MFW 1st Grade - Week #2

If we want to get technical, this was actually our first FULL week of school since MFW had us start on a Thursday last week.  We had so much fun!  We're starting to get into a groove with our school schedule and lessons plans and that's such a good feeling.  Caleb seems to like knowing what's on the agenda.  That doesn't surprise me a whole lot.  He likes to ask what's coming tomorrow, and the day after that!

I tried my best to use an outline format and prepared 32 weeks of lessons ahead of time.  I can tell at a glance what's coming up next.  I feel I am more organized this way as I've made a lot of notes about the materials, books, and items we'll need - - BEFORE we actually need them.  There would be nothing worse than getting to a project, but being short an ingredient.



We start each school day with a bible study from either our "Enjoying God's Gifts" for 1st Graders or the material in the MFW lesson plan.  It appears that MFW focuses on memorizing a scripture each week.  Some days there is more of a bible lesson and other days just memorizing the scripture.  It was important to me that Caleb and I have bible time together.  So it's nice to have the material from "Enjoying God's Gifts," to turn to for supplementation on the days we need it.

Our scripture memory verse for the week was, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding."  Proverbs 9:10

Caleb had his assigned workbook pages that continued with his review of letter G thru letter R as well as the pages for his bible scroll.  He won't be ready to put that together until he finishes the rest of the review of alphabet letters S-Z.  Even though he gets a little frustrated with what he thinks is repetition, the review has been good for him.

We followup the reading lessons with our math lessons where he is learning addition facts, has a number of the day worksheet, calendar, 100 chart, money jar, place value activities, number line, ruler use, followed by math worksheets (1 or 2 of them depending on the day.)

The science activities were so much fun as it consisted of learning about things close to the ground.  We read from our science book on worms, snails, ants, plant and tree roots, etc.   For his hands-on activities this week we focused our study on worms and ants as per the suggestion in our MFW manual.

WORMS:  

We layered soil and sand into a large glass jar.

 Adding water throughout the layers as suggested.

 Added our wiggly worms.

 Lastly we covered them with leaves and topped the jar with plastic, of course Caleb poked holes in the plastic. (I wasn't entirely certain they needed them as they'd been in a sealed tub in the refrigerator for two days since we bought them.  LOL)  We also covered them with a dark towel and put them in a dark place.  We'll check on them over the next 2-3 days and if all goes well they will have created tunnels for us to see through the glass jar.

ANTS:

Another science project this week was to see what happened when you put some bread soaked with honey onto an ant hill. So, here are our honey and bread pieces.

Caleb used the toe of his sneaker to disturb the ant hill.  It only took a few moments for a gathering of ants to come to the surface and discover the sweetness that awaited them.

 Within two minutes the bread had many more ants on it.

 And within five minutes the one piece was nearly covered.

 Caleb took this as an opportunity to use the magnifying glass Sissy bought for him.  His description of the moment, "That's disgusting!"

We took a peek at the bread around 8:20 in the evening and the pieces were hollowed out.  The ants obviously found a treasure and were enjoying every last bite!

CRITICAL THINKING:

Caleb also had critical thinking time with his pattern animals book.  This was a fun challenge, figuring out the right shaped blocks to fill in the animal puzzle perfectly.  After the puzzle was completed he had to sort the pieces used into groups and count how many of each piece was used.  That part was very easy for Caleb and I look forward to more challenging activities for him as time goes on.

SOIL CONTENTS:

Mixing soil with water and watching the results.  Caleb learned the sand that went to the bottom of the jar was actually very small bits of rock, the stuff that floated on the top was more than likely matter from dead plants and dead bugs.  He wrinkled up his nose at this thought.

ART:

We touched a little bit on art this week.  I'm not convinced that the "Drawing with Children" material that was recommended by MFW is the way to go with Caleb.   But, we did do one of the activities and he seemed to really enjoy it - - ONCE we got started.  Initially, he was against it, but I had my own paper and we worked along side each other on the same activities and I think he liked that.  

I'm in search of something different for him.  Something that I would call more 1st grade fun I guess.  After skimming over the message boards it appears that I am not the only one who thinks this book is a bit much for a 1st grader.

READING:

We read a lot of books this week...some more fun than others.  "The Picnic" by Ruth Brown, "Dave's Down-to-Earth Rock Shop," by Stuart J. Murphy, "Dog Number 1," by Ami Rubinger, a story about a poor hippopotamus who can't shake his hiccups, "The Hiccupotamus Hic," by Aaron Zenz, and "Two Bad Ants," by Chris Van Allsburg, to name just a few.  "The Ant and the Grasshopper," by Amy Lowry was probably my favorite story for the week....teaching sharing and kindness to those in need.

Did you know?   That the best time to see a slug or a snail is at night?   That the top of a toadstool carries its seeds?  Or that ants sometimes bring their eggs up to the mound of dirt they create above the ground to be warmed?   

Well, this is our week at a glance...

Until next week!

God bless,

Pam