Friday, April 8, 2016

Cate's First Grade :: Exams, Term 2

Once again, I prepared a lighter load of questions for my Year 1 student, and my kindergartener joined in for a few...

(You can see previous Year 1 exams here, and the exams from the AO site (which are wonderful) are here--all years and terms available!)

History
Tell the story of Dick Whittington, Picciola, or Antonio Canova.
Illustrate one scene from the life of George Washington.
Tell me why and how The Giant's Dance was brought to Britain or about the founding of the Round Table.

not exactly how I picture George Washington in my mind's eye, but... :)


Nature Study
Describe what the county park looks like in winter.  What trees are bare?  What is in bloom?  What animals or birds do we see?
Tell me what you remember about the kingfisher or the heron from the Burgess Bird Book.  (She opted to draw a picture also.)
Tell the story of The Market Square Dog or Blossom Comes Home.
Find one thing in your nature journal from this term and tell me about it.



Religion
Tell the story of the Visitation.
What are the Seven Sacraments?
Give the definition of a Sacrament.
How can we increase contrition for our sins?

Read Alouds
Tell a favorite scene from The Sign of the Beaver.
Illustrate a favorite story from Winnie-the-Pooh.  Describe it to me.



Reading Skill
Read a paragraph from your folk tales book aloud.  Then tell me about it in your own words.


Math
Play a game of Addition Money War with Xavier.
Play a game of Corners with Mommy.
Complete this worksheet adding tens and ones.
Draw the line(s) of symmetry for the following shapes.
Show the horizontal and vertical flips of this triangle on your geoboard.  Where are the lines of symmetry?

Penmanship
Copy these sentences in your best hand.  Then read it aloud to me.\



Memory Work
Recite a selection from this term in the following categories: hymn, folk song, poetry, Bible, Shakespeare.

Geography
Label the following on this map: California, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Nevada, the Great Lakes.
Show me on our wall map the following countries: Canada, England, Mexico, the United States.



Italian
Sing "Jingle Bells" in Italian.
Say in Italian: The birds are in the tree.  The lake is cold.  I like the beach.  On Sundays, I go to Mass.
Introduce yourself completely. Include name, age, your likes and dislikes, what kind of person you are, what you look like, what you're wearing, and more.

Poetry
Recite the poem you memorized for Christmas. Illustrate it.
What was your favorite poem by AA Milne that we read this term, and why?

Literature
Tell me a fable of your choice from this term's reading, including its moral.
Tell me the story of  The Glass Slipper or Aladdin?
Draw a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream.   Describe it to me.
Tell me the story of the Elephant's Child, First Letter, or Armadillos.

Art 
Choose a picture from My Nature Friend to copy.


Picture Study
Make a rough color sketch of one of Corot's paintings.  Describe it to me.

Piano
Play your latest recital song from memory.

Handicraft
Make a paper star.


And a Few Oral Answers

On the Founding of the Round Table
In a completely serious tone: Catherine Audiobook presents: The Founding of the Round Table.  Once there was a founding of the round table.  Arthur was very mad when he saw his people were fighting.  The side that was up on the table got the best food and the side that was down got the worst food, and so everyone had a quarrel about who could sit at the top. They were all mixed of ages, so there couldn't have a youngest and oldest age. Even some of them were the same age but very close to being twins. (I was trying not to die of laughter here.) Merlin and Arthur were upstairs, so they  didn't know about the quarrel being loud until everybody started rushing into the hall and pretending to cut off people's necks and running all over the place. Some even stood on the table. They were angry at the others for not letting them sit at the table. When Arthur heard this, he certainly rushed down the stairs and went in. Merlin went down too. Arthur didn't know what to do, so he asked Merlin and Merlin suggested they should buy a fair table, which was round and had no higher and lower so that there would be no fighting. The End.

On the Market Square Dog
There was a market square dog and there was a vet.  The vet goes to a bunch of stores.  The stores are very good and they sell stuff like cheese, bread, and those kind of things. The dog, when people tried to get him, just runs away to other shops.  And even to one that sells scones and sausages. The market square dog goes to a lot of shops until he can't find any more to go to. Then a policeman comes up. The policeman goes to his station and brings the dog there. The vet asked what was wrong and the policeman said, "Nothing." The market square dog, when he is tired, goes to his cage with the policeman. He lives in a shop for someone to buy him, but people buy all the other dogs except him. The vet comes there one day and the market square dog is not there. The vet asked the policeman, "What has been? Has somebody bought him?" and the policeman says, "No, he's in prison." "But dogs can't be in there. Dogs are not allowed to go in those sort of places." This time the policeman was joking. He wanted to play a trick on the vet. He was that sort of man--playing tricks on people. The dog was inside the house with two girls petting him because the girls were always waiting for a dog. They were very glad the dog was there and the dog now had a place to live in. The dog had a white coat with big black splotches all over.  (Wait, I forgot the part I like best--can I say it?) The vet's wife made some chocolate cake for them to go out. They were going to go to a little place to sit, but right then, a policeman comes up and says, "The dog has broken his leg and one eye is tight shut." When the vet hears this, he goes out to the car and brings him in. They put him on a sheet, and the vet's wife is his helper too--she is used to helping him. She does the eye. He stitches up the leg. She helps with the bruises.  She thinks it sounds like they will still have a day out, and they wear their fancy clothes, and she takes out her fancy hat and the necklace he has never seen before.  He takes off his jacket that she has never seen before.  (Okay, now I am going to go back to the other part.) The girls put the dog on a pillow inside a basket so he can curl up inside the basket and get warm instead of being out in the freezing cold.  But no one knows whose dog it is really, and the vet doesn't know even though he is a doctor.  The End.

Some Thoughts

Cate is dramatic and imaginative, and part of our work this year has been to reign that in just a tad and have her focus on specific details in the reading rather than supplying her own. ;)  But I love her spunky creativity and I know we will find a happy way for it to coexist with reality!

My main focus for her exams is to have fun.  That means giving her lots of variety and letting her shine with what she liked best about this term as she learns to flex her narration muscles.  She is only in Year 1, after all!  But she takes her "work" seriously and I'm happy to have her join us at the exam table.

Xavier had a lot of fun pointing out to me favorite bits in his nature journal and drew a sweet illustration of the characters of Winnie-the-Pooh, his current favorite.

20 comments:

  1. Wow, that's so amazing! I'm going to be a Charlotte Mason homeschooler but my oldest is 5 so we haven't started yet. If she knows just a part of this by the end of her year I will be SO impressed and excited!

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    1. The early years are so much fun, just seeing inside their minds and how they process the ideas! :)

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  2. These are wonderful!! Your bigger kids' ones on the other post and these ones as well. Thanks for taking the time to post!

    "Catherine Audiobook Presents" Hahahaha!

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    1. I know, right? She was so serious about it. LOL I'm pretty sure she's gearing up to be an actress. ;)

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  3. Wow!!! Her handwriting is gorgeous!! I'm impressed.

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    1. Her art teacher keeps saying how HUGE an improvement Cate has made in her penmanship over the course of the year--she really has made great strides in fine motor skills. :)

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  4. Thank you for sharing. I'm always so inspired when I read your site.

    Just two quick questions if you have time....

    Where do you get the printable copywork? Is there a free website you use?

    Also, your children's drawing skills are impressive. They have an art teacher? Does she use some kind of book or resource?

    Thank you
    Best wishes
    Antonia

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    1. Hi Antonia!

      I make our copywork pages using Startwrite: http://amzn.to/1qEhTq5

      My kids all love drawing, so this year we started them in art lessons. We have a great teacher that comes to the house and works with my three oldest kids are an hour a week. She doesn't work through any particular resource--she just has them select projects they'd like to draw, then encourages the to layout via a grid, then goes through how to outline on the page and how to shade. Cate is working with colored pencils and the big kids are mostly doing graphite and, just recently, a bit of watercolors. It is low-pressure and interest-led, so they have had a good time with it. :)

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  5. This is great. We are coming up to our first exam week and I'm nervously excited to see how it goes. My y1 is on the young side but has been a great narrator so I'm keeping expectations low although I anticipate some fun answers.

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    1. I hope you guys have a great time! The fun answers are really a riot. It's amazing how much their personalities show through with these kinds of questions!

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  6. This is great. We are coming up to our first exam week and I'm nervously excited to see how it goes. My y1 is on the young side but has been a great narrator so I'm keeping expectations low although I anticipate some fun answers.

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  7. I have to ask about your folktales book.... :)

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    1. The one we're using here is Best-Loved Children's Stories by Richardson: http://amzn.to/1SJnL7K (Ours has a blue cloth cover with that same graphic on the front, so I think it's the correct version.) We have several folk tale books that we enjoy, but Cate got this one for Christmas and used it at the end of Term 2 for her reading practice, a bit a day. :)

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  8. Yes, the supplying their own details. Caroline used to do that in Y1. I used to constantly hide behind the book trying not to laugh out loud. Often the added details were quite imaginative and really did fit into the story. Now she writes stories of her own during her free time instead. That seems to be a nice way to still have her flex those lovely creative muscles. But we *never* had, "Catherine Audio Book Presents." That is just wonderful!!! I'm still smiling.

    Is Nature Friends the magazine? I noticed you've had that in a couple of posts now. And your art lessons sound lovely. What a blessing that y'all know someone who has the talent, time, and desire to come and do that. In your own home! That is a blessing indeed. =)

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    1. Yes, Nature Friend magazine. The kids love the drawing prompts in there. :)

      Cate's details very often fit into the story and if I hadn't read it aloud to her just a few minutes before, I might be fooled. :) These extra bits do not surprise me at all in the sense that adding them is SO in keeping with her personality. BUT Vincent and Gianna were always so eager to make sure every single detail was told EXACTLY as written (they could barely keep themselves from jumping in to correct each other if one of them made an error in their narration) that her style is definitely a change!

      What's even more wonderful about the art lessons is that the art teacher's husband is the kids' piano teacher. So they both come at the same time and do a rotation among the kids, and all the lessons happen at the same time, in my home. It is a huge blessing!!

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  9. I just love your Exam posts. :) I agree with a previous poster - so inspiring!

    LOL @ "Catherine Audiobook Presents"! :D How did you keep a straight face?!

    Do you use Startwrite for teaching cursive as well?

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    1. Yes, I use Startwrite to print our cursive practice pages too. Only here at the end of Y4 have we gotten to the point that they can just copy directly from the book into cursive, so I have used Startwrite all the way through this year. I think in Y5, I'll still use it for dictation passages, though.

      Thankfully I save exam narrations on audio, so I can enjoy that "Audiobook Presents" bit years from now when she's grown! :)

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  10. Hi Celeste! I'm enjoying browsing 6 months of blog posts now that I have Internet again! I wondered, how do you make the map exam sheet with just the state names on it that you want it to have? Is there a website or program you find helpful? Thanks!

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    1. Hi Jessie! Welcome back to the internet! :) I just used Word for that -- I "cut" a map from online, "pasted" it into the Word doc, then just typed above it. Hope that helps!

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