Bye, Bye, Brown Bear!

We read Brown Bear, Brown Bear for the last time today ... actually, not for the last time ever and not actually for the last time today, we ended up reading it twice but that's kind of besides the point and now I am rambling. Onward! I read Brown Bear first as a recap. Last week we spent Tuesday at a Bible study, one day at a library and one day at a museum, so, we missed a couple of reading days. At the end of Brown Bear it goes over everything that you read or saw and I used this opportunity to see what Vada had learned by asking her to point to certain objects. She did pretty well and when I say pretty well, I don't really know what I base my compassion on. I guess I look at her success this week or specifically in this one area, (right here with what I was asking her to do) as success because in the beginning of the week if I were to ask her to point to a specific picture, she wouldn't  Today, she did and she made great attempts at making the animals sounds as well! To me, that is success!

We played a game that I called the Three Little Bears. I downloaded and printed the bears from 1+1+1=1 but I only used three out of the five or six bears that came in the set. I kept the others for another time however. Three Little Bears was just a sizes sorting game. Since Vada is still quite young and just getting into what sizes and shapes are I thought it would be fun to use the analogy of the "Papa Bear, Mama Bear" and the "Baby bear" to start out showing how the "Papa" was much bigger than the "Baby" and so on. It went alright, she didn't care too much for it but we were able to make it through all twelve of the bears, which I was grateful to have her attention on!

Next I got out the Brown Bear felt pieces. If I haven't already mentioned it before, I love story telling with felt! LOVE IT! 

I told the story in order but I gave it a twist by saying "I see something that says ..." and then I would make the animal sound and then ask Vada what animal made that specific sound. I made a small mistake of giving her Teddy Grahams for a snack but then again, I didn't think that she was going to miraculously begin talking in full sentences during this lesson today either. So, I would give her several seconds to process the question and then I would show her the felt piece and tell her the answer.  "A frog says ribbit, ribbit."

I went through the whole story making the animal sounds and then did the animal sounds as I took them off, by this time Vada had finished her snack and I decided to test her skills a little. I began by handing her a felt animal piece. I asked her "What does a bear say?" And she would attempt to make a grumble. Good enough for me!!! 

Another test then... What's the sign for bear? ...

Touche!

Apparently, she knows her stuff! And yessss, now I am about to show off my kiddos mad skills because you know what, I taught her this stuff and it makes me proud. Proud of myself but mainly proud of her!

Below she is signing 'Bird', she signs it backwards. She signs it how she see's it being signed. She also made sounds for the bird.

She made sounds for the 'duck' but no signs. I think that this sign confuses her because it is very close to being the same as the sign for 'bird'.

I didn't get a sign for 'horse' either, holding that thing and getting it onto the felt board was a task all on its own! But, I did get a sound and that was good enough for me!

Next was frog.

'Frog' is a hard sign, in my opinion, for any young child to do fully be able to do but Vada has made one of her own up that is comparable to the original version and yes, she also has a sound to go along!

'Cat' was next and today, it was one of my favorite signs that she did!

"Vada, show me the sign for 'Cat'."

"Hmmm... I don't know, I don't think I can see that sign. Show me again."

To do the sign for 'Cat' you "make" whiskers on your face, or pretend like your petting your faces cat whiskers. Vada likes to pinch hers. Oh my gosh, I want to eat her, she is so cute!

'Dog' was Vada's first animal sign. To sign 'Dog', you pat your thigh or you pat and snap your fingers. We just pat our thighs.

I didn't expect to get this sound or sign but I got them BOTH!

To sign 'Sheep' you act as if one hand is the sheers or scissors and the other arm is the sheep's wool and you are trimming the sheep's wool. Vada doesn't have the full strength or coordination in her hands to make her fingers open and close like scissors but she did an amazing job at adjusting this sign to still be able to do it!

This was the end to our LOTW and BOTW and what a great way to end it! I was SO PROUD of my learning rock star! I cant wait for our next week of learning she makes it SO fun!

Extreme Shopping and Homemade Predictable Books

There is a local consignment shop that I use and that I love! All of our toys that don't go to Children's Therapy of GiGi's goes here, as well as all of our gently used but unwanted clothes and household items. I love consigning and I love looking through thrift stores for clothes of my own, its fun and sometimes you can find some really great things..., like today.

Cookin' Cookies Game, New $8.88. I paid $1.99.

Old Macdonald Counting Snap Game, New $12.00. I paid $2.00.

Easy Subtraction Fun-To-Know Puzzle, New $9.99, I paid $2.99.

Photo Matching Color Puzzle, I don't know it's original cost, it's from Germany though and I have attached the link to their site, just in case your curious.

3-Scene Sequencing Cards, New $312.68, Used $90.00, I paid $2.99!

 Match & Learn Mathematics, New $5.98, I paid $4.99 (ehh.).

Match-It Math, New $12.71, I paid 2.99.

Match-It Numbers, New $12.99, I paid $3.99.

Sequence Letters board game, New $12.03, I paid $2.99.

Chutes and Ladders Game Rug, New $14.72, I paid $8.99 (this was an accidental purchase. I liked it, ut it in the cart and then as I was checking out and going through things at the register, I sat this aside in the "no pile". The cashier grabbed it and I didn't know until I got home.)

Buddy Bear and Bonnie Bear Books Opposites, set of five, new $43.95, Buddy Bear Comparatives/Superlatives, set of five for $43.95, totaling $87.90. I paid $4.99 for both sets! 

 I don't mean to "toot my own horn" but I ended up with a final bill of $38.91 today (if my math is correct). Since I had $33.00 in in-store credit, what could have been a $267.11 bill (or more), actually turned into a $5.91 bargain extravaganza. Take that extreme couponers! Toot! Toot!

Speaking of learning (because all of the above can be used not only for fun but also for educational purposes),  I finished another book for Vada last night.

It was a whole family project. The girls and I colored the fish.

Justin did the Photoshop work.

I did the cutting, pasting and with Kiliegh's strict supervision... 

I also did the laminating.

One of my favorite blogs is We Can Do All Things: Teaching My Daughter With Down Syndrome. In one of the mom's more recent posts she shared her idea of making predictable books. Everything this mom does for her children is so simple, yet, I am always amazed at what she has thought of. That's why I have become a blog stalker of hers!

I added a tiny twist to our predictable book. The word "fish" is often whispered around or even signed so that Vada doesn't hear or see the word being used. She. Is. Obsessed. With. Gold Fish Crackers. Obsessed!  So, I thought instead of using bears like the mom from We can Do All Things, that I would use fish instead. I'm trying to show Vada that "fish" comes in many, many forms and  that you can't always eat them! 

The book reads like Eric Carle's Brown Bear, Brown Bear book and other than the color change every page reads the same. Predictable and easy to remember! I had the Brown Bear book for Jasmine and Kiliegh but somewhere it has become non-existing in our collection of books. That's okay though, this one means something to all of us. We made it together. 

Since J and K did so well with their predictable book I think that V will as well. With J and K both, they memorized their book quickly and felt as if they could read. So they not only learned their colors but their self esteem was boosted with the sense knowing how to read. I look forward to that moment with Vada. After a few times of reading this book I may begin signing the colors because Vada is a girl of little speaking words but is full of signs. (She has well over thirty functioning signs! I have to update our videos of her signs but updating the videos may not happen until fall..., we'll see.)