When the girls and I were at Walmart a couple of weeks ago, I noticed the display poster at the entrance for Rockband / The Beatles. The girls didn't give it a second glance.
So, this past week when I was wondering what to play for morning music, I decided to try The Beatles. At the beginning of the week, Sparkle kept getting The Beatles mixed up with The Beach Boys, which we had listened to earlier. However, by the end of the week she could sort of tell them apart. For some reason Sparkle was really curious about how many Beatles there were. I kept telling her to remind me after breakfast, and we'd look it up, but both of us kept forgetting by the time breakfast was over. Glitter was super silly about the name and wondered it they dressed up as bugs.
Then I ended up going to Walmart again at the end of the week. This time Sparkle honed in on the poster excitedly pointing it out to me. "Look Mom, it's The Beatles!" Yup, it sure is, as if I hadn't been planning it all along. Sparkle was able to see the picture finally could tell that there were four of them. Glitter wasn't with me, or she could have seen that they wore normal clothes. Then I reminded Sparkle about how she got to play Rockband when we went to visit her uncle.
So, it's not a big musical discovery, but I'm adding a little bit of cultural literacy to the kids lives.
We spent most of Friday with the homeschool group, so we didn't do much academics at home. I did assign Sparkle a few math problems, and this time asked her to "show her work," instead of just writing the answer. Although most of her final answers were correct, the part where she showed her work was wrong every time. That means that even on the problems where she got the answer correct, she doesn't really understand.
Sparkle's issue made me think about the phonics vs. sight words wars in teaching reading. Somehow Sparkle has picked up enough math "sight words" to fumble her way through the math equivalent of a basic reader. However, she doesn't know enough "phonics" to "sound out" math problems that she doesn't have memorized. And when she guesses incorrectly, she can't recognize or correct her mistake.
This week I asked Sparkle to do a written narration about our visit to the Theatre District's Open House last Sunday.
I started by having Sparkle tell me what she saw there and I wrote down key words that she said on a scratch piece of paper. Then I gave her a brief outline of what to say: start with where we went, then describe what she saw, and finally say what she liked best. Then I left her alone. When she was done writing, she drew a picture to go with it. Here is her narration. I have retained her spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
**********
My mom my sister and I. Whent to the Houstn Ballet we saw rats. And got to take pictures with some of the dancers. And I saw a huge crystal light we saw a gril in pink she looked like a princess. in a chair becuse she was in a chair. I liked the princess best and of corse in the chair
Glitter started her first day of school at her Mother's Day Out program.
After wearing croc-style shoes all summer long, it was time to don socks and sturdy shoes. I made sure to allow her extra time for her to put them on herself.
She confidently pulled her own school bag and despite her voiced apprehensions in the car, she was ready to march into the classroom as soon as we got there. The hallway was crowded with lots of moms and children and cameras, as usual. I had Sparkle sign Glitter in, just like last year. It's good handwriting practice and helps her remember our phone number. Sparkle even remembered how to spell my name.
The room was all set up for the kids. There were two short tables with kid chairs. At each seat was a coloring page and a pink or blue box filled with crayons. Each box was labeled with a child's name. Glitter's was the one close to the door and I pointed it out to her. She's very familiar with the concept of a personal box of colors ever since I instituted the practice at home.
Finally it was time for the kiddos to enter the classroom. Glitter was about to cross the threshold when I reminded her to give hugs. I would be so sad if I didn't get a good hug before leaving her. So Glitter gave Sparkle and I great big hugs and kisses and demanded kisses in return.
Then she marched right in, no tears or clingy-ness, and sat down at the seat with her box of colors. I know she'll have a great day.
Then Sparkle and I went home. I decided to start the school year with testing. Yeah, not fun, but I wanted a baseline. I used the DORA (reading) and DOMA (math) tests from the Let's Go Learn web site.
Sparkle flew through the reading test, as I expected. Her scores showed some improvement over the first time I gave her the test, at the end of Kindergarten. I was glad to have with the results, but I have mixed feelings about the test. I love that the test covers multiple grade levels, which is a big help when dealing with asynchronous development. I liked that the test seemed to remember where she was at last time. However, the end of the test (reading comprehension) dragged on and on. Last time I think she had three short passages to read. This time it gave her six long passages. We took a break near the end and played Candyland before finishing the last passage.
Then after lunch she did the math test. I was apprehensive about this test, as math is her weakest subject. I hated this test. Sparkle hated the test. Part of the reason I chose the test is that it is suppose to be adaptive. If she gets an answer wrong, she should get an easier question. Well, when the student can't figure out that 18 is less than 25, why on earth would you later on ask her to do division with remainders???? The test also asked about a *lot* of stuff that I haven't taught her yet and other stuff was phrased differently from what she was used to. As a result, Sparkle got really, really discouraged, up to the point that she no longer tried to figure out the questions and started clicking random answers. It was a very disheartening experience, even though, at the end of the test she scored at grade level.
a beautiful princess trapped in a chair for hours on end
... all on the spur of the moment.
This Sunday afternoon we went to the Theatre District's Open House. That is, Sparkle, Glitter, and I went. Wander didn't think that he would be up to all the walking involved. It ended up being a *lot* of walking. We criss-crossed the parking center going from one theatre to another on the opposite end. We hiked up miles of stairs from the depths of the parking center to the heights of the balcony in two theatres. We got pictures with characters from The Nutcracker. We got to tour one theatre and sit in the really, really, really expensive seats. We got to see the dressing rooms of the stars. We got to stand on the stage. The girls got to play dress up with actual costumes from a ballet. We watched a wigmaker plying her trade. We listened to a small jazz ensemble in a cozy theatre and a full orchestra in an expansive concert hall. The girls drank it all in. Our discussion about expected behavior in the drive down paid off. I had to threaten to leave only a few times, and the girls survived five hours with no snacks or drinks and only one potty break at the end.
I was really tempted to buy tickets to the ballet. They were selling package deals at an awesome discount. However, Wander says that weird things are going on at his work, and his surgery was really expensive, so I didn't. Maybe next year.
We didn't get home until supper time, and I really didn't feel like cooking. So, we went out to eat. (Hey, I didn't spend the money on tickets.) It was Wander's first time wearing shoes and going out of the house since his surgery.
**************** Photos:
Some of the crowds ...
The view from the really expensive seats ...
My dancers with their dancers ...
Playing dress up ...
Glitter dancing on stage ...
Sparkle reciting her poem very quietly ...
**************** Explaination:
white knuckle driving: I hate driving downtown, even in the relatively little traffic found on a Sunday afternoon
a subterranean maze: the parking garage
a jar of blood: a prop for one of the shows; the kids got to stick their fingers in it.
a mechanical man who removed his head: The Nutcracker freaked Glitter out until he removed his mask.
a bull's glowing head: a volunteer had a "Carmen" t-shirt. I pointed it out because we had recently listened to some themes from the opera during morning music
superb music: symphony and jazz ensemble
giant rats: from The Nutcracker
prestine tile: The girls thought the restroom was the cleanest they'd ever seen
dress up: the girls got to try on real costumes
no nap!: Glitter's real reason for wanting to go on the trip
marmalade sandwiches: The girls pretended to drop marmalade sandwiches over the balcony. (I had just read them that part of "A Bear Called Paddington.")
reciting poetry: I had Sparkle practice a poem on stage
nose-bleed seats: The only seats available upon our late arrival to the symphony's concert
windowless, soundproof rooms: the dressing rooms for the stars of the shows, complete with pianos and toilets!
a fistful of human hair twisted and tied in knots: wigmaking
a really expensive chandelier: in the Green Room
imaginary money: Glitter gave a salesman imaginary money to buy imaginary tickets
a lame man emerging from seclusion: I bullied Wander into go to the restaurant with us
masses of blue shopping bags: given out free to everyone who visited the open house
a beautiful princess trapped in a chair for hours on end: a ballerina posing for pictures
