Week 1 days 2&3

School is going great...even though not as planned.  Landon has had a little cold and a VERY runny nose plus he went to school on Wen in addition to his normal days because it was picture day.  All of this has caused us to do Home school a little off schedule.  We actually did days 2 and 3 on Sat. and Sun.

Landon really seems to be enjoying our school time together.  He still loves using the pointer, I'll have to get a picture of that, and the "art" of learning.  He sits right down and does everything like we have been doing it for months.  He is such a good boy!

Some have asked why I haven't started with any alphabet activities.  Well,  I wanted to get into the grove of things first.  We will start alphabet activities on week 3.  Here are some pictures from the past couple of days.

Day 2 Creation Book

Day 3 Creation Book

writing practice on paint baggie

Woody needed some writing practice as well:)

I can't wait to show you the finished Creation Book.  I have taken up close pictures of each finished page and will post them all together at the end of the week.  Maybe the video of him saying/signing his Bible verse will accompany it.

We love you all and hope that you are enjoying the posts.  Our next visit to Knoxville is soon...The Buddy Walk is Oct 10.  I can't wait!!

Week 1 Lesson Plans

"Paul Daugherty 2009 Keynote Address"

A friend of my found this great Keynote Address made at the Remarkable Families Symposium.  Mr. Daugherty has a daughter with Down Syndrome.  His Keynote address was powerful and I wish everyone who teaches Landon could read this and really "get" what he is saying.  Please take the time to read:

Paul Daugherty 2009 Keynote Address

Home Preschool Week 1 Day 1

Today was so much fun.  It was our first day doing preschool at home.  Landon did great and really enjoyed the Nursery Rhyme, singing time, and most all of the activities especially when he got to use the pointer.

This week and next week we will be learning about how God created the earth.  Today was about day one which is the creation of the Day and Night.  During out ABC time we are going to start focusing on one letter per week in a couple of weeks but to get us started we are just doing some letter matching.  Because Landon already knows most of his letters we are going to use the letter of the week as a review and a spring board to do activities that will encourage reading, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and speech.  The letter matching today was interesting to watch.  I helped him with the first two he drew from the mystery box by showing him where to place the letters.  When he did it by himself, you can see in the pictures,  he put the magnet letters on top of the printed letters.  That was fine but just interesting.  I can't wait to see what he does tomorrow.

Our Bible verse for the next couple of weeks will be Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".  I taught him the signs today and it was so touching to see him working on it.  I am hoping that by the end of the week or at least by the end of next week he will have it down pat and I can video it to share.   Here are some of the pictures that I took while he was working on some of the activities.

making "Creation Booklet" day 1

gluing paper for his "Day and Night" collage

pulling letters from the mystery box for his letter match

Enjoying his "Day and Night" Oreo snack

Letter match

In case you missed my lesson plans for this week:  Week 1

Getting ready

Tomorrow Landon and I will start our school time.  I'm working on what exactly to call our school time but for now it's just "Mom's School".  Today I thought I would show you what my plans are for the week and how I plan to do Calendar Time.  I use the word "plan" because everything may change the first few days if things are not working as I had thought they would or, as I already now for this week, our schedule may change.

Here are some pictures of what our Calendar looks like.

 For the calendar we will count the days up to the current date.  I am going to have 3 numbers on the green board and he will choose the number that will come next.  Now, I know that he is not ready to do this on his own and I know that he doesn't and won't know his numbers up to 20 to 31 for a while but there is no reason not to expose him to these numbers.  I will help him find the correct number by giving him hints such as, "which of these numbers has a 3 in it", or something like that.  I will read the number choices to him correctly just so that he see and hears the numbers and who knows, maybe he will learn these numbers quicker than anyone thinks.  After the date we will "read" the month and the day of the week.  During this time we will say or sing all of the days of the week and the months of the year.  When we are done we will go over "Today is (day of the week) ,  (Month) (date).  I don't have a spot written out for this yet but I'm thinking I need one for Landon to see as we say it.  I'll have to work on that.

The other parts of our calendar will be "Today, Tomorrow, and Yesterday",  "The Weather Outside Is", "What Color?, and "How Many?".  For "Today, Tomorrow, and Yesterday" we just go over it so that he hears those words.  For "The Weather Outside Is" we will open the door go outside on the porch and look.  We will talk about what we see and then come back in.  I will have 3 choices for him to choose from on the green board and he will pick one and place it on the chart.  The color and how many charts are my creation.  Learning his colors, or at least consistently telling me the correct color, has been difficult so I wanted to add something to our daily routine that would specifically go over it at least once every day.  I will either have a color word put on the chart and Landon will have to select the correct picture that matches from the green board or I will have a picture up on the chart and he will have to pick the correct word.  The "how many" chart will work similarly.  I will put up a number and he will select how many characters he needs off of the green board.  I made the characters Toy Story to help with the interest level.

Each week we will work on a new nursery rhyme and I will make a chart so that we can read it and do other activities with it.  I have a little pointer that looks like a hand pointing that we will use with the calendar and the nursery rhyme, along with many other things.

Here are the plans I have for Week 1.  I hope you enjoy them and I will post pictures of some of the activities soon.

I have mentioned the "green board" several times so I guess I should tell you what that is.  I bought a cork board and covered it in felt to make a flannel board.  My calendar time pieces all work with Velcro so the pieces will stick to the flannel board.  I will put Landon's choices up on the board for him to choose from.  It works great.

New School Year

Landon's first day of school 2010

Buzz Lightyear backpack was a must

Landon's first day of Preschool was Monday.  He is getting to be such a big boy!  This year he is going twice a week but staying until 2:30.  I must say that Monday was the longest, loneliest day I have  ever  had.  I had so much to do around the house but I caught myself looking at my watch every 30 min. or so wishing it was time for me to go pick him up.  I must confess that I did go early to get him.

There are several changes to Landon's school schedule this year.  First,  Landon's teacher from last year is no longer there and we will miss her very much.  Second, Landon is at school from 8:30-2:30 each  day which means that he is getting his nap there.  That was one of the things I was most worried about.  I wasn't sure how he would do laying on his little mat, STAYING there, and going to sleep.  They said he did great, I'm guessing he was so tired from his busy day he would have napped anywhere.  The third change, what he does during the day. This is the part that I am most excited about. I drop Landon off in the class he was in last year, he has a little play time, eats a small snack and then goes to the 4 year old class.  This class is not a special needs class but rather a class of children that will be going to Kindergarten next year who may be lacking  a few skills they need  to be successful. This class is focused primarily on academic skills and strengthening fine motor skill needed for tasks such as using scissors, coloring, and writing.  The class that he was in last year was mainly focused on developmental activities.  Landon, along with one other child, goes down to the 4 year old class and has circle time and "table time" which is where they do their class work.  The class has one lead teacher, on assistant, and another assistant that is there for Landon and the other student.  Landon's aid is there to help him with task that he needs a little extra support in.  He stays in this class until he is "over it" for the day and then he can go back to the 3 year old class.  This schedule is fine with me because he still has one more year until he starts Kindergarten.  Next year he will be in the 4 year old class full time.  This is just a great opportunity for Landon to continue to grow and develop leaps and bounds.

I need to go and get some housework done but I will try to write about his IEP meeting and the goals we set for him soon.  Also look next week because that is when I am going to start his work at home.  I can't wait to see how he does and how much fun we are going to have together.