We began Chapter 2 from Gracyn's Go Math workbook. She took a chapter review test so that I could determine which concepts were retained from last year and which areas need focus. She did very well and we will only spend a few days on this chapter. Lesson 2.4 was completed which covered how subtraction problems can be solved by making a bar model. We talked about the word problems having two parts and a whole. Depending on the information given determines what information needs to be found. We also spent time using the white board to complete subtraction problems.

Today was library day, we returned and checked out new books for the week. We completed Junie B. Jones and Gracyn read 'Mac Gets Well' to practice cvce words in context. She reviewed sight words 'put' and 'saw', using both words in complete sentences. She remembered 'put' from last week but needed reinforcement for 'saw'.

Today we reviewed the ABC's. We sang along with ABC teddy friend. Also, we sang the good morning song and rehearsed morning salutations. In addition we reviewed the sound of the letter A.

Math Game Time

Gracyn continued with her plant oberservations today. She recorded the changes in the two plants and noted the differences from yesterday. She finished her lessons on landforms and built an erupting volcano.

We read two more chapters of Junie B. today with our focus on making predictions. Gracyn practiced working out phonetically regular new words by tapping and reading, we also worked on reading ahead and using context to determine unknown words. We read a Fancy Nancy book together, using a my turn your turn format. She added a new page to her family book.

We started our session by reviewing "Three Black Ants," Gracyn's assigned piece from last lesson. Next we went over three additional songs in another book and discussed half notes. Gracyn played the pieces nicely, counting two beats for each half note. We also reviewed proper hand position, which Gracyn demonstrated well. Finally we went over and practiced "The Knuckle Song," and played a game called "the penny game," which encourages and reinforces careful practice.

Gracyn continued her plant observations today. She measured her plants and compared and contrasted the plant grown in the light to the plant grown in the dark. She continued her study of landforms and made a flipbook of different types of landforms found on Earth.

Today Gracyn and I made Chocolate Chip ice cream in the play and freeze ball. The ball has two openings one on the top and the other on the bottom. On one side, we filled the ball with ice all the way to the top and added ½ cup of rock salt and closed the lid tightly. Then on the other side, we filled the ball with 2 cups of cream, 1 & ½ teaspoons of vanilla, 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons of sugar and ½ cup of chocolate chips. We then started playing with the ball. We talked about why we added salt to the ice. We learned that it causes a temperature drop that slows the melting rate and increases the freezing rate. So after 15 minutes of playing with the ball we got to try Gracyn's delicious ice cream.

Today, I gave Gracyn the chapter 1 test to understand her comprehension of the material covered thus far. Gracyn did very well, only missing 1 problem. She understood the concept of adding 0, using models to add to a group, the commutative property, and the corresponding vocabulary. We will move on tomorrow to Chapter 2 using these same concepts with subtraction. We spent the remainder of the lesson playing addition war together to practice fluency and speed.