Poor Sloan just can’t seem to get a grasp on the days of the week. And poor mommy is getting tired of telling him 10,000 times a day what day it is, what we have that day and what tomorrow is. So, off we went to Bradburn’s today to pick up some handy dandy supplies. Here is our new calendar, displayed proudly on the kitchen door. It has a picture of each days activity, and it will help him remember what comes tomorrow and what we did yesterday. We’re going to work on learning the days in English and in Russian – two birds, one stone. Hopefully it won’t take him long to catch on. We’re also going to work on months of the year.
Bradburns is a fun place. It makes me wish I were homeschooling so I could get all the fun little gadgets and gizmos for learning. Then I hear Tia start screaming and Sloan smack her for doing God-knows-what that made him and angry and I thank the good Lord above we live in a good school district! I did buy a couple of books to help him work on reading though. While I am thrilled, nay ecstatic, that he can read in russian, I’m a little concerned that he doesn’t know English phonics – like, at all. So, we will begin working on that. I really want him to have basic reading skills by the time he goes to kindegarten. He knows all his letters and can write most of them, but he doesn’t really know how they sound. And guess what? Russian is a lot easier than English when it comes to phonics because, in general, every letter has only one sound. Geesh. I think I’m going to let daddy teach him to read in English! For those of you with kids already in kindegarten, or higher grades, what do kids need to know when they enter school? What is expected of them and what will give them a leg up? Sloan is a smart kid and I want him to be challenged, but I don’t want to have too high of expectations. I’m not expecting him to be reading Dostoevsky by the end of this year, maybe just a little Pushkin. No, seriously, three or four letter words would be great. Is that too much to expect? I dunno.
Kelly, I know some really cute songs that teach the days of the week (to the tune of the addams family theme song) and the months of the year (to the tune of Ten little indians). I can send them along if you want them.
I’ve been asking around on this same issue! I still don’t have satisfying answers. But my Parents As Teachers program here on post just expanded to 3-5 year olds. So I’m hoping they’ll help out with telling me what the kiddos need for school readiness. Have fun at Interplay this weekend!
Tiff
I teach in an elementary school. I teach special ed and am also an interventionist. I spend a couple of hours in Kindergarten a day and my oldest son just started Kindergarten. Andrew knew how to read 3 or 4 letter words before beginning but he’s one of the only ones in his class that can. I would recommend kids being able to name all letters and know some letter sounds. There are several kids in Andrew’s class that do not know these things but they are definitely behind. Another KEY skill is LISTENING!! They really need to be able to sit down and listen. My son struggles a little in this area. He just turned five a couple of weeks ago so he’s really young. He’s very excited about being around his friends and sometimes wants to talk or play too much. He’s really very obedient but gets carried away sometimes:).
So, is your son already 5? Did you guys decide not to start him this year?
to clarify:).. what I mean by naming letters is recognizing letters
You’re welcome. Andrew also just made the cut off by 2 weeks (bday – Sept 2). We decided to send him, it was a hard decision. We’re not oppose to having him spend 2 years in Kindergarten if we think he needs it.
A great video to help kids learn letter sounds is the Letter Factory by Leapfrog, I think that’s who it’s by…
ok, this is going to be fun to explain in words but we sing a song to the days of the week.
you know that song, “oh my darlin’ oh my darlin’ oh my darlin clemenine?” we sing sunday monday, tuesday wednesday, thursday friday, saturday
sunday monday, tuesday wednesday, thursday friday, saturday.
i have no idea if that will make any sense without hearing it.
and we LOVE the leap frog dvd’s. letter factory, talking word factory, math circus and there’s one more. you must get them for the one song called punk, punk, punk punk-shu-ation. it totally rocks.
i jam to leap frog every day girl. every day.
oh and as far as giving sloan a leg up we really recommend any john travolta move.
my boys like to do the basic booty shake. teach him phrases like “can i get a whoot whoot” while he dances.
he’ll be just fine.
what? oh, you weren’t talking about dance moves?
oh, sorry.