Our First Week of School 2016

Our first week back in school was a fun one but it was also filled with a lot of trial and error.  I am still trying to get back in the groove and find our routine.  Trying to balance two students this year instead of one has been a challenge.  I was pretty tired by the time Friday rolled around.  We'll get a system worked out soon enough and things should go more smoothly in the weeks ahead.

We did a lot though and here is a look at some of the fun we had-

We begin our days with Bible class.  We start by saying the Pledge of Allegiance and singing a patriotic song.  This week it was "My Country Tis of Thee".   We read a Bible story, do some doctrinal drills, sing some songs, and work on our memory verses.  This year in first grade Cruz will learn one long passage each month.  This month he is learning John 3: 14-19.  Ben will begin learning a verse each week when he starts the alphabet.  This year I added the Pledge to the Christian Flag to our morning routine.  I plan to add the Pledge to the Bible next school year.

Ben holding our Christian flag as we say the pledge to it. 

In language Cruz is reviewing the alphabet.  He has a letter each day and several worksheets that go with each letter.  This week we covered A-E.

 Cruz working an alphabet puzzle 

His math lesson was place value.  

ones, tens, and hundreds

This picture makes me smile.  He was working hard on his math that day.

Science was fun.  Our topic was solids and liquids.  Our experiment for the week was making cookie crayons.  I love doing hands on things with my boys!  We peeled the paper off of old crayons, broke them into small pieces, placed them in a muffin tin, and baked them.  The point was to see the crayons go from a solid to a liquid and back to a solid again.  Once completed the boys got to use their new crayons to draw pictures.  

peeling and breaking crayons 

What boy doesn't like to tear something up, ha.

all ready to bake

our beautiful crayon cookies

even David got in on the fun and colored with the new crayons

In Health we started a series on growth and habits. This week focused on growing tall.  We used some ruler tape and made a growth chart.  I measured the boys and we'll do it again regularly throughout the school year. 

Cruz is 46 inches tall.  Ben is 41 inches tall.

 Cruz did this drawing in his notebook for Health. 

History was my favorite part of the week.  We began learning about Native Americans.  We learned about their dress, what they ate, how they hunted, and how they made their housing.  We learned about Indian mounds and specifically studied about the Great Serpent Mound in Ohio.  It was very interesting for all of us. 

Our project for the week was making wampum beads.  We spread it out over three days.  The first day we made the beads.  The second day we painted them.  The third day we strung them on yarn and wore them.  It was a lot of fun!

I think their favorite part was making the dough and playing in it.  We used flour, salt, water, and oil to make the dough.  We then rolled it into small balls, used a toothpick to put a hole in the center, and then baked them in the oven.  

Our beads ready to be baked.  We made several different sizes.

painting their beads

 

 stringing their beads

Their Indian bead necklaces.  They were so proud!

In our read aloud time we began this book by Clyde Robert Bulla.  

The first State we learned about was Delaware.

Ben had a fun week studying colors.  The first two weeks we are doing a different color each day.  This week he had red, blue, green, yellow, and orange.  Here are a few of his papers.  He did a lot of coloring, cutting, and gluing.  Cruz was a little jealous because he said that Ben got to do all of the fun stuff.  

On this sheet he got to cut yarn and glue it on the nest.  Next he colored the bird blue and then put glitter paint on the bird and leaves.  He enjoyed all of it.

We made a new batch of noodles to use throughout the school year using rubbing alcohol, food coloring, and dried macaroni.  We made red, blue, green, yellow, orange, and purple. 

our pretty noodles

Ben using the noodles in math one day.  I gave him a number chart and he had to count out the correct amount of noodles for each number.

Here he is doing a math puzzle. In addition to counting his numbers he began writing the number 1.

It was a busy week especially when you add in household things and ministry.  My plate is full these days.  Pray for me to keep it all well balanced.