Learning to read

Caitlin is so eager to learn to read. She hates being the only one in the house who doesn't know how to read. So today she started with "at" words. We used the dvd from Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read: Kindergarten Level 1. We started with the first lesson which included at words.

She worked worksheets 1-4 in the "at" category from Kidzone.

 

She insisted that she was ready for her BOB book "Mat" (the "at" book, also the first book of the series. She quickly became frustrated so I read it to her. We will be using tons of activities I found on Pinterest to help her get ready to read this book all by herself, hopefully soon!

Swimming

Miss Scarlett allowed Cait to join Jayden's class for swimming so that I wasn't coming in twice a week. So this week she got to join her older brother. Miss Scarlett told me that she was extremely impressed with how quickly Cait is progressing, a huge step up from the screaming girl she was in November 2011! They are getting report cards next week but Miss Scarlett already told me both kids get to progress to the next level! And Cait is down from 3 floats to two!

Build a Bear

Last week was Olivia's birthday. We went to Build A Bear and we got our kids ANOTHER bear. Ridiculous I know, but Juan was away for the week on a business trip and the kids needed a pick me up!

 Then we headed to the food court for lunch.

Karate and Pre-K

We recently took Jayden to a demo karate class to see if he would enjoy it. I am happy to report that he did. So we signed him up. The demo classes continue all month long but his actual classes start at the end of February.

The classes will be taught by a student teacher, also known as "deshi". Deshi told the parents that he can not be too strict because the place he teaches at is an indoor playground and they do not allow super strictness but if we ever put Jayden in his school he is much tougher. When the kids did not pay attention deshi had them do jumping jacks which I thought was a pretty cool method for him to get them to focus. 

 

Last week Cait started her pre-k class. I was a total failure and got lost so I missed just about all of her class. May took her for me though so she didn't miss it. What I did catch was the kids working on letters A-C. Teacher Becky had them paste cut out pictures that started with each letter on the appropriate page.

Cait also baked cookies (her favorite part according to her!) in shapes that started with A-C. There were airplanes, butterflies, and cars. She even made a couple of extra cookies for her brother.

 

Last week we went to swim class as usual. Apparently there was a mix up and the pool was filled with a bunch of PreK children. Miss Scarlett asked if we wanted to stay and have play time in the pool and make up the class during Jayden's class. Cait happily agreed.

Cait is always super nervous to have her face wet in the pool. She is fine in the bathtub but she gets nervous in the pool because "the water is so big!" So we have been talking a lot about pool safety and how I would jump right into the pool with all of my clothes on if she needed me to. She thought this was a silly idea and laughed. But apparently it was just what she needed because look who got her face wet!

 

Miss Scarlett was shocked and had to come over and say "Wow! Look who got her face wet!"


Of course after saying she hasn't been into worksheets (courtesy of Education Creations) lately, this week Cait begged me for some! ('scuze the bedhead. She wasn't interested in glamming it up for the camera!)

Jayden worked on his usual subjects. In Geography he learned the parts of a mountain. We also reviewed the parts of a hill.

In Science he worked on a worksheet where he had to identify the solids, liquids, and gases and paste them in their correct category.

He also asked his dad what the difference was between a monkey and an ape. Together they used the magic of internet to find their answer! (<--click the link to find out for yourself)

We headed off to the library to return books and to pick up new ones.

I told Jayden we needed to select someone to study about this month for Black History Month. He requested Venom (Spiderman with the black suit). Hmmm, not exactly what I had in mind! I told him I would gladly get books on Venom, but I wanted to also think of someone else. He excitedly decided on Barak Obama, our 44th president. So we borrowed Barack Obama Out of Many, One by Shana Corey and Barack Obama: Son of Promise, Child of Hope by Nikki Grimes from the library. By the end of the month we will complete a lapbook on President Obama.

Meanwhile there is a certain little lady who decided today she is desperate to learn to read. She doesn't know all of the sounds each letter makes but she insists on learning "today mommy!" She is very frustrated that we can all read and she can not. So we bought her a super simple series called Bob Books First. 

She will also be going to a weekly class with other preschoolers once a week for 30 minutes. She is very excited about it!