What do your 1st graders lesson plans look like?

[StaceyinLA]

And what programs are you using for your subjects?

 

Thanks!

[wendyroo]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by lesson plans.  Are you wondering about my first graders' daily or weekly schedules?  Or, about how I stay organized as to what they should be doing each day?

 

Wendy

 

 

 

 

[mathmarm]

Phonics

So far, Phonetic Reading has been taught in K, so in 1st Phonics is primarily a medium for penmanship and spelling. We review more advanced phonics rules and use phonics rules and patterns to spell a bit. We take longer words from their reading and break them down by syllables and practice reading and writing those words.

 

Reading

We frequent the library. We take out books on their AR reading level (many of the books are labeled with AR reading levels, so we try and literally take out books on their reading level)  which they must read aloud from daily. We also take out books for their enjoyment and for us to read to them.

 

Math

We have a big focus on Arithmetic with our 1st graders and we teach it at home using our own lessons, but we also use Miquon as a lab component to our home made math program. The Miquon sections that we use in 1st grade are taken as "units".

"Unit 1" is ~: SKIP Counting, number bonds L: Equations and Inequalities M: Place Value N: Number Lines and Functions

"Unit 2" is E: Addition and Subtraction*, H: Fractions* S: Geometric Recognition

"Unit 3" is F: Multiplication* J: Division*, O: Factoring, T: Length, Area and Volume.

"Unit 4" is K: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Fractions and Division V: Grid and Arrow Games

We also use a variety of word problem workbooks marketed for K-3. Starting in 1st grade, we require several word problems each day.

 

[73349]

This shows what we did each week in 1st.

[nixpix5]

My first grader this year looked like this:

 

Math: 5 days a week she has rotated through 1st grade singspore and 1st grade horizons. She did horizon book 1 then singapore 1a then most of horizon book 2 and then singapore 1b.

 

Phonics: we used the Abeka Language 1 curriculum with the two workbooks. A lesson was given daily and she would do the 2 workbook pages on her own. She would choose a book to read for silent reading and also read outloud to me every day. I followed their schedule and logged it in our planner. I would give her the tests as they came up.

 

Spelling: Spelling you see B. She would do one a day and take the dictation test at the end of the week.

 

Grammar: I would give her one lesson from FLL 1 four days per week roughly. Sometimes 3 days.

 

Penmanship: we started with Reason for Writing but her penmanship was already so go we dropped it part way through but we did it about 4 times per week.

 

Writing: our writing was mixed in to the curriculum. She did alot of sentence practice in Abeka, copy work in science and history, narration in FLL, 4th day of SYS is coming up with your own sentences and drawing a picture etc. We will start a writing curriculum next year.

 

Geography: we used Draw Africa, 10 days in Africa, Geo Puzzle Africa and stacks and stacks of books about each country in Africa as we went through. We also loosely used the Simply Charlotte Mason Africa geography curriculum along with it. I can honestly say she can fill out a blank map of Africa to completion and tell me tons of stuff about each country. A favorite for her this year. We did geography about 1 to 2 times per week trying to cover 1 ro 2 countries at a time.

 

History: we used ancient story of the world with the activity guide along with the biblioplan schedule, textbook, craft book and stacks of books to read. We do history 3 times per week. We weaved our Bible study into our history this year since biblioplan schedules it along with it. We used Vos Children's Bible and Journey bible.

 

Science: we started the year doing geology and used Real Science for Kids Geology along with the experiments from Rock On! This was a hands on study. We did alot of projects, experiments and field trips. It was great. We did science 3-4 times a week. After we finished that curriculum we switched to Elemental Grammar Biology and are working through it right now. We are doing it about 3 days per week. We will probably switch back to RS4K biology though soon. Not loving elemental.

 

Recorder: using basix and various other kids sheet music. We do this about 2 times per week.

 

Art: Meet the masters track A along with books about each artist. We also use home art studio. We do art about once a week.

 

Literature: this is me reading a chapter book and we discuss it. We try to read daily. We just choose another book as we finish them. Nothing fancy, we just choose books with rich language that challenge them a bit. We are currently reading "Half Magic".

 

We incorporate books, field trips, documentaries and movies as they seem relevant.

Edited May 24, 2017 by nixpix5

[mykidsrmyjoy]

If you're wondering about curriculum choices here are mine for my 1st grader:

R&S Math 1

CLE Reading 1

CLE Language Arts 1

Bede's History of US along with various read-alouds for US history

Let's Read and Find Out Science books

Morning Time that covers Bible, art study, poetry, etc.

I Can Do All Things Art

Piano Lessons

[anna.mullenax]

I'll jump in with my plan so far for my rising 1st grader

 

Math - Math U See Alpha and Right Start Math Games from time to time

 

Phonics/Reading - Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading (we ended kindergarten around lesson 100), leveled readers checked out from the library or I may purchase a set.  She is at the level of Frog and Toad type books.

 

Writing- Writing With Ease

 

Spelling- Spelling Workout

 

Handwriting - A Reason For Handwriting A

 

Grammar- First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind (I haven't decided if we are going to do this or postpone grammar til 2nd but I am ordering the book to see what I think)

 

 

History/Bible/Literature/Geography/Science  - Sonlight A

 

Bible study- Community Bible Study the book of Acts

 

"specials" will be at Co-op and more informal. 

We also do a morning time each morning with all the kids (my 1st grader is my oldest) 

-calendar

-devotions "Daily Bread for Girls and Boys", "The Ology", prayer

-Hymns - we learn 1 verse a week til we know all the verses, then review the ones we've learned for a couple weeks, then start a new one. 

-poetry or nursery rhyme

-planning on adding in a rotation of things like character training, picture study, fun math read alouds to this.  

 

Thanks for sharing guys! so interesting to see what others are doing!

 

[lavender's green]

We're using Memoria Press, but we're doing Math Mammoth instead of Rod and Staff. I also decided (as of, like, today...been doing lots of research on the forums!) to just shelve the spelling program that came with it for now since he's not quite a fluent reader, and I'd rather spend the time on phonics. He's 5, almost 6, and we're starting first grade right now so that when we get a case of The Februaries (or whatever), which we will, I won't be anxious about staying on track. I'm open to switching things up or slowing down to suit his needs; he's a bright Aspie with some learning difficulties, so I have to be really attuned to how things are going for him and for me.

 

We're also using SOTW on an informal basis, since he is an audiobook addict. I am blown away by what he's picked up in his own free time, listening to those books by choice.

 

I had expected a certain amount of stubbornness about formal homeschooling, but he actually spends all afternoon begging for more lessons (doing morning preschool for red-shirted 5-year-olds right now, ending this week, because he needed the social skills and I needed the break!). He's a teeny bit resistant to the writing portions, but I think that's within the realm of normal 5-year-old behavior, especially for boys, and most especially for Aspies/sensory kids.

[MrsRobinson]

 

Geography: we used Draw Africa, 10 days in Africa, Geo Puzzle Africa and stacks and stacks of books about each country in Africa as we went through. We also loosely used the Simply Charlotte Mason Africa geography curriculum along with it. I can honestly say she can fill out a blank map of Africa to completion and tell me tons of stuff about each country. A favorite for her this year. We did geography about 1 to 2 times per week trying to cover 1 ro 2 countries at a time.

 

 

My ds is going to be a first grader this year and he loves geography. I kept it simple this year with a world and US placemat at his spot on the table and Stack the States. I LOVE your plan above. I might steal it for this year! What are you doing this coming year for geography?

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited August 31, 2023 by SilverMoon

[StaceyinLA]

Thanks! I'm sorry if I wasn't clear in my initial post, but this is exactly what I was looking for!!

[calihil]

This will be my second first grader but here's our plan.

 

Bible: Either go through CLE Bible 1 3x a week or just read through a Bible story book most days. Continue with children's catechism.

 

Math: Singapore 1B/2A. Do Rocket Math (timed drill) daily.

 

Writing: Copywork 3x a week, LA from The Good and The Beautiful (TGATB)

 

Reading: Continue Phonics Pathways daily and read from a reader daily

 

Memory Work: Mostly homemade, Bible passages, catechism, poetry, hymn of the month

 

LA/Spelling: The Good and The Beautiful

 

History: The Good and The Beautiful 3x a week

 

Science: just plan to read books, nature notebook, YouTube

 

The Arts: Artistic Pursuits 1 and Hoffman Academy for piano, artist study weekly

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk

[LMD]

my first grader does:

 

Bible: read passage and copywork.

Drawing (morning time)

History: listen in and oral narration.

Maths: work through Singapore style book.

LA: WWE1, reading practice, phonics/spelling (I kind of use LEM). The grammar in wwe is enough for us for now.

Violin practice.

 

2 hours a day max.

 

He is free to listen in for anything else, but he generally likes to run off outside! He's my quirky kid, he needs that outside/alone time, he would NOT work well in a classroom!

Edited May 25, 2017 by LMD

[MDL]

We are just finishing up 1st grade. He is an able reader, and loves math. We did Classical Conversations, although I followed through poorly at home, and we missed most of second semester. Here is what we did:

 

Math: MUS Alpha, and about seven lessons into Beta

 

Science: physics experiments (I bought a box of 12), read aloud from Newton Story of Science--but only got about 1/3 of the way through. Quark zoology

 

Spelling/phonics: AAS --finished level 1, continuing on in 2

 

Reading: English Lessons Through Literature level 1. Started with Explode the Code online, but he revolted. Now he is enjoying the ETC workbooks again, but the subscription expired. Daily copy work. His handwriting is surprisingly impressive

 

History: CC memory work, plus SOTW 2 & 3

 

Latin: finished Song School Latin 1, working on 2.

 

Art: sporadic painting, drawing etc

 

Plus lots of read-alouds--how to teach your children Shakespeare, Beautiful Feet Character books, and more that I cannot recall at the moment.

 

Most of the time I felt like a slacker, but looking at what he actually accomplished shines light on the reality!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Edited May 25, 2017 by MDL

[WoolC]

We do phonics, math, and copy work daily, we've used totally different resources and approaches for these core subjects depending on the child.

 

We do SOTW for history on Mondays, Bible on Tuesday, Literature (this year fairy tales, tall tales and folk tales) on Wednesday, Charlotte Mason's Geography on Thursday and Mystery Science on Friday. We throw in artist study, memory work, and composer study as we're able though we could be more consistent on that. This is loosely based on the schedules in The Latin Centered Curriculum book for first grade. We also do lots of read alouds from various book lists but I don't consider it formal school time.

[Syllieann]

My rising 1st grader will be doing:

30 min per day, 4 days per week of Shiller math

1language arts lesson from mbtp each day (minus the spelling)

15 minutes of a spell to read daily

30 min of world cultures/geography 4 days per week

30 min of bfsu 3 days per week

45 min of wee sing weekly and 1 classics for kids show weekly

45 of geography through art weekly

1 hr of I can do all things biweekly

1hr per school day of reading

[wendyroo]

At our house, all the kids work on their daily work first, and then, once babies are napping, toddlers are having independent play time, and preschoolers and K'ers are off playing, then the older kids do their alternating subjects.  "Daily" actually means 4 school days a week (except math which is done 6-7 days a week); alternating subjects are done twice a week.

 

For first grade, reading, math, copywork, Spanish and either science or history are daily subjects.  Reading is Ordinary Parents Guide, Explode the Code and a variety of early readers.  Math is Math Mammoth.  Copywork is homemade.  Spanish is The Fun Spanish.  Science (done daily for one semester) is Mr. Q.  History (done daily for one semester) is Story of the World.

 

On Mondays and Wednesdays he does writing (WWE), problem solving (MEP and eventually Beast Academy), drawing (various how to draw books) and typing (Typing Instructor for Kids).  On Tuesdays and Thursdays he does spelling (AAS), problem solving (Singapore challenging word problems), origami and coding (Code.org).

 

Wendy

[knitgrl]

We finished first grade last year. But the list below is generally what we ended up doing.

 

Spelling: All About Spelling. Every day.

 

English: We did Shurley English. The jingles were fun, but have since switched to English Lessons Through Literature. As a matter of fact, I think for my younger kids, I will completely skip the subject of "English" when they are in first grade.

 

Phonics: Explode the Code online. I signed up for this before discovering AAS. Dd has been a good reader, but is a terrible speller. If I were to do it again, I would just go with AAS.

 

Handwriting: Zaner-Bloser. It's pretty.

 

History: SOTW 1. M,W,F. The projects for this are so much fun.

 

Science: BFSU. It is so hard to get into the groove for this curriculum, but I think it is worth it. We scrunched 3 years into 2, and are going on with Vol. 2 next year.

 

Music: Music Mind Games + some folk songs and I can't remember what else. I have since moved MMG to Morning Time and is seems to happen more often now.

 

Art: Kids Art Works! A great book you can probably find at your public library. The projects turn out looking well, but still look like they are done by kids.

 

ETA: I totally forgot math! We really did do it, using MUS.

 

 

 

 

Edited May 26, 2017 by knitgrl

[MyLife]

This year, my first grader did...

 

Math, Phonics, Spelling, Grammar, Writing, 4x per week

 

Bible (formal study), History 3x per week

 

Science, Geography 2x per week

 

Spanish 1x per week

 

Attended outside classes 1.5 days per week

Edited May 25, 2017 by MyLife

[nixpix5]

My ds is going to be a first grader this year and he loves geography. I kept it simple this year with a world and US placemat at his spot on the table and Stack the States. I LOVE your plan above. I might steal it for this year! What are you doing this coming year for geography?

Go right ahead ;) it was a blast. I worried Draw Africa would be too hard but I had a 7 year old and two 6 year olds doing it with no problem. We even got a scratch map and scratched each country as we studied them. I made an extensive list of resource books/living books from each country in Africa so if you need it let me know! We chose Africa as the deep continent study since we were doing Ancient History and spending so much time studying Egypt. It actually ended up being so good because they could identify the Red Sea (or my twins call it the Red Slug due to its shape) and orient themselves well on the SOTW maps. One son even said, when studying the Phoenicians/Canaan and Carthage said "hey I think Carthage is Tunisia! It looks like a seahorse!" I was so impressed haha. :)

 

My original plan this year was to get Draw Europe and do a similar plan to go along with a Medieval study but then all three kids became interested in US History so I decided to hold off on Medieval until the following year. So now we are going to study North America! :) We are doing Draw the USA, The Little Man in the Map, the scattered states of America, copy work from state songs and creeds, The United States Cookbook, and then doing some how to draw state sights and symbols, and then hitting the library for state specific books or childrens books set in various states. We will start on the east coast and move along with the 13 original colonies I think. I will probably get some ideas from Cantering the Country as well. I like to get eclectic with my history and geography ;)