Spelling all by Herself!

Yesterday Hannah started spelling by herself for the first time.  Usually when she writes notes she is constantly asking, "How to you spell TOGETHER?" "How do you spell ARE?" etc.  So I was excited when I saw this.  

"Wratr (water) tast (taste) betr (better) the more you drek (drink) it" 

Here is her note from today.

"I ben (been) the King of traning (training) Rex but I watid (wanted) him to be a big boy So I satid (started) to have him go to school in the haws (house) and I wod (would) tech (teach) him"

Penmanship

by Hannah, age 6

(I think she prints better than I do!)

Spanish Calendar

Hannah attends an international school where they learn in English half the day and learn in Spanish the other half.  Her Spanish teacher invited me to watch Hannah leading the class in their daily calendar.  After only 6 months of Spanish, I was so surprised at what she knows!

Summer Learning - Hooked on Phonics "Master Reader"

 Master Reader Program

This past summer we also worked on "Hooked on Phonics" Master Reader.  I meant to do these lessons every day during the summer, but it seem like the days slipped by too quickly, and we didn't finish the program.  We are still working on it though :)

There are 4 different levels of books and the first one is blue.  It's not a "fun" as Hooked on Phonics, but is "cooler". Part of each lesson is done at the computer via their software.  Hannah though some of the sound effects were too loud and would cover her ears.  I didn't like the controls for dividing up the words into syllables, it was too easy to make a mistake without meaning too.  The lessons were a bit long for Hannah, but then again she is only 5 and it's meant for ages 7 and up. Other than that, I thought it was an good program.  

After you do the lesson on the computer, you pull out one of their short stories.  I thought this was the best part.  I could sit with Hannah and have her read to me.  Very fun stuff!

Each lesson has a tab with a story using some of the words from your lesson.

Some lessons have more than one story

After you finish the entire blue book, there is a chapter book to read.  

Very cool!

Well, we didn't ever get to the chapter books, but we are still working on it :)

Summer Learning - Hooked on Spanish

Hooked on Spanish

I bought this for our Summer learning and Hannah LOVED it!!  It is very simple, thus the age 4-6.  It teaches numbers, colors, shapes, body parts, etc.  You play and follow along with the CD and then there is an activity that you do with your family.  For example, after learning the numbers it tells you to get out the photo album and find pictures of your child at age 1, 2, 3, etc.

Sorry I don't have any detailed pictures.  Hannah is now attending a Spanish immersion school and doesn't need the Hooked on Spanish, so we've passed it onto another family.

What She's Reading Now

 Hannah's Stack of Books

Hannah said that she wanted to read "big" books, so I went to the library and picked out some I thought she'd like.  I knew she could read most, if not all the words, but wasn't sure how long her attention span would be or how well her comprehension and retention would be.  

To my surprise, she read the entire story "India The Moonstone Fairy" in two days.  She also told me what happened in the story and who the main characters were.  

She was SO excited "Mama!  I read "immediately" all by myself!

I was excited too :)

Summer Learning - Hooked on Math

Hooked on Math

First of all let me say... I know it's January  (I'm a little late blogging about this).  We started working on Hooked on Math during the summer.  Hannah loved the games the most.  There were games on about every other page, so she was thrilled.

I loved right off the bat, that Hooked on Math taught the concept of "Counting On".  Hannah already knew how to do this, but Hooked on Math makes it very easy.

Hannah's favorite game was space bingo.  You add the numbers on the flashcard...

and see who gets bingo!

I loved that there were stickers just like Hooked on Phonics.

Here's the poster

Numbered stars, so you know exactly where your stickers go.

There are lots of extra stickers, so I let her put one of each of the pages she completed.

It also comes with a clear plastic sheet for writing all your answers on.  

Here's one of the "Practice and Review" pages

With the sheet on and all the work done!

Here's a close up

The following page has the exact same problems but with the answers.  Hannah LOVED to check her work!

The clear sheet is also great for keeping score with the other math games.

The only thing that I did NOT like about the Hooked on Math, was the "Practice" pages.

Hannah discovered that the answers were in numerical order and then just followed the pattern instead of figuring out the work.  To overcome this I made her do the problems randomly.

The "Practice and Review" pages were different.

The answers were NOT in numerical order, so Hannah had to really add or subtract to get her answers.

Other than that I would recommend Hooked on Math!  Of course this is just a review for the Addition and Subtraction.  There are other levels as well that we haven't reached yet.

Deep Inside the Ocean (Art Project and Song)

"Way Down Deep - Deep Inside the Ocean"

This was an art project that Hannah made in Preschool (2009-2010).  Make your ocean collage on one plate. Cut a window out of the other plate...

...place it on the other plate

and staple it together.  Super cute!!

Here's the song that goes with it.  You can buy (and listen to) the song at Songs for Teaching

Chorus:

Way down deep

Deep inside the ocean

Nothing's ever still

Something's always in motion

Way down deep

Deep inside the ocean

Nothing's ever still

Something's always in motion

Fish blow bubbles but they don't speak

Not a peep not a squeak

They don't talk

They don't walk

They swim and swim and swim around

But they don't ever make a sound.

Chorus

The plants by the coral reef wave and sway

While the fish in their schools

All frolic and play

Dogfish don't bark

Cafish don't meow

Seahorses don't neigh

'Cause they don't know how

Chorus

Slow motion…slow motion….slow motion

Leap Frog "Letter Factory" Flashback Friday

Leapfrog - Letter Factory

Hannah loves this video. She already knew all her letters when I bought this DVD. She didn't know any letter sounds, but after watching this for a few weeks, she knew all of them. I didn't do any work with her on the letter sounds, she learned it all from this DVD.

Isabella Inchworm

Hannah came home with the cutest song about the letter Ii.

You can also watch a cute animated video on Frog Street.

Isabella Inchworm will you try

to name some things that begin with I

Into and inside and in between

invisible means that you can't be seen

Indians and igloos, and insects too

and interesting, intelligent kids like you!

VIP of the Week - October 11 to October 15, 2010

Our VIP

Every week in school a child is chosen to be VIP of the week, and Hannah tells me every week which child was chosen. She was SO excited on Monday, that she was able to say "I'M the VIP of the week!" She brought home Chester (the puppet dog) and his backpack filled with dog books. She also made a poster filled with pictures of her (and one of me?... she insisted). Today (Friday) she gets to stand in front of the class with her poster and they get to ask her questions about the pictures and what she likes to do.

We all made a big deal about Hannah being the VIP, and she loved it!

WheatGrass (Flashback Friday)

This was our Easter display, but wheatgrass will grown great indoors, even during fall!

I followed Make and Takes tutorial for growing wheatgrass and love the results. Hannah was able to do most of it herself and Ernest even did one for himself. Our first attempt didn't work out well, and since I over watered (a lot!) our wheat started to grow mold instead of grass! I'm happy to say our 2nd attempt worked out much better! This is our results after 12 days. There is just something magical about plants and being able to watch something grow from a seed. The wheat is growing so fast it seems like it's noticeably taller overnight!

I love the dew drops we found on our blades of grass this morning!

Daily Sentences (Flashback Friday)

Each night I write a new sentence on Hannah's Dry Erase Board. I also write the phonics words that we are working on. The sentence is only made up of words that Hannah already knows and can read. After Hannah read the sentence, it goes into our homemade notebook. This was she can keep reading the sentences after she erases the board. The sentence is either:

1. A silly sentence (like so)

2. A sentence out of a book that Hannah is going to read.

This sentence is from the book "Just Like Dora".

Before she reads a book she will have read each sentence on our Dry Erase Board first. This way it will be easier for her to read a "whole, big, book" all by herself. She will have already read it on the Dry Erase Board without knowing it.

Don't worry if your child doesn't leave the sentence up. This is what our dry erase board looks like 5 minutes after she reads her sentence and words (that's why we have our homemade notebook!)