Monday, January 13, 2014

My 1st Grade Curriculum

This is a visual representation of our 1st Grade Curriculum.  We are a bit eclectic.  Also, our son is a non-traditional learner with some neuro-processing challenges.

I create most of my own worksheets using Peterson Directed Handwriting fonts.  I got the idea for my "daily sheet" from Saxon Math.







I change the counting pattern and then number each day.  You may have noticed that the number of the day corresponds to the date.  So basically, I repeat math facts for the counting numbers 1-31.  We have stackable counting blocks that are the exact size of the square.  I give Baby Bop the correct number of counting blocks.  He counts them out for me, then divides them into two towers and then writes the number of blocks for each tower in the square.  We recently added a subtraction question following a similar format.


Next, I have a work sheet which is a scripture summary.  I read the scripture verses with Baby Bop.  We talk about it and then he copies a simple scripture summary.  I use the same scripture all week and just print out a new worksheet for each day.






I try to do a page of Explode the Code every day.  Because Baby Bop struggles with phonetic awareness, this is harder than it sounds.






I also give him a sheet for writing.  I help him write a sentence and he draws a picture to go with it.




On Monday, we have a music teacher which comes to the house to give piano and violin lessons.  (I love having a music teacher that comes to the house because it saves me so much time).  I realized that I couldn't help Baby Bop with his practicing since I don't play violin.  I also realized that I could use my daughter's full size violin.  So, now I take violin lessons with my son.










Baby Bop also has a tutor with training in occupational therapy who comes to the house once a week and he goes to speech therapy once a week.  We utilize outside classes, such as gymnastics class, theater class, and science class.  All my children attend a homeschool co-op once a week that includes a variety of classes.

And of course, Baby Bop plays with Legos, toy dinosaurs and stuffed animals.

This sums up my 1st Grade curriculum.

2 comments:

Kat said...

Hi, Janine. As a veteran home school mom of 22 years with 2 graduates and 7 other other children working their way up, I still enjoy reading how others approach teaching the elementary years. I always wonder at the families who have a full day of work for their kindergarten and first or second grade kiddos. Anyway, I like to keep it simple and stick with just one or two things for the little guys that way they don't feel overwhelmed and they have lots of time to explore. But I digress. What really caught my attention was that you are teaching a child with special needs. We have an 8 month old son with Down syndrome. We have been on a crash course in special needs since his diagnosis at birth. I am always tucking away ideas for him and I think your daily sheets would be fabulous! I'm thinking of something laminated that could be worked with fat dry erase markers? It seems the fat ones would be easier for kids with motor skill issues? One more note while we are on the topic, any chance we might see a special needs edition of the carnival in the future? Kathleen

Janine Cate said...

Kathleen,



Great idea!