Friday, October 28, 2011

School Week(s) Review

I've done a terrible job of taking notes lately.  As a result, I have no idea how often we've been going to the schoolroom.  Some days its only been 30 minutes before bed :)  I mentioned before that I had to switch things out pretty quickly, so there are some things that went in and out without mention of what Link did with them.

This is the post I made with new activities, but never got around to reviewing how it went.
One main note I want to make is that Link is not interested in doing activities that involve pictures printed on paper more than once.  There were a few I thought he'd just love doing - such as the dinosaur matching cards.  Nope!  He did it once and that was it.  So I have decided that I need to try not to have too many of these at one time, try not to put too much effort into making them since they won't get used much, and try to switch them out pretty quickly.  One thing he seemed to have difficulty with was the "What is different" cards.  He tends to put three markers on the things that are the same :)  Obviously he can tell the difference, but either doesn't understand the instructions, or choses to ignore them.  He seems to understand the Land, Air and Water cards, but was never able to complete it before he stopped attempting it.  He did like the "what goes together cards" and did them maybe 2 or 3 times.  The classification cards (ocean and farm) were way too easy, and he lost interest in that quickly.  All of these are off the shelves now.

In the School Room Setup post, I mentioned that I added some of my new materials.  I'll go through each activity (sorry if this gets long winded, but its the best way for me to record how he's doing with new works).

Pink tower - Link is really not interested in this work right now.  He did attempted it once after I gave him the presentation.  He is good at the size discrimination, but doesn't try to carefully center the pieces.  After the one time, he has not touched it again.  I've suggested it, but he just says "No thanks!"  I may try to give him a presentation on an extension and see if that peaks his interest... maybe.

Red rods - Link seemed really excited about these and asked for them before I even had them on the shelves.  However, after giving him the presentation, he wouldn't touch them for days.  Then when he did, he just wanted to build a building.  I asked if he remembered the presentation, but he would just say "I'm building you a tall building".  When I said "Well, they aren't really for building" his reply was "I'm building like the pink tower".  I just left it alone and decided to re-present another time.

Cylinder blocks - the first and second blocks seemed really easy.  However, he doesn't really mix them up when he takes them out, so I'm sure that helps.  The one time he has done each, he did them quickly then put them away.  I plan to introduce a new one each day, then start with two - I think that will be a bit more challenging and interesting for him.

Geometric solids - these have gotten a little attention, even if I have to jump-start it.  He explored them a few times before ignoring them.  So today I did the next presentation from Gettman, where you point out that you can match up the bases.  Of course it sparked the "I'm building a building" reaction.  But he didn't get carried away with it, and at least he was using them and noticing the shapes.

Globe - the sandpaper globe has been a hit.  He's gotten it out a few times and explored it.  He'll point out all the land and water, and we'll talk about things that live on land and in the water.  He likes to pretend that he's telling me where we live, and how we're going to the beach and jumping in the water.  Next week I'm going to bring out the continents globe and map.

Puzzles - also a hit.  He kept asking for others that I don't have out, so today I broke down and put all eight of them out!  Plus, he can't see them when they are stacked, so I spread them out on all the shelves that had space.  I will have to come up with a better solution since I will not have space for that once I start adding other works.

Sound boxes - I'm so excited about these!  I had the 'b' box and 'c' box out, but put the 'b' one away since he lost interest in it. Today at the library I found some great books to add to the boxes!  They are sound box books and Link really liked it.  I think its the fact that the little kid is putting things in the box, just like Link's sound box.  He went through it twice today.  I had been really wanting the Alphatales books, but they are $40.  Now that I know I can get these from the library, I will probably put off buying anything for a while :)  I plan on working up my boxes and having 2-3 out at a time.  I went ahead and checked out the 'd' and 'e' books.

Practical Life - I am really lacking in this area.  I plan on adding a few things for next week.  Rather than post my ideas, I'll just wait and post what actually gets done :)

The sound bottles have been put into new boxes and I'll give a new presentation next week.  For now, they are off the shelves.

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