[PreK and K Plans?]

  

DD finished Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading in PreK and we are moving on to The Good and The Beautiful's Language Arts Level 1. We will continue this in K and probably move on to level 2. She's also doing their handwriting.

 

 

Oooooh....I've never seen this curriculum before but I kind of love it!  I might have to consider trading out English Lessons Through Literature for this! :)

[PreK and K Plans?]

I've been in Kindergarten planning mode recently too..here is what I have right now :).

Bible

Egermiers Bible Storybook (we'll be using this for oral narrations as well) 
Leading Little Ones to God

Math

Horizons
Supplementing with games (Prime Climb, Prodigy, etc..)

Language Arts

Phonics - continuing on with OPGTTR
Spelling - daily review words from OPGTTR
Readers - Elson and Christian Liberty (pulling from for vocabulary and comprehension)
Penmanship/Copywork - English Lessons Through Literature
Grammar - English Lessons Through Literature
Literature - English Lessons Through Literature, picture books, chapter books, lots of free reading, etc..

Nature/science/Art

Nature walks
Nature journal/table
Seasonal art projects
Books/Netflix documentaries/Etc... on an interest led basis

Social Studies/Geography

This one is still up in the air as I really don't think anything is necessary at the Kindergarten level  however he does have a strong interest (at the moment) in maps and different places from around the world so we might do something very casual..a learning about  how children live around the world kind of thing.

Music

Continuing on with piano lessons

Misc.

Chess
Swim and Gym at our local Y
board games
puzzles
logic games



 

[I'm disappointed and I don't feel right about calling UPDATED #34]

Happy birthday!  I'm sorry your mom forgot.  My mom and I have a pretty easy going relationship so I'd probably call and just say , "Helllooooo...did you forget something?!", lol, but only because I KNOW that if she didn't call it was because she forgot or got distracted and that it was in no way purposeful.

[IQs, testing, growth mindsets, and other rambling thoughts]

 

I think the "accurate by age 8" thing mostly means that before 8yo IQ tests are a crapshoot - for example, my oldest scored a verbal IQ of 75 at 4yo (WPPSI), 108 or so at 7yo (WISC), and tested into CTY's gifted program at almost 9yo (SCAT) - but it's extremely unlikely that he'd ever score at a PG level, no matter what we do or what he does (and not just because PG level scores are very rare). 

 

 

 

So..just out of curiosity..why so many tests and why did you start so young?  I'm in no way questioning your decision for so much testing as I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable answer..just wondering :).  We're considering testing once ds turns 6..mostly just to see how he does and to have the information on hand in the case he's ever eligible for any programs, etc..

[Uhh..so what does "JAWM" mean?]

Ahhhh...thank you!  I was heavily leaning towards, "Just Asking, Well Meaning", lol.

[Uhh..so what does "JAWM" mean?]

I see it quite a bit in post titles..

Thanks!

[Feeling Defeated After Achievement Testing (Me, Not the Kid) -- Long]

His lowest score was 2.5 (writing fluency, which was timed) and his highest score was 11.9 (writing samples). Most of the scores were in the middle school level (5-8), which is where I think he is working, if I had to peg him. But, again, I don't really understand what these scores mean, as I don't think they are actually grade level equivalents. They are something like, "this is what the average X grader can do," if I understood her explanation correctly. Bright, certainly, but definitely not PG/qualifying for Epsilon, which requires the 99.9%

 

 

I guess I'm having a hard time understanding how an 8 year old who scores consistently at the 5th-8th grade level and even hits the 11th grade level in some areas wouldn't be quantified as PG?

[Teaching 4/5 Yr Old To Read!!]

We live in the Western New York area and my youngest currently attends our local UPK (Universal Pre Kindergarten).  By the END of PreK (so, entering Kindergarten) they want them to know how to write the letters and their names (although as of January most of the names were still illegible on a card that came home that all the children had signed), to be able to recognize their letters (upper and lower), to know the sounds the letters make, number concepts to 10 (counting, simple adding), and a list of other age appropriate things..rhyming, shapes, colors, etc..  Perhaps things differ drastically around the country but here there certainly is no expectation of reading entering Kindergarten.  My niece is currently in Kindergarten and my sister said that by the middle of the year they like to them to be reading simple books...but not at the beginningn.

[Sleepovers - how do you do it?]

We're pretty lax with cousin sleepovers..generally if my nephew and son (both 14) spend any time together on any given day where they have no school/activities the next day a sleepover almost always happens.  Sometimes my nephew will just stow away in the back part of my car when I'm leaving his house and by the time I get home and find him I don't feel like driving him all the way back to his house so he just stays over.  There have been entire weeks in the summer time where they just went back and forth sleeping over at each other's houses.  They're actually having an up-all-night pizza, poker, and video game binge birthday sleepover tonight...super fun.  

Non-relative sleep overs are rarer occurrences and I need a little prep time for those, lol.

[Sight Words Yay or Nay]

I'm going to be one of the few who says, "yay"!  I took a balanced, blended approach with both of my whole language leaning kiddos and they both read beautifully well and have suffered zero consequences from sight words :).

[Dinner Help: need recipe for knock out sauce for salmon!]

I don't like salmon but my husband and son do.  This is my go to recipe because it's easy and doesn't leave any fishy smell lingering in the air.  They enjoy it..so I'm assuming it tastes good to folks who like salmon, lol.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes-menus/the-best-salmon-you-ve-ever-had-is-slow-baked-in-just-22-minutes-recipe-article

[What TV show have you watched multiple times?]

Sherlock
Psych
Downton Abbey
Arrested Development
Freaks and Geeks
Game of Thrones

Just realizing I have eclectic tastes in TV, lol.

 

[How do you know when to call it quits?]

I think your plan is perfect :).

[Resources for aspiring composers?]

Oh, something I can actually help with in a music thread! You might find this useful: http://people.virginia.edu/~pdr4h/musicpaper/ I keep some printed out for DD to play around with.

Thank you!  I've bookmarked this for future use :). Right now part of the fun is making the lines and music symbols on his own but I'm sure someday this will come in very useful!

[Resources for aspiring composers?]

Following..I'm non music mom of a four year old who started playing piano earlier this year and loves to "compose" songs..I think I might need to provide him with more than paper, markers, and a ruler someday in the future, lol. 

[Help me answer the "How old is your dc question?"]

For the 4 year old I say, "He's 4."

For the 14 year old I say, "He's 14."

[Blocking Forums?]

Hello :)

Is there the way to filter out the thread titles from a forum of which I am not a follower of so that they aren't visible when I click "New Content"?  

Let's say, for example, I am not a follower of and have no interest in seeing the thread titles which are posted in the "Current Events" forum.

I'm sure there must be a way to do this but I am just too unintelligent and unreasonable to figure it out.

Thanks in advance! :)

[What curriculum to use for an accelerated reader (4 years old)]

Here's what we're currently doing with ds 4 (almost 5).  Ds is naturally inclined towards a whole reading approach but I wanted to make sure we get a good phonics foundation in there too :).  He can read just about anything but his comprehension is pretty solidly at about a 3rd grade level.  

Review/spelling/penmanship - I pull 5-10 review words from a previous "Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading" and dictate them for him to write/spell on his own 

Phonics - one lesson from "Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading" 

Vocabulary/Reading - I pull any unfamiliar vocabulary words from the current reader passage he's on (right now it's the Elson reader..sometimes it's Christian Liberty's Nature readers), we discuss the meanings of the vocabulary words and then he reads the passage aloud. 

Literature - He reads on and off by himself during the day..we always read about together before bedtime (I read a story, he reads a story)..I have a list of good picture books to choose from and I also read some from a chapter book as well :). 
 

[4 year old accelerated reader- don't know what to do next!]

I have an almost 5 year old in the same place and I also second picture books :).  We're going to give a short chapter book a try soon...possibly Nate the Great or a Magic Treehouse book.  I found the "Mensa for Kids: reading list to be a good place to move to after graduating from the "I Can Read" type books :).

http://www.mensaforkids.org/achieve/excellence-in-reading/excellence-in-reading-k-3-list/

 

[Criteria for Gifted Services in Public School]

Get good grades; teacher likes the child's behavior; top 10% cogat.

 

Really.

Yup, basically the same here minus the tip 10% cogat...I don't think they even administer an iq test for our local "gifted magnet" or weekly pull out programs.  The kids who get in here are the kids who the teachers like..who sit still and keep their folders organized and raise their hands often..who score well on tests (and whose parents insist they need to be in the program, lol).  Not surprisingly the majority of students accepted into these programs are girls, lol.

[Picture resolution/printing]

Unfortunately once you edit a RAW image it can't be saved in RAW....psd...jpg....even a Tiff...but not RAW.  Understandably, most photographers won't give out unedited RAW, straight out of the camera images and even if they would they would still need to be in jpg for most printers.

3600x2400 at 300dpi should be more than large enough to print a good quality 5x7.

Here is a helpful chart for reference...

http://devblog.befunky.com/resize-photos/

 

[Blow me away with some good stocking stuffers for men]

I'm crocheting some Pikmin and a Captain Olimar for my gamer nerd husband :).

[Would you move the whole family for the needs of one child?]

Anywhere that the acceptance rate, no matter how qualified you are (and how overqualified for most programs you'd be) is low enough that you have a high probability of being rejected, so getting in is like winning the lottery-pure luck.

 

Ahh, see where I live a "lottery school" is one where you apply and then names are literally drawn from a hat to see who gets in.

 

Any updates on the application process with you dd?

[explain appeal of The Christmas Story]

I am not talking about the biblical nativity story. I am talking about the movie with the kid and the BB gun that seems to be wildly popular and is being performed locally as a play. I watched the movie once and did not get at all why this would be so iconic. I found it pointless and would not watch it a second time. Is there a larger cultural framework I am missing as an immigrant? 

 

Enlighten me what people find special about it.

If it needs to be explained then you'll never understand.  ;)

[I hope the "open cardigan" fad leaves quickly.]

I like them open..preferably paired with a cute flowy blouse underneath :).  I am..well endowed..so for me to be able to button a cardigan and not have the button holes pulling apart over my chest I need to get one at least a size larger than what I wear which means it fits too big every where else.