had our conference w/mimi's teacher and all went well. mimi seems to be making friends, enjoying school, learning about rules, etc. (while in the car on the way to school one morning, mimi told me that she would never interrupt her teacher at circle time because then the police might come and get her and take her to jail. maybe she's internalizing it a bit tooo much.)
her teacher did express some concern that mimi might be bored in kindergarten because her academic skills are well beyond the kindergarten level. i'm not TOO worried...maybe because i havent been thru this before with a child...but on a gut level, i feel like mimi prefers to have it easy. she likes things to be easy, she gets sooo mad and frustrated when she has to really think too much. so i have a feeling that yes, the work will be easy, but she'll like it that way just fine. so i dont really see her being a behavioral problem out of boredom. as for her academics in KG, i do want her to be with a teacher who is good at differentiating instruction for the higher functioning kiddos in the class (i'm sure mimi will not be the only one). but if not, i dont worry too much because i'll continue to provide lots of stimulating things for mimi at home, just as i do now.
off the top of my head, here's what i've noticed currently: mimi is easily solving simple addition and subtraction math equations (find the sum, difference, missing addend, how much more, how much less, etc). while she can arrive at the answer, her process is still in the early stages...she has not yet mastered the skill of counting on. her number sense is fairly good though. she is still reversing some of her numbers when writing them (9 and 5 are usually backwards, and sometimes she reverses the numbers in the teens, so instead of 14, she writes 41). she is frequently asking me about fractions....lots of fractions in life to ask questions about!!! why is a quarter a quarter? how much is half (both in terms of part of a whole and part of a group)? why is it called an eighth note/half note/whole note/quarter note and then there's the time signature (in reading piano sheet music). what's a quarter past mean (on the clock)? how much is a quart of milk? why's it called an eighth of a teaspoon? and trying to help her read measurements on a ruler...usually read with fractions there! it's endless. she is telling time to the half hour and can tell time to the minute with help. she can also count by 5s, 10s, and 100s. she knows the calendar days and months and can use the calendar.
her reading and writing continues to improve. she's decoding more quickly these days. she's STILL not fully getting how to 'read' the punctuation...if she would just let me read to her, i know she'd get it, but she insists on reading most books herself, and then gets mad when i butt in and try to get her to STOP at a period, take a short pause at a comma, etc. she still prefers books with lots of pictures, but they are pretty sophisticated picture books that have lots of text. i recently bought A Light In the Attic and while some of the poems are over her head and gruesome, there's some that totally tickle her funny bone. (note to self) i should track down my Pizza The Size of the Sun book as well...i'm sure she'll like that one.
her writing has been somewhat neglected...i cant seem to find enough time to just sit with her and do some writing (because of ozzy). she's been writing pretty much everything in all caps because she hasnt really learned how to form the lower case letters. she is figuring out how to write a lot of words on her own though...and if she doesnt know how to spell something she either just yells at me to spell it outloud for her, or she'll hunt down the word from a website she frequents or books. she will often answer me with spelled words too. that happened because i had to spell words to her so our dog wouldnt figure out when i mentioned going outside. so i'd say, mimi we have to take the D -O -G O -U -T. and mimi would says Y - E - S M- O - M. she enjoys playing a word game on NOGGIN with the Backyardigans and i think she's reached the top level of the game, which only goes up to 1st grade literacy level, but is fun because you unlock various planets to explore with each level you reach. i'd hear her yell from her computer things like: "Whoooooohoooo! mommy! i unlocked a new planet! Whooooooo! now i'm moving onto planet Nonsensia! isnt that cool!"
her teacher also said mimi had a good sense of rhythm so i guess the ballet and piano lessons have been doing something!
now if i could just get her to learn to swim!
as for ozzy, he is gaining more and more confidence in walking, but he still insists on holding my hand because he's still wobbly.
he's eating some table food...lately he gets screaming mad if i give him pureed stuff and he sees us eating something different. he calms the instant i give him something off my plate. today it was sweet potato fries that he was going ballistic over not having on his tray...i was GOING to give him some anyway, but apparently i wasnt moving my old ass fast enough for him.
he's into handing things to me and snatching it back. and my least favorite development: dropping spoons and cups over the side of his highchair no less than a quintillion times. oh, and mock feeding the dog...he'll hold a piece of food close enough for her to lick it and then he takes it back and shoves it into his mouth. ACK!
his top two front teeth have cut through, so now he has four teeth. he's still breastfeeding, but thankfully the biting period seems to have passed.
he loves, Loves, LOVES, anything with wheels and gears. it's crazy how much of a natural affinity he has for it! now i see why there's so many car toys for boys! we need to get him some good car toys...right now he's pushing around the barbie corvette and the barbie remote controlled car. he also likes to check out mimi's barbie bicycle. i honestly dont even know a THING about toys for little boys...guess it's time i got edumacated.
her teacher did express some concern that mimi might be bored in kindergarten because her academic skills are well beyond the kindergarten level. i'm not TOO worried...maybe because i havent been thru this before with a child...but on a gut level, i feel like mimi prefers to have it easy. she likes things to be easy, she gets sooo mad and frustrated when she has to really think too much. so i have a feeling that yes, the work will be easy, but she'll like it that way just fine. so i dont really see her being a behavioral problem out of boredom. as for her academics in KG, i do want her to be with a teacher who is good at differentiating instruction for the higher functioning kiddos in the class (i'm sure mimi will not be the only one). but if not, i dont worry too much because i'll continue to provide lots of stimulating things for mimi at home, just as i do now.
off the top of my head, here's what i've noticed currently: mimi is easily solving simple addition and subtraction math equations (find the sum, difference, missing addend, how much more, how much less, etc). while she can arrive at the answer, her process is still in the early stages...she has not yet mastered the skill of counting on. her number sense is fairly good though. she is still reversing some of her numbers when writing them (9 and 5 are usually backwards, and sometimes she reverses the numbers in the teens, so instead of 14, she writes 41). she is frequently asking me about fractions....lots of fractions in life to ask questions about!!! why is a quarter a quarter? how much is half (both in terms of part of a whole and part of a group)? why is it called an eighth note/half note/whole note/quarter note and then there's the time signature (in reading piano sheet music). what's a quarter past mean (on the clock)? how much is a quart of milk? why's it called an eighth of a teaspoon? and trying to help her read measurements on a ruler...usually read with fractions there! it's endless. she is telling time to the half hour and can tell time to the minute with help. she can also count by 5s, 10s, and 100s. she knows the calendar days and months and can use the calendar.
her reading and writing continues to improve. she's decoding more quickly these days. she's STILL not fully getting how to 'read' the punctuation...if she would just let me read to her, i know she'd get it, but she insists on reading most books herself, and then gets mad when i butt in and try to get her to STOP at a period, take a short pause at a comma, etc. she still prefers books with lots of pictures, but they are pretty sophisticated picture books that have lots of text. i recently bought A Light In the Attic and while some of the poems are over her head and gruesome, there's some that totally tickle her funny bone. (note to self) i should track down my Pizza The Size of the Sun book as well...i'm sure she'll like that one.
her writing has been somewhat neglected...i cant seem to find enough time to just sit with her and do some writing (because of ozzy). she's been writing pretty much everything in all caps because she hasnt really learned how to form the lower case letters. she is figuring out how to write a lot of words on her own though...and if she doesnt know how to spell something she either just yells at me to spell it outloud for her, or she'll hunt down the word from a website she frequents or books. she will often answer me with spelled words too. that happened because i had to spell words to her so our dog wouldnt figure out when i mentioned going outside. so i'd say, mimi we have to take the D -O -G O -U -T. and mimi would says Y - E - S M- O - M. she enjoys playing a word game on NOGGIN with the Backyardigans and i think she's reached the top level of the game, which only goes up to 1st grade literacy level, but is fun because you unlock various planets to explore with each level you reach. i'd hear her yell from her computer things like: "Whoooooohoooo! mommy! i unlocked a new planet! Whooooooo! now i'm moving onto planet Nonsensia! isnt that cool!"
her teacher also said mimi had a good sense of rhythm so i guess the ballet and piano lessons have been doing something!
now if i could just get her to learn to swim!
as for ozzy, he is gaining more and more confidence in walking, but he still insists on holding my hand because he's still wobbly.
he's eating some table food...lately he gets screaming mad if i give him pureed stuff and he sees us eating something different. he calms the instant i give him something off my plate. today it was sweet potato fries that he was going ballistic over not having on his tray...i was GOING to give him some anyway, but apparently i wasnt moving my old ass fast enough for him.
he's into handing things to me and snatching it back. and my least favorite development: dropping spoons and cups over the side of his highchair no less than a quintillion times. oh, and mock feeding the dog...he'll hold a piece of food close enough for her to lick it and then he takes it back and shoves it into his mouth. ACK!
his top two front teeth have cut through, so now he has four teeth. he's still breastfeeding, but thankfully the biting period seems to have passed.
he loves, Loves, LOVES, anything with wheels and gears. it's crazy how much of a natural affinity he has for it! now i see why there's so many car toys for boys! we need to get him some good car toys...right now he's pushing around the barbie corvette and the barbie remote controlled car. he also likes to check out mimi's barbie bicycle. i honestly dont even know a THING about toys for little boys...guess it's time i got edumacated.
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