Please help me!! planning for first grade

[AyeshaTN]

Okay so I am getting planning underway for 1st grade for DD. I thought I had my mind made up until I found this site and now I am so confused. I am going to describe my DD to you and her abilities and frustrations and see what you can advise me. Thanks in advance for all of your help. Up until know we have basically done BFIAR and FIAR style learning. We used lots of games, activities, Leap Frog dvds, tons of reading, and various lapbooking activities to get where we are right now. My daughter is really good with sounding out words, even "big" words. I feel its time to find a good phonics program that will start teaching her the rules so she can become an even better reader. She can read great but she doesn't like to. She would rather me read everything when she knows how to do it and she will become frustrated when I ask her to read to me. However if we are playing a game like, I have a surprise, sound it out and you get it, she can read an entire sentence! We did bob books and she doesn't care for them. To boring for her.

For math, we have really focused on understanding concepts more than writing out the facts. She can work out addition and subtraction through real life situations but when it comes to writing them and using manipulatives to help explain problems she gets frustrated and confused.

She loves to write her own books with stories and illustrations, that is she loves coming up with the ideas for these books, but hates the writing part! She dreads having to write things, even copy work. She just doesn't like it. She needs some help in this area because sometimes her letters can fly around the page a little :)

I would like to continue with FIAR and add a good phonics and math program and possibly a writing program.

A little about me. I am a busy mama to two daughters. I need programs that works great but don't expect me to do a lot of extra work. I would like the concepts explained clearly to me so I can clearly explain them to DD. I don't like the idea of DVDs because well, if they get scratched like so often happens in my home, well I cannot afford to be replacing them. We are a family on a BUDGET so would like to get the best program I can for the $. Can you please HELP!!!

[Celia]

We just finished up grade 1, so I'm by no means a seasoned veteran here! That said, I'm a math curriculum junkie, and for your needs, I would recommend Math Mammoth. It's solid, easy to teach, and inexpensive (20percent off right now to boot!).

 

Phonics, OPGTR is great for the pocket book and effective, but your daughter might find it boring. On the other hand, it only takes a little while! I've not used many different things in this department, so I cant really advise too well. Likewise with a writing program. If you want something flexible, you might consider getting the Writing With Ease text and then choosing your copywork based on your FAIR readings?

 

Good luck and have fun!

[Barb_]

Have you read The Well Trained Mind? Check your library; I'll bet they have a copy. That is an excellent place to start. Pick something for phonics and something for Math. And read books. That's all. After a few weeks, once you have your feet wet and are into a routine, add one thing at a time. Don't become overwhelmed.

 

Welcome!

 

Barb

[joyfulhomeschooler]

:iagree:

We just finished up grade 1, so I'm by no means a seasoned veteran here! That said, I'm a math curriculum junkie, and for your needs, I would recommend Math Mammoth. It's solid, easy to teach, and inexpensive (20percent off right now to boot!).

 

Phonics, OPGTR is great for the pocket book and effective, but your daughter might find it boring. On the other hand, it only takes a little while! I've not used many different things in this department, so I cant really advise too well. Likewise with a writing program. If you want something flexible, you might consider getting the Writing With Ease text and then choosing your copywork based on your FAIR readings?

 

Good luck and have fun!

[Jyniffrec]

Have you read The Well Trained Mind? Check your library; I'll bet they have a copy. That is an excellent place to start. Pick something for phonics and something for Math. And read books. That's all. After a few weeks, once you have your feet wet and are into a routine, add one thing at a time. Don't become overwhelmed.

 

 

:iagree: We are using OPGTR (Ordinary Parent's Guide Reading) and Math Mammoth for our newly turned 7 year old. They are working very well for us. I have added Explode the Code and Handwriting Without Tears to it. All of us these can be found fairly cheaply. But do start slow, as the above poster recommended.

 

By the way, your daughter sounds a lot like my oldest, who is 11 now. She could read but resisted it for a long time. Now she finishes a book a day and thankfully we just moved close enough to a library for her to walk there! She also used to write books and illustrate them - I utilized this desire by having her do lots of narrations (having her tell the story back to you in a shortened form).

[boscopup]

Phonics - Either OPGTR or Phonics Pathways. Many people like one or the other. They're different from each other a bit, so pick whichever one fits you best. They're only around $20 and take the kid through all of reading phonics (IIRC). I haven't used PP, but I do use OPGTR, and I spice it up by doing it on the white board. I write everything on the white board. My 4 year old loves it!

 

Reading in general - Is she ready for library books yet? If so, I'd let her pick out some good early readers. I wouldn't fret too much about her not wanting to read yet. Right now, reading is still hard, and it sounds like she just doesn't want to do something that's hard. That's normal for the age! Just ease her into doing things that take a bit of work in the next year. Don't make it TOO hard. Just make it so she has to work a tiny bit. Once she is reading well enough, you might be able to get her interested in reading more by giving her interesting books from the library that are below her reading level. They're easier to read, so she might decide they're worth picking up more often. ;) It might be a while before you can do that, but just something to keep in mind as her reading improves. Don't worry about her loving reading herself if she's still at the stage where it is hard work to read. She won't be in this stage forever.

 

Math - If she's been in K this year, I wouldn't worry at all about her not writing her addition/subtraction facts. That's not typically expected until first grade anyway. You have plenty of time for that. Does she like using manipulatives? And does she even need them? I only use manipulatives if a child needs it in order to understand a concept. So far, both of my older two boys have done well with just pictures on a page. Manipulatives are too distracting for them. My oldest tends to think more abstractly anyway, so figures out math in his head and has rarely needed manipulatives (yet he can demonstrate to me that he understands the concepts fully). I use Math Mammoth with him, adding in some other things for fun. My DS2 isn't in first grade math yet. He's using Singapore EM K, and depending on his ability, we'll either go MM or Singapore for grade 1 (MM has small writing involved, and he'll be young, so I'll try it, and if it's a bust for him, I'll use the cartoony Singapore that has lots of space). For your DD, Singapore might be a better choice, since writing is an issue for her. Look at both.

 

Writing - Again, it's hard at this point, and she also may have the "my hand hurts" syndrome, which is normal at this age. Have her do lots of fine motor activities such as Playdoh, picking up small objects with tweezers, things like that. Ease her into copywork and make sure it's an age appropriate amount. At her current age, I'd do one short sentence per day - like 3-4 small words. Make it easy. Throughout the first grade year, gradually increase the amount of writing she does in a day, but spread out the writing throughout the day. I alternate subjects that are writing and non-writing for my writing-phobic first grader. We started out in January (when I pulled him from school) able to write one sentence a day. Now he writes 2-3 on paper and 2-3 more on the whiteboard (spelling dictation) with no problem. We still do only one sentence at a time on paper. His hand is much stronger than it used to be though. Another thing is to make sure her chair and desk height are appropriate for writing. I got a chair for the kitchen table that raised my son up and had a foot rest, but now I have school desks that are adjusted to the proper height. Either way, being at proper height helped a LOT with the "my hand hurts" syndrome. Also check pencil grip to make sure she's holding her pencil correctly. An improper grip can contribute to a painful arm. As far as writing curriculum goes, I love WWE (and I recommend listening to SWB's lecture on teaching writing in the elementary years). It works on the individual skills involved in writing, teaching the child to physically write on paper (copywork), come up with a complete thought (narration), and hold a thought in their head long enough to write it down (dictation). The dictation isn't added until 2nd grade year. During first grade, you do one copywork sentence (and the first one, as you'll see in the sample, is "Pa owned a pig.") twice a week, working up to 3 times a week, with that third time being a narration that you've written down for them. Narrations are done twice a week in WWE, though you should also do narrations in other subjects (history, science). Again, you can work up to this. We started out with 2 narrations per week. Now we probably do 2 per day, if you include our morning Bible story. It's become old hat to do narrations, and since I'm doing the writing, DS can concentrate on what he's going to say without having to worry about how to form letters, how to spell the words, what punctuation to use, whether his arm is going to fall off or not... :tongue_smilie:

 

You can see what all we're using in my sig. Everything I use is pretty much open and go. I use scripted programs (though I'm not afraid to go offscript). I don't do things that take a lot of teacher prep. Your plan to do FIAR with math, phonics, and writing added in sounds excellent. :)

[Lovedtodeath]

Okay so I am getting planning underway for 1st grade for DD. I thought I had my mind made up until I found this site and now I am so confused.

What were you going to use?

 

It sounds to me like you can probably stick to that.

 

Zaner-Bloser and Handwriting Without Tears are good for handwriting and recommended in The Well Trained Mind.

[NanceXToo]

To me, it sounds like the things you are already doing are fantastic for a first grader. Did you plan to continue with that type of curriculum? If so don't feel like you have to start second guessing yourself, I think it sounds great!

[AyeshaTN]

Thank you all for the wonderful replies. Yeah, so far things have worked well I just feel we need a bit more structure at this point. I have read the book but need to check it out again to refresh my memory of it. I had picked Horizons 1 for phonics and also horizons 1 for math. However upon receiving them I began second guessing those choices. After reading the posts on this site I realized these two programs were not best for us. After filling through the books I could see they weren't what we were looking for. I think when I read TWTM I felt a bit overwhelmed with everything and wanted to stick with the concepts but not fully use her schedule. Now I see I should have stayed with it just eased into it. Thank you for all of your kind words and suggestions. I am now searching for MM! It looks like a wonderful program that would work great for us. My dd likes to "play" with manipulatives just not do math with them LOL. She loves to read and does awesome when she wants to but I think I am asking to much of her and she has become frustrated. We will step back a notch and let her do more of the leading in this department. Thanks again! Off to begin new curriculum search and do a few returns as well!

[JessieC]

My first-grader-to-be is doing great with a combination of FIAR, Math Mammoth, Explode the Code workbooks, and the stories on progressivephonics.com. She sounds a little like your daughter--smart but doesn't love to put in the work of reading/writing. She loves to write (dictate) stories and have me write them. These programs seem to be helping.

[Ariston]

I would recommend you look into MEP for math...its very conceptual and sounds like it would be a good fit for what you're looking for. Plus, its FREE!!

http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm

 

There are tons of posts on these boards about it, and a yahoo group where you can ask questions or get advice. It sounds like Year 1 would be right at her level.

[skueppers]

Good luck making up your mind! Regarding phonics, if she already knows how to sound out words, what are you hoping to get out of a phonics program?

 

It strikes me that you would be well served to use a phonics program that required a lot of actual reading, since it sounds like she needs to build fluency.

 

Aside from the suggestions you've already gotten, you might take a look at Progressive Phonics, which is free on-line. In progressive phonics, the parent reads most of the text, and the child only reads the words that are in red. As the series goes on, the child is reading more and more of the text.

 

If she's ready for it, "team reading" of real books could also be helpful. You can take turns reading a sentence, paragraph, or page of a real book.

 

Both of these techniques were helpful to my daughter. We "dropped out" of the Ordinary Parent's Guide after lesson 118, but it was also very helpful to us.