Sink or Float?

One of my little first grader's science activities for this week was an experiment in what will sink or float. We started by reading the little story about sink and float from his "Read and Understand Science" book.

Next, we gathered some items. We predicted which objects would sink and which ones would float. He was really good at this!

Once he tested all his objects out, he filled in his answers on his worksheet. I asked him which object was the most fun to test out, and he said he liked the brick and the sheet of paper.

Another fun science activity this week was making homemade applesauce. We have been doing several apple themed activities for Apple Month. Both our little girl and boy liked mashing the apples and adding all the tasty ingredients!

Unfortunately, I don't have any good pictures of them making the applesauce, but here is a picture of the finished product! I have also included a picture of the homemade apple potpourri bags we made for our Keepers Club this week. They smell absolutely heavenly!

Word Families

Today my little first grader worked on different word families during phonics time. We used Starfall last year for Kindergarten and I was very pleased with how he progressed, using that program.

This year, we are using a combination of different materials for reading/phonics, including Plaid Phonics, Starfall books, Scholastic readers, and lots of hands-on activities.

A local school supply store went out of business last year, and I was able to gather a TON of different manipulatives and bulletin board sets for dirt cheap! The one pictured above has lots of little pictures and several different word family cards.

We also do the above pictured activity several times a week and it really reinforces the different sounds within a word.



Apple Math

Since October is Apple Month as well as autumn, I thought it would be fun for our little guy to do some "hands-on" math using these little apples I found at Michael's Arts & Crafts Store. Aren't they just adorable??? I couldn't resist buying them and yes, I also bought the cute little green apples! It is so sad, the thrill us homeschooling moms get out of these sorts of things...

Our little guy has been practicing his addition skills, and so I printed some of these apple addition cards from www.makinglearningfun.com   and he went to work adding the apples up!