Froggy Phonics; Art Activity

Every end of unit (fifth lesson) in Kindergarten Phonics has an optional review activity. Up until recently I had been skipping them with hardly a glance. Last week, though, the activity was too good to pass up. There were about 8-10 sheets of paper, each with a letter or digraph (two letters that make one sound, like sh, ch, th, wh, etc.). These were to be taped to the floor. Then there were about a dozen slips of paper, with one word per slip. Kaith and I took turns, each reading a word, then jumping on the papers to spell it out. I don't know when the last time was he was so excited about phonics! The next unit finished with a Bingo game, which he enjoyed as well, but is looking forward to another episode of "Froggy Phonics" later this week, which will challenge his skills acquired this week--ending words with the trigraph tch or the digraph ck. Maybe this time I'll do it before Sterling wakes up. He was so determined to rip those papers off the floor.

We also pulled another activity out of Art for the Very Young. I got out the Crayola washable fingerpaints and a few washable toys. The children were instructed to dip the ends of the toys in the paints, then make lines on their paper, which could be straight, wavy, zigzag, etc. Trevor enthusiastically went through a large quantity of paper as he experimented with the physical properties of his available tools. Miriam, however, stayed with it the longest. I think Kaith had long left the table when she placed the finishing touches on her first piece. I have great hopes that she will make a charming artistic companion for me, once she matures a little more. Ah, working side-by-side with various mediums, subtly inspiring each other . . .

Kindergarten Began

I was determined to begin school on Monday morning, September 8, whether our supplies had arrived or not. I was approaching our final morning chore (making my bed) at 9:15 when a large brown UPS truck materialized out front, bringing 31 lbs. of treasures.
Our first week, we read Cinderella, sorted colors, made a cushion-boat like in a poem by Robert Louis Stevens (Trevor is holding a "poison green plum"), and skipped the first nine weeks of phonics (that that is all Kaith skipped is a tribute to the thoroughness of K12's PhonicsWorks program.

Highlights from Last Week

At the company picnic, Cory told Kaith to go sit down to watch the animal show. Kaith chose a spot right next to some young woman, cuddled up, and put his hand on her knee. We have no idea who she is.

Miriam got a turn choosing and making family night treat. She chose star cookies, and was very proud of the result. Our lesson was on prayer, from the new nursery manual. That worked well, since Trevor was assigned to give a talk in primary on that subject (his teacher, who assigned it, said, "your kids give good talks. I learn from them"). We got our hard copy of Behold Your Little Ones just a few days ago, which was much sooner than I'd been expecting it.

About a month ago, I subscribed our family (under Trevor's name) to a magazine called High Five. It's the preschool cousing to Highlights magazine. We got our first two issues (they sent last April's and this October's) this week. We cut-out the bug dominoes, and played that. They also had a recipe for homemade tortillas. Trevor helped me make those, and wow, they were good.

My school started Thursday. I've had three days to work on things and am only two days behind schedule.

Our ward had a "Corn Ball" on Saturday. We brought dinner rolls, as usual. Silly us, we gave the kids lemonade before lunch. They hardly touched lunch, and that includes the cake. However, they did take frequent trips to the bathroom. I think we totaled seven, in all. I've included a picture of that toilet (sorry if you don't know that story. I think its unbloggable). Sterling, who did not drink lemonade, did eat most of a hot dog bun.

Kaith's school starts tomorrow. K-12 has been changing suppliers, I think, and so we haven't received the supplies we'll be using. We got an automated phone call Friday night saying our box would arrive Monday evening, at the latest. It must be costing them a lot of money to express ship a lot of big boxes. I'm glad I don't have to pay for the shipping fee.

Everyday Math Not for Everyday

Young Aunt Keira just showed me a video that shows several different elementary school math programs. Two of the often-accepted new math programs, Everyday Math and Terk, are displayed in their full atrocity. Calculators are pushed in Kindergarten to "teach" counting. The real problem, though, is in what they don't do. They don't teach the simplest, fastest, most reliable methods of solving a problem. The lessons are quite colorful. Some might say their playful. In a class where core math principles are understood, these programs might be useful as a Friday fun activity, or a think-outside-the-box Math Challenge of the Week. Some "gifted" children might like them, too.

Fortunately, Washington Virtual Academies subscribes to the K-12 curriculum. I'm putting a lot of tentative faith in Bror Saxberg (chief learning officer of K-12). Kaith tested borderline between Kindergarten and First Grade Math. I chose to have him start Kindergarten math this fall, with the assumption that he will be ready to move up by Thanksgiving. The only special interest I have is in my child, so if the curriculum fouls up, I'll be sure to post about it!

Marks of a good mathematics program, by David Klein

It is impossible to specify all of the characteristics of a sound mathematics program in only a few paragraphs, but a few highlights may be identified. The most important criterion is strong mathematical content that conforms to a set of explicit, high, grade-by-grade standards such as the California or Japanese mathematics standards. A strong mathematics program recognizes the hierarchical nature of mathematics and builds coherently from one grade to the next. It is not merely a sequence of interesting but unrelated student projects.

In the earlier grades, arithmetic should be the primary focus. The standard algorithms of arithmetic for integers, decimals, fractions, and percents are of central importance. The curriculum should promote facility in calculation, an understanding of what makes the algorithms work in terms of the base 10 structure of our number system, and an understanding of the associative, commutative, and distributive properties of numbers. These properties can be illustrated by area and volume models. Students need to develop an intuitive understanding for fractions. Manipulatives or pictures can help in the beginning stages, but it is essential that students eventually be able to compute easily using mathematical notation. Word problems should be abundant. A sound program should move students toward abstraction and the eventual use of symbols to represent unknown quantities.

In the upper grades, algebra courses should emphasize powerful symbolic techniques and not exploratory guessing and calculator-based graphical solutions.

There should be a minimum of diversions in textbooks. Children have enough trouble concentrating without distracting pictures and irrelevant stories and projects. A mathematics program should explicitly teach skills and concepts with appropriately designed practice sets. Such programs have the best chance of success with the largest number of students. The high-performing Japanese students spend 80 percent of class time in teacher-directed whole-class instruction. Japanese math books contain clear explanations, examples with practice problems, and summaries of key points. Singapore's elementary school math books also provide good models. Among U.S. books for elementary school, Sadlier-Oxford's Progress in Mathematics and the Saxon series through Math 87 (adopted for grade six in California), though not without defects, have many positive features.--by David Klein