'E' is for Elmer, Our Mascot This Week

Today we started letter 'E'!This curriculum comes from a whole alphabet kit  called "Letter of the Week" and I purchased through Confessions of a Homeschooler. 

It's almost like starting a whole new curriculum because from here on out these letters are new to Vada and I. However, the work inside of these binders are pretty similar to every other binder so its not too new but its still exciting to be making progress!

Our memory verse this week comes from the book of Proverbs 20:11, Even a child is known by His doings.

We also got to read and look at a new page from our Big Thoughts For Little People book. 

"E is for everyone. God loves us all. The black and the white and the short and the tall."

I really enjoy reading these pages along with the LOTW curriculum to Vada. However, this specific poem made me pause for a second. I have friends who don't like to be referred to as being black and I also have friends who are Caucasian and don't like being called white. Neither preference is insignificant, they both have their own reasons behind their own preferences. This poem made me wonder even as the Christians that they are, would they be turned off from this book because of this poem even though this book is clearly geared more for followers of Christ. Clearly our skin colors vary in tones and are more than just a simple name or title to a large category of tints and shades...and there was where I solved my own personal question... this poem and the usage of "black and white" described a persons skin color in two large lump sums. I had to go back to my elementary art classes where I learned about colors and where I was taught that 'black' and 'white' were not considered colors but a shade and a tint. This poem is just saying that God loves everyone no matter what their skin color is.

For me, Im kind of pinkish but I prefer to just be called "white". Tonight, right before I wrote that last sentence, I looked up from my laptop and asked my husband "what color is my skin?", I was hoping he would give me some details but he just went with "White". Yep, I'm white and God loves me regardless.
Sometimes, I think that I just worry too much about other people and sometimes I think that I just think or read too much into things!

 'E' is for elephant and since we already had an Elmer the elephant, I thought that we would use him as this weeks mascot.

Vada likes him, so she was game for inviting him into our classroom.

After some one on one time with Elmer Vada began coloring her color recognition pages for her letter 'E' book that came from 3Dinosaurs.com. 

There were quit a lot of color pages to do, no more than normal but we were having a lot of loud noise coming from the outside construction and Vada was having a hard time staying focused on coloring. So we cut this activity short for today and will finish the remaining pages tomorrow.

Next we worked on some puzzles. I think this one actually came from Wal-Mart and quite some time ago but I chose it because it had a elephant on it and 'E' is for elephant! Vada and I worked on this puzzle three times in a row together.

We also did an alphabet puzzle. I had Vada take all of the pieces out one by one and as she did I said what the letter was. Then I had her point to what piece she wanted to fill. Each spot had a picture of an object that began with what ever letter that happened to fit into it. So I would say something like "That's an apple. Apple starts with the letter 'A'. The 'A' says ahhh.". This is the way we did the whole puzzle! 

i like to throw in learning activities whenever I can and if I can do it without it being known I like doing it even more so! We have snack time a couple of times throughout the week. Today we had animal crackers for our snack. I thought it was a fitting snack for an elephant themed week. Last year I couldn't put any kind of snack food, let alone Gold Fish in front of her, without her eating it immediately! Now however, we can count each piece of food out and she will put each single piece of food into her bowl or onto her plate. Its great!

As I am looking at this next photo I think it's kind of funny how I could of read both of these for letter 'A'. However, I chose these two books as starter books and before we went to the library because they both had elephants in them. Just staying with the theme.

Vada cuddled with Elmer, ate her snack while listening attentively to the two stories.

Before snack time I asked Vada to pick out two different colors of bowls to put our animal crackers in. She chose purple and orange. Those are going to be the two colors that we will be focusing on this week. I brought out those two colors of baskets from our Farmer's Market game and had Vada attempt to sort out the fruit and vegetables. 

She did alright with the Farmer's Market color sorting activity but she didn't want to put much focus into what she was doing (it wasn't fun or interesting enough today). After her first full attempt we moved on.

I figured since we had these two colors in our crayon sorters and hadn't used them yet, now would be a good time. 

She really likes the mystery of what's inside so this did keep her attention.

I started with the orange crayon and then we moved onto the purple. We kept all of the colored objects separated by their colors until the very end and then I mixed them up. 

One by one I handed her an object. I named the object, "this is the big fish". Then I named the color, "this fish is purple". I would then ask her to put the object into the appropriate crayon container, "Vada, will you put the big purple fish into the purple crayon container".  She did much better with this activity than she did with the Farmer's Market activity. We will do both of these again at least once, of not more, throughout the week.

We started working on single number recognition today. I brought out many visual stimulants for Vada today. Awhile ago we purchased TouchMath Texture Cards as well as TouchMath 3-D Numerals, these two things came in very handy today and were the first to be introduced to Vada for our 'number one' lesson. (We will be focusing on zero some as we go through the numbers but mainly after we have completed number nine.)

Another great thing we used today was the number peg board, this actually came in a set which was purchased from Discount School Supplies.

After we examined the flashcards, the TouchPoint numeral and put the one peg into its place on the peg board I brought out many different objects to count. Some of these counting objects were specific to math, like the disk, the ring and the Numicon, others were just random toys and every day objects. 

I also threw in the uppercase and lowercase letters of the week, letter 'Ee".

Once we were done counting all of our objects we moved on to a numbers workbook that I ordered last year before our classroom was even complete! This was kind of an accidental order (you can purchase a individual set or a classroom set). I did mean to order the books but I meant to order the individual set. So now I have like fifteen of each, or something like that! 

Anyway, the booklets came from Handwriting Without Tears and I figure that this large quantity is a benefit to us. We can go over the number books as much as we need to. I don't need to do any extra copying and Vada will get lots of practice!

Today, we went through the whole booklet, its pretty short, and traced all of the number one's and then we began to go back through and look closer at the pictures and color them. Tomorrow, we will spend more time coloring the pages and counting the pictures and then on Thursday we will start on a new packet but on number one again. Hopefully, her tracing skills will be slightly improved and maybe even her pointing/counting skills as well. That's my goal for her, for now.

We added the upper and lowercase letter 'Ee's to our Alphabet Center and sang the alphabet song three times today! 

Vada is very good at letting me be first at singing the song now. She waits patiently and follows along with the pointer and then when it is her turn she seems to get a ton of letters correct when I am singing the song for her, I am uncertain if this is by chance or not but I have noticed it many times and with the same letters, so I am thinking that things are clicking for her! 

Were are going to just continue with what were doing. Im not going to stop and try to quiz her and see what she knows and what she doesn't. I am going to keep doing what works, step it up a notch here and there where I see fitting for her and go with her pace. I think, as her mom and teacher, that she is making great strides and I am so pleased to be able to home with her and to be teaching her. In return, she is also teaching me!

Annual Goals and This Years Curriculum and Materials

Well, I did it...or at least I think that I have. I am sure that I will be coming back to this list and adding to it with numerous things that I have forgotten or haven't even thought of but the general goals of this year have been planned out and it feels really good to have this completed.

If your going through this and notice anything that I have forgotten or left out please let me know! I have never wrote one of these, never and I got most of my ideas and information from online posts of other children Vada's age who also have Down syndrome.

While I do realize that this"plan" is not for anyone other than for me and for my personal teaching goals to help Vada learn and grow this year, I would like to make it as accurate and realistic as possible. I'm not necessarily talking about using the proper terminology but more along the lines of what goes into our goal list for the year.

  So as your reading this just please keep in mind that Miss Vada is currently a three and a half years old little girl and will be turning four in March of 2014 and that every child is different in their learning styles and in their growth patterns. Therefore, what is in your goal list for your child may or may not be appropriate for ours. However, suggestions are welcome.

Annual Goals

Vada will increase independence in her toilet training and teeth brushing skills to improve overall age appropriate self-help skills. 

Vada will:

1.)Work toward and eventually becoming able to push down her her own pants when prompted into doing so, during the correct times.

2.)Work toward and eventually become able to pull up her own pants when prompted into doing so, during the correct times. 

3.)Remain dry through out the day and in between toileting intervals.

4.)Use toilet paper, flush, wash and then dry hands after each bathroom visit.

5.)Wear training underwear during the days other than during nap-time and at bedtime with no accidents.
6.)Assist Mama in toothbrush preparation each morning and night.
7.)Attempt independent teeth brushing time after Mama has done her initial cleaning.

Vada needs to increase her self-help skills in order to increase independence with dressing skills.

Vada will:

1.)Work on training boards that include zipping, snapping, buttoning, lacing, tying and buckling and will use these learned skills with real life clothes and circumstances.

2.)Assist mommy or others with getting herself dressed.

3.)Zip her jacket or coat after it has been hooked.

4.)Pull on her own socks after they have been placed onto her feet.

5.)Push her feet into her shoes after they have been put on.

6.)Put her backpack on to her back correctly with minimal assistance and wear it to and from our classroom.

7.)Remove her backpack from her back and hang it on the correct hook in the classroom and then in her room after class.

Vada will increase socialization, play, and attending abilities to develop overall age appropriate social skills.

Vada will:

1.)Say/sign her first name when prompted.

2.)Identify her written first name when prompted.

3.)Imitate simple motor actions and body movements during songs and fingerplays with minimal assistance.

4.)Participate in turn taking activities during play groups as well as her musical groups, when prompted.

5.)Demonstrate appropriate use/play with objects and toys.

6.)Make activity choices when given two choices.

Vada will ambulate independently over all surfaces and elevations.

Vada will:

1.)Stand from the floor using a half kneel posture.

2.)Step up a 2-4" step independently.

3.)Ascend steps using one hand on a handrail and placing both feet on each step independently.

4.)Descend steps using one hand on a handrail and placing both feet on each step independently.

5.)Ambulate independently over all services, and stepping over obstacles that may come into her way.

6.)Jump up clearing both feet from off of the floor.

7.)Jump down from a 2-4" step landing on two feet with a "spotter".

8.)Continue to work on improving her overhand throw.

9.)Work on a underhand throw with a specific direction goal.

10.)Continue to work on her kicking a ball while moving abilities.

Functional communication skills

Vada will:

1.)Identify 25 nouns by name via pointing.

   a.)Identify 35 nouns by name via pointing.

2.)Increase understanding of 10 action words via pointing to presented stimuli.

   a.)Increase understanding of 15 action words via pointing to presented stimuli.

3.)Identify at least 5 articles of clothing either on self or on a presented model.

4.)Continue to follow and improve skills on following verbal requests embedded with positional words (eg. in, out, on, off, under, on top of).

5.)Label presented pictures/objects via verbal speech or sign language.

6.)Produce noun+verb/verb+noun phrases (eg. go potty, eat crackers, read book etc.) via verbal speech or sign language.

Vada will increase manipulative, dexterity and strength to improve overall age appropriate fine and visual motor skills.

Vada will:

1.)Stack 5 blocks on top of each other.

   a.)Stack 8 blocks on top of each other.

2.)Put together 6 to 8 piece puzzles with blank backgrounds with limited assistance from others.

3.)Work on hand manipulation skills to twist two objects together.

4.)Complete start to finish activities with minimal assistance after initial prompting.

5.)String jumbo beads onto lacing string.

   a.)String medium beads onto lacing string.

   b.)String small beads onto lacing string.

6.)Nest graduated cups up to five sizes.

7.)Color in between the lines of specific shapes (eg. in a circle, in a square, only on the specific letter requested).

8.)Draw vertical lines with crayons, markers, pens and or pencils, when promoted (continue to improve her circular drawings as well as her horizontal lines).

9.)Continue to work with Mom on hand over hand activities to work towards the goal of more independent actions.

10.)Hold scissors in hand properly with limited assistance and cut paper.

   a.Cut on specific lined area of paper.

11.)Wear her thumb splints 85% of the day and continue to work towards isolating specific fingers and her thumb when needed.

   a.)Have a full fist-index finger only point.

   b.)Use her 'point' to point to things that she wants, needs and during activities to answer questions.

12.)Use fingers for finger counting.

   a.)Isolate her fingers as she counts through them.

Vada will continue to work towards academic progress in all areas of "tot-preschool" year.

Vada Will:

1.)Recognize her written name in many different fonts.

   a.)Get into the habit of writing her name by writing her name on all of her work sheets.

2.)Identify all of the letters of the alphabet.

   a.)Vocally identifying the proper sounds for each letter of the alphabet.

3.)Identify the numbers 1-5 (and then the numbers 6-10)

   a.)Count objects into groups that equal groups of 1-5.

   b.)Use fingers to count 1-5.

   c.)Identify number of objects in specific groups with minimal assistance and then use a numeral card to label the groups.

4.)Identify shapes by verbal or sign language naming.

   a.)Using games, manipulative's and other objects on a regular basis to demonstrate her knowledge of the shape.

5.)Identify colors by verbal or sign language naming.

   a.)Use games, manipulative's, color matching activities and other objects on a regular basis to demonstrate her knowledge of each color.

We will also be transitioning Vada's crib into a daybed this Fall!

Curriculum and Highlighted Learning Materials 

(for this year)

Main Curriculum and Materials:

1.)BFIAR (Before Five in a Row) 

2.)Letter of the week (often referred to as LOTW on this blog)

3.)Themed packets downloaded from 1+1+1=1, Homeschool Creations, Delightful Learning, 3Dinosaurs.com and RoyalBaloo.com

Other Materials and that we will be using:

1.)We Choose Virtues (introducing this into our family and into our day)

2.)Keepers of Faith-Little Keepers at Home (introducing this and some of it's easier activities)

3.)ABCMouse.com

4.)Numicon

5.)Touch Math

6.)Unifix

6.)Handwriting Without Tears; Get Set For School: Numbers and Math, Readiness and Writing, Language and Literacy, Word Time, I know My Numbers, Tag Bags, 

7.)BrillKids

Specific Activities/Groups

1.)Kindermusik

2.)The Family Museum (for independent play, play groups, structured classes and for themed "field trips")

3.)GiGi's Math Program (If it is age appropriate this school year.)

4.)GiGi's Literacy Program (If there are any available spots open.)