This school year flew by so quickly. I’m so excited to enjoy the summer with my babies!
First grade was filled with a ton of fun learning experiences haand adventures, including Pinky’s first lines in the school play “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” trying out Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, a trip to the San Diego Airport, Botanical Gardens, Safari Park and our local library just to name a few.
Our partial homeschool journey is still a work in progress. We’ve had our fair share of ups and downs, just like any family. We’ve gone through some heartache, a few struggles, but we also made some great friends and lasting memories.
To close out the year, here are Pinky’s final first grade homework samples. I hope they inspire you as much as they did us.
Language Arts
Pinky was in the market for a new bike. I encouraged her to do some research. In this sample, she started off with a drawing of what she wanted her bike to look like (later it changed), then she described in words what she wanted and needed her bike to have.
This project included research online and also helped in her in making a decision for the kind of bike she wanted and where to buy it at. Here’s the sheet before she it filled out. Feel free to use this idea for your kiddos to teach them how to compare price when making big purchases.
Here’s the finished product.
Math
Using the same example as above, Pinky was able to practice rounding dollars up (99 cents means to add a dollar) and comparing prices at different stores to see where she would get a better deal and save money for other items like a helmet or knee pads. On the second page of her research she collected the price of 4 bikes similar to her criteria from 4 different stores. She was able to identify which bike she wanted to purchase based on style and price and further helping her understand the concept of more than and less than.
Science
Pinky has been fascinated with slime all year long. She’s conducted several experiments where she makes slime with different ingredients.
She was on a mission to create her slime with natural ingredients after hearing a story on the news about a young girl who was burned after playing with slime made out of borax.
In this slime recipe she used baking soda, white glue, water and green food coloring. At one point she wasn’t getting the consistency she wanted so she explored by adding a little of bit of each ingredient until she realized that she needed more glue to make it stick together.
Social Studies
Pinky participated in her second Young Entrepreneur’s Faire. She learned how to run a business and this time around offered the service of a photo booth at the faire. She sold the pictures for $1 each and encouraged families to make memories.
Pinky made this flyer to help promote her booth at the fair and tell others when and where the faire was going to happen.
For every person who came because of the flyer she received .25 cents back. We printed a few on 4×6 photo paper with our new hp printer!
Everything she did before, during and after this event allowed her to get a good understanding of what it’s like to run a real business. And, she made $20! And again, gave a little more than 20% to the San Diego Humane society! She loves dogs 😉
How are you going to learn and have fun this summer?!