First Grade

This is a look at how we plan our week in first grade.  Our day is "scheduled" (in quotations because honestly, if you knew me, you'd know how casually I take all schedules)  so that we work for a little while in the morning, and finish in the afternoon.  We have lots of room in our day to move things around.  This 'schedule' works as a backbone, and gives me an idea of what to prepare.  We have a lot of goals, but as a mother I must never forget how important it is for my first grader to stop, and well...

Gratitude Mondays..

Here's What I am loving today...

~Ballet Under the Stars...

~A little baby who found the stars tonight...
(at Ballet Under the Stars)

~A conversation over heard between my little girl and her father...
(she was explaining the complex social organization of fairy society)

~A little boy who gets louder in direct response to the amount of times he told to be quieter...
(Annoying, perhaps.  Predictable, yes.  Totally adorable to me)

~A partner who listens to me...
(Its so good to feel heard)

~Making decisions.

~Birthday party sundaes...

~Tomatillo salsa...

Here's to a new week!

2011 Weekly Wrap Up... #1

Welcome to the 2011/12 school year!

We had our first week of school this week.  To celebrate the first day we took photos.

 

Ava rocked the bonnet, she is a huuuuge fan of Little House in the Big Woods.  Cyrus (long sleeves in 100* plus heat) decided that his photo should be taken in the apple tree.
Gotta love 'em.

In Poetry
We started our poem of the month, Summer Storm from Swing Around The Sun.  Our poem of the week (which I forgot about until Thursday.  Whoopsie)  was Important Apple, from Margret Wise Brown's Important Book.  There was going to be a whole apple theme this week, but apple picking has been moved for a few weeks in hopes of better picking weather.  (ie NOT SO HOT)   Our silly poem activity this week (still working on the name) was to listen to Willie McGurckle and draw a picture of him.

In Social Studies
We talked about timelines.  I introduced the clock of eras, and used these pages as a guide.  Ava made a personal timeline of her life.  (for some reason she only sometimes has a head in her illustrations.  hmm)

In the Kitchen
This week we made playdough.  (I'm guessing we'll be doing that a lot)  This weeks playdough was camping themed.  A rich green with cedar oil mix in for scent.  yum!

 Music
I'm trying to work in some music appreciation study this year.  This is one of the activities I may drop if we don't have time.  This week I used a lesson plan (found here) to introduce the idea of each person having a role, and using the beat.  We had a lot of fun, so I hope we can continue doing something like this once a week.

Art activities

We tried a few new things.  We made leaf imprints with leaves we had gathered while camping.  Later we made fall paintings using these.  Both of our pictures are now decorating our binders.

In Art Study

 We explored Maya with her Doll by Picasso.  Ava thought this painting was disturbing.  She didn't like the way it made her feel.  I thought it was interesting to look at things from more than one angle, but I couldn't help but agree.  This just isn't our thing, I guess.

In Science

We reviewed how the earth rotates on its axis.  And used a globe to demonstrate the passage of day and night and its relation to the earth's rotation.  This naturally led into the concepts of east and west, north and south which worked well with a map curriculum that we played with over the summer.

In Math we

~ started experimenting with weight

~compared weights using a math balance

~calculated missing weights needed to balance

~read water levels in a measuring cup

~compared volumes

~discussed capcity

Yikes!  It was a full week.  I think with some tweaking we will have a really good thing going.  I'm very interested to see what  activities make the cut, and what makes it through the whole year.   I think I only said our closing blessing twice, so that's not looking to good... Whew.

smiles are....

...not going to happen.  For some reason when a camera is pointed at this boy a smile is the last thing he's going to show you.  I'm cool with that.  I'll just take pictures of "pine cone face"  until he changes his mind.  You should see him when he sees these photos.  He LOVES them.  And I LOVE him, so we are even.

Yup.

I could spend hours just checking out that belly button.

Sol and I have so much in common.

camping is.

The smell of the campfire, morning and night.

Time Spent Together.

 A time to learn something new.
 Nature Hikes.

Quiet.

Gathering wild flowers, soft moss, and colorful mushrooms.
Discovering New Creatures.

Tradition.

  

Gratitude Mondays...

Here's what I am loving today...


~A fantastic camping trip...
(I found an owl pellet, and I am very excited!)

~The Princess Bride...
(I've come to terms with the fact that it's my favorite movie)

~A baby who says "I love you"...
(It sounds [exactly] like "ya ya ya ya", but I know what he means)

~A little girl who starts 1st grade today!
(and lost her 5th tooth this weekend)

~A little boy who starts Preschool today...
(He wants to be part of the magic of school, and so he is)

A few more great book series...
(I have read A LOT in the last few weeks.)

~A partner who takes good care of me...
(and who I enjoy taking care of in return)

~A new 'homeschool room'!
(more on that later)


~The first day of school!!!
Bring on year 2011/12


I'm looking forward to finding our perfect rhythm, and exploring a new season.

One Moment

The final preparations for camping.
Getting the discovery boxes clean and ready to go.

Tides

I've been thinking a lot about permanence lately.  Which things endure, which things fade. The power of change.  The nature of still.  Nothing lasts for ever.  This too will pass.  And yet, that's not really true is it?  I'll always be their mother.  That's something.  It may not be profound, it probably wont mean much to anyone else.  Somethings never change.  The tides roll in and roll out.  The world turns.  The sun shines, and sets.  People live, love, and die.  There is loss and gain.  There is balance and imbalance.  There is unendurable pain, and there is extreme ecstasy.   There's always more to learn.  There's always something best to forget.  Growth.  And I will always be their mother.

W.I.P. Wednesday...

I've never written a WIP post before.  (Full disclosure: after years of reading blogs it was only recently that I found out that WIP stood for work in progress.  I always assumed it was a knitting or crocheting term.)  I started working on these color tiles after being inspired here, here, here, and here I knew that I really really wanted to make a set for my family.  They are so pretty!

I started with some paint stirring sticks.  I used the larger kind used for stirring buckets.  I had my mother in law chop them up for me with her table saw.  She's excellent that way!

I sanded the edges to give the wood a softer feel.

 

For our color box I want Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, and Pink.  Seven shades of each color.  I went through the paint department at home depot and found colors that were a cohesive group.  I took two sets of each paint chip. I used wide paint chip strips (Behr brand) and chopped off the names and numbers, leaving enough width to cover the wood.  One set I'll leave together, and they will eventually become the control strip for checking work.

 The other set I chopped into size.

I used watered down wood glue and a paint brush to adhere the paint chip to the wood.

 I have a few strips almost done, and I am really excited by the results.

So between this project, and reading yet another book series... Um... what was that I was just saying yesterday about having SO MUCH to do?  riiiiight.  I'll get on that.

Vacation Rainbow

Red~

Orange~

Yellow~ 

Green~

 Blue~

 Purple~

We had such a lovely trip to San Diego.  Each day was a gift.  Soon I'll be taking my babies to the mountains.  When we return we will have our official start to our school year.  There are so many wonderful things happening, so many moments to treasure, so many things to get ready...  I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do with this space.  In the next few weeks I may be silent, I may add some of the fourteen hundred vacation photos, I may keep up blogging.  I just don't know.  I do know that by mid September I should be back into a normal rhythm.  That sounds about right.