That Annual Curriculum Post: Classical Second Grade

It's that time of year, again.  I've been (lazily) busy making lesson plans, downloading and creating worksheets and notebooking pages and weeding through the second grade projects I've been Pinning for years.  As I near the end (and as our first day draws near), I thought it would be a good time to share the big plan with you.

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First Grade Curriculum (2013 - 2014)

It's that time of year again. Everyone is sharing their curriculum choices for the school year. Robbie has been using his first grade curriculum for a few months, so it's nothing new to us.  It's still fun to join in, though!

Language Arts

• Reading books from our home library, the public library and on his tablet
• Writing With Ease
• First Language Lessons
• All About Spelling

Maths

• Singapore Primary Math
• Rightstart Games
• Living Math Books
• Tons of Manipulatives

History

• The Usborne Book of World History
• Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times
• Living Books

Science

• The World of Animals
• Magic School Bus Life Science Episodes
• Bill Nye Life Science Videos
• Living Books

Classical Languages

• The Greek Alphabet Code Cracker

Fine Arts

• Drawing With Children
• Alfred Guitar Method for Kids

Extracurricular

• Cub Scouts
• Seasonal Sports

Be sure to check out what others have chosen to use this year over at the Not Back to School Blog Hop's Curriculum Week!

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Kindergarten Curriculum (2012 - 2013)

Robbie's official kindergarten year will begin on September 4th. Here's a run-down of what we'll be using. (If it seems like a lot, remember that not everything will be used every day and we have a whole year to cover it all.)

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Robbie's New Favorite Subject

Robbie has been begging to do spelling... a subject I originally wouldn't have dreamed of starting this early. My son's desire to write changed my mind. I want to do my best to stop bad spelling habits before they start.

After reading all the hype regarding All About Spelling, I was sure it was too good to be true.

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Pre-K Plans: Fall 2011

Well, here's the post I've been avoiding for quite some time. Robbie's curriculum for 2011-2012. I've been undecided in a few areas, but I believe I've got it all nailed down... for the moment, anyway.

Robbie just turned 4 at the very end of May, so he is technically starting his Pre-K year this fall. However, we choose to meet him where he is instead of worrying about a "grade level". He loves to learn and I'm sure that this year will be no different.

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Summer Plans.... Gearing Up for Pre-K

Robbie spent this past week at my parents' house. It was his own little "summer camp". He also attended VBS at our old church (we've recently moved and are looking for a new one). He had such a wonderful time.

While he was away, I was able to put pen to paper and tweak a few things about our summer school plans. I thought I'd post a bit about that here.

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He is finished!!!

No, he hasn't finished learning to read... but today, Robbie finished up Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read Kindergarten. He read the final book, "Big Bad Ben" to me and did an excellent job!

He is so proud of himself and is already asking when he'll get the "green box" (the first grade level). We haven't ordered it, yet.

Robbie completed both levels 1 and 2 of the Kindergaten set in four months, but I fully expect that the First Grade set will take longer. We'll spend as much time on each lesson as he needs to master each concept.

I never would have thought that we'd use or love Hooked on Phonics.... but it sure is working at this house!!

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Phonics Pathways and Hooked on Phonics

We have kind of slacked off on our use of Phonics Pathways for the past few months, but I have been checking it (in order) to make sure that we haven't missed anything.

We haven't...

So far, Hooked on Phonics is covering pretty much the same material in the same order. This makes me very happy. I will continue to do this as we move forward.

Robbie will be starting the Hooked on Phonics First Grade very soon and I will be using the Phonics Pathways and Reading Pathways (Pyramid) as reinforcement and practice.

He is loving this adventure of learning to read (and so am I)!!

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Handwriting Suggestions??

I've never really been concerned about Robbie and writing. He's still very young and I have been told so many times that boys write later and apparently with less endurance than girls. For these reasons, it's never been a biggie on my to-do list.

For months now, Robbie has been nearly obsessed with writing words. He still enjoys spelling words with our letter tiles, but he "writes" all the time. He used to do his Explode the Code books orally (he'd circle or "x" the answer when that was called for). Now, he wants to try to write every word. He doesn't care how long it takes, he wants to write.

He doesn't form some of his letters correctly, and I want to make sure that (since he insists on writing letters and numbers) he learns the right way from the start.

I've been flip-flopping on how to teach him this. I've considered Kumon books, Handwriting Without Tears, special books for lefties (he's been an obvious lefty since before he was a year old, but we've never pushed either hand) as well as several others. None of these really appeal to either of us.

He's interested in both print and cursive (I had always planned to simply wait and teach cursive first when we tackled this). A friend of mine suggested simply teaching him myself using both print and cursive. I've been wondering if this could actually work. Would he get confused? Would I have him learn print and simply become familiar with cursive as he goes? Would it be better to use the print as reference and teach the actual writing with cursive? Should I scrap the idea altogether?

I guess I'm asking for any opinions or advice? These plans would officially be for this fall (official Pre-K). We have the Startwrite 5.0 software, so I can make sheets myself. What would you do if you were in my shoes? Perhaps some of you are wondering the same thing. Who knows?

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Preparing for Pre-K.... Reading

I'm really itching to hit the submit button on this year's major Rainbow Resource order. I'm so, so, so, so excited about the choices I've made. Here are the "reading-specific" choices on my list:

Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read - 1st Grade (Levels 1 & 2)


Explode the Code Book 3





Explode the Code Book 4





Put Me in the Zoo





One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish





Little Bear





McGuffey’s First Eclectic Reader





The Bravest Dog Ever



If you're familiar with Sonlight, you'll recognize a few titles from their 1st Grade Reader package. We already own most of the other books.

There are tons of read-alouds on my list (as well as several Toobs to go along with the science and history topics), several Rightstart Math items, character study mini-books and more... I just wanted to share my enthusiasm over the actual "Learning to Read" items.

:)

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Our Plans: Bible and Read-Alouds

 

I'm going to post a bit about our plans for the upcoming year instead of what we did this week. (We have had mostly "free-play" going on around here, anyway.) I have many goals for our final year before he is officially in Pre-K. In these final weeks before our 2010-2011 year starts, I plan to outline some of them in my weekly posts.

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NOT Back to School Blog Hop: Week 1... Curriculum

Although I've blogged about this before, I thought it would be fun to participate in the 2010 Not Back to School Blog Hop. Week 1 is all about curriculum.




We will be starting our "official" 2010-2011 school year on September 7, 2010. We will be (loosely) using a three-term schedule.

Our terms will begin on these dates:
September 7, 2010
January 3, 2011
May 2, 2011

Before first grade, we will only focus on the one B and the three R's... everything else will come from daily play, life or through our reading. We don't do unit studies or themes... they don't fit either of our personalities.

This may seem like a lot (and it is), but there will NEVER be a day where everything is used. Many of these choices are either nearly complete or will not be used until another item has been completed. Please don't think that I make my poor son do all of this every day (in fact, we don't necessarily use any of this stuff EVERY day). Our "terms" and "plans" help Mommy pass the time. We are on no schedule and if it takes much longer to finish these things... who cares??

We will be adding some of these items mid-year, but they will be part of our curriculum nonetheless.

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BIBLE

The Beginner's Bible
NIrV Read with Me Bible
My Favorite Bible Storybook

We will simply be reading one story from several bibles and storybooks each week. He will learn a short memory verse or simplified phrase from each story and recite it for his Daddy.



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READING
Phonics Pathways
This will continue to be our main phonics program.

Reading Pathways (formerly Pyramid Reading Exercises)
We have the older version (pictured), but the link above will take you to the revised (and retitled version). These reading "pyramids" really help with fluency. Robbie loves them. We will be using this along side Phonics Pathways.




Explode the Code 1
Explode the Code 2
Explode the Code 3

He will most likely get through book 2 this year and part (or perhaps all) of book 3.



READERS: Practice and Application

Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers
Bob Books, Set 2: Advancing Beginners

We only have these first two sets, so we'll have to decide whether or not to purchase the other sets as we finish these.




We have most of the Calvert Kindergarten Readers (purchased used many years ago). I cannot link to them since they are not available outside of the full Calvert Kindergarten curriculum.




We will continue with the I See Sam books.




These are "read together books". We may or may not be using them throughout this year. They are available for free at ProgressivePhonics.com.




I read many of the I Can Read books when I was Robbie's age, so I look forward to seeing his reaction to these wonderful stories.



He will be working his way through McGuffey's Eclectic Readers starting with the Primer this year. I plan to have him read the lessons to me a few times to help with fluency. He will continue to progress through this series over the next several years.



Of course, weekly library trips for new (to us) books and story hour will continue as well as many daily read-alouds.


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WRITING

Our main focus will be continuing with his fine motor development through play-based exercises. He will be working with his Handwriting Without Tears Preschool materials as well as some very basic Kumon books.


I will also be making him tracing/copywork sheets using StartWrite software.

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MATH

Activities for the Abacus: A Hands on Approach to Arithmetic
This will be our mathematics spine for many years to come. I prefer the hands-on methods given in this book to the worksheets that Robbie loves.

Essential Math: Kindergarten A
Robbie will start the school year over halfway through this workbook. I consider this as a supplement/other application for our Abacus Activities.

Horizons Math K: Book 1
He will not be too far along in this workbook as the school year starts. He loves it and it is very simple for him, but I know that Horizons advances more quickly than the Singapore (Essential Math) Kindergarten books. I am working on a plan to have him progress through the Horizons K books at a much slower pace that may or may not line up with his Abacus Activities.




We will be working through the numeration section of the Rightstart Math Card Games (and possibly some basic functions, as well).




Essential Math: Kindergarten B He will probably finish this book before the school year ends.

Horizons Math K: Book 2 He will most likely be somewhere in this book at the end of the year.



We also have an abundance of manipulatives.

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Don't forget to head over to Heart of the Matter to read more posts like this one. As you can see on the calendar below, next week is school room week. We don't have a dedicated school room, so I'll have to post about the various locations we use.



I can't wait to read about what everyone else is using! I am definitely a curriculum junkie.

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