maths, and other bits

Jordy is doing a lot of counting at the moment. He is getting up to 14 ok but then gets a little muddled. But he is really counting, ie he is understanding the quantity of each number to a degree that is a little surprising.

Even though i knew he enjoyed numbers (hence me introducing the spindles earlier than i may have otherwise) the last few days have seen a bit of a leap in his understanding. He is now adding things up. The first basic example for me was on Sunday when he said there were two chickens in the yard and two chickens in the house so there were four chickens. Fair enough. Not rocket science but enough to surprise me.

Today he asked for his talking calculator for the first time in a while. It’s one of those annoying battery operated things that never shuts up (that he totally loves) and i have often discouraged him from using… well not anymore. Today he sat on the floor and added over and over again things like 3+4=, and 6+2=, and 7+1=…. etc.  And did number quizzes counting forwards and backwards (surprisingly he got the counting wrong more than the addition which i don’t quite understand but there you go…)

We worked together with the stereognostic bag. He enjoyed feeling the shapes and rolling them. He won’t always feel the shape properly before pulling it out of the bag- he just reaches in to surprise himself with what he gets so we’ll have to work on the nature of the game a bit more.

I did a basic presentation of zippering the other day. He wanted to do it himself and got it once but then got frustrated when he did not immediately get it the next time. He hasn’t gone back to it although i offered it this morning.

What else have we been up to…. oh, been doing a little with the classified pictures. I’m not all that happy with the work that i have been presenting him and have had to rethink my method a little. I think i might sit with him and just look at a dozen or so pictures and talk about them a little and not try to classify them just yet. I briefly tried to sort 5 mammals, 5 birds, 5 reptiles today and show him a feather, the feel of scales and fur etc but although he went with it and we had a play i don’t think it really sank in.

I am now going to go with two separate paths with the pictures i have made so far-  simple sorting with 5 cards from each of three very distinct groups (animals, flowers, kitchen utensils) that he can work with without assistance so that he gets a good uncomplicated example of the task. And then present several at a time from the full range of cards from each group (eg mammals or fish etc) and just talk about them and relate them to our environment where possible.

I also took Jordy for his swimming lesson for the first time in several lessons (my mum has taken him) and it was wonderful to see how well he is doing and how much he is totally loving it. Now when we do ‘Under the Sea’ i can hold the back of his head and push him under and along and then let go and he kicks up to the surface, reaches for the wall and pulls himself out quite well (there is the occasional delay or flap and i can’t help but give him a little assistance!) His kicking and paddling is much stronger and he is holding his breath or blowing bubbles with no effort at all.

today’s activities bought to you by the letter…..

I love the sound of the day!! For our very first sound i chose ’ssss’. Montessori language exercises start with more commonly used and differentiated letters rather than starting with the beginning of the alphabet song (and the alphabet song does absolutely nothing to help teach a child to read anyway so it is not something we will be working with).

Once i started looking and thinking about ’ssss’ i was amazed at how many things we could use. Here is the table and mat that i layed out for him before i went to bed.

i have the sandpaper letters for him to feel, the sand tray (filled with polenta!) for him to feel how he can create the shape himself. And then a mat with various items that start with ’ssss’ as well as the fingerspelling auslan sign for S. I have sun, snail, sponge, snake, star, spoon, sock, scissors, sultanas. I also added a stick after taking the photo. I was going to put his sandels in too but just in case he called them shoes (which starts with sh and not ssss) i left them out.

Here he is making the shape of the letter. The first one is a bit backwards! and the second one he did not leave himself enough room to make the while letter. But he played around with it for a bit and made curves and circles and got the idea of the sandtray.  I think i might make him abnother bigger one to just draw in.

As well as naming the items, practicing the sound ssss and making the shape of the S we also talked about things you can do that start with ssss like swimming (he has swimming lesson today), and scratch and spin etc.

I was going to so a walk through the house and find more things that start with ssss but i will leave that for tomorrow. I will put the mat out again for him in the morning and build on the activity.

I also added another practical life activity with some rocks, tongs and two metal bowls. I have used metal bowls so that if he drops the rocks it will be quite noisy, and i have demonstrated how to do it as quietly as possible. He enjoyed it yesterday and has chosen to work with it again this morning.

And i finally found an Australia map (at Timbertown yesterday). The puzzle itself is not all that challening but he is asking the names of the states and has noticed the star (Canberra) and where the capitals are marked.

today’s activities

Jordy is wanting to pour water and although i do not feel that he has mastered dry pouring i gave him a jug and some containers this morning to play with. I think during the week i will work on pouring rice and refining his skills so that he is ready for the wet pouring.

He has also chosen to work with the sandpaper globe today and with his “tell the time” book.

I added some items to his nature basket today including two pieces of quartz that we found in the dry riverbed. I showed him how you can make a spark by hitting them together which he thought was amazing.

I am hoping to spend some time this week with his sandpaper letters or perhaps even try him with a sand writing tray. Although it is sooner than i would choose to be working with writing the shape of the letters he is totally fascinated with letters at the moment and goes out of his way to find letters to read. I am hoping that if i show him the shape of the lower case letters i can make their phonetic sounds more concrete for him rather than just the name of the letter.

I think i might just select the first several letters (a,s,t,b,c,m) to work with as when presented with the entire alphabet he gets a little excited and just goes from letter to letter.

camping

we went camping for a few days and it was wonderful for Jordy to experience a different environment for a while. He soaked up all the different plants and birds that we showed him so i hope to make some classified pictures of what he saw to keep them fresh in his memory.

We collected come rocks and other bits for his nature basket. He enjoyed listening for the different bird calls. And he learnt a few practical camping skills like collecting water, tending the fire, making damper, sweeping, and that sort of thing.