Third Grade, Kindergarten, and Preschool

2012-2013 School Year Books and Resources
August 13, 2011 - May 24, 2012 

First Son - third grade, Mater Amabilis Level 1A (which covers second and third grade)
First Daughter - kindergarten, Mater Amabilis Prep level (ages 4-6)
Second Daughter - preschool
Second Son - The Great Distracter

For Everyone

• Memory Book - includes poetry, memory verses, catechism questions and other items. Here is a post on First Daughter's kindergarten memory work and one on First Son's third grade memory work.
• Program for Achieving Character Education along with stories from The Book of Virtues and The Moral Compass. Read my review.
• Faith
  
• PSR on Sunday mornings
• Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (Level II for First Son, Level I for First Daughter and Second Daughter)
• Advent - The Way to Bethlehem and The Life of Mary
• Lent - More Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls - my brief review here.
• Easter - The Young Life of Sister Faustina
• Monthly letters to our CFCA friend
• Art and Art Appreciation
• Child Size Masterpieces
• The Usborne Complete Book of Art Ideas
• CHC's Art Masterpieces: A Liturgical Collection
• Literature
• Myths - Classic Myths to Read Aloud (one of my favorite books). Read my review.
• Fairy Tales - These fairy books are available free online and for the Kindle, but my children enjoy the illustrations in these Dover editions.
• The Blue Fairy Book (We will read a few stories left from last year to begin our year.)
• The Red Fairy Book
• Classic Children's Literature and Family Read Alouds - read the list of books here.
• Historical Fiction read alouds - twice each week for both American History and World History. The World History books are listed here. The American History books are listed here.
• Poetry - various collections, read the list here.
• Music and Music Appreciation
• Music Masters composer CDs (a link to a review of the CDs and a post on how we've used them in the past). This year we'll be augmenting with alternate weeks listening to full pieces by the composers on Spotify. (I highly recommend spending the $5 per month to eliminate the commercials.)
• Making Music Praying Twice - read my review here.
• Physical Education
• Soccer (fall and spring)
• Swimming lessons (summer)
• Basketball (spring)
• Financial Literacy - Raising Financially Fit Kids (a preview of our plans can be found here).
• Nature Study
• nature walks
• The Burgess Bird Book for Children (Four-color Illustrated Edition)
• Household Chores and Activities
• Baking
• Gardening

Third Grade

• Math (Sacred Heart Books and Gifts and ChristianBook.com both often have excellent prices on Saxon materials. I have purchased all of my teacher's manuals used at Cathswap, but prefer to buy new student workbooks and fact cards.)
• Saxon Math 3
• xtramath - read my review here.
• Faith and Religious Education
• Scripture
• Living Faith Kids - read my review here.
• daily Mass once a week
• Catechism
• Our Life With Jesus (Faith and Life, Book 3) (I'm using an old version I received for free. If you are purchasing a new book, be certain it has the revisions for the new translation of the Mass or download a file from Ignatius with the changes.) Read my review here.
• Saints - Read the saint of the day every day. Narrate twice a week. Read my review of these books.
• Saints for Young Readers for Every Day, Vol. 1: January-June
• Saints for Young Readers for Every Day, Vol. 2: July-December
• My Path to Heaven: A Young Person's Guide to the Faith
• Western History - Connecting with History, volume 3 (The girls will listen to most of these readings as well.)
• American History
• Reader's Guide to American History
• Beyond the Pilgrims: A Catholic Supplement to American History Studies
• Everything You Need to Know about American History Homework
• Geography and Earth Studies
•  Map Studies - Maps, Charts and Graphs, Level C (Communities) - my review here.
• Kansas History
• Kansas (From Sea to Shining Sea)
• American Geography
• States and Postal Abbreviations
• States and Capitals Songs
• People and Places - We study a map of the country where the book takes place each week before reading, discussing the major geographical features, largest cities and borders.
• Term 1 - Sovietrek: A Journey By Bicycle Across Russia
• Term 2 -A Little Tiger in the Chinese Night: An Autobiography in Art and The Children of China: An Artist's Journey
• Term 3 - Water Buffalo Days: Growing Up in Vietnam
• Earth Studies - Extreme Environments
• Term 1 - 52 Days by Camel: My Sahara Adventure - my review and our lesson plans.
• Term 2 - Jungle Islands: My South Sea Adventure - my review and our lesson plans.
• Term 3 - By Truck to the North: My Arctic Adventure and Antarctic Journal: Four Months at the Bottom of the World - my review and our lesson plans.
• Mountains and Volcanoes (a link to our plans)
• Lesson plans from Mater Amabilis
• How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World (read my review here). 
• Mountains and Volcanoes
• Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens
• I Wonder Why Mountains Have Snow on Top: and Other Questions About Mountains 
• English and Language Arts
• Reading Lessons
• Essentials (read my pre-review here).
• Independent reading
• Handwriting - Cursive First
• Writing - The Complete Writer: Writing with Ease (read my review of Year One here). 
• Grammar and the English Language - Primary Language Lessons (This Hillside Education version is by far the best.) Read my review here.
• Vocabulary - Wordly Wise 3000 Book 3 - my review here.
• Spelling - Sequential Spelling 1
• Science
• Physics part I
• Nature Study - nature walk twice a month
• Latin
• Prima Latina (read my review here). 
• Typing - Dance Mat Typing

Kindergarten

• Math (Sacred Heart Books and Gifts and ChristianBook.com both often have excellent prices on Saxon materials. I have purchased all of my teacher's manuals used at Cathswap, but prefer to buy new student workbooks and fact cards.)
• Saxon Math 1 (Read why we decided to start first grade math already here.)
• xtramath (read my review here).
• My First Book of Money: Counting Coins
• Reading - First Daughter will continue with The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading - read my review.
• Handwriting - Cursive First
  
• Kindergarten Reading - Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks
• Faith
• Bible stories - My Big Book of Catholic Bible Stories
• Saints - Loyola Kids Book of  Saints - read my review.
• Just Like Mary
• Beatitudes for Children
• Picture Books - My plan is to read a picture book every day (five days a week) around some general themes:
• American History
• World History
• Science
• Reading Around the World
• Term 1 - Europe - the list of books we read
• Term 2 - Hawai'i, Australia, and New Zealand - the list of books we read
• Term 3 - Alaska, Canada, Antarctica, and Arctic Circle - the list of books we read
• Picture books I want to read
• Montessori activities - See the Montessori posts. 
• Story hour at our local library once a week
 

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