Heart of Dakota {Beyond}: Unit 1

8.25.2013

I was going to wait another week, but the schools around here started mid-week and why put off tomorrow what you can do, today?!.... so, we jumped in and have completed our 1st Week of 1st Grade with Heart of Dakota {Beyond}.  And mind you, I could do it because the guide for {Beyond} is ALL laid out for me!  I did look up a few ideas online that I had stashed in my Pinterest account and/or printed from previous use, but otherwise it was all open & go!  Loved it!  

T was great about his school work, too-- for the most part.  I made him a binder with calendar work and some notebooking pages to go along with our studies and that has helped a great deal having it all ready to go.  On the front of his binder is a "Daily To Do Checklist," so he can help keep track of what he still needs to do before "school" is over.  
The first few pages of his binder consists of a 100 Days of School chart, Worksheet on Day of the Week, a 50 Books I Have Read count-down, and I'll be adding in a worksheet for him to practice making the date in change.  

The caterpillar has helped TREMENDOUSLY in getting him to read; some days he wanted to read TWO books!  Once he gets to 50, I told T we'd go do something "fun!"  In the pages that follow are several notebooking printables, spelling words, & his poem copywork printables.

Without further ado, here is our week in review (most of it anyways!).... 

Science:  Our first week of {Beyond} consisted of two science activities:
On Day 2 of Unit 1, we named the four oceans of the earth and learned about Ocean Currents.  We made origami boats, grabbed some straws and headed for the bathtub.  We created ocean currents by blowing through the straw to move the boat forward... well, kinda.  Our boats had a mind of their own ; )  



On Day 3, we learned why sea creatures such as the Whale and Dolphin have blubber.  We've done this activity before, but T didn't remember it.  We put one of his hands in a ziploc baggie fastened with a rubber band, then slathered crisco on it imitating blubber.  Then we timed how long he could keep his hands in a bowl of icy cold water.  Blubber vs. bare hand... and, the blubber covered hand won!  

Language Arts:  T is working on words from List 1 and List 2.  He did great with spelling this week!  One day we switched up the review and used his All About Spelling tiles.


 History:  I'm not too sure how T is enjoying "American Pioneers & Patriots,"  but I think the readings are enjoyable and just perfect length wise.   During Week 1, we read about the pioneers trip from Spain to St. Augustine; it was told as a story with two young children as main characters, Pedro and his sister, Catalina.

At the end of the week, we started a timeline using the wonderful printables from other HOD mamas!

And we completed our first History Notebooking page; and I do mean, "we."  I wrote, he answered ; )


Art: We changed up our "Artistic Expression" task from the {Beyond} guide; instead of making a shield of cardboard, paint, foil or whatever else, I suggested T make a shield out of Legos. We actually made a shield during our last row of, "The Duchess Bakes a Cake" so I thought doing it from Legos would be a fun challenge, and he accepted : )  


Storytime:  For the first few weeks, our genre during storytime will be a Biography.  We read a chapter every day from, "William Henry Harrison: Young Tipeecanoe" by Howard Peckham.  We both aren't very excited to read/ listen to this yet... maybe we'll enjoy it as time goes on.  

To introduce what a biography is, I asked T to grab five items that would tell something about himself-- I also grabbed five things!  I thought this was a fun activity.  I had an idea of what he would grab, and he didn't get one of them!  So looking at his pile, I was kind of skeptical if he had understood what I had asked him to do... but he surprised me!    
The pan= he likes to cook.
Dinosaur = he likes to play.
Strawberry = he likes to eat.
Soccer ball= he likes to play soccer/ sports.
Baby links = he likes to build

Geography:  Our first Geography concept was learning the Seven Continents.  I pulled out Spell Out Loud's "The Continent Hop" that we have used before, and the kids jumped, hopped, crawled, etc. to the continent I called out.  By the way, excuse my "earth."  Ha!  It was very difficult to make a circle with painter's tape!


Welp, there's Week 1!
Hope you'll join us on our HOD {Beyond} journey!
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Comments

  1. Looks like fun!! We did Beyond last year and had a great time!

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  2. Looks like a fun week! So exciting to be back to the routine =)

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  3. Love the idea of creating an earth with masking tape! How fun!

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  4. Love it! Looks like a fun start to a fantastic school year :)

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  5. Kristina, are you using Bigger Hearts next year? {and is it a repeat of American History?} It seems to cover similar material?

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