Homeschool Science First Week of School

Water Absorbing Polymers "Mad Science Super Growing Crystals Kit"



My kids were given this as a gift a long while ago and I finally got it out. There are three packets of "crystals" and we put them in separate glass cups.  The review on Amazon is based on the fact that the person who bought them thought that they were actual crystals, not water absorbing polymers.



This turned out to be our first science experiment of the year.  The kids had fun watching them grow and observing that some of them were connecting.  Then they wanted to find out what would happen if different colors were placed together so we added a 4th cup.

Because this was so much fun I started researching more about polymers which lead me to The Magic School Bus Slime and Polymer Lab.

 

After checking out the kit above I looked at some of the other Magic School Bus Science Kits and the "Human Body"  all have great reviews.

Please share if you have any experience with these cool science kits?  Or have you done any polymer experiments?  Please share in the comment section.  : )

Addition Games

Here's a fun math game that both my first grader and pre-k students can play together.  It is from KidsCount123 I've used a few games from this site and I really like them.  Today we played a version of yahtzee.  It is called kindergarten yahtzee but like I said it worked fine with my first grader and pre-k student. Take turns rolling 2 dice.  Add the numbers and color each rectangle as you go.  The player who has all the numbers colored first wins.  It gets hard at the end.  And my kids' attention span was starting to wane.  So we decided to role 4 dice but still only add two of them.  That made the game end a lot faster.

We also played "Bump"   This is another fun addition game.  My kids enjoyed "bumping" each others' game pieces off the board.

Mastering Addition Facts

As part of our routine my daughter has been doing XtraMath for about five minutes first thing in the morning.
To learn addition facts try I am going to print out:
Say it, write it, repeat it  I recommend circling the ones your student does not know and only having him or her do those. I also found some great math worksheets for pre-k or K

How to Teach Cursive

Ready to teach cursive?  I wanted to get a bit of a jump start for my first grader.  To start with I made my own pages of connected swirls and cursive letters using a highlighter.  Then my students traced in pencil.

One of my favorite places I found for free cursive worksheets was  KidZone cursive
I found though that it may be better to begin with the letter "e" when teaching cursive.  Kidzone starts with "a."

Handwriting workshops is great if you what to type your own paragraph, sentence or words in cursive for your student to trace or copy. 

You can also print out whole themed cursive workbooks for free. The first one that I'll probably do is the copy work on the Ancient Greeks.

http://www.teachkidshow.com/teach-your-child-how-to-write-cursive/

I am also going to print and laminate a page each of the upper case alphabet in cursive and lower case alphabet in cursive.  Then my kids can practice over an over with a dry erase marker.  Here's the laminator that I use.  I've put this to lots of use.  It is super convenient and small.

D'Nealian

Whole Lower Case Alphabet in Cursive

Whole Upper Case Alphabet in Cursive

For Zaner Boser style:

Upper case

Lower case

I prefer D'Nealian I think because it looks closer to what I was taught.

You can also print out entire pages of one letter in cursive.  (Or just write it out yourself in yellow and have your student trace in pencil--if you only have one student.)

I got some of my ideas from Teaching Cursive

Maybe you even what your kids to do some handwriting practice in Spanish.

Free Online Math Practice with XtraMath

Thanks to my friend/neighbor Cathy for introducing us to this free online math practice site.  I love it.  It is called XtraMath.  A non profit organization dedicated to math achievement runs this site.  It is an individualized math practice program.  Once a week it sends me a progress report, although I don't necessarily need it since my daughter is working on it right there with me in the same room.  It is part of our daily routine.  In fact it is the first school thing my daughter does in the morning.  So much better than traditional flash cards.  It keeps track of her progress.  Plus it only takes about 5 minutes per day.

Here is what we see when we sign in.  The green boxes mean the student is answering that fact correctly in under three seconds. A yellow box means the student is answering the question correctly in three to ten seconds. A gray square means the student is answering that question incorrectly or is taking too long to answer that question. A white square means the student has not started practicing that fact. 

 

Here is a video about how to get started at home with XtraMath to watch with your kids.

Here are some first grade math ideas.

Math U See or Saxon or Both?

We are finishing up first grade Saxon math and I already have been using Math U See simultaneously.  I'm still somewhat torn about Math U See.  I like it for a lot of reasons.  I like the manipulatives and the way that concepts are explained.  I like the video although it is pretty dry for the younger kids.  It does the job though.  My kids watch it so it really isn't a big negative for me.  So far the big difference I can see between it and Saxon is that Saxon includes a lot of review in every single lesson.  Math U See does not cover the standards at the same time as a lot of other math programs do.  Because of that I will continue to use another program at the same time.  My daughter knows what to expect with Saxon and does well with it so I am going to continue to use it.  We also use a Singapore Math workbook.  She is finishing up level 1A which says it is appropriate for students in 2nd grade.

Today I printed this addition worksheet to help practice adding within 0-10 with a missing addend.  I also like this addition exercise where the student has to add 3 addends.  Students are instructed to add those in the brackets first (which all add up to 10 by the way) and then add that with the final number.  This was great practice for making 10.


For something different try  Fact Monster.  Basically glorified online math flashcards.  Students try to get as many stars (correct answers) in a row as they can.

Geography From A to Z

I recently got the book Geography from A to Z: A Picture Glossary.  I really like the book.  Along with it I found another Mama Jenn's blog.  She has created some great copy work pages to go along with the book.  Students draw a picture of the geographical term and then write the definition.  After doing the first one my daughter asked if she could do another.  Umm...Let me think about that.  Absolutely!



Draw geography terms and write definitions part 1
Draw geography terms and write definitions part 2

All About Habitats For Kids

We are working on a Science unit on habitats and I thought I'd share our journey. I love taking these journeys with my kids. I often learn (or sometimes relearn) just as much as they do. 

 To get started learning about habitats and adaptations click here to watch a short video. There will be questions during the video to check for understanding.

We watched this Magic School Bus video, "All Dried Up" to build interest in learning more about desert habitats.

Next I am planning on doing a cactus experiment to learn about how they can survive in the desert. Begin by watching this very short video on adaptations of desert plants.

Instruct your student that the cactus plant can survive with very little water, and some kinds can live for years without any water at all. This is why they do so well in hot dry desserts. Cactus roots spread out near the surface so that they can soak up moisture from dew or brief rainstorms. Most plants lose water through tiny breathing holes in their leaves and stems but not the cactus. The cactus has spines instead of leaves, and fewer holes in their stems, so less water can escape.

Tell the children that when it does rain, the cells inside the stem of the cactus absorb water the way a sponge does if you were to sprinkle water on it or try to wipe water off a surface with it.

Try the following experiment.

Grab 6 paper towels and get them nice and damp.

Roll 3 of them and put them in a plastic grocery bag, plastic wrap or wax paper.

Roll the other 3 towels but don't put anything around them.

Put all the paper towels in the sun.

Come back the next day to make observations.

Explain that the "skin" surrounding the one set of paper towels is similar to the skin of the cactus in that it keeps the moisture in the paper towel.

Math U See for First Grade

I am considering using Math U See for my daughter for first grade.  I love how the concepts are explained.  Also high on my list are taking an "a-la-cart" class from K12 or using a Math in Focus: The Singapore Approach book.   While on the site I noticed that you can print out extra worksheets for whatever lesson you are on.  Just go here if you want to check out how to print math worksheets for Math U See.  Another thing you can do online with Math U See is review math facts.  You just choose which fact family you want to review and click start.  Your student then just types the answer for each math fact and clicks enter.  Here's a picture to see what it looks like:

PS.  Wondering what your first grader needs to know or actually k-8th grader?  You can look at E Hirsch's guide online.  I like to refer to it from time to time especially when I am thinking about curriculum.

And one more thing!  Some time I'll have to do a whole other post about this but...have you seen the Kahn Academy Website?  Holy Math lessons!  This thing starts with simple arithmetic lessons and includes TONS of lessons on calculus, Algebra, Trigonometry and Physics just to name a few.  I could have really used the Geometry lesson here back in the day.  And now it even has History lesson, healthcare...I could go on.  Oh.  And did I mention that these are all free?

Reading Incentive Program for Kids BOOK IT!

BOOK IT! is a free reading incentive program for kids in grades K-6. You can sign up for BOOK IT! for the 2012-2013 school year.  Just go here and submit the online form.  According to the site "the 2012 enrollment deadline is September 1st., however, we will continue to accept enrollment requests on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last."



The site also offers a bunch of free printables to help your pre-reader.  To check these out just go here.

More about the BOOK IT! kids reading program:

• The BOOK IT! kids reading program is a six-month reading incentive program implemented in K-6 classrooms October through March each year.
• You set monthly reading goals for each child in the class.  You can use it for your home school students.
• As soon as a monthly reading goal has been met, you present the child with a reading award certificate.
• The child takes the certificate to a Pizza Hut® restaurant, where he or she is congratulated by the manager or team and given a free, one-topping Personal Pan Pizza®. There is no purchase necessary and the pizza can be taken to go. On the first visit, the child will also receive a cool, new BOOK IT! Passport and sticker.
• On each subsequent visit, the child is again congratulated and given another Personal Pan Pizza and a sticker to add to their BOOK IT! Passport.

  
  
  
  Check out how we used BOOK IT!  during this school year.  Have you participated in BOOK IT!  How did you like it?  Feel free to leave a comment below.