Mom, I Can't Believe I'm in First Grade Now

It's finally here! The first day of First Grade! What a day. I will say, it was not as exciting as I had planned in my head. You know the dreams you have while poring over new curriculum... they will LOVE this! and they will LOVE that! Oh, how reality comes and bites us in the, well.

We did have a good first day. The problem is figuring out the timing of everything. I know that we will be doing Bible first every day. When am I supposed to do spelling? English? History? Math? Where does it all fit in? And how do I teach two different levels at the same time???? Thankfully, a lot of what we are doing this year can be done together. Bible, history, science and some math and English can be done together. However, handwriting, most math, reading, spelling, phonics, ok most of the language arts have to be done separate. How do I keep one occupied while trying to work with the other? All things that will get hashed out as we go along this year. The beginning of K wasn't very smooth, either.

I started out with a plan this morning, but it quickly fell apart. Kirsten's attention span isn't long enough to work on same subjects/different levels right now. I think that tomorrow I am going to begin with Bible, put Brianna to work reading for her Summer Reading program, and work with Kirsten on her things before bringing them back together for our science lesson. After that, Kirsten will be free to go and Brianna can have her turn with me. We will see how this plays out tomorrow.

Until then, is it normal to squeal with delight when the mailman comes? (I have more books for this year on the way. Oh, the anticipation...)

End of the School Year Wrap-up

Oops. I seem to have lagged on my posting.

The end of the school year is finally here (well, and gone). We actually did do some school work on the last day of kindergarten:Here is a picture of Brianna working on her math facts.

Before that, though, we did have one more field trip. We went to the McWane Center in Birmingham. The girls just love to go there. They never get tired of it.I'm not really sure what this is supposed to be teaching them, but they are having fun doing it!Here Kirsten is digging for dino bones in an archaeology exhibit. There are so many hands on activities for the kids to do, and they are fun for the grown-ups, too!

We have also been spending a lot of time at the YMCA at the pool. After being away from the pool for the winter, the girls need time to remember what they learned last summer in their swim lessons. Especially since I put Brianna in a class this summer based on what she learned last summer. She seems to have forgotten everything! Aah! The more we go, though, the more it comes back, so I hope they won't demote her. Kirsten won't have any trouble with her class, I don't think. She will be in a class that doesn't expect quite so much. We'll just have to wait and see. Lessons begin on the 15th, so be watching for that.

Before kinder ended, we also got to celebrate Brianna's sixth birthday. I can't believe my baby is six! (Don't we all say that?) She had a great day, and we had lots of family and friends with us. To those who could not make it, we missed you, and hope you will be able to be with us next time!

We are now in our first school break of the summer. I don't think any of us are taking it very well. LOL Friday, May 29th, was our "last" day. Saturday, Sunday after church, Monday and today has found me in the classroom doing "school". Mostly planning and scheming for the beginning of next year. That would be June 8. Brianna has been telling me every day that, "school starts on June 8th, I wish it was TODAY!"

I have been working on getting all our lessons all planned out, and everything ready for the first day. I'm glad I have been doing this now, and not this weekend, because I found some things lacking, and have made a huge shopping list of supplies for our science and history lessons this summer. I am so excited, I can't hardly stand myself! (Is it normal to be this excited about school???)

Here, the sad, naked wall after all the kindergarten projects have been taken down. All that is left is our calendar and the morning, afternoon, evening, night clock. New for first grade is the 100s chart for Kirsten, the timeline you see at the bottom that we will be using in Bible lessons, and (not in the picture because I just put it up today), the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt chart that we will be memorizing. I haven't decided if we are going to be memorizing the Chinese dynasties or just the Roman Kings and first 20 Roman Emperors. If Brianna shows a lot of interest in ancient China, then we might venture the list, but if not, I won't worry about it.

Well, there is the wrap-up and even a sneak-peek at the new year. I will putting our 09-10 school year curriculum in the sidebar shortly, so you can see what it is we will be studying this year. For now, I need to take the break that I scheduled! LOL See you next year! (Yea, it's only 5 days away, so it's not like waiting for Lost to come back on or anything. ;-) )