Making the Connection: "Getting It"

I love the Helen Keller story.   For me, the most powerful scene in the movie is when Helen "gets it."  When the water is running from the well onto Helen's hands, and Annie Sullivan is signing those letters W-A-T-E-R furiously into Helen's hand.   I think I read that book the first time when I was in the 4th grade, and it still gives me goose bumps to think about it.

As a parent, there is nothing more exciting to me than to be helping one of my children understand a complicated concept, and see that "get it" moment, that instant when the light bulb comes on and everything clicks into place in his/her brain, and the information makes sense.

Many years ago, when my oldest daughter (who is now a sophomore in college) was in kindergarten, her kindergarten teacher suggested to all the parents that we label common household items in our home.   This was a great way, she said, to visually teach your children the connection between all those 26 letters they've struggled and successfully learned, and the written word.   It's such a simple thing to do....

 

and 5 year old Luke feels so proud when he walks through the house reading and spelling words:  "Clock.  c - l - o - c - k.  Door.  d - o - o - r."   In fact, he's even pointed out some items in the house that we should also label, and he's labeled them in his own handwriting (with me spelling the words...like "chair" and "shelf" and "refrigerator").

Just a tip I thought my readers might want to try....it works for me!

Enjoy!
~Lisa

      

Honoring our Veterans

I love that our community has an annual Veteran's Day Parade. Rain or shine (and today it was rain!), people line the streets and give tribute to some of the bravest, most honorable people to have walked the earth.

Many schools close today, but in our community, the children attend school and spend the day in celebration and remembrance, including participation in the parade.

Luke was excited to be riding on a float, waving his American flag, and singing patriotic songs.

I'm certain he didn't truly grasp the importance of what he was doing, but I hope that as he grows older, and learns more about his grandparents, and his uncles, and some of his older cousins, and the sacrifices they made for his freedom, that he will learn to appreciate the veterans, and will wave his flag with heartfelt pride.

~Lisa

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The Spelling Test Game

A family favorite in our household....studying for the weekly spelling test!

Honest!

Many years ago, I came up with an idea that would combine my kids' love of card games, with their love of spending time playing with Mom, with their dread of preparing for their weekly spelling test.

The answer...the Spelling Test Game. Also known as The Matching Game. I just had to share this...

For a 10-word spelling list, I simply take a piece of paper and cut it into 20 fairly equal size rectangles. (For 15-word lists, you'll need 30 rectangles, etc.). Then I print each of the weekly spelling words onto two rectangles. Place all of the rectangles face down on the table and begin.

When a piece of paper is turned over, the person whose turn it is must read the word, and then spell the word. The object, of course, is to find the matching word; however, even a mismatched word offers an opportunity to read and then spell each of the spelling words.

We try to play this game several times each evening during the week. By Friday, without even trying, and without it even hurting, my kids have learned their spelling words, and we've spent some fun time together!

~Lisa

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Teaching children through music

I LOVE to sing. My children HATE it when I sing, so that probably tells you a bit about my talent level.



I've been asked to NOT sing outside the house (and have even witnessed my kids scoot themselves away from me when I sing at church!), and have been kindly (and NOT so kindly) asked to PLEASE not sing when friends are over!

However, despite my obvious lack of talent, I persist. It pretty much drives the children crazy when most any every day phrase sets me off singing a tune that I'm reminded of.

A few years ago, when Quinn was 3 or 4, I was trying to teach her her address and telephone number. It occurred to me that all children learn the alphabet by first singing it. So, I thought to myself, why not learn her address and telephone number that way, too?

I set our address to the tune of "76 Trombones in the big parade" (I have NO idea why, but this tune jumped into my head, and the syllables fit, so I ran with it). I wish I could tell you the tune that I used to teach Quinn her telephone number (I think it's "Jenny....remember? 647-5309? At least I think that's what it's called.)

After a few weeks of singing these tunes daily, she could easily recite both her address and telephone number.

I'm using the same tactic now with Luke. Whenever we are driving home from whatever has taken us out that day, when we are about a block from home, I announce excitedly, "Look! We're almost home! What's your address?" And then we sing our address song, which leads naturally into our telephone number song, which then ends with "...that's my phone num-ber, Cha! Cha! Cha!"

Cha! cha! cha!

~Lisa
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Learning Numbers and Shapes

Luke turned 3 last Friday....what fun! For weeks leading up to the big day, everything he saw, he pointed at it and said, "I want that for my birthday." (I think he may have learned that from his older siblings, who have also been having birthdays recently .... see my previous post about "Birthday Season" at our house.)


This week, then, I decided that learning to recognize the number three would be a top priority, as well as learning to count to three. And since we're working on threes, I also thought it would be a perfect time to teach Luke about a 3-sided shape called a triangle.


We've been busy counting three fingers, three cars, three books (that's how many books we read before nap time each day), three cookies (okay, he usually only gets 2 cookies, but I made an exception today!).


While running errands, we look for signs everywhere with the number 3 .... addresses, price tags, store signs, we even found "Row 3" in the parking lot at WalMart!


And for lunch today, I cut our sandwiches into three-sided triangles....pb&j never tasted so good.

~Lisa
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Red Light, Green Light

Yesterday afternoon, while I was working, Luke was playing with his cars on the living room floor.

I heard him talking to himself while he was playing, so I stopped to listen. "Red light. Stop," he said. "Green light, go now."

I was so excited and proud! I stopped what I was doing, crawled down on the floor with him, and played.

He truly is learning his colors.

The Sorting Game - Teaching Colors

Today we played the "sorting game" to get more practice with the color yellow.

I filled a bowl with an assortment of different color Legos. Then, using one of the yellow napkins that Luke and I bought at the store last week on our yellow hunt, we removed the Legos, one-by-one, from the bowl.

If the Lego was yellow, we said "YELLOW!" and placed it on the yellow napkin. If it was any other color, we set it on the white paper plate.

When we were finished sorting, we counted all the yellow Legos as we put them back into the bowl.

Then---what else?---we played with Legos!!!

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A Green Field Trip!

Yesterday was Green Field Trip Day!

I took my camera and Luke and I strolled through the aisles of our local Super WalMart. Since it was 93 degrees outside, it was the perfect day for an inside field trip.

It's amazing how many green things there are INSIDE.

Watermelons, green beans, broccoli, Mountain Dew, apples, grapes, limes, laundry detergent, tape, slippers, shirts.

When we got home, while Luke was napping, I printed about 15 of our "green pictures" from our field trip, and put them in a clear plastic covered report cover folder (how convenient that the one I found in our office supplies had a green background!)

Luke was so excited when he woke up from his nap and I presented him with his Green Book. He proudly showed it to all of his siblings, and couldn't wait to read it to Daddy.

I had no idea how much fun I would have with this. Luke is learning, and we're spending fun time together. I love it!

I wonder what we'll do today...