MFW 1st Grade - Week #4

BIBLE:  This week's scripture:   "Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge."  Proverbs 23:12

Part of Caleb's handwriting practice is writing  a bible verse.  This was the first week that he's had to do that and he did a great job!

READING:   Our language arts/reading lessons have really been kicked up a notch.  Lots of reading and writing practice.  Here is an example of just part of one day's lesson.

Our  daily lessons also consist of reading a set of six words and then matching them to the appropriate pictures.  Then he has a set of 4 sentences that have to be matched with pictures.  

Friday's sentences:

"The bug is on the rug."

"The sun is hot."

"The duck is in the tub."

"The cat sat in the hat."

 I've learned that Caleb is pretty bright and I have to cover up all the pictures and have him sound-out and read words FIRST, THEN uncover the pictures and let him match them up.  He can look at one word in a sentence and GUESS the right picture to match it with.  It's going much better now that I keep the pictures under-cover until needed.  

He is also still learning that the vowel's have long and short vowel sounds.  This week we focused a bit on "A," but as the week progressed I noticed the lessons didn't push the "long a" very much.  I guess we'll see what next week brings!

MATH:  Caleb continued his study of "Numbers and Counting" this week and had various math worksheets from his "Children's Book of Math."   Our pattern animal assignment this week took a step up in difficulty.  He had to cover three animals this time, first covering them with as many blocks as possible, then covering them with the least amount of blocks as possible.  He had another chart to fill in as well, graphing the number of blocks used for each animal for each task.

I initiated another method for tracking place value.  This neat pocket folder system with numbers and stickers.  We took this picture on day 12 of school.  Caleb will place stickers on the cards to show ten's and one's.  It will be a while, but eventually he will see hundred's also - some time this winter I would expect.  Oh, before I forget, this "place value" system was another blessing I found on Mama-Jenn's website.

SCIENCE:  This week we studied out of our "Things Outdoors" book again and focused on how flowers grow.  

Bean Seeds:   Our first science experiment suggested we use some bean seeds since they tend to make progress rather quickly. 

Our bowl of beans that we soaked overnight.

Here's Caleb taking a few of the beans apart to analyze the different parts.

Here you can see the "seed coat" and the "cotyledon."

Next Caleb was to spread them out on a wet paper towel.

Cover them with another wet paper towel.

Cover them tightly with foil.

Over the next week or so we will unwrap the beans to pull out 2 or 3.  We'll look at them to see what they are doing and how they are changing.

Day Two:   definitely sprouting. 

Day Two:  after opening, you can see the cotyledon really well.

Day Three:   Lots more growth!

Day Three:  After opening...

SECOND EXPERIMENT:

Our second science experiment was how to grow a sweet potato.

Here is a picture of the supplies we used. 

Caleb jabbed the skewers into the sweet potato so that it would balance half in and half out of a mason jar. 

Then Caleb filled the jar a little over half way with water.

After filling the jar enough that the sweet potato was half way covered with water we placed the jar in a dark place and will check it again in 10 days.   

Our third science experiment really wasn't that exciting.  Well, we thought it would be, but either we weren't patient enough or it was a flop.  We were to squish colorful flowers in a baggie with a few drops of water until it pulled out the color of the flower.

Caleb squished and squished...I took over for a few minutes, but it just didn't seem to be working.

See?  Not a whole lot of color to soak up on a coffee filter. 

As you can see we had another very busy week!   Please continue to keep us in your prayers as our workload becomes heavier and more complicated.  I'm reminded each day that God has indeed called me to homeschool our youngest child.  This is a challenging undertaking with a lot of prepping and planning.  There is no way that I could do this without the Lord on my side.  I remain confident that He will continue to equip me and our family will be so blessed all during this process.

This post is linked to Homeschool Highlights in MFW at 2 ladybugs and a lizard."

Walking with the King,