Rod & Staff Grade 1 questions

[MelissaS]

I am reviewing the lessons to start with my 1st grader this week. I understand MP doesn't include the flash cards in the curriculum and I see I can purchase them separately or make my own. In week 1 it says to complete lesson 11 and lesson 11 preparation says to make Addition Family 1 flash cards. My question is what is Addition Family 1?? Do they mean the addition facts all the way up to 10? Sorry I am little rusty when it comes to these mathematical terms. I'm curious how many people are using the flash cards. I don't see how I wont use them judging by the lessons. And, what are you doing for a number line? I am thinking I can make that myself and hang on the wall or possibly by it from a school supply place.

I already have base ten blocks that are multi-colored and I was hoping to incorporate those somehow. Looks like I need to get some counters as well and a felt board.

Also, where the lesson says "chalkboard" are you using a whiteboard? I thought about getting my son a smaller white board or little chalkboard to use at his desk?

Thoughts? Thanks!!

[pickandgrin]

Melissa,
Addition family 1 is all sums to 1, so 0+1=1 and 1+0=1 (you always begin with 0). Addition family two is 0+2=2, 1+1=2, 2+0=2, and so forth. You can reference the "fact houses" that show all these combinations (you will see them in the Teacher's Manual for Lesson 11). I bought the $20 set of flashcards from www.milestonebooks.com and we use them every day with the K lessons (the first half of first grade for R&S). I think they are totally worth it.
We don't use a white board, just scratch paper since we are always working on this part of the lesson side by side. I also don't use counters or a number line. If I need to show the equation with manipulatives I grab a few crayons or markers or whatever is handy. For counting to 100 I used a page of notebook paper and drew the 10s in little houses at the start of each row. It looks like this:

Line 1: 0-9
Line 2: 10-19
Line 3: 20-29 etc. so they are all lined up, matching in the ones teach time. I add a row each time it's added in the lesson. (I tried to show you exactly but the forum won't allow me to format with lots of spaces, sorry!)

Hope the helps! I've been very pleased with the R&S 1st.
Jessica

[MelissaS]

Melissa,
Addition family 1 is all sums to 1, so 0+1=1 and 1+0=1 (you always begin with 0). Addition family two is 0+2=2, 1+1=2, 2+0=2, and so forth. You can reference the "fact houses" that show all these combinations (you will see them in the Teacher's Manual for Lesson 11). I bought the $20 set of flashcards from www.milestonebooks.com and we use them every day with the K lessons (the first half of first grade for R&S). I think they are totally worth it.
We don't use a white board, just scratch paper since we are always working on this part of the lesson side by side. I also don't use counters or a number line. If I need to show the equation with manipulatives I grab a few crayons or markers or whatever is handy. For counting to 100 I used a page of notebook paper and drew the 10s in little houses at the start of each row. It looks like this:

Line 1: 0-9
Line 2: 10-19
Line 3: 20-29 etc. so they are all lined up, matching in the ones teach time. I add a row each time it's added in the lesson. (I tried to show you exactly but the forum won't allow me to format with lots of spaces, sorry!)

Hope the helps! I've been very pleased with the R&S 1st.
Jessica

Thanks for your reply! It definitely helps. I found the flashcards today at a local homeschool store so I am excited! I don't have the time to make them all.

[Michelle T]

Jessica is right! The addition families are the facts that add up to the same number. They are the facts written in the houses.

We use the flash cards in the classroom but you can write the addition and subtraction sums on index cards. You can also use index cards for the number cards 1 - 20. Other than the facts and numbers to 20, we don't use the flash cards in class.

We have a blue oval, cut from card stock then laminated, that is our duck pond. I die cut several ducks, from yellow card stock then laminated, for the lessons on addition and subtraction. In class we also use block manipulatives only for the introduction to a new fact family. We don't use felt for anything in class.

Obviously we use a whiteboard in class for the lessons. But, when I homeschooled, I used a little whiteboard when doing the lessons. Paper and pencil will work just as well though since you will be doing those lessons together.

For the number line, you can use a roll of calculator paper. Each day during your morning calendar time add a number to the line to track your days in school. When you get to number 20, go back and mark the fives with a red circle and the tens with a blue star. Then add counting by fives and tens to your routine. Later in the year you can go back and mark your twos with a yellow underline, for example. Then add counting by twos to your routine. We put our number line around the classroom to be a constant reference whether for counting or if needed during the lesson. It is a rather inexpensive way to teach counting as the number line sets can be pricey.

Hope this helps!
Michelle T

[KF2000]

Also, if you have the box of worksheets that goes with first grade (ours came with the K curriculum) on pages 268, 311, and 358, (lesson numbers 46, 56, and 65) there are train pictures that have an engine for each ten family, and train cars for all the numbers. We pulled those out, put the numbers in red on all the cars, and colored the engines another color from the cars. They are on our dining room wall, and my K'er uses those to point to the numbers as she counts tens and fives. It is another way to go if you have the worksheets.

AMDG,
Sarah

[pickandgrin]

Sarah! Thank you. We hadn't been through the worksheets long enough to find those. They are perfect!