I think I've made a mistake in my ordering of LHFHG.

[Molly]

I have just ordered LHFHG with 1st grade options for DS6. Does LHFHG not have the hands on activities for the 1st grade math? If it doesn't have hands on activities, is it easy enough to make up your own without that or the teacher manuals? We have stretched ourselves to get this for DS now, so really can not afford to get the Beyond guide or the teachers guides at this stage.

Thanks for any advice.

[creativemommy]

The Beyond guide has Carrie's hands-on plans for Singapore 1A & 1B.

We are in the same situation. My dd is in LHFHG doing Singapore 1A & 1B. I sold my Beyond guide when I needed $ to purchase other curriculum this fall when I tried to combine my oldest two (kicking myself now). When I reordered HOD I couldn't afford the Beyond guide either. I'm doing it without the plans this year and it's working for my dd. We use a lot of fun manipulatives to do her workbook pages each day and she's doing well. I'm the only one who knows she's missing Carrie's fun hands-on plans in the Beyond guide.

[Molly]

Thanks Beth, can you give me an idea of some of the manipulatives you are using? I want to be able to make it fun for him still because he needs lots of repetition, but he loves math and does really well.

[Kims]

I wish there was a way to get the math part separate if you need to. That would solve the problem of doing a guide in a different grade.

[creativemommy]

Sure! Here's what we use in our home off the top of my head...as well as some activities we do with the items. Think of what he enjoys playing with, characters he likes to watch on shows/movies. I find if I can relate it to something they like, they always enjoy it!

manipulatives:
colored unifix cubes (Didax) - great for showing facts (example: 5+1, 3+3, 2+4 all equal 6! Use 6 black cubes snapped together on table - 6+0, then get 3 purple & 3 red snap together and lay beside the black cubes, then 2 green & 4 orange and lay beside the other two groups of blocks...etc)
baby teddy bear counters (Learning Resouces)
colored plastic poker-style chips (Target $1 bins)
small foam cubes, triangles & cylinders (Targe $1 bins around back-to-school time)
medium and large plastic colored buttons (craft store - kid's section) - great for graphing/sorting
flat-bottom marbles ($1 store)
small erasers in various shapes - fish, palm trees, flamingos ($1 store) - great for graphing/sorting
short wood sticks - great for bundling tens! (craft store)
plastic clothespins ($1 store) - use with stiff cardboard for math facts (2 + 3 = 5 example: 2 pins on one side and 3 on the other...no matter how you turn the cardboard 2+3 and 3+2 always makes 5!
mini wood clothespins (craft store) - same as above
dried beans (black, white or kidney) - we use them in a game - We each have a "mat" which is an 8x11 piece of paper that has 10 columns, 10 small circle stickers in each column to make 100 total. We roll the dice and count that many beans onto the "mat" - once we have 10 we go to the next column. First person to make 100 wins. Then we play backwards and subtract beans back to zero.
paper number line (looks like a long gameboard 1-25) with teddy bear counter (4+2=6 - start bear on 4 then count two spaces and she lands on 6) this really helped my daughter when adding - beginning with the big number and counting on and subtracting starting on big number and moving bear backwards.
playing cards - we use them to play war (biggest number wins all cards), pick two numbers and add (ace is 1) using paper number line, pick several numbers and make 2-digit/3-digit problems (my ds uses this for Sinagpore 2 & 3) - lots of ideas on the internet for using playing cards for math games

toys:
Lego blocks & minifgures
matchbox cars
stuffed animals/beanie babies
plastic animals
Little People
Nerf Gun with darts - ds shoots at the correct number/target on markerboard to answer facts

food:
chocolate chips
mini marshmallows
fruit snacks
raisins

[Molly]

Thanks so much for that Beth. Very much appreciated. I will try to remember this thread when I do get stuck.