Starting MEP Year 1

Well, among the other things we did this week was start MEP Year 1 with Boykin. He was VERY excited and loved his new workbook. I laid all the necessary manipulatives out for him and he was pleased to know that he'd be using his Cuisenaire Rods for other things than picture making. Other manipulatives we're using are a number line, number cards, shape cards and function cards - all of which can be printed from the MEP website or they can be bought VERY cheaply from them too. (I looked at number lines etc on Amazon and they are SO expensive - MEP do them for 10p each!) For counting we have an abacus and a box of conkers. We also use coloured lollipop sticks for some of the puzzles. Add to these playmobile figures, toy dinosaurs, glass beads, pattern blocks and a beanbag frog you get an idea of how full our maths drawer is. He also has a bog standard exercise book for some lessons which we use to stick in activities which are in the copymasters and not the Practice Book. I've done Yr 1 with the Girl already so I feel a bit better prepared this time :)

I've bought the workbooks and posters from MEP rather than printing them all out. I live in the UK so postage is free and £5 for 22 posters seemed a good deal to me. They're big (A2 size) so we put them on the floor. I find that the large size works really well as they are clearly printed on good quality paper and the 1 unit cubes fit perfectly on the grids.

I managed to find 3 of the stories online and typed them up here. There's a book for The Three Rabbits (link below) but I am absolutely unable to find anything even remotely sounding like The Carrot Comes Home.

Songs we've used this week:-
Five Little Men in A Flying Saucer
1,2,3,4,5 Once I caught a Fish Alive

A book I've found useful for finding number songs to use in the lessons is Counting Songs (Ladybird Action Rhyme Books)

We're actually going through the lessons pretty quickly because they are obviously designed for teachers to assess their new pupils abilities. I already know what the Boykin is capable of so he's completing the lessons in about half the time they say. (Makes a nice change as the Girl will often take twice as long as they say). So far he's pronounced it easy, which must be a boost for his confidence. I am wondering whether to skip some bits of the lesson plans sometimes though just because I know he's pretty capable at maths already. Maybe just keep one or two of the 'easy' bits in and look more at the more challenging and new stuff. We won't skip the song, he loves that bit especially when there are actions involved too :)