Today was a huge day in Sam's literacy development.
Last week, Scott, Sam and I went to dinner then to Wal-Mart (Ugh!) for a few things. As we were driving, we told Sam to look for the Wal-Mart sign. I told him that Wal-Mart started like Wall-E and asked him what letter would that be? He said "Y" which is an almost perfect answer! I told him that we were looking for a W at the beginning of Wal-Mart. We talked a little more about how Wal-Mart and Wall-E started with the same sound and letter. The next day, I brought it up again. I had him say the two words, exaggerating the /w/ (sound for w). He then added "walrus" to the list. I had never associated walrus with Wall-E or Wal-Mart. He made that link all on his own. That was a huge leap in my professional opinion and opened up new doors for us to enter and explore!
So, as we were driving to his babysitter's house this morning, we played a little phonemic awareness game. I would say 3-4 words that started with the same letter and ask him what letter they started with. I started with Wal-Mart, Wall-E, Walrus and wonderful, of course, and he said "W!" So then I tried obvious sounds like turtle, tickle, and taco. He named the T! I repeated this game with a few more obvious sounds and he did pretty darn well.
After school, Sam and I came home. I was on the computer (don't pretend to be surprised) and Sam was on the floor, on his belly, writing in a little notebook. I listened to him and then grabbed the camera. This is what he said as he worked so intently on drawing the letters at the bottom of the page:
t....s....p.....o....w....r........./w/....house! (as he ran his finger across the page I might add!)
Then he traced over the letters I had written probably months ago and named them as he "wrote" them. (Check out the pictures below)
Tonight, as I was reading to him, I tried something I haven't done with him before. When I read the sentence "Bertie was a bus." I noticed the b sounds and said Bertie and bus to Sam. I asked him what letter did Bertie and bus start with. He said "b" (of course!). On the next page, I asked him what letter Thomas started with and he correctly named the T. I asked him to find the word Thomas on the page. I will be darned if he didn't find the T at the beginning of Thomas! I did this a few more times during the book, having him locate Thomas and Bertie. In the next book, he found Percy's name.
As I was lying beside him watching him fall asleep and thinking about what a huge day we had, I realized that I had not chronicled his literacy development like I had always wanted to. BAM! Right then and there I decided I would have to create another blog dedicated to just that so that I could start writing these events that are so important to me down somewhere. I cannot believe I am going to do it, considering I spend so much time reading and writing blogs already. But, once the seed is planted, my imagination is a force to be reckoned with. The only way I will be able to get it off my mind is to go ahead and do it.
So, in the next few weeks, I plan to launch another blog dedicated to documenting Sam's journey as well as possibly serving as a resource for other parents. I imagine all kinds of things I could include. Oh, dear. I see many late nights ahead...
Last week, Scott, Sam and I went to dinner then to Wal-Mart (Ugh!) for a few things. As we were driving, we told Sam to look for the Wal-Mart sign. I told him that Wal-Mart started like Wall-E and asked him what letter would that be? He said "Y" which is an almost perfect answer! I told him that we were looking for a W at the beginning of Wal-Mart. We talked a little more about how Wal-Mart and Wall-E started with the same sound and letter. The next day, I brought it up again. I had him say the two words, exaggerating the /w/ (sound for w). He then added "walrus" to the list. I had never associated walrus with Wall-E or Wal-Mart. He made that link all on his own. That was a huge leap in my professional opinion and opened up new doors for us to enter and explore!
So, as we were driving to his babysitter's house this morning, we played a little phonemic awareness game. I would say 3-4 words that started with the same letter and ask him what letter they started with. I started with Wal-Mart, Wall-E, Walrus and wonderful, of course, and he said "W!" So then I tried obvious sounds like turtle, tickle, and taco. He named the T! I repeated this game with a few more obvious sounds and he did pretty darn well.
After school, Sam and I came home. I was on the computer (don't pretend to be surprised) and Sam was on the floor, on his belly, writing in a little notebook. I listened to him and then grabbed the camera. This is what he said as he worked so intently on drawing the letters at the bottom of the page:
t....s....p.....o....w....r........./w/....house! (as he ran his finger across the page I might add!)
Then he traced over the letters I had written probably months ago and named them as he "wrote" them. (Check out the pictures below)
Tonight, as I was reading to him, I tried something I haven't done with him before. When I read the sentence "Bertie was a bus." I noticed the b sounds and said Bertie and bus to Sam. I asked him what letter did Bertie and bus start with. He said "b" (of course!). On the next page, I asked him what letter Thomas started with and he correctly named the T. I asked him to find the word Thomas on the page. I will be darned if he didn't find the T at the beginning of Thomas! I did this a few more times during the book, having him locate Thomas and Bertie. In the next book, he found Percy's name.
As I was lying beside him watching him fall asleep and thinking about what a huge day we had, I realized that I had not chronicled his literacy development like I had always wanted to. BAM! Right then and there I decided I would have to create another blog dedicated to just that so that I could start writing these events that are so important to me down somewhere. I cannot believe I am going to do it, considering I spend so much time reading and writing blogs already. But, once the seed is planted, my imagination is a force to be reckoned with. The only way I will be able to get it off my mind is to go ahead and do it.
So, in the next few weeks, I plan to launch another blog dedicated to documenting Sam's journey as well as possibly serving as a resource for other parents. I imagine all kinds of things I could include. Oh, dear. I see many late nights ahead...
By the way, am I crazy, or does anyone else see an L, an O, a u, an 8 and a G?
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