First Day of Class!

Today was a great day!  The sun was shining, roosters were crowing, and students were all smiles!

We began the day by diving into our morning Language Arts groups.  The groups (named the chickens and the guineas) spent the morning working on spelling, phonics, and handwriting.  The Chickens had a review discussion on consonants, vowels, and blends.  We talked about long and short vowel sounds and how to mark each.  The Chickens will continue to ramp up throughout the week, beginning spelling lessons next week.  The Guinea Group dove into spelling full force.  We dissected each word, discussing the reasons (or lack of reason) behind how they are spelled.  The kids learned the "i before e except after c" rule (which, like in Pirates of the Carribean, is more of a guideline than a code).  The class worked together on a word search of today's list.  They will be studying the list at home tomorrow through writing as well as online games.  Thursday, we will get to play fun games in class to help solidify the list in their minds!

Vocabulary lessons (Wordly Wise) will begin next week.

In handwriting, the students worked on letter formation and "bumping the line" in the appropriate place.  Some students are working on cursive and some on print, but it he small groups of 4-6 students, it is easy to meet the needs of each child!  

After lunch, the class began history with Mr. Jim.  Before they dive into medieval history lessons, they will begin with some general world geography.  This will help them get a better grasp of what they learn about different countries and regions throughout the school year.  Today's lesson involves continents, oceans, and the globe.  The class learned about the equator, prime meridian, and why Russia shows up on both ends of the large world map on the wall!  They will be diving into some great online resources to help them better grasp these concepts before class on Thursday!

Our afternoon Language Arts classes are divided into different small groups, the Cows and the Horses.  Today, both the Cow and Horse groups learned about nouns.  It was a review for everyone, but one that was needed in order to grasp the concept of an idea being a noun.  Freedom, love, creativity, time... the class learned how these are all nouns, even though we cannot touch them.  Further, we talked about common and proper nouns.  The Horse group placed word cards onto the correct place on a chart: people, places, things, and ideas, further divided into common or proper nouns.  Next week, we will play a game and do an activity to drive these concepts home!  The Cow group was able to move a bit faster today, discussing types of nouns as well as playing a game with common and proper.  The students had a relay, dropping words cards into the correct bucket!

In reading class, the students picked out books that most interested them.  They took turns reading small portions out loud, which everyone LOVED!  After each passage, the group talked about what they had heard, asking and answering questions regarding the material.  At the end of class, NO ONE wanted it to end!  My goal for this year is to encourage and foster the love of reading, and we are off to a great start!

The students worked hard during their independent study math time, and received help when needed.  The math period lasts 25 minutes.  Parents, unless they are reading well and are independent learners, send math review work that correlates and supports their at-home math lessons.  If anyone finishes their parent-assigned math early, I have lots of fun math worksheets for them to work on while they wait, or they can always bring/check out a book!

Because today was spent learning the ropes, we will begin science on Tuesday.  Today's science time was spent learning about our scrap-buckets, making tags for their on-the-farm-galoshes, and feeding our lunch/snack scraps to the piggies!

Here's the link to Homework Hideout for tomorrow's assignments!