Weekly Wrap Up #5

This week in first grade...

In Poetry..
Our poem of the week, Seven Black Birds in a Tree, is one of my favorites in the book.  The last line makes reference to "a secret that's never been told".  Cyrus really really wants me to tell him what the secret is, and I wish I could.  We decided that our poem of the month will be acted out for Matt next week.  What a treat!  Our "silly poem" this week was a version of "Happy and you Know it" that included the emotions sad, tired, mad as well as happy.  For our activity we drew faces expressing emotions.

In Social Studies....
We spent time talking about the exciting things you can find all over the world.  We used photo cards of major landmarks and talked a little about who made them and why, then found their location on the maps.

In the Kitchen..
We made muffins!  Using box mixes from Trader Joe's we made a few batches of Pumpkin Muffins, and Gingerbread Muffins.   These delicious little beauties were wrapped up and frozen to be served at Ava's birthday party.  She loved being able to help prepare the food for her own party.

My favorite part was when they showed me their finished tray.  "Look how we did mama!  I was so worried they were going to be messy, but the turned out really neat and pretty"

In Music...
We further discussed emotions in music.  Music can make you feel things you didn't expect, and it can also help you process feelings.  Sol proved a very admirable distraction to this exercise, but we still had fun.

In Art..
We didn't actually get to our official project this week, which is unfortunate because it's a great idea.  We did spend a lot of time outside, decorated the house for Halloween, and did tons of baking for her party! (more on that later)

In Art Study..

We explored Starry Night, by Vincent Van Gogh.  Ava decided that this looks like "underwater land"  with the "underwater moon, underwater stars, and seaweed trees."  She said that she really "likes the mermaid land, with the sea fairy stars."  I think sometime she says things just to get to me, but maybe she was being sincere.  Either way, she makes me smile.

In Science We..
Rolled our social studies work of exploring the world into our science lessons.  While social studies focused more on the "things" found around the world, the science time was spent talking about the  major landforms and biomes on earth.

In Math We... 

Are now a few weeks into book Level B.  I have read that some families found the transition between levels A and B a little awkward.  I'm finding that I really enjoy the balance of review and new material so far.  I feel like I'm giving Ava time to strengthen confidence in her mathematical skills while still providing a solid forward momentum.

~Make squares and other rectangles from tiles
~Understand the commutative property
~Learn that one thousand is 10 hundreds
~To read thousands
~To review ab, abb, and abc paterns

In Math games Ava requested that we made more Math-Story-Art.  So I made up a silly Fall Festival story and fun was had by all.

 

 

These last few weeks have been very exciting.  

There is so much going o behind the scenes, 

our future plans have been on a roller coaster of change

It's just when I think that I cant possibly focus on homeschool that I find I need these moments the most.

Here's to next week.

Whatever it may hold.