There is a new show on PBS called Word World. Bren and I watched it for the first time today. Here are my thoughts about it.
Pros:
The concept is great. Never have I seen a more “Whole Language” approached tv show than that. There was very little phonics involved. I am for a balanced approach though so some whole language is good.
It was captivating to Brendan. He liked it a lot!
It is really beautifully done. I especially like attention to detail such as when something falls off a table it breaks into it’s letters. Cute and very original.
Cons:
As for how much material is in show… not so much. Hardly any, really. Take the “pot on the head” episode today… they spelled and sounded out out “pot” a few times and the rest of the episode was story. 1 word- 12 or so minutes. Not so good. I asked Brendan immediately after it was over to spell “pot” and he had no idea.
Also, I’m not sure how clear the “word pictures” are to kids. The letters take some concentration to puzzle out. To adults, it is obvious but I just don’t think kids concentrate on seeing the moving groups of letters as words. I think they graze over the educational part and just watch the cartoon.
I really wanted to like it more than I did.
I just glanced at their website and there is a free episode on there. What are your thoughts?

What I wouldn’t give to relive this day!

Here DH and I are dining in the Animator’s Palate on a Disney Cruise ship. Everything form the walls to the staff are completely black and white and as we ate little sprigs of color would pop up and by the end of the meal everything was blazing with color. This is where we had our first creme brulees and I died and went to heaven it was so good!!! Our waiter (left) was Thomas and the other man was his assistant, Ben. Such good times!!! We had a blast on our honeymoon. Sigh….

DH has decided we each need to post a picture a day for the next week and post about it.
This picture of me was taken on the 4th of July in 2002. I look calm and serene. And I am- in a post final exams week sort of way. I’m sitting on my in-laws’ patio trying to not think… to just be. I am 14 days past my first IUI and for the first time I have real hope that I just might be pregnant but I have only 1 hpt with me and I wanted to save it for the morning we are to leave (3 days away) so that I have the best chance of telling Darrell’s parents if the IUI worked or not.
I am pregnant and don’t even know it. There is a magic in that.

DH’s #1 is here.

I found this page in one of Bren’s workbooks. He loved it so I am putting a copy here for Andy. He especially liked that he could participate in the reading by saying the numbers and also anticipating some of the words by looking at the pictures. He doesn’t seem to hear the rhymes yet- for example, despite me explaining that a “hen” is a girl rooster, when we get to the end he calls it a “roost”. 😉

I think I’ll try teaching him this fingerplay next:
Five Fat Peas
A counting fingerplay especially
useful in the spring and summer.
Five fat peas in a pea pod pressed
(children hold hand in a fist)
One grew, two grew, so did all the rest.
(put thumb and fingers up one by one)
They grew and grew
(raise hand in the air very slowly)
And did not stop,
Until one day
The pod went POP!
(children clap hands together)
*****
I have started reading the “My Sound Box” series by Jane Belk Moncure to Brendan. Each letter of the alphabet has it’s own book. I am skipping the vowels for now. We’ve read B and C so far. I like them because it gives him practice hearing and seeing the letter sounds in words and it also boosts his vocabulary.
Here is a list of word families, much like my earlier lists of 3 letter word families.
*****
Andy can now get on his ride-on truck by himself. He only moves backwards so far but he loves to push the buttons and listen to the truck sounds it makes!
He also loves to touch your eyes (ears, mouth, nose) and have you touch them back and say its name.

Andy just said his first phrase (and his first complete sentence)!!!
DH walked in the door, home from work, and Bren got to him first for a hug. Andy rose to his knees pumping his hands in the air and was saying “Hi!” repeatedly. When DH managed to pull him into the group hug Andy said, “Hi, Dada!”
Awwwww.

The party at MaeMae’s house went great. Andy adored his cake and Brendan had a blast with his cousin Meghan. They are both equally enjoying the gifts- namely the baby Ipod Darrell picked out and Aunt Cathy’s ride-on dump truck. The truck has a weight limit of 50 pounds. I was thinking “uh-oh- how to keep Bren off” but the bathroom scale says he is only 46 pounds. He probably lost everything he had gained since he turned 4 with the yakking sickness that we all got the other week.

Happy Birthday Andy!
From this…

To this!

Brendan had no problems drawing a T, C and A on blank paper this morning. He has really improved his control of the pencil. I bet the mazes have helped. I chose T first because it seemed an easy letter to try initially. Then I asked for a C. He was really thrown for a loop when I asked for a Z next and was thoughtful for a bit. I think he was trying to figure out what word I was having him spell, lol. He then decided he had to draw an A because that is what he needed to spell CAT. He often thinks of words in terms of their letters as a whole and not of them in any order. I’m thinking of trying him on handwriting paper soon.

On this maze he got caught up in the upper circle and when he got stuck again in the middle of the lower circle he gave up. He literally said, “Jump over this wall to reach the star.” LOL. It has been awhile since we’ve done any mazes and I think he has forgotten to look ahead so I had him trace the next one with his finger first and he did much better.

I’m starting to have him watch “Between the Lions” again. Before, he watched it because he liked it. Now I think it is right at the level where he needs help.

*****
Yup- DH and Bren got the Ick too. We’ve been a family of yakkers. Despite DH still in bed I think the worst is behind us.