Our First Holiday Themed School Day

First off let me just start off by saying Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! 

Today was kind of an exciting day for me to plan out. It was not only our second day of "structured" learning, it was also our first holiday themed day! 

After our devotion time, weather and calendar time, Vada and I sat down to play with her Hide n' Peek Chocolates play set. 

When I first sat Vada down to this sweet treat sight, she had to have thought it was a real box of chocolates just for her because she began signing "thank you", "thank you", over and over again. I felt kind of guilty but once we began to play I think she quickly forgave me.

We worked more on oral motor skills today. I was SO impressed when Vada and I were doing flash cards yesterday and I showed her the picture of the birthday cake with the candles on it and she began to blow. Last night at dinner I brought out an old pack of candles and let her practice blowing them out. And. She. Did. Did. It! She blew those candles out! I almost couldn't believe it! Since she was so successful with the candles I had to try more! So I did bring out all of our party whistles and we tried each and every one!

After the whistles we decided to take it one step further and attempt to bow some bubbles. I got to say that I am blessed to have all of Vada's therapists as friends because when I posted the Youtube video of Vada blowing out the candle and then mentioned that we were going to try to do bubbles today, Vada's speech therapist suggested to do it this way. She said starting off this would be easier for Vada. So I blew the bubble, caught it and then had her attempt to blow it off of the wand. She blew and blew but couldn't blow the bubble off! We wont give up though! She'll get soon, I can tell!

Today we played "Hide the Marshmallow". I used the ice cream scoops from our Smart Snacks Rainbow Color Cone set (which, by the way, we have had since Jasmine, my now thirteen year old was a tot!). 

I got the idea from Amy Dunaways FREE ebook Homeschooling Children With Down Syndrome. If you haven't already read this book, I would highly recommend checking it out, you wont regret it! Amy calls her version "Hide the Peanut".  

Today was the first time that I have introduced anything like this to V, so I started off by explaining everything while showing her what I was doing. I also gave her a "free" marshmallow in the beginning, so that she would see that she would have a tasty reward for finding her "peanut".

Vada did a great job when we used three colors! I was actually shocked! I think I must actually underestimate her without meaning to because I didn't know that she would be able to do this at all. 

Vada did struggle once I added a fourth color and since Errorless Learning is so very important when teaching a child with Down syndrome, I quickly pulled that fourth color out of the equation and went back to what Vada was successful at.

Vada and I also took time to work on her Bright Baby "First Words" book. About a six months ago I scanned the pages of this book and then laminated the copies. I also typed out just the words for later on when Vada progresses with Literacy.

She took to the book like we hadn't missed a day! 

The local Homeschool play group that we go to is having their Valentine'e Day Party tomorrow so I had to have Vada finish her "signature" on her Valentine's Day cards. I'm going to be honest here, I feel really cheap this year! Usually, I am a crafty sort of person. I would have liked to make and bake something sweet for Vada to bring but it just was not in my schedule this year, so she s bringing Airhead Candies! Bwahaha! 

Vada worked on her primary colors by using our Learning Resources Splash of Color Magnetic Sorting Set.

We made Justin, my husband, Vada's Daddy, a Valentine's using her sweet little hand prints...

We ended our day with a story about the meaning of Valentine's Day.

Our First Day

 Today Vada and  I started our official first day of "structured learning" in our classroom. We have already spent several different days playing in the classroom and getting acclimated but today was the "real deal".

I started off with a list of things that I would like to accomplish for the whole morning as well as what I would like to do with Vada and as we did them today I checked them off and kind of kept track of the time that we spent doing each task. I don't plan on timing things forever but for now, I think it is important to see how her attention span is in each area. It will also help me monitor her growth as we continue to spend more time in our classroom. Ill be able to see where her strengths and weaknesses are and where we should spend more time focusing on. Plus, having a list of daily goals gives me something to work towards for each day.

We started our day off the way I plan on starting every morning off, with a devotion to God, our Father.

We're reading from the Jesus Storybook Bible right now. The pictures are great and the stories are just long enough for our morning devotion time.

The next thing that we did and that I plan on doing everyday and in routine, is the weather and the calendar/days of the week.

We worked on counting, sorting, color recognition, patterns, coloring, vertical lines, horizontal lines, coloring in circles and drawling circles. 

Vada, with my help also worked on using her left hand while using her right. An example would be her holding a play piece of fruit in her left hand and a play knife in her right hand, while then cutting the fruit into half. 

We also began working at the Alphabet Center that I have hanging on the wall. It has so many purposes but for now it serves as only one. With the pointer wand we point at each individual letter while I sing the alphabet song. Eventually we will do more! For now, baby steps!

Vada did another round of one of her favorite counting "games" the Counting Cans", she also played with a fishing color recognition game, and a bowling game. A lot of what we are doing is learning through play right now since she is only three. 

One of the biggest surprises that I had today was when Vada and I were using these particular flash cards (which I love, btw!). It wasn't a new word or sign that she did but the length of time that we were able to spend  and the amount of attention that she paid while we went through them that was amazing to me.
I particularly like these flashcards more than any of the others that I have run across so far because (with the exception of the "Manners" Set) they are of real life photos, which really seem to get Vada's attention! 

Last night when I was planning our morning, I went through each set and pulled out cards that I thought Vada would really like or relate to. We discussed what we saw, like the boy who was crying. We talked about how he was sad and we noticed his tear and then we wiped it, like I wipe hers when she cries and she gave him a hug. We talked about the color of the ice cream, how it was probably strawberry flavored and cold and then pretended to lick it. When she saw the picture of the toothbrush she groaned. She detests getting her teeth brushed! She did the sign for 'Dog' when we looked at the dog photo and blew bubbles when we looked at the photo of a girl blowing bubbles. Another fun one was of a birthday cake that had candles on it. She pretended to blow out the candles. I have never seen her do that before! Tomorrow I am going to bring out all of our whistles and see if I can get her to make some of them make noise!

We ended our day by reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle. I happen to also have the felt set for that story so we got those out as well. After the story, as we put each animal away, we worked on the animal, the color of the animal, the sign for the animal and then the sound that each animal makes! 

Two hours seemed to go by in minutes but I could tell that she was tired . I had stopped in between some of our activities and asked her if she needed "time" and then she would sign "time". That means she just needs to be, or to play. My girl knows herself and I know her! Tomorrow we will be back at it and I cant wait, I love that I get to teach my daughter!

Trying To Get Back Into It...

Oh my, how time has slipped past me this time around! Im not even going to look back at my last post date to see when it was! All I can say is that these last couple of weeks have been busy and full and blessed! 

Here's a brief up-to-date through photo's and videos...

Vada Had Her First Paid Belly Dancing Lesson
(Students may start at the age of three. V turns three March 2 2013. Vada is a regular attendee because of her older sister so all of the dancers have been very excited for Vada to try a "real" lesson. Today was ahead of schedule but all of the students gave their okay first.)

Vada Has Been Working On Drinking From A Cup

This is what happens if she is left to dink from the cup alone.

The Classroom Is Officially FINISHED!!!

And Played In!

 (Tomorrow we will be starting a more structured learning routine.)

Kiliegh's Artwork Won An Award! AND Is Being Displayed At The Figge Art Museum!

Jasmine (was the only student who) Gave A Presentation To The Board Of Education

And Along With The Other Members Of Her FLL Science League Won An Award Of Excellence!

Jasmine And Her FLL Science League Made It To The State Championships And Placed 30th(!!!) out of 80 Teams! (Only one team continued onto World Championships)

We Found Another GiGi's Traveling Gallery!

Vada Had Her LAST Therapy Meeting Due to Her Upcoming Third Birthday!