First Grade Curriculum 2011 - 2012

This year, I decided to try out a few different options for our curriculum.

At the FPEA conference I walked through the vendor hall many, many times. I perused all of the merchandise multiple times. I decided that an all-in-one boxed curriculum was not the best choice for us, so then began the task of choosing curriculum for individual subjects. It was a bit overwhelming looking at all the options, and not every choice is even available at the conference!

In the end, here is what I decided to do:

Reading:

• Explode the Code workbooks - I purchased books 1-4 at the convention. I'm not sure how many books we will actually use this year, but they were discounted at the convention, so I grabbed them.

• Bob Books - I bought set 1 and 2 at the convention to use for reading practice. I already have the Abeka K5 readers from last year that we will be using this year. (Gigi is a little behind in her reading).
• Happy Phonics - Games that reinforce phonics lessons.
  

Handwriting:

• I did not purchase any formal curriculum this year for handwriting. Instead I bought a composition notebook where I will have Gigi do some copywork from various sources.

Math:

• RightStart Mathematics Level B - This was my biggest purchase so far this year. I bought the complete kit while at the convention.

Science:

• Again, no formal curriculum. The plan is to create lapbooks on various topics. I have quite a few topics in mind that I would like to cover, but of course that is all subject to change based on Gigi's interests.
  
• If the subject matter allows, I plan to use the Let's read and Find Out book series to research information for the lapbooks. I really like these books, plus they often suggest experiments that correlate with the subject.
  

Geography:

• I plan to have Gigi create lapbooks for this subject as well. We will make one lapbook for each state we learn about.
• In addition, I want to start letterboxing with her when the weather cools down a bit.

Bible:

• I will be using the Character portion from Hubbard's Cupboard as a guide.
• I will have Gigi do some notebooking pages based on the character traits we learn about
• We will also be referencing the God and Me! Devotions for Girls book that we already own.

Music and Art:

• I will teach some basic piano to Gigi myself. I took some lessons as a child and still have a book from that time that I can reference.
• For art, I will allow some free creativity time, providing a different material frequently

In addition to these things, we will be making many trips to various local museums, zoos, aquariums and theme parks. We will also be using the library for it's treasured resources as much as possible.

Goals for First Grade - 2011- 2012

We entered our second official year of homeschooling about 2 weeks ago. I came up with a basic outline of our goals for First grade just as had done for Kindergarten and curriculum has been chosen.

This year I will be including little man in much more school activities than last year. He will be three in October. Our goals for him this year include learning his alphabet, numbers etc. He is great with his colors, but needs quite a bit of help with everything else. We will go slowly and just cover basics since he is so young.

For starters, here are our First grade goals for the Princess:

The subject areas I want to cover include:

• Reading
• Handwriting
• Math
• Science
• Geography
• Art
• Music
• Piano
  
• Health
• Foreign Language
• Bible

I'm going to break it down now by subject what I would like to cover through the year. Som things are being carried over from last year since I do not feel they were mastered well enough.

Reading:

• Read common, irregular sight words (e.g., the, have, said, come)
• Make all the letter sounds and letter patterns, including consonant blends and long- and short-vowel patterns, and combine those sounds into recognizable words
• Be able to retell a story in detail and in her own words
  
• Read aloud with fluency in a manner that sounds like natural speech
• Write simple, short stories using sight words and phonics skills
• Respond to who, what, when, where, and how questions
• Follow one-step written instructions
• Identify and correctly use singular and plural nouns
• Identify and correctly use contractions and singular possessive pronouns in writing and speaking

Handwriting:

• Continue to improve manuscript with focus on lower-case letters
• Emphasize use of proper punctuation and capitalization
• Space letters, words, and sentences appropriately

Math:

• Recognize and Write numbers to 100
• Count orally by ones, fives and tens to 100
• Use symbols for less than, equal to, or greater than.
  
• Add and subtract numbers up to and from 10
• Addition and subtraction word problems
  
• Compare quantities by estimating, weighing, and measuring
• Use graphs to gather information
• Tell time
• Count coins
• Recite the days of the week and months of the year

Science:

• Animal Habitats
• Seeds and Plants
• Recycling
• Butterfly Life Cycle
• Ants
• Ocean life
• Dinosaurs
• Magnets
• Volcanoes
• Scientific Procedure
• Any other topics that princess shows interest in
  

Geography:

• Basic map skills
• How to use a compass
• Important US symbols
• The 50 states - we will do a lapbook for each state we learn about (all 50 will not be completed)
  
• Letterboxing
  

Art & Music

• Experiment with different materials and methods
• Learn how to draw some simple pictures
• Learn about music notes (different notes and what they mean) and sheet music
  
• Learn the notes of a piano
• Learn how to play simple songs on the piano by reading the sheet music
  

Health

• Learn essentials of nutrition
• Learn basic functions of the body
• Importance of personal hygiene
• Learn why our bodies are special and are to be kept private
• Safety in public places
• Proper manners in different situations

Foreign Language: (Spanish)

• Learn Alphabet orally
• Basic colors
• Common items in the home
• Animal names

Bible

• Character Traits - Respect, honesty, obedience, attentiveness, self-control, orderly, forgiving, content, thankful, humble, joyful, generous, compassionate, responsible, patient, diligent.
  

2010 - 2011 School Year End

Our first year of official homeschooling has ended!

My little girl is done with Kindergarten! We have had our end of the year evaluation, but I still need to mail it in to the school board. Tsk, Tsk .... I know.

I think we did a good job covering the majority of the goals we had set for Kindergarten. We did miss the mark on a few things, but all in all we did okay. Not great, but okay. We lost a lot of steam last year between living with family, searching for a new home and ultimately finding and moving into our new home. All the packing and unpacking and trying to get settled took a lot out of us and put a halt on a lot of things I had previously planned.

Anyway, here is what I had hoped to cover for Kindergarten as well as how the Princess fared.

Reading:

• Learn vowels vs. consonants and the sounds they make - Done!
  
• Read CVC words - Done!
  
• Read sight words (for Kindergarten level) - Most, but not all.
  
• Be able to retell a story in detail - Done!
  
• Put events of a story in order - Done!
  
• Write simple sentences using sight words and phonics skills - Has lots of trouble with this still.
  

Handwriting:

• Continue to improve manuscript with focus on lower-case letters - Improving, but still needs practice.
• Introduce script? - Never attempted on my part.
  
• Write own last name - Done!
  

Math:

• Recognize and Write numbers to 100- Done!
  
• Count orally by ones, fives and tens to 100 - Can count by ones to 100 only.
  
• Name ordinal numbers first through tenth - Done!
  
• Add and subtract using manipulatives - Done!
  
• Compare quantities by estimating, weighing, and measuring - Never introduced this concept on my part.
  
• Use graphs to gather information - Never introduced on my part.
  
• Tell time to the nearest hour - Done!
  
• Count coins - Pennies only
  
• Recite the days of the week and months of the year - Done!
  

Science:

• Understand the five senses - Done!
  
• Weather - Done!
  
• Animal Habitats - Never done on my part.
  
• Plants and Farming - A few plants and gardening concepts introduced.
  
• Recycling - Never done on my part.
  

Social Studies:

• Identify major religious and civic holidays - Done!
  
• Identify major Historical figures - Never introduced on my part.
  
• Understand our community- Done!
  
• Understand different roles in community (Community Helpers) - Done!
  

Art & Music

• Experiment with different materials and methods - Done!
  
• Learn how to draw some simple pictures - Done!
  
• Learn about music notes (different notes and what they mean) - Never introduced
  
• Learn the notes of a piano - Never introduced
  

Health

• Learn essentials of nutrition - Just a bit, but no detailed lessons.
  
• Learn basic functions of the body - Done!
  
• Importance of personal hygiene - Done!
  
• Learn why our bodies are special and are to be kept private - Done, but will continue this always.
  
• Safety in public places - Done, but will continue this always.
  
• Proper manners in different situations - Still working on this always.
  

Foreign Language: (Spanish)

• Learn to count orally to ten- Done!
  
• Basic colors - Knows some, but not all.
  
• Common items in the home - Nope.
  
• Animal names - Nope.
  

Bible

• Going to follow an age appropriate Lesson Book for bible instruction

In preparation for another year of schooling, I attended the FPEA Homeschool Convention back in May. It was a great motivator and slef-esteem booster as well as a new experience. The curriculum hall was HUGE! It was nice to be able to physically go through tons of curriculum choices in person. I have pondered over what i will use for first grade. There are so many choices, but I had to make a decision. I'm not certain if everything I ultimately decided on will truly be a good fit for us, but homeschooling is sometimes trial and error. Only time will tell if I have made the right decision for my family.

I'll post about our curriculum choices next time.

Here's hoping!