It's not very long until 2009. Springy will be starting Brownies next year which she is looking forward to, along with continuing with her Beavers and swimming. I have been trying to find dance classes but to no avail.
Her reading is great. She has a dictionary and I will be asking her to make more searches in it during next year to find new words for herself to discover. She's been making her own word searches and loves the ones I have been giving her with various themes. She enjoys word puzzles and I think she will soon be into simple crosswords. She really wants to do joined up writing so I have explained that she needs to do more Form Drawing first and that it will get there if she practices with lines and curves first. We now have a Spelling Word Book which is an exercise book that I place words in that she would like to spell. Springy also has her own poetry book - again it's just an ordinary exercise book but she has been inspired to write her own poems and illustrate them on its pages.
In terms of maths we will continue with the four processes and lots of mental arithmetic for a while yet. We've covered Roman Numerals but I would like to do a recap on them with her and go on a Roman trail in the Spring and visit Roman remains with the numerals on. Our Times Tables need more recitation and drilling.
Showing posts with label First Grade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label First Grade. Show all posts
Friday, 19 December 2008
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
First Grade Readiness article
This article by Joan Almon is very useful:
http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/firstready.pdf
http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/firstready.pdf
Saturday, 6 September 2008
Summary of Summer
Our learning doesn't stop during summer or any holiday for that matter. Springy had a number of playdates which has been lovely for her. She's also had music lessons and the bantams have been a valuable asset to our home. We went swimming twice (we would have gone more but I would only go to a private club pool around here as the public one makes me feel queasy). We went to visit my parents and saw my beloved Oma (sad because my Opa is no longer around). Springy got to hear quite a bit of German because of it (and she seems to take to pronouncing the sounds with ease). Springy went to the cinema for the first time ever and saw Wall E.
We've finished The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse and started The Wise Enchanter. Springy has started her own Magic Book (sort of a main lesson type book) which relates to The Wise Enchanter. We've had lots of other stories too, both from oral and book formats including our favourites Rapunzel, Rose White and Rose Red and the Michael Hall readers (last night we read the September one).
We've played a great deal with The Noble Knights of Knowledge maths curriculum and ... yes we have even done some workbooks such as the letts Magical Maths one. Springy has a reading age of a 9-year old. Her writing and spelling require working upon but this is happening. She can write well in upper case and likes to leave notes, create cards for people and so on. She has created some lovely pictures in recent weeks and has made some pretty patterns with her Hama beads which show signs of symmetry. We're practising our music almost every day in between the weekly lessons (although sadly we have to stop next week as money is once again very tight). I'm still using the odd smattering of French and German with her and she responds in turn. Singing is something we do all the time and we're still doing fingerrhymes, beanbag stuff and so on (I just don't call it circle because we're not in that shape when we do these things).
Springy has been to craft and countryside events, watched the harvest, been to the zoo, seen performances (not many though and in fact one was so inappropriate for children I had to complain to the event hosts but that's another story! I do regret not being able to take her to the theatre this summer as there have been some really good shows on but money is tight).
We have had lots of walks, playing in the garden - running, football and Springy has swimming weekly so this covers all the physical exercise side of things. She also does lots of physical activities at Beavers. We discuss the food we eat and how to stay healthy. We go shopping with Springy and she helps choose the ingredients for our meals. We've also grown tomatoes, courgettes, red currants, blueberries and various herbs such as rosemary, oregano and mint. We go to a museum quite often that enables us to see history in action - there are demonstrations on early food, traditional crafts and so on. Springy also went on a special trip to visit the Victory in Portsmouth with her father.
Yesterday we made pastry and today we had quiche - all homemade. Next week she resumes swimming and Beavers.
We watched the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony on the 8.8.08 together. Today we watched the Paralymic Opening Ceremony which was even more moving for me because it wasn't as epic but somehow had much more of a human component to it - needless to say I bawled my eyes out.
It's very clear to me that if my LA ever asked for what we do I would have to write about past tense stuff because planning and my family doesn't work well. It's much better to write summaries of what has happened rather than to try and predict what may happen. However, they'd have a lot to read because we do so much.
We've finished The Adventures of the Little Wooden Horse and started The Wise Enchanter. Springy has started her own Magic Book (sort of a main lesson type book) which relates to The Wise Enchanter. We've had lots of other stories too, both from oral and book formats including our favourites Rapunzel, Rose White and Rose Red and the Michael Hall readers (last night we read the September one).
We've played a great deal with The Noble Knights of Knowledge maths curriculum and ... yes we have even done some workbooks such as the letts Magical Maths one. Springy has a reading age of a 9-year old. Her writing and spelling require working upon but this is happening. She can write well in upper case and likes to leave notes, create cards for people and so on. She has created some lovely pictures in recent weeks and has made some pretty patterns with her Hama beads which show signs of symmetry. We're practising our music almost every day in between the weekly lessons (although sadly we have to stop next week as money is once again very tight). I'm still using the odd smattering of French and German with her and she responds in turn. Singing is something we do all the time and we're still doing fingerrhymes, beanbag stuff and so on (I just don't call it circle because we're not in that shape when we do these things).
Springy has been to craft and countryside events, watched the harvest, been to the zoo, seen performances (not many though and in fact one was so inappropriate for children I had to complain to the event hosts but that's another story! I do regret not being able to take her to the theatre this summer as there have been some really good shows on but money is tight).
We have had lots of walks, playing in the garden - running, football and Springy has swimming weekly so this covers all the physical exercise side of things. She also does lots of physical activities at Beavers. We discuss the food we eat and how to stay healthy. We go shopping with Springy and she helps choose the ingredients for our meals. We've also grown tomatoes, courgettes, red currants, blueberries and various herbs such as rosemary, oregano and mint. We go to a museum quite often that enables us to see history in action - there are demonstrations on early food, traditional crafts and so on. Springy also went on a special trip to visit the Victory in Portsmouth with her father.
Yesterday we made pastry and today we had quiche - all homemade. Next week she resumes swimming and Beavers.
We watched the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony on the 8.8.08 together. Today we watched the Paralymic Opening Ceremony which was even more moving for me because it wasn't as epic but somehow had much more of a human component to it - needless to say I bawled my eyes out.
It's very clear to me that if my LA ever asked for what we do I would have to write about past tense stuff because planning and my family doesn't work well. It's much better to write summaries of what has happened rather than to try and predict what may happen. However, they'd have a lot to read because we do so much.
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
Where Springy is at...
We've been in a kind of transition stage between Kindergarten and what would be called the Classes/Grades for a few months now. Our year in terms of officialdom is January to January. However, in terms of our feel of the year we start in April - Aries to Pisces. In terms of Steiner, Springy would be starting in September in Class 1 as she is 7 in that "term" but home education allows for breaking of rules created by Government policy.
Springy is now swimming well, she can pedal and I reckon if we could just find the device to get the stabilisers off she would be not far off riding her bicycle herself. Yesterday we visited the seaside and Springy has a body board - she was so happy in the sea (she had on her wetsuit and swimming hat to protect her from salt and sun!). The tide was coming in so I felt much safer as she went off with her daddy a good 10 metres out.
She lost her 2 lower incisors and her top 2 incisors have been very wobbly for ages. Her rear molars have come in. Her baby dimples have transformed into knuckles and she has started to skip rope with both legs together.
She can read really well. Her spelling and writing is another matter, although she can write very small and beautifully if I write out things for her to copy.
She can work out some basic maths - divide, addition and subtraction with numbers under 20. She can count in tens to 100 and count up to 100 backwards and forwards. She understands odds and evens and has enjoyed our Quality of Numbers stories (Marsha Johnson inspired, along with some Alan Whitehead reading et al).
We recently acquired the Waldorf Alphabet book. It has different styles of the letter (lower case/upper case and variants on font for the lower case) on one side and a picture on the other side showing a number of different things that all start with the same letter. Springy likes looking at it in bed. She also loves the Usborne 1001 things to spot... books.
We did some nice paintings with colour based on the Earthschooling May block (e.g. the Rainbow Cat) and I can see she has much more brush control than last year.
Her singing is lovely - she sings songs all around the house and is happy to sing Happy Birthday to relatives and friends without being self-conscious about it.
We've not done much in terms of setting things down on paper so far. I wanted to start this newer phase in her education in a very gentle and oral/aural way, rather than displaying stuff (I think a lot of stuff that is done in schools is for the benefit of the teachers to prove to the parent that a child is doing something - so this is something I feel we can relax on as home educators).
In terms of reading - we have some delightful seasonal readers from Michael Hall school:
http://www.michael-hall.co.uk/files/uplink/sample_story.pdf
Springy likes reading picture books (we get lots out from the library) and we've been quite fortunate to find some French picture books with fairytales such as Puss in Boots that she seems to be looking at (our place is full of books - we have more books than shelving so books tend to be left around, against walls etc).
Springy is now swimming well, she can pedal and I reckon if we could just find the device to get the stabilisers off she would be not far off riding her bicycle herself. Yesterday we visited the seaside and Springy has a body board - she was so happy in the sea (she had on her wetsuit and swimming hat to protect her from salt and sun!). The tide was coming in so I felt much safer as she went off with her daddy a good 10 metres out.
She lost her 2 lower incisors and her top 2 incisors have been very wobbly for ages. Her rear molars have come in. Her baby dimples have transformed into knuckles and she has started to skip rope with both legs together.
She can read really well. Her spelling and writing is another matter, although she can write very small and beautifully if I write out things for her to copy.
She can work out some basic maths - divide, addition and subtraction with numbers under 20. She can count in tens to 100 and count up to 100 backwards and forwards. She understands odds and evens and has enjoyed our Quality of Numbers stories (Marsha Johnson inspired, along with some Alan Whitehead reading et al).
We recently acquired the Waldorf Alphabet book. It has different styles of the letter (lower case/upper case and variants on font for the lower case) on one side and a picture on the other side showing a number of different things that all start with the same letter. Springy likes looking at it in bed. She also loves the Usborne 1001 things to spot... books.
We did some nice paintings with colour based on the Earthschooling May block (e.g. the Rainbow Cat) and I can see she has much more brush control than last year.
Her singing is lovely - she sings songs all around the house and is happy to sing Happy Birthday to relatives and friends without being self-conscious about it.
We've not done much in terms of setting things down on paper so far. I wanted to start this newer phase in her education in a very gentle and oral/aural way, rather than displaying stuff (I think a lot of stuff that is done in schools is for the benefit of the teachers to prove to the parent that a child is doing something - so this is something I feel we can relax on as home educators).
In terms of reading - we have some delightful seasonal readers from Michael Hall school:
http://www.michael-hall.co.uk/files/uplink/sample_story.pdf
Springy likes reading picture books (we get lots out from the library) and we've been quite fortunate to find some French picture books with fairytales such as Puss in Boots that she seems to be looking at (our place is full of books - we have more books than shelving so books tend to be left around, against walls etc).
Thursday, 15 November 2007
Bad colds and reading and writing
We're all suffering from a bad cold at the moment. I can barely speak (pharyngitis) so have only managed to tell 2 stories today (very short ones) from books.
Springy has had a fairly nice time nevertheless. Her silicon swimming hat arrived yesterday, along with a pair of pink goggles (to match the hat) and she has been practising with both of them in the bath tub. She's not happy about her appearance because she looks "different" with the hat on - it squashes and distorts her face and she doesn't know who she is when she looks in the mirror. Her other lovely comment was from the weekend when we sat and watched Return of the Jedi together and she came out with "I know why they have breaks... it's so the people can change their costumes between scenes". This girl shows she has been to the theatre a few times ;)
Anyway, I found two really useful articles at the Waldorf Library:
http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/Learnreadwriteward.pdf - by William Ward
and the other is on
Teaching our children to write, read and spell by Susan R JOhnson MD. It also mentions bedtime issues and links proprioreceptive stuff i.e. the child is not aware of where their limbs are to having difficulty in getting to sleep. I'm going to think on this for Springy but I'm not sure whether that's really the issue. I know she thinks too much at night but she's very much in her body, more than I was at her age (and I was a good sleeper) but maybe I do need to giver her limbs a gentle massage before sleep and see if this can help. In terms of active days most days she has been out and about and we do other movement type activities. I know on some days we have walked miles, done balancing, climbed and so on and she still can't sleep with ease. I think this may just be the nature of Springy (this was the baby who until 8 months old would have to be woken up to feed and was a very easy and contented little baby.. then teeth and sleep patterns changed).
Springy has had a fairly nice time nevertheless. Her silicon swimming hat arrived yesterday, along with a pair of pink goggles (to match the hat) and she has been practising with both of them in the bath tub. She's not happy about her appearance because she looks "different" with the hat on - it squashes and distorts her face and she doesn't know who she is when she looks in the mirror. Her other lovely comment was from the weekend when we sat and watched Return of the Jedi together and she came out with "I know why they have breaks... it's so the people can change their costumes between scenes". This girl shows she has been to the theatre a few times ;)
Anyway, I found two really useful articles at the Waldorf Library:
http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/Learnreadwriteward.pdf - by William Ward
and the other is on
Teaching our children to write, read and spell by Susan R JOhnson MD. It also mentions bedtime issues and links proprioreceptive stuff i.e. the child is not aware of where their limbs are to having difficulty in getting to sleep. I'm going to think on this for Springy but I'm not sure whether that's really the issue. I know she thinks too much at night but she's very much in her body, more than I was at her age (and I was a good sleeper) but maybe I do need to giver her limbs a gentle massage before sleep and see if this can help. In terms of active days most days she has been out and about and we do other movement type activities. I know on some days we have walked miles, done balancing, climbed and so on and she still can't sleep with ease. I think this may just be the nature of Springy (this was the baby who until 8 months old would have to be woken up to feed and was a very easy and contented little baby.. then teeth and sleep patterns changed).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)