I once had a teacher--the one that focused on Kindergarten instruction--who said that his motto was to "learn a little each day." Well, that's what I've been doing with Talan, and it's going really well!
Talan has been able to write his name on his own since around the time he had his 3rd birthday. Not because I sat down and "taught" him, but because I would always write his name for him as something to do, and show him what it looked like, and such...and then he would do his version next to it. For never having been really instructed on how to form the letters and such, he did awesome. His "T" was always a lowercase T, and both of his a's were always backwards (the sticks were on the wrong sides), and sometimes he would leave out the l. I joked that he would always write "tlolon" as his name. But still, pretty impressive I thought. Especially the first time that I saw him do it.
Well, now that we are buckling down and getting ready for Kindergarten, I have been working with him on making his name correct. So the biggest thing has been writing his name correctly. I have been focusing on getting those a's right on paper. He's getting it--but it has taken some practice because he has written his a's the other way for so long. I really should have taken care of that a long time ago! So all in all, these are most of the things we have been doing....
1. Practice writing name correctly. (With a focus on the a's. Will work on capital T's once the a's have been mastered)
2. Working on the sounds /t/ and short /a/. He is doing fantastic!
3. Practicing writing the numbers 1, 2, and 3 and putting the correct amount of items on each number.
4. Meanings of "same size," "same," "bigger," "smaller," and "different." Doing great on these, but "same size" for some reason is tricky...I think it's because all the rest in the row are about the same size too.
5. Things that "belong together" like a racquet with a ball.
6. Coloring neatly.
7. Holding a pencil correctly (Hard right now!).
8. I've introduced AB patterns, but just once.
On the worksheets out of the book, we do them together for a few days to practice the skill before I let him actually write in the book and circle the answer.
Talan really loves it so far. After I'm done, he likes to do it to me...so he can boss me around, I think! He'll be like, "Okay, now write your name right here." "Trace this." And even, "Draw 2 circles right there. Good job, Mommy!" So, as you can see, we are definitely "learning a little each day." I think Talan's fave part is just having my undivided attention. I like it, too :)
We have a neighborhood friend that is Spencer's age. He is such a sweet boy, and since school has not started back for him yet, he has come over to play with Talan outside almost each day. He has went on bike rides with us, and also came over to jump on the trampoline. Talan is over the moon when this boy comes over. He is so kind to Talan, and really is quite innocent compared to other 4th graders I know. He is a little different in several ways. It makes Talan so happy to have another child to play with! It's too bad he'll be back in school soon! Too bad there isn't another preschooler that could come over a few hours a few days a week. Talan would enjoy that. If you know anyone who needs a part-time babysitter for a while for a 4 or 5-year-old, let me know!
1 comment:
Evan is not home during the day anymore, but the boys could definitely get together one afternoon or Sat.
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