Kindergarten Day 2

Micah wrote in his journal. It says "Me and mommy had a bad dream." He wrote "Me ad my had bad ceme" This is phonetic writing. He picks out sounds in the words and writing them as he hears them in a long sequence. There are 5 stages of writing: Pictures/Scribbling, Random Letters, Phonetic Writing, Transitional Writing and Standard Writing. Kindergarten is mostly comprised on Random Letters, Phonetic Writing and possibly Transitional.
To learn number recognition and order (Micah is a little further along because he can count to 50 and recognize numbers past 20), I printed out 2 hundreds charts. One hundreds chart I cut the numbers out of and he had to find the matching numbers and glue them into the right spot with a glue stick. This helps him to notice the differences in the numbers and start to visually place in his brain the order that they go in. The activity will take us several days during math.

Phonetic Reading Mixed with Whole Language

I teach Micah reading with BOB books. http://www.bobbooks.com They are phonetic books (all words that can be sounded out) that gradually introduce whole language words (words that do not follow the phonics rules). I mix this with Dolch sight words (they are grouped in age appropriate groups). Sight words are words that have been determined to be used at very high frequency during standard reading. Your children will encounter these words a lot during early reading and later on. These words may or may not follow the phonetic rules and therefore it helps to flash card them for memorization.

Hands-On Addition

Today I printed out flashcards from this site: http://www.apples4theteacher.com/math/addition/flashcards/ We are currently working on addition. I purchased unifix cubes from discount teacher supply online. He would place the unifix cube by the corresponding number in the addition fact. Then he would "put the all together" and count them. This is the beginning of addition.

Bible Story Book

This is the book we are using for the Bible story and corresponding color sheet. It is great because it has the picture on one side and the bible story on the other. I got it at Mardel but it is also available through Amazon.

1st Day of Kindergarten: Our Classroom and Schedule

Our classroom

Our homeschool day is scheduled following the sample schedule on this website:
http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/CPsample.html

Blank Schedule (from oklahomahomeschool.com)
http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/pdf%20documents/DailyScheduler.pdf

I'm printing a blank schedule for each day and writing out the plan in red in the first column and the actual in blue in the second column.

7-8 am Wake, Dress, Breakfast, Disney Show
8-8:30 am Chores (he picks up his own room)
8:30-8:45 am Prayer, Bible Story & Color Sheet (Bible Story Color n' Learn from Mardel)
8:45-9:00 am Calendar Time
Put new date on the calendar
Sings days of the week
Sing months of the year
Talk about season and change on chart if time
Talk about weather and graph
9-9:30 am Math Facts, Activity or Workpage
9:30-10 am Free Play
10-10:15 am Independent Reading (at this point they will just look at books and pretend to read)
10:15-10:30 am Snack
10:30-11 am Phonics Activity & Reading with Mom (we use BOB books)
11-11:15 am Handwriting (we do first and last name tracing on lined paper mymoondrops.com)
http://www.mymoondrops.com/
11:15-12 pm Free Play
12-12:30 pm Lunch
12:30-1 pm Social Studies or Science
1-1:30 pm Free Play
1:30-2 pm Art or Music
2-3 pm Quiet Rest in Bed

Free Crafts for Kids at Lakeshore on Saturdays

http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/general_content/store_locations/storeCrafts.jsp?ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1272382674002

Lakeshore provides free crafts for kids every Saturday. Just to let you know.

:)

Where do I find what the state of Texas teaches?

Ok, so I went to Disney and it has been a crazy long time since I've posted. Oops...but I'm back. So if you are thinking of homeschooling, you are wondering "Ummmm, what am I supposed to teach?" Well, for a limited time you too can see what the state of Texas teaches every child in each subject by grade. Just kidding! It isn't for a limited time. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) is mandated to let you know. It's called the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills.) This is what 3rd grade and above take the TAKS test on every year (yikes...run screaming small children!)


TEKS by Grade for K-5th (scroll to the bottom)
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/index2.aspx?id=6148

Preschool Guidelines (click under documents & skills start around page 37)
http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/curriculum/early/index.html

And that gives you the same learning guidelines for skills as the Texas public teachers!