https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 25 May 2026 16:12:27 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2839867 Wed, 15 Aug 2018 11:06:59 +0000 MrsDynamiteGal 2839867@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: thank you! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2839865 Wed, 15 Aug 2018 10:54:53 +0000 looch 2839865@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@MrsDynamiteGal: You should make your own thread.<br /> I will ask that this one is closed. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2839837 Wed, 15 Aug 2018 08:59:14 +0000 MrsDynamiteGal 2839837@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Looch can this thread continue for 2018 1st graders, or should a new thread be made? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2836375 Fri, 27 Jul 2018 06:32:46 +0000 looch 2836375@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>New thread it is! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2836331 Thu, 26 Jul 2018 20:51:19 +0000 lamariniere 2836331@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mamaof2: agree! New thread!</p> <p>I have the school supply list, it's pretty similar to last year, but they need a compass and triangle ruler this year. There are a few odd things I'm going to buy on vacation (like binder dividers) since they are harder to find here, for some reason. But I'm going to buy everything else when we get back at the end of August. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2836167 Thu, 26 Jul 2018 09:18:43 +0000 Mamaof2 2836167@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: a new thread =)</p> <p>I already finished school shopping - Staples sent me a few coupons so I went and got it all! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2836165 Thu, 26 Jul 2018 09:10:58 +0000 looch 2836165@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Should we continue in this thread, or make a new one for second grade?</p> <p>I just got the email with the school supply list. Seems like this is the last year for crayons, markers and colored pencils! Next year, all they need is a ruled marble composition notebook. That makes me a little sad, I must admit.</p> <p>My current project is making a scrapbook of all my son's paper work from preschool through first grade. I do a quick save/toss decision when the papers come home, and then whatever I decide to save, I do a second round when I am getting ready to put it into the scrapbook. I am going to do it very simply, with colored cardstock and washi tape so that I actually finish it! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2831447 Fri, 29 Jun 2018 18:35:07 +0000 lamariniere 2831447@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Baby Boy Mom: @Mamaof2: @looch: thanks ladies, this is resssuring! My son is somewhat of a perfectionist and has two styles of handwriting, sloppy and very neat. When I talked to him about it yesterday, he explained to me that he was using his very neat handwriting on the assessment and it took longer. I told him it was ok to be a little sloppy if it would help speed up and save time. </p> <p>@808love: those are good ideas about writing. I don’t see a ton of writing homework come home, it’s mainly spelling words and math, but I know they do a reasonable amount of writing in school. But it’s hard to gauge where he is with that since he doesn’t bring it home. I’ll keep these ideas in mind though when we are working on his workbook this summer. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2831430 Fri, 29 Jun 2018 17:14:33 +0000 808love 2831430@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>As for books, I really follow her interest. Because we are choosing from an online library (free) I don't mind her exploring. I'll pick out a book for every 5 books she picks. It is ok if it is easier than her reading level and silly, I just want to empower her to enjoy/self-select reading and access vocabulary/context/writing styles. I try to pick some 'dog' books because that's what she likes. I'm really just supporting her lifestyle of reading regularly than a 'have to' do it. The only Roald Dahl I really love is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory....and James is ok too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2831426 Fri, 29 Jun 2018 16:38:17 +0000 808love 2831426@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>DD loves writing but she needs to work on handwriting. She focuses on 'what to write' instead of 'how-to' write neatly so I will get a workbook to do some practice on that on the side.<br /> For writing, usually if you focus on the content (share the story/topic you like to an audience you care about) and the why (to entertain or inform) instead of the task (write one paragraph) it gets them more connected with the process and the enjoyment will propel them forward. DD's last teacher loved writing and she expected a lot out of them. When DD had writer's block last year because she wanted everything to be a 'wow', she needed help. Her teacher set her up with an aide who worked with her to make something boring sound interesting by using onomatapaeia sound words like Swish, swish and vroom vroom for a description about cleaning the house. That really made her realize she could liven up boring topics with words to make them sound great. I took DD to a youth writer's workshop at a local bookstore the other day and they kept talking about what is interesting to you? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2831239 Fri, 29 Jun 2018 08:23:35 +0000 looch 2831239@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@lamariniere: I have this problem too, it's a time management issue for me because I think I have loads of time, I am not so great at estimating how much time things take me to complete and I waste time on easy tasks and then don't have enough time for the more complex problems.</p> <p>One thing that has helped me is to read the entire document before I even start solving the first question. I work out of order, solving the ones that I can do right away, then I move on to the more complex problems. I also have to understand how much time I have and then I have to work within those constraints, otherwise, I can't finish either.</p> <p>How is his handwriting? Is he okay holding the writing utensil, does he show any fatigue? Maybe he needs different materials? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2831233 Fri, 29 Jun 2018 08:15:45 +0000 Mamaof2 2831233@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@lamariniere: my DD spaces out - good news is that she has been slowing improving since K and her teacher expects her to continue to do so - I just remind her to stay focused when she starts getting off task </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2831206 Fri, 29 Jun 2018 06:53:06 +0000 Baby Boy Mom 2831206@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We finished this week and all I want to say is good riddance. The last few weeks we went into the class for various end of year things and I feel awful that DS had to deal with that classroom situation. His behavior at home has also been...how shall I say...not great. I am wondering how long it will take to "detox" so to speak. The good thing is that yesterday I already saw sparks of joy in him that we haven't seen in a while so I am feeling optimistic. </p> <p>@lamariniere: I know that DS also writes very slowly and didn't get to finish various writing assignments. A large part of it is that he sort of loses interest, and when I've been in the class I've seen he starts walking around, "needing" to sharpen a pencil/go to the bathroom/say something to someone etc. I honestly think this is part of the disconnect between the official standards and where a 6 year old boy is developmentally. Just because you "can" teach them to write multiple page stories, doesn't mean they are ready for it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2831175 Thu, 28 Jun 2018 20:35:54 +0000 lamariniere 2831175@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>One week to go for us! I hope the rest of you are enjoying the summer! :happy: </p> <p>We had our parent teacher conference with my son's teacher yesterday. It was a very positive report and he's doing just fine. The only negative aspect that she mentioned (and I have observed this with homework), is that he is very slow to finish his work. For example, they've had evaluations over the last few weeks and he's done well on them (gotten everything right), but in a few instances, he ran out of time, so he obviously got points off for not finishing. Do you have any suggestions for getting him to speed up a bit? I think the main problem is that he writes very slowly (but his spelling/grammar/understanding of the problem are overall correct). She wasn't sure (and neither am I), if he has problems concentrating, like spacing out or getting distracted, which may be contributing to the slowness. Any thoughts or suggestions? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2830647 Tue, 26 Jun 2018 10:13:27 +0000 looch 2830647@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>School ended yesterday, and my son came home with 2 bags of papers. I already decided that I would create a scrapbook of his work from K and 1st grade, so I have the supplies, but now, I need to weed through and pick the best items. I have a couple of items from when I was a kid and I think I will slip those in between the pages too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2828546 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 19:19:10 +0000 lamariniere 2828546@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Baby Boy Mom: my son talks about Captain Underpants, so I suspect he’s seen the books at the school library, but I’ve never read them. I’ll look into the author!</p> <p>@MamaG: the thing that I noticed with Dahl, now that I’ve reread it as an adult, is that he uses language that is a little rougher/coarser than what I imagine modern authors are using in a more PC world. It didn’t bother me very much reading it to my son, but it was still a little surprising. Also, in many of the stories we read the kids are orphans or mistreated by adults (Matilda, James and the Giant Peach), obviously it’s not described in violent terms, but it kind of surprised me. Despite those things, my son overall loved the stories and wants more. </p> <p>@Mamaof2: @looch: thanks for the recommendations! I haven’t heard of any of those!</p> <p>There are a number of good English bookstores here (a huge change from before!), so I’ll try to see if I can find any of these authors/series. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2828515 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 14:58:31 +0000 Baby Boy Mom 2828515@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@lamariniere: We go till the 26th but seriously ever other day is something special for end of year. It’s like a month long transition into summer. ;)<br /> DS is really into the various series by Dav Pilkey- captain underpants, dog man, mighty robots. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2828507 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 14:22:51 +0000 MamaG 2828507@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: Gosh sounds like a short summer!</p> <p>We have been out for a few weeks and my girl likes all of the girly books. I need to look into Dahl. We tried Magic Tree House too and she wasn’t a fan. She reacted negatively to some of the themes. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2828426 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 10:24:06 +0000 looch 2828426@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We go until the 25th of June. Friday should have been the last day, but we had 7 snow days to make up!</p> <p>My son didn't care for Magic Treehouse. He likes the Goofballs series though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2828369 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 08:11:10 +0000 Mamaof2 2828369@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@lamariniere: We go until Monday.</p> <p>My DD just got into the Magic Treehouse Books</p> <p>Her teacher also suggested "Nate the Great" series and "Cam Jansen" series </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2828320 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 02:18:13 +0000 lamariniere 2828320@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think most of you are already on summer break by now, but we still have about 3 weeks to go!</p> <p>What chapter books are your kids into these days? My son is probably further behind in English reading than your kiddos since he studies English as a second language and only has 6 hours of English a week. But he's enthusiastic about reading English stories together (mostly me reading), and I want to motivate him with more fun stories. In the last few weeks we've gone through a few Dahl books: Matilda, The Witches, The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. I need some more suggestions though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2828319 Thu, 14 Jun 2018 02:15:34 +0000 lamariniere 2828319@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I think most of you are already on summer break by now, but we still have about 3 weeks to go!</p> <p>What chapter books are your kids into these days? My son is probably further behind in English reading than your kiddos since he studies English as a second language and only has 6 hours of English a week. But he's enthusiastic about reading English stories together (mostly me reading), and I want to motivate him with more fun stories. In the last few weeks we've gone through a few Dahl books: Matilda, The Witches, The BFG, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. I need some more suggestions though. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2821614 Thu, 10 May 2018 02:22:09 +0000 lamariniere 2821614@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: We don't have any projects like that either, but it sounds like fun.<br /> Last week was book week and all the elementary school kids dressed up like a favorite book character. My son wanted to dress like "L'Histoire de l'homme" (not sure where that came from!) so I suggested he go as Darwin. It was a fairly conceptual costume and he took a stuffed monkey as a prop. :silly: </p> <p>We go through the first week of July, so "summer" still feels like a long way off. We get one more 5 day long weekend towards the end of the month, and so far we don't have any plans. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2821391 Wed, 09 May 2018 11:17:06 +0000 808love 2821391@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: That sound so fun. I like that kids get to manage their project.<br /> At our school we have two home lessons a year. It is ungraded but school culture means everyone does it anyway. Parents are meant to help to get them involved with student learning and teach teamwork. DD researched a career of her choice and made a poster. The other one she had to research a culture, make a poster and present with artifacts. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2821390 Wed, 09 May 2018 11:12:50 +0000 Mamaof2 2821390@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: that sounds really fun! We don't have any projects like that - actually the 1st at home project we had was this year in 3rd grade for my DS where they had to design themselves as someone from their lineage.</p> <p>We have about 5 weeks of school left - last day is Monday June 18th (got pushed due to snow days).</p> <p>I can tell my kids are getting antsy for summer! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2821383 Wed, 09 May 2018 11:03:21 +0000 looch 2821383@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>The first project of the year just came home today, it's an animal adventure project where the kids have to put an animal in a different environment (like a penguin living in the desert) or do an animal mash up (like a wolf with wings). </p> <p>They're sending home the rubric at the end of the week and then the kids have 2 weeks to complete it. It states pretty clearly to let this be a child created project, so I want to see the output, because it's clear to me when a parent intervenes.</p> <p>I told my son that we'd go to the art supply store this weekend to start gathering supplies, he's very specific on the environment he wants to create. so let's see. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2816375 Sat, 14 Apr 2018 22:28:01 +0000 lamariniere 2816375@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We’re on spring break right now, but we still have more than 2 months of school left, so it feels like we are still in the thick of it. I’m not sure when the big academic leap is for us, and I don’t know any parents in the class ahead. For summer, we will have about 3 weeks before we leave on our big summer vacation, and I’m going to try to arrange swim lessons and have the babysitter come probably every morning. I haven’t heard about any camps yet, so we’ll see. When we come back from our trip, we will have about 10 days before school starts again, so we don’t have to fill up too much time this summer. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2816317 Sat, 14 Apr 2018 11:10:10 +0000 DisneyBee 2816317@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I can't believe this school year is almost over, and our kids will be in 2nd grade soon. Time is sure going by too fast! For summer, he'll be enrolled again in summer camp at his daycare. He'll be back with his friends from pre-school, and they often have once weekly field trips and many activities during the week. He's most excited about not having homework during the summer. Lol.</p> <p>I'm not sure how 2nd grade is, but I did hear from other parents that 3rd is the most difficult with so many school projects. We'll see what comes! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/6#post-2816280 Fri, 13 Apr 2018 20:09:23 +0000 808love 2816280@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>At our school, the academic leap is between kinder and first. Second is easy in comparison. Here are the activity sessions lined up.<br /> April: Five day ski adventure camp<br /> May: Six week Christian hip hop class<br /> June: Japanese/ swim class (work on proper lap form)<br /> July: Japan trip and playdates<br /> Every month-ongoing: gymnastics once a week and online Jam art course </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/entering-1st-grade-2017/page/5#post-2816255 Fri, 13 Apr 2018 16:27:19 +0000 MamaG 2816255@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>She's signed up to go back to our daycare program for the summer. She really wanted to go the Y because of a flyer that came home. I also want to send her to martial arts camp for a couple of weeks and swim lessons at the start of summer.</p> <p>We have about 6 weeks left. Today ended a marking period and they have one more left to go. We've already done our field trip and she only has one more school holiday left (Memorial Day). We normally finish before the holiday, but this year the calendar has us back for 2.5 days more... Ugh!</p> <p>She's committed to moving forward with Spanish Immersion again next year. It's been exciting to see how much she's picked up this year. </p>