Showing posts with label school stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school stuff. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Wir Sprechen Deutsch!
I don't think I've mentioned it on the blog... have I? We are going to Austria next Christmas to visit my family who is still over there (that's most of them). I'm SO excited! We have always talked about going when the kids get a little older, when it's a little easier, when we have more money. The problem is, my grandparents are in their 80's now, my cousins are all grown up, my children are missing out on so much. When my uncle and his family died in October, I realized, we all took for granted that we would see them again. It's time.
SO, in preparation, it's also time that I finally get my act in gear to teach the kids German. I of course intended to raise bilingual kids... but I didn't. My little nephew Wilson, who is by the way a total genius (he's in kindergarten and reading above a 2nd grade level!) wants to learn German so he can read German books about World War II aircraft. Seriously. I love that kid! And a friend's daughter will be joining us as well - her grandmother is German and she has wanted to learn. I'd actually love to find one more... maybe we'll come across another wanna-be-German-student this year.
Here's something you probably don't know about me - part of me always wanted to be a teacher, because I love making bulletin boards and lesson plans and worksheets and having lots of stickers and binders and stuff. I mean really, that is the stuff of dreams! The only problem, I can't really handle a bunch of kids all day long. Thankfully I knew that about myself before I picked a career. BUT one hour a week of teaching four sweet kiddos? Perfect.
And yes, I have a binder. With a German flag on it. And 12 weeks of neatly made out lesson plans. And stickers. But no bulletin board - that's sad.
We had our first little lesson on Wednesday. I started off by, of course, teaching them basic greetings. Hello, good bye, what's your name?, how are you?, etc. And then, I got out a big pile of capes and hats and let them dress up and pretend to be different characters walking down the street, introducing themselves and saying hello.
They had so much fun, and it was pretty funny!
Next week we'll work on greetings some more and also learn numbers 1 through 10. I have a soft ball, and we're going to stand in a circle and toss the ball to each other as we count out the numbers (when you catch the ball, you call out the next number). It's been really, really fun coming up with activities to make this fun!
Henry showed up to dinner with one of the hats on that day :)
Auf Wiedersehen!
SO, in preparation, it's also time that I finally get my act in gear to teach the kids German. I of course intended to raise bilingual kids... but I didn't. My little nephew Wilson, who is by the way a total genius (he's in kindergarten and reading above a 2nd grade level!) wants to learn German so he can read German books about World War II aircraft. Seriously. I love that kid! And a friend's daughter will be joining us as well - her grandmother is German and she has wanted to learn. I'd actually love to find one more... maybe we'll come across another wanna-be-German-student this year.
Here's something you probably don't know about me - part of me always wanted to be a teacher, because I love making bulletin boards and lesson plans and worksheets and having lots of stickers and binders and stuff. I mean really, that is the stuff of dreams! The only problem, I can't really handle a bunch of kids all day long. Thankfully I knew that about myself before I picked a career. BUT one hour a week of teaching four sweet kiddos? Perfect.
And yes, I have a binder. With a German flag on it. And 12 weeks of neatly made out lesson plans. And stickers. But no bulletin board - that's sad.
We had our first little lesson on Wednesday. I started off by, of course, teaching them basic greetings. Hello, good bye, what's your name?, how are you?, etc. And then, I got out a big pile of capes and hats and let them dress up and pretend to be different characters walking down the street, introducing themselves and saying hello.
They had so much fun, and it was pretty funny!
Next week we'll work on greetings some more and also learn numbers 1 through 10. I have a soft ball, and we're going to stand in a circle and toss the ball to each other as we count out the numbers (when you catch the ball, you call out the next number). It's been really, really fun coming up with activities to make this fun!
Henry showed up to dinner with one of the hats on that day :)
Auf Wiedersehen!
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Solutions
I just thought I'd do another organizing post. I was just talking with a friend about how living in a small house has forced us to be careful about not accumulating too much stuff and also to be creative with our storage. Our little bungalow was built in 1936, and other than one very small closet per bedroom (3), we have no closets. We do a big clothing purge at every season change, and we give away at least one giant box of toys before every Christmas. I'd want to do that even if we had unlimited closet space!
But with soon to be four kids, we really needed a solution for coats, hats, gloves, rain boots, etc. We had some room at the end of a hallway - there's a door there, but we never use it, because on the other side is a door in Henry's room that we have blocked off. So a few weeks ago, my sister in law and I headed to my favorite antique store, in search of a wardrobe.
I ended up getting this rustic cabinet - it was super cheap, and exactly the dimensions of the hallway (it took a little taking apart and putting back together to get it in the spot).
Behind the mirror is a tall cabinet. Davis hung a rod, and that's where everyone's jackets and coats are. On the floor of the cabinet are everyone's rain boots. The top cabinet on the right had a very rickety mirror that kept falling out, so I replaced it with some fabric - that cabinet is the perfect spot for bags (kids' little overnight bags/backpacks, extra diaper bags, library bag, etc. - it's surprisingly deep). And the drawers are just perfect - one for umbrellas, one for gloves, one for hats, one for scarves, and one that's still EMPTY!
One of the things that's hard about having the kids in school and me working, is that Davis picks them up from school at 3 o'clock, and I don't get home until a couple of hours later. Last year, we kept having issues with important school papers getting lost during those two hours! It seemed like I was always searching for permission slips under the car seats. When Sophia was taking dance, Davis and I were always having frantic phone conversations 30 minutes before her lesson about where her tights or ballet shoes or leotard were.
So, now the rule is that when the girls get in the car at school, they throw their backpacks (or in Amelia's case, the little canvas bag the school provides for pre-K kids) in the front passenger seat (so they're not tempted to open them in the back seat on the way home!) And when they get home, they hang them on hooks underneath their initials on the big bulletin board
When I get home, I know everything will still be there for me. Usually Sophia sits down with me at 5 and does homework at the dining room table while I start dinner and look through their folders.
Underneath their school bags, on their hooks, they each have a sports bag. Sophia's soccer bag has her ball, cleats, shin guards, uniform, sunscreen, and water bottle in it.
Amelia's dance bag has her tap and ballet shoes, tights, and leotards in it.
Sunday nights, I wash their uniforms and stick them back in the bags, where they stay until practice/class/games. No more searching!
Henry's hook has his diaper bag on it. I have always kept my diaper bag stocked, so that it's ready to go - when we get back from an outing, I clean it out/re-stock it as needed, which works so much better than trying to throw stuff together when you need to run out the door. Of course the contents change based on the age of my kids... right now it contains 3 cloth diapers, a wetbag, a travel package of disposable wipes, an extra shirt for Henry, an empty sippy cup, a little bag with raisins and Cheerios, a few matchbox cars, a bag of crayons and a little notepad, hand sanitizer, and sunscreen.
One the side of the pantry cabinet, to the left of the bulletin board, I hung a wire basket. That is where library books live. The girls are free to get them out and read them anytime, but as soon as they are done, the books go back in the basket rather than on their bookshelf (or anywhere else). This makes it easy to find them when they are due, and is also a good reminder to me to return them!
Speaking of books - see Sophia's reading caterpillar on the top of the bulletin board? He gets a circle for every book she reads on her own. When he gets to the end, we're having a party!
One more easy solution... I got this from my friend Holly, and I think it's just brilliant! When the weather is nice, we go to the zoo all the time - it is close to our house, and we have a membership so we can go however many times we want and often go for just an hour or two. But I never seem to have tokens (or dollar bills for buying tokens) for riding the train, and Davis can never find his zoo card... So I got this cute little wallet, and in it I put our zoo card, a bunch of zoo tokens, a few dollar bills (for lemonade!), and coupons I have for free stuff at the zoo that we get when we renew our membership. Now when Davis or I head to the zoo - we just grab the zoo wallet off the bulletin board and have everything we need!
There are days that I spend hours on Pinterest, looking at amazing mud rooms and beautiful big houses with lots of storage space, thinking about how nice it would be to have more space than stuff... but really, I am content with our little space for now, and it works.
But with soon to be four kids, we really needed a solution for coats, hats, gloves, rain boots, etc. We had some room at the end of a hallway - there's a door there, but we never use it, because on the other side is a door in Henry's room that we have blocked off. So a few weeks ago, my sister in law and I headed to my favorite antique store, in search of a wardrobe.
I ended up getting this rustic cabinet - it was super cheap, and exactly the dimensions of the hallway (it took a little taking apart and putting back together to get it in the spot).
Behind the mirror is a tall cabinet. Davis hung a rod, and that's where everyone's jackets and coats are. On the floor of the cabinet are everyone's rain boots. The top cabinet on the right had a very rickety mirror that kept falling out, so I replaced it with some fabric - that cabinet is the perfect spot for bags (kids' little overnight bags/backpacks, extra diaper bags, library bag, etc. - it's surprisingly deep). And the drawers are just perfect - one for umbrellas, one for gloves, one for hats, one for scarves, and one that's still EMPTY!
One of the things that's hard about having the kids in school and me working, is that Davis picks them up from school at 3 o'clock, and I don't get home until a couple of hours later. Last year, we kept having issues with important school papers getting lost during those two hours! It seemed like I was always searching for permission slips under the car seats. When Sophia was taking dance, Davis and I were always having frantic phone conversations 30 minutes before her lesson about where her tights or ballet shoes or leotard were.
So, now the rule is that when the girls get in the car at school, they throw their backpacks (or in Amelia's case, the little canvas bag the school provides for pre-K kids) in the front passenger seat (so they're not tempted to open them in the back seat on the way home!) And when they get home, they hang them on hooks underneath their initials on the big bulletin board
When I get home, I know everything will still be there for me. Usually Sophia sits down with me at 5 and does homework at the dining room table while I start dinner and look through their folders.
Underneath their school bags, on their hooks, they each have a sports bag. Sophia's soccer bag has her ball, cleats, shin guards, uniform, sunscreen, and water bottle in it.
Amelia's dance bag has her tap and ballet shoes, tights, and leotards in it.
Sunday nights, I wash their uniforms and stick them back in the bags, where they stay until practice/class/games. No more searching!
Henry's hook has his diaper bag on it. I have always kept my diaper bag stocked, so that it's ready to go - when we get back from an outing, I clean it out/re-stock it as needed, which works so much better than trying to throw stuff together when you need to run out the door. Of course the contents change based on the age of my kids... right now it contains 3 cloth diapers, a wetbag, a travel package of disposable wipes, an extra shirt for Henry, an empty sippy cup, a little bag with raisins and Cheerios, a few matchbox cars, a bag of crayons and a little notepad, hand sanitizer, and sunscreen.
One the side of the pantry cabinet, to the left of the bulletin board, I hung a wire basket. That is where library books live. The girls are free to get them out and read them anytime, but as soon as they are done, the books go back in the basket rather than on their bookshelf (or anywhere else). This makes it easy to find them when they are due, and is also a good reminder to me to return them!
Speaking of books - see Sophia's reading caterpillar on the top of the bulletin board? He gets a circle for every book she reads on her own. When he gets to the end, we're having a party!
One more easy solution... I got this from my friend Holly, and I think it's just brilliant! When the weather is nice, we go to the zoo all the time - it is close to our house, and we have a membership so we can go however many times we want and often go for just an hour or two. But I never seem to have tokens (or dollar bills for buying tokens) for riding the train, and Davis can never find his zoo card... So I got this cute little wallet, and in it I put our zoo card, a bunch of zoo tokens, a few dollar bills (for lemonade!), and coupons I have for free stuff at the zoo that we get when we renew our membership. Now when Davis or I head to the zoo - we just grab the zoo wallet off the bulletin board and have everything we need!
There are days that I spend hours on Pinterest, looking at amazing mud rooms and beautiful big houses with lots of storage space, thinking about how nice it would be to have more space than stuff... but really, I am content with our little space for now, and it works.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
School!
Anyone with older kids will totally laugh at me, but I think it's HARD having kids in school! I love it - I love the routine, I love seeing my kids becoming more independent and confident and learning new things, I love picking them up and hearing about their day... but it is still hard.
Suddenly, our bulletin board looks like this (it was neat and tidy all summer)
Tonight I cleared it off and made things look neat again, but it's still FULL and I know the neatness won't last.
Tonight was curriculum night at the girls' school, and when I got home I had to do my homework
There were forms to fill out, checks to write (always!), things to put on the calendar, flash cards to make, and lots of papers to file away.
I know I will get the hang of it eventually (I have to - some day I'll have four in school at the same time!) but right now it seems a little overwhelming, keeping track of everything. I am so thankful to have both girls in the same school. Next year we will be juggling two schools again, and that's even harder - just trying to remember dates, volunteer enough to not be the worst parent at the school, etc.
But it was fun seeing the kids' classrooms now that their fingerprints are all over it - artwork on the walls, desks full, names on the sticker charts.
And I loved this pledge that all of Amelia's pre-K class signed!
There was also a little goal chart next to it - things they hoped to learn in pre-K. So cute. It was fun to hear about what they do in class, especially since Amelia doesn't tell us much.
Tonight at dinner, she proudly announced, "we learned how to spell red today!" She was beaming. We were all looking at her expectantly, finally I said, "how to do you spell red, Amelia?" and she said, "I forgot." Ha ha!
I didn't get any pictures in Sophia's room, but it is just the happiest, brightest, most cheerful classroom you can imagine. Sophia's teacher is pretty darn cheerful herself! I really love that there is so much positive reinforcement in both classes. In Sophia's class, there is a jar and when the whole class is being good, the teacher puts marbles in the jar - when the jar is all full, the class gets to have a party. Kids get rewarded for good behavior with stickers, and can earn extra stickers by putting their name in the "proud box" - which is when the teacher catches them doing something extra good or helpful. After they get a certain number of stickers, they get to go to the treasure chest (both classrooms do this). I think all kids, but especially this age group, respond so much better to positive reinforcement than punishment.
Sophia starts soccer this week, and Amelia starts dance next week. I am limiting them to one activity each (Sophia is also doing violin at school) this year. I know the next couple of years will be challenging, trying to always find a balance between letting our kids experience new things and be involved and also valuing our family time. I refuse to give up our 6 o'clock family dinners or constantly force the little ones to be shuttled around from activity to activity. I see the kids playing together in the backyard after school, and as I've said before, that is what they should be doing right now. At least some of the time. And as homework and other things encroach, I see it as our responsibility to help guard that sacred time. We'll see how well we manage!
It's going to be a busy, fun year!
Suddenly, our bulletin board looks like this (it was neat and tidy all summer)
Tonight I cleared it off and made things look neat again, but it's still FULL and I know the neatness won't last.
Tonight was curriculum night at the girls' school, and when I got home I had to do my homework
There were forms to fill out, checks to write (always!), things to put on the calendar, flash cards to make, and lots of papers to file away.
I know I will get the hang of it eventually (I have to - some day I'll have four in school at the same time!) but right now it seems a little overwhelming, keeping track of everything. I am so thankful to have both girls in the same school. Next year we will be juggling two schools again, and that's even harder - just trying to remember dates, volunteer enough to not be the worst parent at the school, etc.
But it was fun seeing the kids' classrooms now that their fingerprints are all over it - artwork on the walls, desks full, names on the sticker charts.
And I loved this pledge that all of Amelia's pre-K class signed!
There was also a little goal chart next to it - things they hoped to learn in pre-K. So cute. It was fun to hear about what they do in class, especially since Amelia doesn't tell us much.
Tonight at dinner, she proudly announced, "we learned how to spell red today!" She was beaming. We were all looking at her expectantly, finally I said, "how to do you spell red, Amelia?" and she said, "I forgot." Ha ha!
I didn't get any pictures in Sophia's room, but it is just the happiest, brightest, most cheerful classroom you can imagine. Sophia's teacher is pretty darn cheerful herself! I really love that there is so much positive reinforcement in both classes. In Sophia's class, there is a jar and when the whole class is being good, the teacher puts marbles in the jar - when the jar is all full, the class gets to have a party. Kids get rewarded for good behavior with stickers, and can earn extra stickers by putting their name in the "proud box" - which is when the teacher catches them doing something extra good or helpful. After they get a certain number of stickers, they get to go to the treasure chest (both classrooms do this). I think all kids, but especially this age group, respond so much better to positive reinforcement than punishment.
Sophia starts soccer this week, and Amelia starts dance next week. I am limiting them to one activity each (Sophia is also doing violin at school) this year. I know the next couple of years will be challenging, trying to always find a balance between letting our kids experience new things and be involved and also valuing our family time. I refuse to give up our 6 o'clock family dinners or constantly force the little ones to be shuttled around from activity to activity. I see the kids playing together in the backyard after school, and as I've said before, that is what they should be doing right now. At least some of the time. And as homework and other things encroach, I see it as our responsibility to help guard that sacred time. We'll see how well we manage!
It's going to be a busy, fun year!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Phew! We Made It!
There has been so much anticipation - both the exciting, good kind and the knots-in-our-tummies kind - about starting school this year. The girls both started school at their new school on Wednesday - Sophia first grade (!) and Amelia pre-K.
Amelia was so excited, she just could barely contain herself! She ran into her classroom and would barely say good bye to me. Here she is with her teacher Ms. Melissa
We already love Ms. Melissa!
Sophia was excited too, but she also had some major butterflies. Here she is with her teacher, Ms. Blaisdell
See how nervous she looks? At the end of the day, when I picked her up, she looked like this
I was telling a friend that the same thing happened in kindergarten - she seemed so much older when I picked her up from that first day. It takes so much courage to overcome that anxiety, and then when she does, there is NOTHING better than the pride and confidence I see in her!
She loves Ms. Blaisdell and seems to really love her new school. I love hearing her talk about her day!
Two things I love about having the girls in school - they go to sleep IMMEDIATELY when I stick them in bed, and they miss each other all day, which means they get along when they are around each other! Here Sophia is reading to Amelia - LOVE!
Amelia was so excited, she just could barely contain herself! She ran into her classroom and would barely say good bye to me. Here she is with her teacher Ms. Melissa
We already love Ms. Melissa!
Sophia was excited too, but she also had some major butterflies. Here she is with her teacher, Ms. Blaisdell
See how nervous she looks? At the end of the day, when I picked her up, she looked like this
I was telling a friend that the same thing happened in kindergarten - she seemed so much older when I picked her up from that first day. It takes so much courage to overcome that anxiety, and then when she does, there is NOTHING better than the pride and confidence I see in her!
She loves Ms. Blaisdell and seems to really love her new school. I love hearing her talk about her day!
Two things I love about having the girls in school - they go to sleep IMMEDIATELY when I stick them in bed, and they miss each other all day, which means they get along when they are around each other! Here Sophia is reading to Amelia - LOVE!
Sunday, August 14, 2011
This Weekend - Celebrating the Past and Future
Last night, we celebrated my father-in-law and mother-in-law's 50th wedding anniversary.
It was really beautiful and inspiring. These two, they have been through so much together - married young, not having much money, war, four children, ups and downs, and so many years. And they made it work, and I am sure sometimes it was not as easy as they make it look. Such inspiration, for which I am so thankful!
Henry was so, so tired! He came for picture-duty and then went home with a sitter - he crashed in the car on the 5 minute drive home!
Amelia with her uncle Kent, who hung the moon in her eyes, and her Aunt Nicki, her sweet Godmother. Whenever I pine for Maine - which has been a LOT this hot, hot summer! - I think about how wonderful it is that my kids get to grow up with such great family nearby.
Sophia and her cousin Wilson - these two are joined at the hip and play so sweetly together. They will now be going to the same school (though different classes - Wilson is a year younger, so he'll be in Kindergarten) and are so excited about it.
There are hundreds and hundreds of pictures from last night, but I knew if I waited to review and edit them all, I would never get them posted. One of my favorites we took because my sister in law joked that every family should have a stuffy portrait around an old wingback chair!
It was really beautiful and inspiring. These two, they have been through so much together - married young, not having much money, war, four children, ups and downs, and so many years. And they made it work, and I am sure sometimes it was not as easy as they make it look. Such inspiration, for which I am so thankful!
I love this family!
Henry was so, so tired! He came for picture-duty and then went home with a sitter - he crashed in the car on the 5 minute drive home!
Amelia with her uncle Kent, who hung the moon in her eyes, and her Aunt Nicki, her sweet Godmother. Whenever I pine for Maine - which has been a LOT this hot, hot summer! - I think about how wonderful it is that my kids get to grow up with such great family nearby.
Sophia and her cousin Wilson - these two are joined at the hip and play so sweetly together. They will now be going to the same school (though different classes - Wilson is a year younger, so he'll be in Kindergarten) and are so excited about it.
There are hundreds and hundreds of pictures from last night, but I knew if I waited to review and edit them all, I would never get them posted. One of my favorites we took because my sister in law joked that every family should have a stuffy portrait around an old wingback chair!
Today, we visited a wonderful new church (not a new church, just new to us!) and school starts this week... I finally feel like we are on our way to moving forward from the sadness of losing our school/church. Really, I have been stuck in that sadness all summer and have dreaded finding a new church/starting a new school - like climbing up, up, up the ladder to a really scary water slide. I have had knots in my tummy and kept thinking about how I just want to go back DOWN where it's safe and normal.
This afternoon we had a church service with many of the families and staff from our old school, and it opened up a lot of the hurt again. Hearing Sophia sing all those songs, hearing the choir from the school reunited, I just felt once again everything that has been lost. I have that same pounding headache from crying too much that I had after the end-of-school service. Sophia asked me if her new school had a chapel, and we had a long talk about why her new school doesn't. But this afternoon's service was also healing, and I needed it before I could move forward. The first hymn today was the last hymn from that service in May - and it did feel like the wound was fresh again, but that bandaid needed to come off so the healing could really take place. And it did. The dread and the knots are gone.
I just know after this week I will be flying down that water slide, and the water will feel good - once we are IN the water and forced to stay afloat with back-to-school popsicle parties and packing lunches and homework and permission slips, my focus will shift back to my children, where it always should have been anways - seeing them learning and making new friends, it will heal those wounds. And finding a church that once again fills me with hope and not sadness, I know, every little thing's gonna be alright.
This afternoon we had a church service with many of the families and staff from our old school, and it opened up a lot of the hurt again. Hearing Sophia sing all those songs, hearing the choir from the school reunited, I just felt once again everything that has been lost. I have that same pounding headache from crying too much that I had after the end-of-school service. Sophia asked me if her new school had a chapel, and we had a long talk about why her new school doesn't. But this afternoon's service was also healing, and I needed it before I could move forward. The first hymn today was the last hymn from that service in May - and it did feel like the wound was fresh again, but that bandaid needed to come off so the healing could really take place. And it did. The dread and the knots are gone.
I just know after this week I will be flying down that water slide, and the water will feel good - once we are IN the water and forced to stay afloat with back-to-school popsicle parties and packing lunches and homework and permission slips, my focus will shift back to my children, where it always should have been anways - seeing them learning and making new friends, it will heal those wounds. And finding a church that once again fills me with hope and not sadness, I know, every little thing's gonna be alright.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Summer Reading - for Beginners
Sophia was so close to really being able to read on her own when the school year ended, I wanted to make sure she kept it up and continued to improve over the summer. She knew how to read, but didn't quite have the confidence (or desire, honestly) to read BOOKS by herself. Well, sure enough, about a week after school was out, she started reading, and she's just really taken off!
Here are some things we've been doing the past couple of months and this summer to encourage and motivate her:
*New Books!! Okay, this might be for me more than her... those first readers are sooo boring after the first time, and they are cheap, so I ordered about 10 of them off Amazon. Plus Sophia's sweet teacher gave her some at the end of the year, and
*The Library!! Not only is the library a great source for new reading material, they have great programs to promote reading. We've been going to storytime at the library as our schedule permits (usually when I'm on maternity leave with someone!) since the kids were babies. Yesterday, Sophia and I went and got her her very own library card
and we signed her up for the Summer Reading Club. She tracks all the books she reads for stickers, and she also plays this BINGO game where she gets prizes for completing certain things (reading a book about Asia, writing her own story about her life, etc.) - this has been HUGELY motivating for her! They meet every Thursday morning, so I'm trying to work it into my schedule or have Davis take them when I can't. I also want her to continue to work on being responsible for things like library books. In Kindergarten, her school did a great job teaching these kids to keep track of and be responsible for their own things (library books, sunscreen, clothes, etc.) So Sophia has to keep track of her library books and take good care of them (we have a special spot for library books) or she'll lose her card.
*A reading caterpillar!! I've seen several variations on this (like making links out of construction paper instead of circles) - but what I did was use my 1.5" circle punch to make a bunch of circles out of construction paper. Every time Sophia reads a book by herself, we write the title of the book on a circle and add it to the caterpillar. We just started this week, so hopefully by the end of the summer that sucker will be LOOOONG!
*Reading to siblings!! Being able to read to Amelia and Henry has also been a great motivator for Sophia. Amelia loves it when Sophia reads to her, and it makes Sophia feel so much older. Henry isn't the greatest audience, but his board books are very easy to read and Sophia has fun reading them to him.
*Starfall.com!! This website is amazing! We have been playing on it for a couple of years, and are not at all bored with it. It has so many really well-done reading activities - movies, short stories for them to read with animations on every page, and games like sight word memory. Often when the little ones are napping/resting, Sophia will spend half an hour or so playing on Starfall.com, and there are several things I know she has mastered because of that site. It feels more fun to her than sitting with me and doing sight word flashcards, so it's an easy thing to get her to do when she's not in the mood for "learning."
*Bribery!! Okay, really, I need to be honest. Sophia was holding back on me with the reading books, I think in part because I have always read to her at night and I think she was scared I would stop. Of course I still read to her every day, but to push her over the edge and finally read a book front to back by herself, I told her I'd pay her a quarter - and it worked. That was the first book she read. She's actually not very motivated by money (she tends to give it all away, which is awesome) so she's forgotten about our quarter-for-a-book program. But it worked to get her started, so I'm including it here.
I also rewarded her with a cupcake and a Sprite after she did her testing at her new school.
Here are some things we've been doing the past couple of months and this summer to encourage and motivate her:
*New Books!! Okay, this might be for me more than her... those first readers are sooo boring after the first time, and they are cheap, so I ordered about 10 of them off Amazon. Plus Sophia's sweet teacher gave her some at the end of the year, and
*The Library!! Not only is the library a great source for new reading material, they have great programs to promote reading. We've been going to storytime at the library as our schedule permits (usually when I'm on maternity leave with someone!) since the kids were babies. Yesterday, Sophia and I went and got her her very own library card
and we signed her up for the Summer Reading Club. She tracks all the books she reads for stickers, and she also plays this BINGO game where she gets prizes for completing certain things (reading a book about Asia, writing her own story about her life, etc.) - this has been HUGELY motivating for her! They meet every Thursday morning, so I'm trying to work it into my schedule or have Davis take them when I can't. I also want her to continue to work on being responsible for things like library books. In Kindergarten, her school did a great job teaching these kids to keep track of and be responsible for their own things (library books, sunscreen, clothes, etc.) So Sophia has to keep track of her library books and take good care of them (we have a special spot for library books) or she'll lose her card.
*A reading caterpillar!! I've seen several variations on this (like making links out of construction paper instead of circles) - but what I did was use my 1.5" circle punch to make a bunch of circles out of construction paper. Every time Sophia reads a book by herself, we write the title of the book on a circle and add it to the caterpillar. We just started this week, so hopefully by the end of the summer that sucker will be LOOOONG!
*Reading to siblings!! Being able to read to Amelia and Henry has also been a great motivator for Sophia. Amelia loves it when Sophia reads to her, and it makes Sophia feel so much older. Henry isn't the greatest audience, but his board books are very easy to read and Sophia has fun reading them to him.
*Starfall.com!! This website is amazing! We have been playing on it for a couple of years, and are not at all bored with it. It has so many really well-done reading activities - movies, short stories for them to read with animations on every page, and games like sight word memory. Often when the little ones are napping/resting, Sophia will spend half an hour or so playing on Starfall.com, and there are several things I know she has mastered because of that site. It feels more fun to her than sitting with me and doing sight word flashcards, so it's an easy thing to get her to do when she's not in the mood for "learning."
*Bribery!! Okay, really, I need to be honest. Sophia was holding back on me with the reading books, I think in part because I have always read to her at night and I think she was scared I would stop. Of course I still read to her every day, but to push her over the edge and finally read a book front to back by herself, I told her I'd pay her a quarter - and it worked. That was the first book she read. She's actually not very motivated by money (she tends to give it all away, which is awesome) so she's forgotten about our quarter-for-a-book program. But it worked to get her started, so I'm including it here.
I also rewarded her with a cupcake and a Sprite after she did her testing at her new school.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
