This Semester Jack and I enrolled in
a Mommy & Me Preschool
offered through Coastline Community College.
***
Jack has loved every minute
of his first school experience.
Art, story time, singing, snacks, friends, toys,
field trips, fun, and homework!
***
To clarify, the homework is all mine.
I've been asked to document Jack's
emergent reading and writing skills.
Since I wanted to include notes,
pictures, and video I figured the family blog would
be the easiest way to display all my findings.
***
Miss Jeanette this is for you:
Before attending your preschool class I had spent
very little time thinking about the literacy environment
in my home. Nor had I realized all the little steps Jack has
been taking towards reading and writing.
***
This quiz you handed out to us has been very helpful.
***
The Home Literacy Environment Checklist
click here if you'd like to take the quiz to evaluate your home.
***
And I am happy to report that our home has
most of the necessary supportive literacy elements (33 trues).
Emergent Reading-
Jack loves books.
I think that's something he's learned from me.
July of 2007 (15 months old)
***
He has 100's of them.
A small sampling of Jack's books.
***
I read to Jack everyday.
Quite often I find him "reading" to himself
or "reading" to Jillian.
***
Jack has quite a few materials and games to
help him learn the alphabet/learn to read.
magnetic letters
***
sticker letters
***
flashcards
***
letters & cards matching game
***
***
To date Jack can sight read 15 uppercase letters:
A,B,C,E,I,J,K,L,O,P,Q,R,S,T, and X.
***
Jack can also sight read numbers 0-12 and
can point to those numbers when asked.
***
Jack can sing the ABC song;
it's not a perfect rendition, but he sure
likes singing it anyway.
Recorded 5/17/09
***
Here's a video showing Jack's early
reading skills. He listens as I read to him.
He asks questions when he want to
clarify parts of the story. Jack can answer
questions that I ask him as we read and
sometimes even accurately predicts what
will happen next in the story. Jack likes to point
out things he notices in the story's pictures.
***
Jack's emergent reading stories-
1.Last week Jack found our Annual
Disneyland Passholder Magazine and
dug it out of the recycling bin. (I'm pretty
sure it was Mickey on the back cover that
enticed him to pick it out of the trash.)
I've found him "reading it" several times since then.
***
Recently I've tried to recycle the magazine
a couple more times, but Jack keeps reminding me
that it's his and he likes reading it.
2. A couple weeks ago we caught Jack
brushing up on his Mario Kart skills in the bathroom!
Apparently he grabbed the manual before he headed
off to go potty.
***
In this first picture Jack looks a little worried
that he's been caught reading on the toilet.
But by the second photo...
***
He's back to business!
3. Every night we read the scriptures with Jack
Before we get started we talk about a couple
important pictures I've placed into our scriptures.
***
Here is a picture of our prophet Thomas S. Monson.
Each night when I ask Jack who this man is,
Jack places his finger under Thomas S. Monson's
name and moves his finger as he says his name.
I know he learned this behavior from me, but
it also shows me that he understands how print works.
a. Jack knows that each letter goes together to form a word.
b. He know that print goes from left to right
and c. Jack knows that the words under the picture
says Thomas S. Monson.
Emergent Writing Skills-
Click on the picture for a better look at
the beginning stages of learning to write.
***
Right now Jack is moving from stage 2 to
stage 3 in his writing progression.
Most of his work looks like separated
scribbles (2), but I have noticed in Jack's
more recent work that he is starting to
write left to right across the page.
This sample was made on April 15th.
You can see the separated scribbles, but
if you look at the 6th line from the top
Jack did "write" across the page left to right.
***
How Jack holds his pencil
***
Kent thought he would do a little writing activity
with Jack to see if he could trace his name. The top
is Kent guiding Jack's hand while they trace Jack's name.
And the bottom is Jack tracing his name by himself.
Needless to say we were shocked, we had no idea Jack
had the motor skills to do this!
***
Jack's birthday was last month.
And in the weeks following we've written lots
of thank you notes. I write the notes and Jack
draws the picture on the front.
***
While Jack was drawing on one of his
friends notes he looked at me
and said "here's a 7" and then drew a 7.
I was floored. (I should have taken a
picture right then and there, but instead I
put it in an envelope and mailed it off.)
Later on (5/17/09) I sat Jack down and asked him to write
another 7 for me. He did, but this time it was backwards.
He also drew a 1, a triangle, a house, and a castle.
***
I love that Jack is starting to tell me what
he's drawing and I get even more excited when
I can see what he's telling me about in his picture.
On 4/19/09 Jack used a highlighter to make
this picture. While he was coloring he said "Look
Mama, a fish" and sure enough, I could see a fish!
This was the first time I could recognize what he said
he was drawing right there on the paper .
***
Jack's fish
Miss Jeanette, we have truly enjoyed your class.
Jack and I have learned so much.
Thank you for all you do to make our preschool
so much fun. We can't wait for the field trip next week!
Love,
Jackson, Jillian, and Jodi
THE END
offered through Coastline Community College.
***
Jack has loved every minute
of his first school experience.
Art, story time, singing, snacks, friends, toys,
field trips, fun, and homework!
***
To clarify, the homework is all mine.
I've been asked to document Jack's
emergent reading and writing skills.
Since I wanted to include notes,
pictures, and video I figured the family blog would
be the easiest way to display all my findings.
***
Miss Jeanette this is for you:
Before attending your preschool class I had spent
very little time thinking about the literacy environment
in my home. Nor had I realized all the little steps Jack has
been taking towards reading and writing.
***
This quiz you handed out to us has been very helpful.
***
The Home Literacy Environment Checklist
click here if you'd like to take the quiz to evaluate your home.
***
And I am happy to report that our home has
most of the necessary supportive literacy elements (33 trues).
Emergent Reading-
Jack loves books.
I think that's something he's learned from me.
July of 2007 (15 months old)
***
He has 100's of them.
A small sampling of Jack's books.
***
I read to Jack everyday.
Quite often I find him "reading" to himself
or "reading" to Jillian.
***
Jack has quite a few materials and games to
help him learn the alphabet/learn to read.
magnetic letters
***
sticker letters
***
flashcards
***
bin of writing supplies.
***
letters & cards matching game
***
***
To date Jack can sight read 15 uppercase letters:
A,B,C,E,I,J,K,L,O,P,Q,R,S,T, and X.
***
Jack can also sight read numbers 0-12 and
can point to those numbers when asked.
***
Jack can sing the ABC song;
it's not a perfect rendition, but he sure
likes singing it anyway.
Recorded 5/17/09
***
Here's a video showing Jack's early
reading skills. He listens as I read to him.
He asks questions when he want to
clarify parts of the story. Jack can answer
questions that I ask him as we read and
sometimes even accurately predicts what
will happen next in the story. Jack likes to point
out things he notices in the story's pictures.
***
Jack's emergent reading stories-
1.Last week Jack found our Annual
Disneyland Passholder Magazine and
dug it out of the recycling bin. (I'm pretty
sure it was Mickey on the back cover that
enticed him to pick it out of the trash.)
I've found him "reading it" several times since then.
***
Recently I've tried to recycle the magazine
a couple more times, but Jack keeps reminding me
that it's his and he likes reading it.
2. A couple weeks ago we caught Jack
brushing up on his Mario Kart skills in the bathroom!
Apparently he grabbed the manual before he headed
off to go potty.
***
In this first picture Jack looks a little worried
that he's been caught reading on the toilet.
But by the second photo...
***
He's back to business!
3. Every night we read the scriptures with Jack
Before we get started we talk about a couple
important pictures I've placed into our scriptures.
***
Here is a picture of our prophet Thomas S. Monson.
Each night when I ask Jack who this man is,
Jack places his finger under Thomas S. Monson's
name and moves his finger as he says his name.
I know he learned this behavior from me, but
it also shows me that he understands how print works.
a. Jack knows that each letter goes together to form a word.
b. He know that print goes from left to right
and c. Jack knows that the words under the picture
says Thomas S. Monson.
Emergent Writing Skills-
Click on the picture for a better look at
the beginning stages of learning to write.
***
Right now Jack is moving from stage 2 to
stage 3 in his writing progression.
Most of his work looks like separated
scribbles (2), but I have noticed in Jack's
more recent work that he is starting to
write left to right across the page.
This sample was made on April 15th.
You can see the separated scribbles, but
if you look at the 6th line from the top
Jack did "write" across the page left to right.
***
How Jack holds his pencil
***
Kent thought he would do a little writing activity
with Jack to see if he could trace his name. The top
is Kent guiding Jack's hand while they trace Jack's name.
And the bottom is Jack tracing his name by himself.
Needless to say we were shocked, we had no idea Jack
had the motor skills to do this!
***
Jack's birthday was last month.
And in the weeks following we've written lots
of thank you notes. I write the notes and Jack
draws the picture on the front.
***
While Jack was drawing on one of his
friends notes he looked at me
and said "here's a 7" and then drew a 7.
I was floored. (I should have taken a
picture right then and there, but instead I
put it in an envelope and mailed it off.)
Later on (5/17/09) I sat Jack down and asked him to write
another 7 for me. He did, but this time it was backwards.
He also drew a 1, a triangle, a house, and a castle.
***
I love that Jack is starting to tell me what
he's drawing and I get even more excited when
I can see what he's telling me about in his picture.
On 4/19/09 Jack used a highlighter to make
this picture. While he was coloring he said "Look
Mama, a fish" and sure enough, I could see a fish!
This was the first time I could recognize what he said
he was drawing right there on the paper .
***
Jack's fish
Miss Jeanette, we have truly enjoyed your class.
Jack and I have learned so much.
Thank you for all you do to make our preschool
so much fun. We can't wait for the field trip next week!
Love,
Jackson, Jillian, and Jodi
THE END
9 comments:
Very impressive.
Ehat a great preschool. I don't think they have anything around here like that. I would love to do something like that with Hayden.
Sounds like a great preschool...you get to put those teaching skills to good use:) The fun part of kids getting older is watching them learn and grow. I'm not in any rush for Nathan to grow up but I am excited for the time when he can draw me a picture, read a book and write his name. BTW, Jack is adorable singing the ABC song!
that is awesome! Way to go Jack! I love the video of him singing his ABC's! I keep thinking I need to hurry and get more video of him singing and talking, before the little voice is gone:)
wow jodi. I thought my kid was smart but I guess I need to get going and take some notes from your post. I tried to get hannah to trace her name from a dotted line, not happpening for her- that's really impressive. when she draws "writes" as she calls it she will say letters as she scribbles. -keely
I'm feeling a little bit weird about this post, I didn't mean for it to be a big brag fest. I just needed a way to show Jack's preschool teacher video and pictures without too much hassle.
I sincerely apologize if in anyway it comes off too "look at me and my amazing son." As far as I can tell Jack's pretty average. He just has a lot of learning materials,thinks it's a big game when we play with them,goes to preschool once a week. I'm confident each of you are doing similar measures or could implement the few things I'm doing.
FYI-We live by 3 community colleges and most of them offer some kind of parent involved preschool. It's worth looking into if you're interested. The cost for this semester was $75 + a small material fee and field trip costs. Which adds up to a little over $110; what a steal for 4 months of classes!
Plus, I've been asked where we got the Disney flash cards, ready for this (?), wait for it...The 99 Cent Store!
I have been trying to find more info on your CC preschool. I can't find it online. Can you email me with some details (syllabus etc) I don't know of anything in Utah so I am going to make some phone calls and see if one can get started.
jodi:mom & i watch your blog every morn in anticipation of updates. and then watch over & over.what a blessing you & your little fam are in our lives. we love you. jack is abc awesome.cant wait to see jilly walkn. you & kent are wonderful parents, x&os to all, gma&papa
I think one of my favorite things ever is seeing kids learn to read and write. I love it. I am going to have to copy that checklist and see how we are doing. I pulled out one of my blending games I had when I taught 2nd grade and was amazed that Landon could read all the letters and match all the blends to the pictures!
What a great pre-school experience you have had! (we just finished our first year of pre-school...) love It!
Okay so make us all fill guilty with all the things your son can do! No really hats off to you, you are a wonderful dedicated mother and it shows! Besides your post has kicked me into gear to make me do a little more each day with my girls!
Post a Comment