Slow and steady

(I wrote this in April, wanted to add pictures, and never did. Posting now!) 

"Slow and steady" is the theme of school this spring. Or, Keep It Simple, Stupid! 

My attention is divided and my brain is tired from sleep with a baby (even though Olivia is a pretty good sleeper, for a baby). But, by steadily plodding away, by keeping it simple, we are still having a fruitful spring. 

Math: 

We worked through addition facts in the teens and now are doing subtraction facts in the teens. Each different set of facts has had its own game: Adding 9s Bingo, Adding 8s Crash, tic-tac-toe for adding 6 and 7. 

The games keep the lessons from feeling repetitive or rote. With the ten-frame, she learns the process in an intuitive, visual way rather than just memorizing answers. Interestingly, I’ve noticed she can know the facts right away in the game setting but sometimes seems to completely forget them when going through a worksheet later. Or, one day can to rattle them off easily in game and worksheet but then next day seem to remember absolutely nothing, and the day after that know it all again. I don’t know how much of it is some 6 year old attitude or spring fever or just developmental. But, she is tracking right along with the curriculum’s descriptions of where first graders generally excel and struggle. 

We only have four more weeks of that curriculum! 

One new thing recently has been having Anya do her math worksheet in the morning, while I’m putting Olivia down for her morning nap. She’s ready for more independent work time, and it frees up nap time for teaching new concepts.

Spelling:

Recently we have been spending one week on each lesson. Each lesson is quite long with lots of activities depending on the child’s needs. Earlier this winter we flew through most lessons in a day or two but as the concepts have progressed I’ve found it helpful to just go slow, and I like that the teacher’s guide often includes reminders to go as slow as needed for mastery. 

Two weeks ago, we covered the soft c rule: c is soft before e, i, and y.  

Last week, we worked on the floss rule: often, words ending in f, l, or s that are one syllable long with one vowel double the f, l, or s. 

This week it’s the ck rule: ck is used only when the “k” sound comes right after a short vowel. 

All of these rules require more thought than simply sounding out “slip” or “plop.” 

The curriculum uses a letter tile board and little paper activities to keep it more engaging than simply writing lists of words (though we do that too!). 

I’ve found that some days, spelling is an easy activity to do while I’m finishing morning work in the kitchen—dishes, or refreshing the sourdough starter, or wiping counters. I can dictate words while I work, and Anya sits at the dining room table and spells them. 

Reading: 

We’ve worked through some concepts recently that have unlocked so many new words for Anya—and really fascinated me too. Reading is obviously second nature for me and I’ve forgotten many of the rules of pronunciation… why and when to use short vowel sounds versus long vowel sounds, for example. 

Or, how “s” is almost always pronounced “z” when surrounded by vowels, as in “wise.” 

Lightbulb moments for me! I think I’m more interested in the technicalities than Anya. But, she is reading so well and is always excited for “story days” (when she gets to read a short story for her lesson). 

We are working on other things too--grammar and writing--but that's it for this write-up for now.