Skip to main content

Reflections

Just wanted to take some time and reflect on November's activities. I have seen some real growth in Jacob's skills this month. Toddlers are sponges and grow and learn so quickly it is important to take time to reflect on this growth.

Sensory Boxes- I am quite happy with the skills these Sensory Boxes have strengthen. Jacob is spooning/scooping very well. He takes time and really observes items and he has shown his imaginary skills by doing a lot of pretending.

Crafts- Jake loves to color, paint and glue! He is an artist and loves to create. Giving him the opportunity to do so almost daily fosters creativity.

Games- Jake is learning through game playing that one needs to take turns and to share. He is really doing well with sharing!

Reading- I have never spent extended time with toddlers but in the time I have spent with toddlers I have never seen a child love reading as much as Jake does! I think I am enjoying this the most! He reads all day long. I love watching him pick up books and read through them alone but it is much better when he grabs a book and brings it to me to read in bed! I love being able to cuddle with my active boy for a few minutes while reading books!

I am extremely happy with the progress we are making. I do not always get to all of the activities that I have planned (teacher advice: it is better to over plan than under plan!) and Jake does not always master the skill we are working on but success nonetheless! I hope you are having as much fun!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Play to Write- Week 3

We participating in a Wednesday Play Group called Play to Write over at Cherrios and Lattes . This is week 3- Write/Spell Your Name.  We started this week's practice with some name tracing. Cherrios and Lattes provides the printable for some dotted letters. She suggested doing rainbow writing with this sheet. I showed Jacob but he was more interested in writing all the Jacobs. I started by modeling on the first name. Then I held his hand and we did it together. Finally I let him do the last three on his own with only my verbal prompts.  He took this very seriously and was very proud of himself! I was surprised at how much he liked doing this activity. He has a long way to go but he did pretty well! One thing I had to repeat was not to go around the o and a more than once. He wanted to go around and around. This is an activity that I think he will want to do again! The next activity was Missing Letter Name Practice. We started by singing a little song I sing fo...

Name Writing Practice

Jacob did a little name writing practice today. He was asked to trace the dotted lines to write letters for his name. This is good practice with spelling as well. I had him say each letter as he wrote the letter.  As you can see he is very choppy and not exactly on the dotted lines. His motor skills are not quite sharp enough yet to be able to hold the crayon and he especially loses control as he works on towards the end. We also did a Missing Letter Name Practice. Both of these ideas came from Cherrios and Lattes ' Play to Write, Write to Read. These are good ways to practice names and writing. He gets very angry if he thinks he made a mistake. See the scribbling. I have to reinforce that it is ok to make a mistake and that everyone makes mistakes but we just keep trying. Practice is the only way to get better. When this happens I cannot help but think of my former students that did the very same thing and proceeded to throw fits and give up. I hope to help Jacob ge...

Building Good Readers

"Your boys are such good readers! I wish mine loved to read like yours do! How did you do that?" Can parents build good readers? How do parents build good readers? This might seem like a daunting question, a task too difficult to tackle. But truly, it does not have to be.  As our children grow and become readers on their own accord they often feel that they do not need or want parents to read to them. It is very common for this to happen, but as their parents, it is our job to push back.  Readers are not born, they are made.  We must find times to read to our children. That might mean reading aloud looks different as they get older. Maybe instead of before bed; you are reading at the dinner table, as they are playing, or during snack time. The point is to share books that will pique their interest and hold their attention. You might have to choose books you might not otherwise choose. The key to reading aloud is to m odel reading for them and to sho...