This school year has been different because Chloe Jo's teacher rarely gives out homework. Last year, we had homework every Monday through Thursday and we had a reading sheet I had to sign off on for every evening. This year, her new teacher doesn't send anything and we also rarely even get the work that she did at school. It is just very different than it was last year. Not bad, just different. Because of this, I have been lax in reading in the evenings and practicing letters and numbers with Chloe Jo. Because of this, I decided to make a schedule for us to follow.
Last week, Chloe Jo's teacher did include a few things to work on in the weekly newsletter so that is where I started. She encouraged us to create flashcards and make mini-lists of letters to work on every day. We didn't need to create the flashcards because we already had a set.
The first thing we do is go through each letter in the list and Chloe Jo tells me what the letter is and what sound it makes. She is actually pretty efficient in this so we don't have to work on it for very long. Each list has around 5 letters (there are upper and lower case lists). Sometimes we play a game with the list. She especially loves No, No Peeking. I lay out the cards and she covers her eyes. Then we say "No, no peeking. No, no peeking. No, no peekiiinnnnggggg. PEEK!" When she opens her eyes, I have taken a few of the cards. She has to remember which cards I took and tell me the letter and sound. Then I put the cards back and we do it again.
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| Alphabet Mini-Lists |
After the mini-lists, we work on Hooked on Phonics. I have a program for my iPad and it has been great. She loves playing it and it helps her learn to read. Each Hooked on Phonics lesson has 2 songs, around 4 games and a story to read at the end. I am surprised at how fast she picks it up and can read the story. We do one lesson a day. If she struggles with the story, then we repeat the lesson until she can read the story without problem.
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| Hooked on Phonics |
Within our homework time, we also read books. Sometimes we do it at the beginning. Sometimes we do it at the end. It just depends on what Chloe Jo prefers that day.
The last thing (or sometimes the first) thing we do is the calendar. Our friend, Tia, gave us this calendar and we love it. It is perfect for our needs and Chloe Jo likes it because there are a few extra magnets that she can play with (a bird, worm and apple).
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| This is a Melissa and Doug Calendar |
To help keep me accountable, I decided to print out this calendar. I write down which mini-list we need to work on for the week. Then I record which Hooked on Phonics lesson we did and I add an arrow if we get to move on to the next lesson. We also have been working on writing our numbers this week so I have recorded which number we worked on.
Just a few more random things for this post.
I went to the Children's Orchard the other day and came away with a great haul. I was thrilled with the trip! I found Chloe Jo 2 pairs of jeans. One pair is Levi's and the other is Mudd, new with tags. I also found her a rain jacket that doesn't look like it has been worn at all. Then I found her a Juicy sweatshirt, new with tags. The Halloween shirt was a splurge as she didn't need it, but I thought it was too cute. I had a gift card from when I sold them several items and ended up only paying $5 out of pocket! I called the Halloween shirt a splurge because I wouldn't have had to pay anything if I hadn't bought it. I was thrilled especially since 2 of the pieces were new with tags!
Chloe Jo had picture day at school last week. I thought she looked so cute! She is wearing her new skinny jeans from the Children's Orchard haul and I love the cute little owl shirt!
