Joy

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Our First Week of School


We had a very successful first week of school.  We tried to get a good "first day" picture


 But most of them turned out silly.

I am so glad and relieved that Claire LOVES school.   I realize that we have just finished 1 week and only have 520ish to go but wow,  I could not have asked for a better first week!

Reviewing letter blends in Sing Spell Read and Write.
 She can read them but not as fluently as I would like yet.
 We played lots of rounds of bingo with letter sounds.

Math was too easy for her as it is still introducing numbers and counting.   She complained that it was too easy and I promised it would get harder.  It did introduce left and right which we haven't really addressed before so that was good.

 Geography was our busy and fun subject this week.  We learned about the earth, the continents, oceans and maps.  I thought the girls would enjoy making a paper mache earth.
We used one of those huge punching balloons instead of a regular balloon because they are actually round.  The girls loved them because unlike regular balloons, they could blow them up by themselves.
Well, Claire could at least. 
 
We have never done paper mache before.
 
Claire didn't really like the goopy part but she worked until it was finished. I put it outside to dry where the heat popped the balloon prematurely and the whole thing imploded.   So, we started all over again and this time it dried inside.  The next day, we popped the balloon and painted it blue but then it started caving in on itself and we decided that paper mache was not for us. We talked about how we were glad God made the world and not us.

Later in the week we started to learn about maps; the different kinds and how to read them.  We played a game where she would hide a stuffed animal in the house and then draw a map to where I could find it.  At the end of the day she went on a treasure hunt I had prepared for her.
She found the X and dug up her prize - which was a necklace from her prize box.

All week we practiced the continents and oceans song I had found on youtube.  By the end of the week she could sing it and point to the appropriate areas on the map.



At the end, she started to repeat the ocean part again and realized she need to end it instead - which is why it sounds weird and explains her expression.

1 comment:

  1. Kathleen you and Joshua are such good parents and a loving couple. I am proud to be a part of your life's.

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