1st Grade: Week 25 Highlights

Hey, maybe it's about time I get last week's post up. And while I'm at it, maybe I should think about doing this week's as well. Holy moly, I'm late! Alright, here are the highlights from LAST week..

Phonics: "Rupert" read through "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" and a couple of smaller books this week. We also worked on a new sight word list.

Math: We did lots of skip counting this week. We like to use songs to learn to skip count, and we found some fun ones here. "Rupert" is currently able to skip count by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. We also did some work in his workbook. He is over halfway done with his workbook, and is getting excited to go out for ice cream when it is finished.

History: This week we read about Cyrus the Great who conquered many nations for Persia. We also played the "Conquer Mesopotamia" board game that was in our Story of the World Volume 1 activity book. I kicked "Rupert's" butt both times we played (ok, I barely won on the luck of the roll). It was fun, though, and a nice way to review the history we have covered thus far.

I'm putting together memory cards that have pictures of major events and people on one side and information about those events and people on the other side. They are wonderful tools, so I will be putting them into a lapbook for future reference. I found the cards on this homeschool yahoo group.

ASL: This week we learned signs having to do with seasons and weather.

Art: We did Chinese dragon watercolor paintings with our homeschool group this week. I was worried because of my lack of art skills, but they actually came out pretty cool...and most importantly, we had fun doing them!

Kung Fu: "Rupert" lost his 4th tooth at kung fu class this week. He was playing with the other kids during break time and accidentally got kicked in the face...not hard, just enough to pop his super loose tooth out! What a fun story he'll have for this one!

1st Grade: Week 24 Highlights

Spelling: "Rupert" aced his pretest on Monday, so got a break from spelling for the rest of the week. He was excited about that!

Bible: He has been learning 2 verses a week for the past couple of weeks. One for Sunday school and one for J-Force (the play he's doing). He's got a great memory, and learns both verses quite easily.

History: We learned more about ancient Greece this week. I think we'll be sticking with that for the next few weeks, then we'll wrap it up by having the grandparents and cousins over for a Greek feast and Olympic Games.

Social Opportunities: This week we had play practice, went to a friend's birthday party (Happy birthday, Naomi, my birthday twin!), went to two kung fu classes, had a playdate, did storytime at the library and participated in homeschool P.E. I look forward to the days where we don't have to be anywhere or do anything as much as the days filled with activities. "Rupert" is really enjoying all the fun things we've been doing lately, and is very happy with our new schedule.

Greek Alphabet Video

I thought this was a fun way to learn the Greek alphabet. We had a lot of fun watching it! :-)

1st Grade: Week 23 Highlights

Craft: We made valentines this week for "Rupert's friends. This craft was based on an idea we saw in Clubhouse Jr. magazine.

Phonics: I think we're having a reading growth spurt. "Rupert" is able to read a lot more than before, and this gives him the confidence to try sounding out new, harder words. It's a great cycle to be on! As we were in line at the post office this week, he grabbed a pamphlet and started reading what he could as we waited. The word "international" still trips him up, but he's got "shipping" down pat! LOL!

Grammar: "Rupert" began learning another poem this week. This will make 5 in all.

Science: This week marks the beginning of our human body study. We started by learning about bones. I am teaching "Rupert" the names of some of the major bones, about 20 in all. I am planning to do either a big lapbook for our human body study, or a collection of smaller ones. I'm not sure yet which.

This week we did a few projects to go along with our study: We made a model of a backbone complete with discs in between the bones and a spinal cord running up the center.

Here, "Rupert" is showing how the many bones work together to allow us to bend.

Our discussion went into how the nerves work and "Rupert" modified his model to show that the nerves in the arms and legs (the threads coming off the backbone model) are connected to the spinal cord, which is connected to the brain (the green spool on the right). It was amazing to listen to him explain to me how the nervous system works. He picked up on the concept very quickly.

We also learned that bones are made up of minerals. When the minerals are removed, the bone is no longer hard, but becomes rubbery. The calcium in this chicken bone was removed by soaking it in vinegar for a few days.

We did a measurement project to show that we "shrink" during the day and actually are shorter at night than we are in the morning because of the pressure that is on our bodies when we are in an upright position. It was pretty funny because we had measured "Rupert" in the morning, then came back to measure again at night and he was so excited to see how much he had grown over the course of the day. He was very surprised to find that he was actually about 1/2 inch shorter than he had been in the morning.

History: This week we've been reading about the early Greeks. "Rupert" made this Mycenaean shield and we have plans in the works for making a Mycenaean helmet as well.

Kung Fu: We are learning our 4th stick form. It uses two sticks and takes a lot more concentration to learn than the single stick forms we have previously learned. "Rupert's" focus is getting better, although he does still have a day here and there where he is totally spacey.

Social Opportunities: Besides all the real world social experience of being out and about, talking to all kinds of people of different ages and backgrounds, asking questions, and just generally experiencing the community around us, we had 2 playdates this week, art day, kung fu, story time, and play practice.

1st Grade: Week 22 Highlights

This was "Rupert's" second week of play practice and he's still loving it! The kids started learning some choreography this week, and got their CDs to take home and listen to for practice. "Rupert" loves playing his CD whenever he can, playing in his room, jumping on his bed, folding his laundry, bedtime...anytime is a good time for his play music! :-)

We also finished listening to "Beezus and Ramona" by Beverly Cleary this week. We have already listened to the whole Ramona series, but we loved it so much that we decided to start all over again. We love Ramona!!

Phonics: The easy readers are still working out wonderfully! "Rupert" is actually excited to pick one out of the stack to read, and sometimes he insists on reading two! I definitely think this is the way to go for us!

Spelling: We started the 2nd grade spelling program this week.

Art: We had art day with our homeschool group this week and did another watercolor lesson. We also did a watercolor lesson with Grandma this week.

"Rupert's" Journey of Discovery watercolor painting:

Mine:

"Rupert's" Garden watercolor painting:

Mine:

Cooking: "Rupert's" recipe pick of the week was Oreo milkshakes, and, of course, they were GOOD!

History: This week we read about life in early Crete. We had fun learning about the bull-jumpers, and "Rupert" made a set of bull horns and we each got to practice jumping a "bull" (each other), too.

We also read about Theseus and the Minotaur, a story that we really enjoyed. We acted that one out too! :-)

Science: This was our last week of animal study. We read about spiders, crabs, and insects. Next week we move on to our human body study (my favorite!) and I am so excited!!!

We also did a couple of the science experiments that "Rupert" got for Christmas. Thanks, Grandpa and Grandma!!

Erupting Volcano:

ASL: When we popped in the new Signing Time video for this week, we realized that of all the signs on this video, only 4 of them were new to us! Lots of freebies/review signs for us, but that's okay. I think "Rupert" was excited about the fact that he already knew most of them.

Kung fu: Professor is beginning to get us all ready for promotion. Promotion isn't until June, but he wants to be sure everyone knows their stuff. I still haven't decided whether I'll go up for promotion or not. I generally don't like to be publicly recognized like that, and really, I just want to learn. I am not concerned about what color belt I hold. It has just never been important to me. But DH is pressuring me to do it. I don't know...

Social Opportunities: Besides kung fu and play practice, this week we had a playdate with "Rupert's" buddy since birth. They played together for hours and didn't fight once! They had a great time, and we're planning to do it again in two weeks. We also joined in on a once a week homeschool PE class this week. "Rupert" enjoyed running around playing all kinds of tag with the other kids. Add art day, an overnight with the grandparents, and a skating party, and we're maxed out on social engagements for the week!

Oh! One last thing! We made this little Groundhog Day craft this week too! He pops up out of his hole to look for his shadow. :-)