Day #16 Just a low-key Tuesday

This morning I found myself still unwinding from our busy weekend and trying to catch up Monday. Fortunately Tuesday's are a low-key day around our house. Plus, I had a Dr.'s appointment this afternoon which meant the children would be left to their own devices for a couple of hours. I spent the morning doing some finishing touches on the Alphabet writing books I am making for my future Kindergartner to practice with. Reading has come more easily to him, and we really need to focus on his writing. Fortunately my appointment was very near the copy place I wanted to visit to bind his books. Who knew binding a book was so fun? Line up the paper and push a pedal on the floor to punch the holes. Then start the coil at one end and go through a few holes and hold it up to a little machine with a spinning belt and watch it feed itself the rest of the way through! I was highly entertained! My enthusiasm made the store clerk giggle a bit... Anyway, for a mere $1 fee, and about 8 minutes of my time, I was able to bind the Large Print Alphabet book, the Alphabet Book, the ABC Sentence book, and another Letter Practice book. It was all kind of fun; mostly because I was not trying to corral any small children at the same time! :) I must say though, I have a greater appreciation for what teachers do for their students. I cannot imagine the time it takes to do that over and over for 20-30 students and multiple books covering multiple subjects. I had such an admiration for the older boys' Kindergarten teacher. She is who I got all these copies from. I wish she could have taught each of my little Kindergartners.

Anyhow, after my errands were run, I was anxious to come home to see how well the fellas had followed my instructions. I was pleasantly surprised to find most of my requests had been followed. The house was tidy (I have a new standard of "clean" with everyone home all day, every day) and they had filled out their little worksheets I made for their animal book reports. The information they filled in was interesting, but being the visual learner I am, I much preferred the drawings they had each rendered to depict their specific animal. Next week I am looking forward helping them make posters for their book report presentation. To finish off our Time to Read Tuesday, I am headed off to read a couple more chapters of The Chocolate Touch to them. Take it easy, we'll catch ya later! :)

Positively Good Behavior & Kindergarten Prep

I am not sure about the rest of the mother population out there, but sometimes my children get the best of me and I have been know to raise my voice... and that is just on a normal day. Add to that summertime with everyone home all day, every day, and then take into account that heat makes me a tad bit more irritable...well, you get the point. Something was going to have to be done about rewarding good behavior, nixing bad behavior and accomplishing all of this in my "inside" voice. My solution? The stop light chart. Over the years I have seen many variations of this in my boys' classrooms. The general idea is to keep your pin in the "green zone". If you can manage to do that, there is a punch or two given on your punch card, at the end of the day. A full punch card earns rewards like a trip to the dollar store, or walking across the street to grab a doughnut or special little treat. The yellow zone means you are quickly approaching the danger zone and need to work hard to keep yourself in "check". Good behavior or doing extra chores can get you moved back up the ranks into the green. The red zone is not a happy place, if you hit red at any point during the day, you must forfeit any card punches for the day, and you have to pay the consequence you reach. I of course, included a picture, because visual aids are my friend. Here it is:

The pouch at the bottom holds their current punch cards. I am loving this system so far, because I use it for all behaviors i.e. coming when called, talking back, finishing jobs in a timely manner, etc. If you do good, you stay green. Any type of bad behavior, and I simply ask you to pull your pin. No need to get upset or frustrated (for me or them) its been a lovely thing. :)

On to happier things... (in a perfect world my children would just do what I had taught them, no rewards/consequences necessary; but I live in reality...hence the charts)
Anyway... my other ongoing project with the VonBon has been doing things to prep him for his big Kindergarten debut this fall. Several months ago we made a Hungry Caterpillar alphabet with both Upper and Lower case letters, to help him learn the alphabet letters and sounds, and also to help him identify upper and lower case letters by placing them next to each other. It has worked like a charm. Soon after we began the caterpillar, we started adding ice cream cone cut outs with sight words on them. The wall started with just 3 sight words, and we have worked our way up to almost 40. Our goal is to have him know all 100 sight words/high frequency words before he starts Kindergarten. We also recently hung up the Days of the Week so he can start to recognize them. I love being able to teach them these things, it is one of the most rewarding parts of being a mom. Here are some pictures of our Kindergarten prep walls:

Days of the Week

Alphabet/Sight word wall

To coin a phrase from the Pioneers: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without" If you have never been to my house, you wouldn't know by looking at these pictures that all of this is in my living room. I know, not the most trendy decor, but it was the only wall big enough. The bedrooms have dressers and bunk beds on the walls. So for now, the living room is our preschool room. Perhaps one day I will have a house with a designated room just for these types of things, but for now; the living room is our "make it do" spot and it is working out just fine! :) Happy learning everyone!