alisoncooks Posted February 27, 2012 Share Posted February 27, 2012 After our original K curriculum bombed spectacularly, I ordered Rod & Staff's Kindergarten workbooks (ABCDEFGHI) to give some basic skills practice during the rest of the year. We skipped A (saved for little sis) and B is the Bible story book (which we already had & liked). After working through C & D, I realized that we will be doing these books FOR-EV-ER. :blink: There is a lot of repetition. Had I known THEN what I know NOW, I would've used ABCD last year (4 yr. old preschool) and started Kindergarten with Book E. Anyway, I made a topics list for each workbook. Hopefully, it'll help someone else make informed choices re: these. Adventures with Books (“Learning colors and shapesâ€) coloring cut & paste tracing and drawing lines (vertical, horizontal, zigzag, curvy) tracing and drawing shapes (circle, square, triangle) colors (blue, yellow, green, red, brown, orange, purple, black) matching same objects finding the different object finding “what is missing†sorting objects (by purpose/use, by color, by size) up & down inside & outside open & closed left & right farm animals Bible story: God Helped David Song: Jesus Loves Me Counting with Numbers (“Learning numbers 1-10â€) coloring cut & paste Numbers 1-10 (counting objects in a group, 1:1 correspondence, circling an amount, writing the numeral, matching objects to numeral, matching numerals) cute poem for writing each numeral before/after/in between more & less writing missing numbers in a sequence longer & shorter taller & shorter ordinals (1st & last) empty & full fractions (half) Bible story: Jesus Feeds the People Doing it Carefully (“Writing letters and hearing soundsâ€) Matching same, finding different tracing lines (horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curved, zigzag) left to right following a path Matching letters, writing letter shapes (no letter sound/names taught) Matching words Writing name color word review numbers 1-10 review larger & smaller listening for sounds (sh, m, t, f, z) beginning sounds sorting by use, common attribute parts of the whole food sources summer & winter Bible story: God Cares for Moses Song: Oh Be Careful (Little Eyes), B-i-b-l-e Everywhere We Go (“Time for reviewâ€) Tracing lines (horizontal, vertical, diagonal, curved) coloring, cut & paste colors (yellow, blue, green, red, orange, brown, purple, black) matching color words numbers 1-10 review (1:1 correspondence, counting sets, writing numeral) writing letters matching the same (letters, words, size, shape) “Happy Helpers†mini-book sounds we hear letter sounds: s, b, w, l left & right writing your name big & little listening for same sound manner words (thank you, excuse me, etc) people & places Song: Jesus Loves the Little Children “Friends around the world†sorting (by use, common attribute) Finding the Answers (“Using thinking skillsâ€) sort by object use, where object belongs, common attribute hard or soft matching words count and color color by number given a description, find the item rhyming pictures draw the missing part following directions (positional words) “Jesus Loves the Eskimo†dominoes writing telephone numbers, names, birthday what happened first, what comes next, story order birds & insects animal homes how animals move what items are made from Going on Eagerly (Polar region/animals) tracing lines (straight, curved, zigzag) color words tracing, drawing & matching shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle) Earth shape, N. Pole, S. Pole numbers 1-10 review patterns animal prints, bird migration writing name making puzzles connect-the-dot what’s missing color by number identify objects from description Bible story: God Helped Gideon Song: Gideon Had the Lord Hearing and Helping (Rain forest/animals) color words matching beginning sounds opposites (slow/fast, smooth/rough) sounds we hear (animal sounds, etc) beginning sounds (m, ch, p, g, c, d) counting, writing numbers rhyming pictures listening & following directions color by number, color by shape sorting by use/description draw the missing parts make a rainforest scene identify objects from description connect the dots Bible story: God Heard Hannah’s Prayer making a spider monkey Inside and Outside (Woodlands/animals) color words count & write (11 and 12) 100s chart counting by 2s how many legs weather diamond shape introduced left & right large & small seasons matching the same color by number create a woodlands scene first & last more or less empty, fully, partly full longer, shorter, taller sorting by a group attribute Bible story: In the den with lions what animals eat temperature counting by 10s fur or feathers animal homes vehicle purposes/destinations (log truck, dump truck, mail truck) building purposes/what’s inside (PO, library, service station) animal/bird identification Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted February 27, 2012 Author Share Posted February 27, 2012 And I know this is a huge list and you're probably thinking that I've been on the computer all day. I have. My eyeballs are about to fall out. But I have a sick wee one today, daddy works late tonight, and my big girl has been playing in a box of rice and watching an after-lunch movie the past couple of hours. :) It's all good. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lorisuewho Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 I think a list like this is helpful. I'm planning to start these this summer with my 3 1/2 year old. Did you see that CLE came out with a kindergarten II guidebooks to use instead of Rod and Staff's abc series with the older Ker? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AimeeM Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 If a child already knows the numbers 1-10 (verbally and by sight), their shapes/colors (verbally and by sight), the alphabet by sight and verbally; but has no writing, cutting or pasting skills - where would you have them start in this series? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted February 28, 2012 Author Share Posted February 28, 2012 (edited) Did you see that CLE came out with a kindergarten II guidebooks to use instead of Rod and Staff's abc series with the older Ker?I didn't! It must be very new; I don't remember seeing it when I ordered a couple of months ago. Wish there were samples...(didn't see any). If a child already knows the numbers 1-10 (verbally and by sight), their shapes/colors (verbally and by sight), the alphabet by sight and verbally; but has no writing, cutting or pasting skills - where would you have them start in this series? Hard to say because this series builds with gentle pre-writing skills (tracing lines, following a path, drawing a line from point A to point B, etc). All the books have about the same amount of cutting/pasting. Book A doesn't have much writing (just circling answers, outlining shapes w/ a crayon -- tracing an apple red, tracing a banana yellow, etc). Book C --which my DD likes-- has a lot of number writing. Book D works a lot on making lines (horizontal, diagonal) that it then turns into shapes and letter shapes. Also lots of name writing practice lines. So Book D might be your best starting point. Book E -- this is like C+D but abbreviated. It's a review book, but it goes straight to letters without any of the prewriting activities; there's also less overall concept practice. This is where I plan to start my 2nd child (who'll have had 2 years of preschool under her belt w/ writing experience). Book F -- not much writing at all and (IMO) many of the concepts are pretty difficult (i.e. matching 7 digit "phone numbers" from a list) GH&I don't have a lot of handwriting practice, either, but my 5 yr. old animal lover can't wait to do these! Edited February 28, 2012 by alisoncooks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 If a child already knows the numbers 1-10 (verbally and by sight), their shapes/colors (verbally and by sight), the alphabet by sight and verbally; but has no writing, cutting or pasting skills - where would you have them start in this series? For me, I would probably start at the beginning. Yes, the work would be easy, but that way she could have time to work on the skills she needs to while not challenging her to be learning new reading skills too, yk? To OP: that is a great list. I loved those books. They only had through F when we started. My dd did them for preK at age 4, along with doing a light LOTW. We used these for her pencil to paper work. She worked through about mid book K that year. Then we picked them back up for K and she finished through G which came out about that time. She did those through the first semester of K and started R&S 1st grade, albeit slowly, the 2nd semester of K. Then finished R&s 1st grade, still slowly, over her 1st grade year. It worked out perfectly for her. She started 2nd grade this year right on time with their 2nd grade materials. Just thought I would share that for those trying to figure out how they would do R&S for K. I agree, the books should be started at age 4 for most kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommy_of_4 Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 Thank you for that! I just ordered them for DD for PreK this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daybreaking Posted February 28, 2012 Share Posted February 28, 2012 If a child already knows the numbers 1-10 (verbally and by sight), their shapes/colors (verbally and by sight), the alphabet by sight and verbally; but has no writing, cutting or pasting skills - where would you have them start in this series? I would still start at the beginning, as you would miss some great fine motor skill activity if you skipped the beginning books. If it makes you feel any better, we started with Book A last September, even though my dd knew her numbers past 100, knew and could write all of her letters and had a lot of practice cutting and pasting (from doing the Kumon books), and she still benefited from the series and begs to do the books on a daily basis. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kesmom Posted February 29, 2012 Share Posted February 29, 2012 DD loves these but for my younger kids I might not buy the entire series. Our favorites have been C+G for the math and F (nearly every other page is cut and paste). We still have H and I to work through. She is doing mostly 1st grade work and reading fluently, but these are great for extra fine motor practice. In the future I may pull out the number formation pages in book C and put them in a binder with page protectors for more practice. I do have a couple of criticisms about the books. Handwriting - it is not enough (or it wasn't for us) to stand alone as handwriting instruction. In addition I don't like the way some of the letters are made. Also I just could not stand the Bible story book. I know that a lot of people like it, but it rubbed me totally wrong and felt very negative and dry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted February 29, 2012 Author Share Posted February 29, 2012 DD loves these but for my younger kids I might not buy the entire series. I don't plan on using the whole series (mainly since we started these mid-Jan and I don't feel like rushing through and wearing ourselves out trying to finish them this year). For my oldest we: will end up skipping A, E, & probably G and end up using C, D (just finished these two), H & I Book F...I'm not sure. Might use it for this coming summer, as a travel/fun workbook. There are lots of cutting/pasting pages. My 2nd will be using the ones we skip (ha, how's that for frugal) and I'll probably purchase just H & I for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christyrose Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 I just ordered the 2-3 preschool books and the abc series of 7 books today for my son who just turned 3 last month. I think the first set of books will be really easy, but I wanted him to have something to do this summer since he is so into work books right now. I found the list really helpful, especially since I think some of the later on books will be too advanced, so its nice to know now so I can be prepared! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jpoy85 Posted April 16, 2012 Share Posted April 16, 2012 I plan to pick these up at the convention for L. Im glad you wrote the list. Some of it will be review for her, but its ok- it will get her ready for Horizons K :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted April 16, 2012 Author Share Posted April 16, 2012 Glad to hear the list was helpful! I stick by my original assessment, these are good for 3 and 4 yos. My (older) 3 yr old is able to do much of the About 3 series independently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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