each and wrote a sentence for each one to gain a better understanding of their meaning. She will test on them on the last day this week.)(We bumped her spelling test to next week since we are making this unit a two week unit).

Notebooks/Binders used this week (and every week from here on out): Bible verse notebook, Journal binder and Kate’s spelling notebook.

Day 1:

-We went over our calendar (month and day of week) AND starting in Sept., we made a countdown calendar for the baby and Halloween.  The kids mark the day off each day until we reach our goal dates.

-We brainstormed the season, Fall. We talked about what it makes us think of: football, cold, Halloween, leaves falling, etc.

-I showed the kids our completed Family Mini Book we worked on week 5 and the beginning of this week.

-Bible Study:  

`Verse-John 15:12, “   “ (The kids wrote this in their Bible verse notebook; for Dom I wrote it and he traced it.

`Devotion-We read form a book called, “Right Choices”; It tells stories to help Preschoolers and Elementary kids make moral choices.  Today’s reading was on, fighting with other kids and siblings.

`Story-We took a look at Adam and Eve this week.  We are going in order of the Old Testament, and have already covered Creation this past summer. So, with Adam and Eve, we told the story from the Bible, and did several worksheets about the story: Kate did a dot to dot 1-45 that formed the animals in the Garden of Eden, when completed; Dominic colored a Tree of Knowledge picture and traced the letter “E” on a worksheet that said, “ E is for Eve”.

-Basic Skills (Math and Phonics):

`Both kids worked on their Horizons workbooks.  Kate worked on beginning consonant sounds and Dom traced his numbers 1-10.  We are working on proper form with him.

-Reading (and Social Studies):  We read from a book called, “What Your First Grader Needs to Know”, the story of Johnny Appleseed.  After, the kids completed a worksheet putting the sequence of events of the story in proper order.

-Writing:  The kids did two journal entries today: “Johnny Appleseed planted…” and, going with the Fall theme- “ I like football because…”  We added these journals to our journal binder.

*No read aloud this week.

Day 2: *Dom was sick today, so we had a short day.

-We started the day with our calendar work and our baby/Halloween countdown.

-Bible Study (and Science):

`Verse- We reviewed the weekly verse by reading it aloud.

`Devotion-We read from, “Five Minute Devotions” that combines a science principle with a Biblical principle.  We read on sea otters and how they work and play and how God wants us to balance between hard work and play.

`Story-Kate and Dom colored worksheets about Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden.

-Basic Skills (Phonics, Reading and Math):

`I worked with Dominic today on tracing and writing his numbers 1-10.  We practiced each number several times to ensure proper form.

`Kate and I read from her First Grade Reader.  We bought a book from the Horizons Christian publisher that specifically wrote stories for a First Grade level, and later, to challenge the First Grade level.  We read story 1. She is so strong in reading!

-Spelling:  I introduced Kate’s spelling list to her today. She wrote each word 5x in her spelling notebook. (*Taken from our Johnny Appleseed reading): apple, plant, tree, hero, money

She will test on them on the last day this week, after she also writes sentences using each word.

Day 3:

-We started the day with our calendar work and baby/Halloween countdown.

-Bible Study:

`Verse-We reviewed our weekly verse by reading it aloud.

`Devotion-We again read from “Right Choices”.  This lesson was on obeying your parents.

-Reading/poetry (and Social Studies): We read a book called, “Johnny Appleseed”, in poem form.

-Writing: We wrote a letter to Johnny Appleseed for our journal entry today.  Kate wrote telling him we read a book about him; and Dom wrote him telling him we eat the apples he planted. J  *P.S. I taught them John Chapman really did live long ago.  They wanted to know if we were writing these letters to send to Heaven for him, since he lived long ago and is long dead now.  I had to explain we were just writing pretend letters to him. 

-Basic Skills:

`Kate completed a worksheet for extra practice in which she had to look at Johnny Appleseed pictures and circle the items on the right (right from left review).  Then, she read to me from her First Grade reader.

`Dominic traced his numbers 1-10 with me, again.  Then, he did the same right vs. left worksheet as Kate did, and in addition-he did a worksheet in which several apples had either letters or numbers written in them.  He had to color letters read and numbers green.  *This was really good for him, as he still has a hard time differentiating between what is a letter and which is a number.  He was having a bit of difficulty until I gave him his number chart and alphabet flip book, both to use as references.  Using the references, he looked them up and did the whole worksheet on his own correctly!!

-Spelling: Kate wrote her 5 spelling words each in a sentence.  She had to underline the spelling word in each sentence and it gave me an opportunity to introduce proper punctuation and capitalization to her.

Day 4: Basic Skills day