1st Grade: Week 4 Highlights

Math: This week we learned about adding 9. We mostly did worksheets that went over this skill since that is what Rupert likes to do. He's starting to understand the concept and uses the "one less and add ten" trick fairly well. We'll probably continue with this through next week to be sure that he has it down before moving on.

History: We learned about the first writing this week. Ancient Egyptians and Sumerians used hieroglyphs and cuneiform and wrote on stone, clay tablets, and later, papyrus paper made from the reeds along the Nile River. We made our own clay tablet and wrote a cuneiform message on it.

We also wrote a message in hieroglyphs on a scroll.

Later, we will set both items outside and learn which one is best for keeping records over time.

Do you remember our model of the Nile River from last week? Well, our "crop" of grass on the banks of our river is doing quite well. Here's what it looks like this week:

Science: This week we studied zebras, hippos and foxes. We also did the classic "Runaway Pepper" experiment on breaking water's surface tension. Afterwards, Rupert decided to make a "sauce" and he combined water, ground nutmeg, pepper, and salt. He told me it needed to be baked at 350 for 30 minutes, which I did. It didn't smell bad when it was done, but when Rupert tasted it, he was not impressed. It was quickly spit out into the sink. But it was fun to experiment in the kitchen anyway. :-)