Dot and I have completed 27 lessons on Shiller Math, and we are loving it so far. She begs to do it most days. I'm thrilled because it is such a nice program. It seems thorough, gentle, and, just like in a Montessori class, it's learning through exploration.
As a trained Montessori teacher, I find the materials a little different, and sometimes things are scripted in a way that aren't quite the way I was trained. That's okay, and I just make adjustments.
The Shiller material, like Montessori material, is diagnostic. Because it isolates concepts so effectively, it is easy to tell what a child has mastered and also to see what concepts she might need more work on. I quickly learned that Dot needs to practice counting a little more and gain a little confidence in counting numbers over 5 (which she finds slightly overwhelming).
I am love with the Montessori "bank" material. Of course, I love the golden beads used in the Montessori classroom, and the blue plastic units are growing on me too. It gives me a thrill that she can now identify which ones are the tens, hundreds, and thousands. Such a fun thing for a 4-year-old to be exposed to. I enjoyed watching the kids with these materials when I was a student teacher. They love playing with the large quantities. Dot likes to play with them outside of our lessons, which I think is great.
Saturday, May 9, 2020
All About Reading: Pre Reading: After 15 lessons
Dot and I have been working through All About Reading: Pre Reading, both due to her interest in letters and due to not having much else to do with so much shut down for Covid-19.
We truly enjoy it, and she asks to do her letters most days. Sometimes we get tired of decorating the letter pictures, and I tell her that we have to finish our picture before doing another lesson. We tend to spread out the lessons over two days, one for the oral parts of the lesson and the other for the coloring page. I really like all the word games that we play, as I can see how it helps her to think about the smaller sounds that words are made up of.
She knows most of her capital letters, but several are still being solidified in her head. She has started writing words a lot, asking how to spell them. She often remembers how to write "hi" on her own.
It is lovely to have this third child and to not be in a rush. (Except sometimes I long for the day when she'll lose herself in a book).
We truly enjoy it, and she asks to do her letters most days. Sometimes we get tired of decorating the letter pictures, and I tell her that we have to finish our picture before doing another lesson. We tend to spread out the lessons over two days, one for the oral parts of the lesson and the other for the coloring page. I really like all the word games that we play, as I can see how it helps her to think about the smaller sounds that words are made up of.
She knows most of her capital letters, but several are still being solidified in her head. She has started writing words a lot, asking how to spell them. She often remembers how to write "hi" on her own.
It is lovely to have this third child and to not be in a rush. (Except sometimes I long for the day when she'll lose herself in a book).
Friday, May 1, 2020
Simon Bloom Series: Living Books for Middle School Science
I am thrilled to have discovered the Simon Bloom series by Michael Reisman. They are exciting stories for middle schoolers that weave in scientific concepts.
I wrote in my last post that I am working to beef up Bug's science learning for the semester. He is the biggest bookworm ever to talk the planet, making living books the best way for him to learn almost any topic. He prefers audio books. He loves fantasy and science fiction. When he runs out of new books, he will re-read his favorite books (Artemis Fowl, Magnus Chase), but he becomes increasingly bored and restless and then has to be convinced to try new ones. Bug lives on interesting and exciting books.
In my googling, I came upon Simon Bloom, The Gravity Keeper. I read the description to Bug, and he frowned and said it sounded too dramatic, but he did reluctantly agree to try it. This was yesterday afternoon. As of this morning, he has finished the 7-hour book and asked to download the next one in the series, Simon Bloom: The Octopus Effect. The three books together take around 25 hours to listen to. So three days for Bug. Yes, he's quite the bookworm, and I'm very proud of him.
There is one more book in the series (Simon Bloom: The Order of Chaos), and I'm hoping he'll retain his excitement and read that one as well. I'm delighted at this addition to Bug's 6th grade science learning.
I wrote in my last post that I am working to beef up Bug's science learning for the semester. He is the biggest bookworm ever to talk the planet, making living books the best way for him to learn almost any topic. He prefers audio books. He loves fantasy and science fiction. When he runs out of new books, he will re-read his favorite books (Artemis Fowl, Magnus Chase), but he becomes increasingly bored and restless and then has to be convinced to try new ones. Bug lives on interesting and exciting books.
In my googling, I came upon Simon Bloom, The Gravity Keeper. I read the description to Bug, and he frowned and said it sounded too dramatic, but he did reluctantly agree to try it. This was yesterday afternoon. As of this morning, he has finished the 7-hour book and asked to download the next one in the series, Simon Bloom: The Octopus Effect. The three books together take around 25 hours to listen to. So three days for Bug. Yes, he's quite the bookworm, and I'm very proud of him.
There is one more book in the series (Simon Bloom: The Order of Chaos), and I'm hoping he'll retain his excitement and read that one as well. I'm delighted at this addition to Bug's 6th grade science learning.
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