All about spelling

Hi Readers,

Recently I made a purchase from the Institute for the excellence in writing to teach my eldest dd how to write,(Primary Arts of Language) in this pack also came a program to help teach your child how to spell. So far my dd and I have just completed lesson 6 and my dd is absolutely loving it.

All about spelling is a spelling program was created by Marie Rippel and what I really love about this program is a great hands on approach for kids (who may or may not be able to write) it really encourages you to use many ways to make spelling fun and as tactile as possible and it also encourages you to be flexible. You know your child the best  so find out what works and stick with it.

What I love is the no pressure approach which is especially important for teaching young children and the key is 'Don't worry about completing each lesson every day or worry about getting behind the goal is mastery of the key concepts.'

We go over a few of the concepts every day and play games like "what 3 sounds does this letter make" and I show her the letter 'a'. We play lots of games and use lots of mediums to convey the key concepts

I have to also say from my standpoint I just open it up to the lesson I'm working on get out the materials I need and just get started. Which is great for me as I don't have a huge amount of time to be preparing materials.

So I must share this with you. It is a great little program and well worth it if you want to teach your kids how to spell.

So I will summarise in dot points the pros and cons

PROS

• Each step laid out in a book with lots of hints and tips
• Flexible approach no lesson has to be mastered in a day take the time your child needs (I have broken 1 lesson down into 3 small lessons.
• Its fun
• All the materials you need are include in the pack
• A certificate for the child once they have completed the course
• A progress chart so your child can tick off or colour in each lesson
• A chart to colour in all the letter sounds once you master them

CONS

• I did spend a lot of time prepping the materials BUT I laminated all the cards which you don't have to do which is time consuming in itself and I magnetised each of the individual letter tiles myself as they don't come magnetised. It is up to you if you wish to magnetise the letter tiles and laminate the cards which you don't have to do. I just did this for longevity of the materials

• Wish it came with a few more progress charts, sound charts and certificate would be great to be used with subsequent children.

Here are some photos of my DD miss S doing some spelling

As you can see some of the tiles letters on a magnetic white board, we use these quite a bit. You can also see Miss S likes to practice writing as well. Just completed her first 'spelling test' she got 10/10

This is some Montessori moveable alphabet I have (Not included in all about spelling) but just another way to teach spelling

I like to use soft toys to help teach this is 'spelling dog' he likes to help find letters.

'Spelling Dog' helping to find the letter 'd'

Needing a little coaxing to find the letter 'd'

Spelling the word 'sad' of course this can only be done in heels :)

Learning to swim

Hello Readers,

Since it is summer here in Australia, I thought it would be an appropriate time to talk abut teaching your children to swim. My Husband and always knew from the start that both of our children would be learning to swim as soon as they were old enough.

At the swim centre that we attend they start children as young as 5months  and as soon as both the girls turned 5 months old we had them in the water. Or should I say back in the water (As they already had spent 9 months in a liquid environment.).

Miss A (approx 5 months old) awaiting her first lesson. You can already see she is excited

So why teach them to swim at such a young age? My parents live near the beach and my husband believed it is imperative that they were both water confident and they knew how to swim for their own safety. Me: I learnt to swim at a young age and I have no fear of the water unlike my dad who is terrified of water and says it is only for drinking and bathing (hehehe) I shouldn't laugh but my dad was born in England.

I Love  Swimming My eldest dd awaiting her lesson

. I know Glenn Doman says in his book "Teach Your Child To Swim' That nearly all Australian babies are taught how to swim not because of its early learning benefits but it is a big cultural thing in Australia to teach your kids to swim early. Most of my mum's group have their children in swimming lessons. There was also a big campaign in Australia (around the late 80's early 90's)  as most toddler deaths are due to drowning in backyard pools, so there was a big push to teach your children to swim at a young age for their own safety as well as the parents doing First Aid.

There are other benefits to learning to swim at a young age to and here they are.

Miss A enjoying her first swimming lesson with her Daddy

Miss S is now in the water without a parent but loves swimming

• Babies less than a year old except the water more readily
• Fear of water is acquired as children grow older: the longer a child is kept away from water the more likely they are to develop a fear of the water
• Babies can exercise more muscles in the water, they are less restricted by gravity and their ability to sit or stand. This increased strength often manifest in early acquisitions of physical skills like walking.
• Swimming improves babies cardiovascular fitness. Although babies are limited in how much they can can improve their endurance. Swimming does have a beneficial effect.
• Early mastery of water movements gives children a head start in learning basic swimming skills.
• Water helps improve co-ordination and balance by forcing babies to move bilaterally to maintain their equilibrium.
• Warm water combined with gentle exercise relaxes and stimulates babies appetites. They usually eat and sleep better on swimming days
• Doctors often recommend swimming as the exercise of choice for asthmatics. For many asthmatics, exercise produces bronchial hyperactivity. Swimming stimulates less wheezing than other forms of exercise, possibly because the warm, moist around the pools is less irritating on the lungs.
• Babies flourish in the focused attention their parents lavish on them during swimming
• Swimming provides babies with lots and lots of skin to skin contact with their parents which psychologists say may deepen the bond between parent and child. (Both my girls swim with their dad. We have made swimming their special thing with Daddy)
• Learning to swim is not only fun, healthy activity but a safety measure as well. (Drowning is the major of accidental death in under 5 in Australia and many who don't drown are left with permanent brain damage)

Eagerly awaiting instruction

Learning from Sue the teacher

Fun on the mat

Enjoying time with Daddy. Miss A's first lesson

How to start teaching your baby to read.

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would start a bit of a series on teaching a baby to read and cover off each week some of the ways I have been using with both of my children to teach them to read. Each week I will go through 1 way in detail and you can post questions or comments.

This Week I will cover "How to get started in teaching your baby to read"


1. Where do I start?  It is very overwhelming and exciting when you first think you can teach your child to read there is so much information on how to do it and so many ways, you can give up before you have started. So here is a list of questions you need to ask yourself before you start to help you narrow down what is the best way for you and your child.

When I start this program will I be working outside the home? This is a very important question to ask if you are going to use a ready made program or DIY it. A reading program must be delivered in a fun stress free way and if you are working you need to make it easy on yourself. Sometimes it is really good to just press play and watch a DVD or computer program and sit down and enjoy the program with your child and join in with them. You can also buy many programs that come with Flashcards already made and a set of instructions for you to follow and its as easy as 1,2,3. You can still DIY it if you want to but it is time consuming to make your own flashcards. I have made my own and it is time consuming but rewarding to see your work.


How comfortable am I using a computer program/DVD Program? There is a lot of 'research' out in the market today that TV for an under to is a no no. Personally I agree 'normal children's programming'  probably should be avoided it is crap with alot of the TV shows set up with characters who do not speak properly or programs that are touted as educational but actually teach nothing. Educational DVDs from my own anecdotal evidence do teach.My eldest DD learnt to read from Your Baby Can Read program and learned to sign over 400 hundred signs from a program called signing time. Please be aware that children do learn from television programs.


Do I want to make my own Flashcards?  Time consuming but can be very rewarding.


How much time am I willing to devote to making my own cards? Making your own flashcards is time consuming and you will need at least 200 to get you started and you will be amazed at how quickly you go through them. It is very rewarding to put all that love and effort in and see your child enjoy them. You will need to devote at least a couple of hours every night to making flashcards. The words will need to be large and clear. You will need approx 100 nouns, 50-75 verbs and 25-50 adjectives to get started.


Do I have any other commitments other than my child/ren that could possibly interrupt the reading process? (You may volunteer during the day? or have sick parents you are taking care of. You are studying and that needs all of your attention? Anything that could interrupt the consistency on a regular basis or make you forget?  Like anything consistency is king if you wish to master something. If you want to teach your child to read you will need to be committed. Just like doing a reader every night when they are in school. If you have something in your life right now which is putting you under alot of stress now is not the time to start a reading program, it is better to wait and get over what ever is happening in your life so you can give your time and energy to it.

Another thing that is important and often over looked is how you deliver the reading process. Your tone of voice, your own happiness, or even if you are tired and don't really want to do it or even if you are bored because you don't think your child is learning all of this teaches your child what to think about reading.  Remember how you deliver the reading program is just as important as what you deliver.



Now you have answered those questions the next question is....

When do I start?   ASAP or if your are pregnant or have a newborn and you are reading this it's as soon as the baby can track with their eyes. So if the baby spots you from across the room and follows you with their eyes or you hold your finger up and your baby follows it. You can start a reading program with them.


I hope this is helpful.
Kimba


Next week I will cover some of the pros and cons with teaching a baby to read and how to overcome them.

Remember my Little Reader Give Away click here to enter http://intellikidsdownunder.blogspot.com/2011/09/little-reader-review-with-little-reader.html