AY2011: The First Day back
We had a really good day. I’m so thankful for the hard work last year getting adjusted to doing lessons without (much) complaining or arguing about who goes first reciting.
Some observations:
- I have too much planned for Circle Time. I have 1.5 hours worth of work to do in 1. Hm. Spanish might be dropped after all.
- Although the system I came up with takes 5 crates and a box, it worked really, really well (today, day one.)
- N-boy and M-girl work really well together. Even on individual work. Even in another room.
- N-boy and R-girl, however, need more separation and more direction. Unfortunately, that’s during M-girl’s individual time. I need to come up with a solution; I think having them in the loft with more directed time will be part of the solution.
- Neither of the children who have penmanship like penmanship despite liking to write on their own.
- Everyone likes math.
- N-boy has a lot more confidence in his reading than he did when we took a break … and a lot more confidence in his math.
- Giraffes are the favorite animals of two, while one likes Zebras … Neither of which are at the Columbus Zoo.
- Added: small white boards during Circle Time are a great thing.
Here is our schedule:
Our art project today, to go with our First Day Questionnaire, is to make a self portrait … can you tell who is who?
Not too surprising that N & R do not work well together yet… it is their ages. Jonathan & Lizzie have a hard time separate from mama. One idea I'd encourage you to do is have them do things together near you so you can work on training them- yep, it will pull from M-girl but it will lay a really good foundation for their relationship. Plus, you can keep this training time short.
You could also keep one close & send the other off- the one close can work independently & quietly while you work w/ M-girl. Alternate days on who is beside you.
K- enough said. 🙂
Sounds like a great first day. I've dropped Spanish too many times! I need to get to a foreign language. I wish I could just hire a Tia to come to my house and talk with my kids a couple of mornings each week.