The kiddo completed his Kindergarten reading program.! We’re super proud of him and more importantly he is proud of himself!
The reading program we used was the Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read Kindergarten we have an older version that is cd based, the newer versions have DVDs.
I highly recommend this learn to read program! It was super effective for our son. He could recognize his letter since he was 20 months. We supplemented learning the sounds of each letter with the LeapFrog: Letter Factory DVD –this DVD makes learning the sounds so easy. Using the CD’s with the Hooked On Phonics program and that DVD he really learned the sounds inside and out, which is critical to moving forward. We had started using the program a little bit last year but did not set aside time every day to do it. we kind of stalled out on page 23 and the kiddo’s interest wasn’t there so we cooled off for a bit.
During the summer my teacher friend came by to help me think through lesson planning and talk about what the kiddo should know as a kindergartener. She shared with me some really great techniques to help encourage him in his reading as well as build his confidence in his practicing.
One of the challenges was that he would get jumbled on a word and start guessing. The solution was to take a piece of cardstock and cut a hole in it, this allowed him to see one word at a time instead of a whole page of words that might be intimidating or overwhelming.
The second solution helped to keep him motivated to get through a review page where there might have been 20+ words. She suggested skittles but I had gummy bears on hand so at the end of each line we’d put a gummy bear and as he completed it without error he’d get a treat. If he missed a word we moved on and then came back to that line so he could try again. We’re still using that technique.
When we sat down and started our school year in September we were sure to set aside time each day to work with the program. So in approximately 1.5 months he’s gone from simple words like pad, pat and pan to reading whole stories!
The techniques that my friend shared were instrumental in getting us past page 23! Seriously I almost cried that day. It was a victory for both of us!!
The reading journey chart (shown in the top picture) really motivated him to keep going. He had never been one to like sticker rewards (like with potty training) but during this program that clicked and he was super excited to earn a sticker for each accomplishment.
HOP now makes the K, 1st & 2nd Grade learn to read series on DVD they’re a bit different because you do your learning through the TV. I really prefer the CD approach over the DVD it fits into our learning style better, and it helps us achieve our goal of less TV time. The only downside to the CD versions is that mine came with software that is not compatible with my windows 7 machine. I haven’t taken the time to write the HOP people to see if there are any updates, the kiddo’s learning was not hindered because he didn’t have the software.
Well that’s my wordless—er wordFULL Wednesday post. Are you homeschooling? Do you have any interest in teaching your kids to read?
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Last week we had my husband’s parents in town for a whole week which was such a treat! We stuck to our normal routine for most of the week--chiropractor, homeschool, errands, etc. Plus it got super cold last week and I don’t like taking my babies out when it is damp and icky. So we stayed inside most of the week.
Friday Ken took off from work and took us all (including my mom) up to the North Georgia mountains to Burt’s Pumpkin Farm and to an apple orchard. He had heard about the pumpkin farm from coworkers and I had just recently read the review from couponsaregreat.net, so I knew it was just the right place to go.
The morning started out a bit rocky, we got out later than we had wanted, and got some breakfast on the way. We got to Burt’s around 11:30am which was a decent time on a Friday the main parking lot was still half empty and we got a spot right up front. Since there wasn’t too many people at this point the pumpkin farm was very stroller friendly (YAY).
There were so many pumpkins!! In all sizes and colors! This was the kiddo’s first time at a pumpkin farm or patch. I had only been to one once before in a church’s parking lot. The kiddo and I were both super impressed with ALL the pumpkins!! Rows and rows of big and small and white and orange pumpkins!
Of course I took a gratuitous amount of photos of the kiddos sitting in the middle of a bunch of pumpkins! Even though it was still super chilly it was pretty nice in the sunshine.
They had a cute little hay stack for taking photos, which we did. Thanks mom for taking these! I was pretty distracted by the cold weather I forgot to take a photo of the kiddos with Ken’s parents. OOPS!
We decided to go on the hayride, I remembered from the coupons are great post that you sat right on the hay, so we verified that there were no seats in the wagons. This was a disappointment, having brought 3 grandparents with us on this trip 2 of them couldn’t ride the hayride because they would not have been able to get up and down, from basically the floor. However I thought the hayride was the best part of the whole place. It cost us $5 a person to ride, and I felt it was well worth the cost. The ride was about 20 minutes with lots of scenery and a pretty comfy ride. Baby girl really loved eating the hay HA! At the end of the ride you go past the parking lot and we noticed it was completely full (about an hour since we’d arrived).
After the ride we grabbed a wheel barrel and went to go pick out our pumpkins. We purchased one for each person in our family. I had fun chatting with the kiddo about what attributes he was looking for in a pumpkin: bumpy/smooth, short/tall, orange/yellow, etc. He did a great job finding a pumpkin with in budget (under $10) and that he liked aesthetically.
We loaded up our pumpkins and checked out. I’ll tell you about our adventures at the apple orchard in another post.
Have you ever been to a pumpkin farm? Do you have a favorite pumpkin patch/farm in your area? Share your links in the comment’s I’d love to see what fun you and your family are having this autumn.
This week in school we've been blessed to have my husband's mother as a guest teacher. She is retired teacher, turned banker.
When we picked her up on saturday we all chatted about the grades she taught over the years. She shared that she taught 3 & 4 year olds and 3rd, 4th, 5th grades and science and math for 6th graders. The kiddo then asked "but grandma, do you know how to handle 5 year olds?" Lol
Today we all did a fun jack-o-lantern craft. We stuck them up on the board and the kiddo drew bodies for our pumpkin people.
My wordless (word full) post this week is on our recycled t-shirt trick or treat bags! We’re selling these bags for $3 each plus shipping. They are the perfect addition to any trick-or-treater’s costume! Message me if you’re interested. To see more pictures check out my Trick or Treat Bags facebook album.
We had a geat day of school today. The kiddo learned a bunch of new reading words in the hooked on phonics workbook. We've been practicing his writing on lined paper and how each letter works with the lines. Today we worked on writing whole words in sentences by writing letters to his aunts who live out of state. He did geat sounding words out, including cincinnati! One of his sight words is "of" can you guess how he sounded out the word love? Hehe it made me giggle.
