sharing a process unfolding (long)
lefty1foot
I was putting my thoughts on paper of how I see this process unfolding
in our house and thought I'd share -
I often wonder what's going on inside those heads of my guys (Evan-6 &
Seth-4). Conversation reveals so much, yet those wheels are
constantly spinning and I wonder what they're piecing together. Then
"BAM" out they come with what was internally going on!
Lately, my guys have been outwardly showing their interest in the
written language. They have both delved deeper into making sense of
the written word. It's such fun to witness and participate in their
processes. They each have been making sense of this in their own
individual meaningful ways, yet they so complement one another.
As I mentally travel back in time I recall them both visually, orally,
tactilely taking in their new worlds. Then, in terms of language,
there was the start of their coos and babbles, which eventually
evolved into the utterances of first words. This has developed into
our current conversations.
The process has included the time of recognition of symbols as we
drove places (Target, Jamba Juice) to familiar food labels in the
grocery and our home pantry. I recall them both pointing out familiar
letters while reading stories or seeing words while out and about.
A while back my older son would flip through frequently read books and
tell the story verbatim, and I mean verbatim! The memory/recall
amazes me. Goes to show that when something is important/meaningful
it's internalized.
They both went through a time of stringing rows and rows and rows of
letters/numbers together on the computer and having dh or me "read"
what they wrote. They would crack up as we gave our best effort and
read "jibberish." On occasion they'll write, but not all that
interested in putting pen/paint/crayon to paper for writing.
Not long ago, my younger one would point letters out and associate it
with a meaningful character to him (superheroes). He would point to a
letter B and say "B for Batman" "N for Nightwing", I loved when he did
S cuz he'd say "S for Superman, me and you, mom" His name is Seth and
mine is Susan, so indeed S is for me and mom. As a Star Wars fan he
now thinks it's neat that a letter switcheroo (e becomes i) turns Seth
into Sith! Turning `mom' upside to become `wow' is pretty neat too.
My older one likes to play his self created trivia game where he will
give clues with letters such as Bionicle with a T (Tahu), Star Wars
jedi with an A (Anakin). He now also will `read' over my shoulder
commenting on familiar words he notices, such as his name or important
words in his world - primarily from all his gaming (play, ready,
enter ) and he'll pull letters inquiring as to what something says.
There will be silence (those are the times I wonder what's cookin' in
there) and he'll blurt out "Is L for Lord? Is V for Voldemort?" The
other day he came up to me and said "How do you spell no wait K is for
candy, isn't it?" Just today he says "1-3, thirteen. Hey, that has
a T like teenager"
They both now have such a clear, strong recognition of letters and
have been into asking what things say by pulling the letters. "What's
"G-A-M-E-S-T-O-P?" My older one will pull phrases and say something
like "What's T-H-E space E-N-D?" He notices and acknowledges the
spaces between words. I think that's cool.
Last night they were playing Lincoln Logs together when Seth made and
X for X-Men. Evan made the same configuration, held it at a different
angle and said "plus" They both put them down and said they were
Ninja stars. Onto next activity
In wrapping up my long-windedness I just think the way this process
plays out is so cool! The pieces are coming together in meaningful
ways for them. It's not phonetically forced, doesn't have negative
associations I watch/listen/play throughout the day and know my
happy, curious, energetic bundles of love would be completely
different beings if their impressionable selves were placed in the
hands of the system.
in our house and thought I'd share -
I often wonder what's going on inside those heads of my guys (Evan-6 &
Seth-4). Conversation reveals so much, yet those wheels are
constantly spinning and I wonder what they're piecing together. Then
"BAM" out they come with what was internally going on!
Lately, my guys have been outwardly showing their interest in the
written language. They have both delved deeper into making sense of
the written word. It's such fun to witness and participate in their
processes. They each have been making sense of this in their own
individual meaningful ways, yet they so complement one another.
As I mentally travel back in time I recall them both visually, orally,
tactilely taking in their new worlds. Then, in terms of language,
there was the start of their coos and babbles, which eventually
evolved into the utterances of first words. This has developed into
our current conversations.
The process has included the time of recognition of symbols as we
drove places (Target, Jamba Juice) to familiar food labels in the
grocery and our home pantry. I recall them both pointing out familiar
letters while reading stories or seeing words while out and about.
A while back my older son would flip through frequently read books and
tell the story verbatim, and I mean verbatim! The memory/recall
amazes me. Goes to show that when something is important/meaningful
it's internalized.
They both went through a time of stringing rows and rows and rows of
letters/numbers together on the computer and having dh or me "read"
what they wrote. They would crack up as we gave our best effort and
read "jibberish." On occasion they'll write, but not all that
interested in putting pen/paint/crayon to paper for writing.
Not long ago, my younger one would point letters out and associate it
with a meaningful character to him (superheroes). He would point to a
letter B and say "B for Batman" "N for Nightwing", I loved when he did
S cuz he'd say "S for Superman, me and you, mom" His name is Seth and
mine is Susan, so indeed S is for me and mom. As a Star Wars fan he
now thinks it's neat that a letter switcheroo (e becomes i) turns Seth
into Sith! Turning `mom' upside to become `wow' is pretty neat too.
My older one likes to play his self created trivia game where he will
give clues with letters such as Bionicle with a T (Tahu), Star Wars
jedi with an A (Anakin). He now also will `read' over my shoulder
commenting on familiar words he notices, such as his name or important
words in his world - primarily from all his gaming (play, ready,
enter ) and he'll pull letters inquiring as to what something says.
There will be silence (those are the times I wonder what's cookin' in
there) and he'll blurt out "Is L for Lord? Is V for Voldemort?" The
other day he came up to me and said "How do you spell no wait K is for
candy, isn't it?" Just today he says "1-3, thirteen. Hey, that has
a T like teenager"
They both now have such a clear, strong recognition of letters and
have been into asking what things say by pulling the letters. "What's
"G-A-M-E-S-T-O-P?" My older one will pull phrases and say something
like "What's T-H-E space E-N-D?" He notices and acknowledges the
spaces between words. I think that's cool.
Last night they were playing Lincoln Logs together when Seth made and
X for X-Men. Evan made the same configuration, held it at a different
angle and said "plus" They both put them down and said they were
Ninja stars. Onto next activity
In wrapping up my long-windedness I just think the way this process
plays out is so cool! The pieces are coming together in meaningful
ways for them. It's not phonetically forced, doesn't have negative
associations I watch/listen/play throughout the day and know my
happy, curious, energetic bundles of love would be completely
different beings if their impressionable selves were placed in the
hands of the system.
Sandra Dodd
On Mar 16, 2006, at 9:26 PM, lefty1foot wrote:
a vowel," and we had a 3x5 card on the fridge with the vowels. They
would pick some and stick them in here and there which made it easier
to read.
Sandra
> They both went through a time of stringing rows and rows and rows…ofThat's how my kids learned what vowels were. I'd say "I need to buy
> letters/numbers together on the computer and having dh or me "read"
> what they wrote. They would crack up as we gave our best effort and
> read "jibberish."
a vowel," and we had a 3x5 card on the fridge with the vowels. They
would pick some and stick them in here and there which made it easier
to read.
Sandra
Deb
--- In [email protected], Sandra Dodd
<Sandra@...> wrote:
letters on the fridge and ask us to pronounce it - qrtwzxlmnpsghfd
Yikes! So I explained that in our language vowels (a e i o and u)
are helpful to pronounce things so my tongue wouldn't get in a knot.
He'd put a couple in and I'd gamely give it a go. Then he'd
overcompensate and string together all the vowels he could find with
no consonants. Now he's interested in how other languages say things
(I can toss in a smattering of Spanish and French for simple stuff)
because French words sound so different(mostly started because he
likes going to buffet restaurants).
--Deb
<Sandra@...> wrote:
>LOL we did the same - DS would string together a dozen magnetic
> That's how my kids learned what vowels were. I'd say "I need to
>buy
> a vowel," and we had a 3x5 card on the fridge with the vowels.
>They
> would pick some and stick them in here and there which made it
>easier
> to read.
>
> Sandra
>
letters on the fridge and ask us to pronounce it - qrtwzxlmnpsghfd
Yikes! So I explained that in our language vowels (a e i o and u)
are helpful to pronounce things so my tongue wouldn't get in a knot.
He'd put a couple in and I'd gamely give it a go. Then he'd
overcompensate and string together all the vowels he could find with
no consonants. Now he's interested in how other languages say things
(I can toss in a smattering of Spanish and French for simple stuff)
because French words sound so different(mostly started because he
likes going to buffet restaurants).
--Deb
[email protected]
When my 18 yo son was about 4, he drew a bunch of letters on a piece of
paper and asked his sisters what it said. They were really little too and
laughed and said, "that doesn't say anything CJ!"
He took it to my husband and showed him, and he said, "What do you mean?
That says Sheebeepeemifff " That's not how he spelled it but it's how my
husband pronounced it. He wrote something like shbbpmf. To this day, we still
use the word!
Nancy B.
LOL we did the same - DS would string together a dozen magnetic
letters on the fridge and ask us to pronounce it - qrtwzxlmnpsghfd
Yikes! So I explained that in our language vowels (a e i o and u)
are helpful to pronounce things so my tongue wouldn't get in a knot.<<<
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
paper and asked his sisters what it said. They were really little too and
laughed and said, "that doesn't say anything CJ!"
He took it to my husband and showed him, and he said, "What do you mean?
That says Sheebeepeemifff " That's not how he spelled it but it's how my
husband pronounced it. He wrote something like shbbpmf. To this day, we still
use the word!
Nancy B.
>>>In a message dated 3/17/2006 8:13:27 PM Eastern Standard Time,soggyboysmom@... writes:
LOL we did the same - DS would string together a dozen magnetic
letters on the fridge and ask us to pronounce it - qrtwzxlmnpsghfd
Yikes! So I explained that in our language vowels (a e i o and u)
are helpful to pronounce things so my tongue wouldn't get in a knot.<<<
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]