Our first real inkling of J's amazing-ness was when he remembered what he got in his Easter basket the previous year, and he had just turned 2.
Today, he amazed me again.
He had made a little craft, the kind with plastic beads that you set on a peg board, then use the iron to melt the beads together on one side. He was admiring his work, saying how he liked that it was the same front and back, and even if you flipped it side to side. I asked him, "Do you know what an axis of symmetry is?"
"No," he replied.
I gave a brief explanation.
"So this smiley face has one axis of symmetry, right here," and he karate chopped his crafty creation right down the middle.
"Yup! Very good!" We had talked about axes of symmetry extensively when he was 3. He was always very good at it, and I was happy that he'd picked it up again.
Moments later, I mentioned that I'd taught him about symmetry before. He recalled, "yeah, I remember you cut out a man, and an airplane, out of paper and I folded them along their axis of symmetry. And then you tried to trick me by cutting out a cow spot, and it had no axis of symmetry."
Wow. He is exactly right! That was three years ago, give or take a month or so. Half of his lifetime.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
More books
We haven't been to the library in quite some time. J decided to read the Chronicles of Narnia. He's on The Horse and his Boy right now. He says that The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is still his favorite.
More Books
J seems to have left Magic Treehouse behind. He doesn't seem so interested in finishing the few he hasn't read. He's on to much bigger books!
At the end of April, Z had a seizure in the car as I was pulling to pick J up from school. There was lots of drama. I left J in the car with little L (the baby) and carried a non-responsive Z in to the school nurse. I didn't know what was wrong with him at the time. While the school nurse called 911, I ran back out to the car to get J and L. I found that J had grabbed a book to read while he waited for me. And the book he'd grabbed was the book I'd just finished reading, and was planning to return to the library on the way home (yeah, that didn't happen. We went to the ER instead).
He read Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale. It's quite a good book, although an easy read for me. J loves to claim that he has read a grown-up book. Technically, it was in the Young Adult section. But that's pretty grown-up to him. I just looked up the grade equivalent. Here are the stats on the book.
At the end of April, Z had a seizure in the car as I was pulling to pick J up from school. There was lots of drama. I left J in the car with little L (the baby) and carried a non-responsive Z in to the school nurse. I didn't know what was wrong with him at the time. While the school nurse called 911, I ran back out to the car to get J and L. I found that J had grabbed a book to read while he waited for me. And the book he'd grabbed was the book I'd just finished reading, and was planning to return to the library on the way home (yeah, that didn't happen. We went to the ER instead).
He read Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale. It's quite a good book, although an easy read for me. J loves to claim that he has read a grown-up book. Technically, it was in the Young Adult section. But that's pretty grown-up to him. I just looked up the grade equivalent. Here are the stats on the book.
- Grade Level: from 7
- Pages: 306
- Age Level: 12-17
Handwriting?
Today was J's kindergarten end-of-the-year "celebration." It was cute, with all the kindergarten kids (all four classes) getting up on choir stands and singing some fun songs. One was to the tune of "New York, New York," only the words New York were replaced with "First Grade."
Then the teachers handed out awards. Each child got one, of course, and I wondered what J would get. Some kids got awards for being able to sound out any word put in front of them. Some were for being good at math. Some were for building with Legos. Never in a million years would I have guessed that he'd get an award for "Heavenly Handwriting!"
I think his handwriting is pretty good for a kindergartner, but it's his teacher's previous comments that have me stymied. In our last parent-teacher conference (here's the blog post about it), she referenced his poor hand-writing to prove that he still needed to work on things. As if I thought that 6 months of school would have him ready for the working world ;)
I got the email address of the lady in charge of all things gifted at J's school. I'm trying to figure out the best way to ask for J to be tested early. I'm not too optimistic about that. But in his school district, they don't test until the end of first grade! A friend of mine paid to have her daughter tested after HUGE problems with her in a regular first grade class room. They switched her to a different district, which tests at the end of kindergarten. Oh, I wish I'd known all of this before we bought a house! The other district is only a mile or so East of here!
Then the teachers handed out awards. Each child got one, of course, and I wondered what J would get. Some kids got awards for being able to sound out any word put in front of them. Some were for being good at math. Some were for building with Legos. Never in a million years would I have guessed that he'd get an award for "Heavenly Handwriting!"
I think his handwriting is pretty good for a kindergartner, but it's his teacher's previous comments that have me stymied. In our last parent-teacher conference (here's the blog post about it), she referenced his poor hand-writing to prove that he still needed to work on things. As if I thought that 6 months of school would have him ready for the working world ;)
I got the email address of the lady in charge of all things gifted at J's school. I'm trying to figure out the best way to ask for J to be tested early. I'm not too optimistic about that. But in his school district, they don't test until the end of first grade! A friend of mine paid to have her daughter tested after HUGE problems with her in a regular first grade class room. They switched her to a different district, which tests at the end of kindergarten. Oh, I wish I'd known all of this before we bought a house! The other district is only a mile or so East of here!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Z's Reading
Z, who turned 4 a week and a half ago, is doing quite well with the books his big brother, J, brings home from kindergarten. About once a week, he brings home a photocopied half-sheet "book" that he's supposed to read to his parents. Ha. Once he asked me if he could read to me, please, because if he does, he gets to raise his hand and get a Skittle. But even a Skittle isn't enough motivation to get him to read these books to me. He currently has his nose stuck in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.
But Z is eating them up. They are even better than the Bob books I mentioned in an earlier post. They're simple, with simple words. His favorite one, which we must read every night, is titled We Can Fix.
I'm rather sick of it, but he flies through it now, so I don't suffer too long.
Tonight, it was upside-down when I pulled it out of the special folder marked, "J's special books." (These were given out by the teacher.) I decided to tease him, and left it upside-down. He hardly looked at the cover page, but said, "We Can Fix!" Then I opened it and kept it upside-down.
"Mom! I can't read it upside-down!"
"Sure you can," I said, pointing to the first word. "What does that say?" It was simply the letter I.
"I, but the n's look like u's!" he giggled.
When I finally flipped the book right-side-up, he surprised me by reading the sentences backwards. To be silly, of course. He started off reading, "bed a fix can I." (I can fix a bed.) But as he got further into the book, he got more crafty and read, "tep a fix nac I." (I can fix a pet.) He never could wrap his little brain around the word "xif" because, really, it makes no sense. But almost everything else, he read completely backwards.
Because, you know, he's got to keep this reading thing challenging.
But Z is eating them up. They are even better than the Bob books I mentioned in an earlier post. They're simple, with simple words. His favorite one, which we must read every night, is titled We Can Fix.
I'm rather sick of it, but he flies through it now, so I don't suffer too long.
Tonight, it was upside-down when I pulled it out of the special folder marked, "J's special books." (These were given out by the teacher.) I decided to tease him, and left it upside-down. He hardly looked at the cover page, but said, "We Can Fix!" Then I opened it and kept it upside-down.
"Mom! I can't read it upside-down!"
"Sure you can," I said, pointing to the first word. "What does that say?" It was simply the letter I.
"I, but the n's look like u's!" he giggled.
When I finally flipped the book right-side-up, he surprised me by reading the sentences backwards. To be silly, of course. He started off reading, "bed a fix can I." (I can fix a bed.) But as he got further into the book, he got more crafty and read, "tep a fix nac I." (I can fix a pet.) He never could wrap his little brain around the word "xif" because, really, it makes no sense. But almost everything else, he read completely backwards.
Because, you know, he's got to keep this reading thing challenging.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
End-of-the-year IRI
End-of-the-year IRI testing was last week. In this test, kids rattle off as many letter sounds as they can in one minute. The goal (grade-level) was 30 sounds. The teacher asked that we practice the test at home, but J didn't feel like it. Even so, J managed 45.
Of course, there's no reward or even mention of a score higher than 30. I wonder what the other kids' scores were?
Of course, there's no reward or even mention of a score higher than 30. I wonder what the other kids' scores were?
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
This morning at breakfast, Z brought over a small MagnaDoodle and poised the magnetic pen to write. I love that he's suddenly decided to draw letters, and he loves that he's rather good at it.
"Mom, how do you spell 'dude?'"
"D....." I started to reply.
"Is it d-o-o-d?" he ventured.
"Wow," I thought. "Not bad for a kid who hasn't had his 4th birthday yet."
And I love his word choice. It's so him!
"Mom, how do you spell 'dude?'"
"D....." I started to reply.
"Is it d-o-o-d?" he ventured.
"Wow," I thought. "Not bad for a kid who hasn't had his 4th birthday yet."
And I love his word choice. It's so him!
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