Lesson 7 - April 22, 2015

Jacob did so great today! 


1. I had him circle all the letter A's in this picture.

 He got them all.

 2. I had him do two fill in the blanks for the ABCs... the first one is the same as last lesson, and the second one is a new one with more blanks.... again his retention was extra good today.

3. We went over the song and letters of the Alphafriends that he learned last time, A-E. He remembered them pretty well.




4. We added F, G, H.

Fifi Fish
Gerdie Goose
Hattie Horse









5. One big thing we talked about with ALL the letters was how our mouths LOOK when we say the sounds. For example, when you say APPLE, for the A sound your mouth opens super wide. So I said a few things without making sound to see if he could guess. He could. He thinks reading lips might be a good skill. :)

And we said the sounds A-H while eating crackers! It was quite hilarious. But also a good visual. When you say CALLIE CAT you spit out crackers. It helps you remember how the C sounds.



6. Break time.

He got to dig in the dirt again. That's his favorite.











7. Using my Bananagrams letters, we spelled out some words and had him sound them out. He did great!

cat, bat, fat, hat
bad
head
gab
beg, bet






8. Then we went outside and threw the tennis ball around using these (what are these called?). He loooves these. He asks for these every lesson.

So today I held up a letter (The Alphfriends print outs of A-H) and he had to say the SOUND while he threw the ball, and then I said the same sound throwing it back.

It was fun!!! He got them all pretty quickly.






There are many letters he gets mixed up: Dudly Duck and Girdie Goose -- maybe because they are both birdlike? Also B and D and P but that is really common. We talk about how close each of them are, and that eventually it will happen -- he WILL learn them.



I told Jacob about 10 times how he did a great job! 
But he replies with, "No not really." 
And I say, "Yes, you did great!" 
And then he smiles. I hope he is gaining some confidence.

Lesson 6 add on

I forgot these!


I had Jacob circle the letter B in this worksheet:

I also had him fill in the blanks here. He did great! He couldn't remember O or T, and needed help remembering how to write three of the letters.

I'm going to do this every time, but with a different arrangement.

Lesson 6 - April 17, 2015

Oh Jacob Jacob. He was in a "whatever -- I don't wanna do this" mood.

Kids are sorta moody sometimes. (Not like that changes when you are an adult.... )

1. I started by testing his retention from the words I have taught him so far. (Just showing him words, no pictures.) He remembered 2 out of 10 of them. So 20%.

It sounds rather disappointing, but his mom assures me it's normal.

After this he was visibly annoyed. He knew he wasn't getting them, and he was mad. And his brain was really really tired.

He needed a brain rest.


2. We took a beak and got snacks and talked. Suddenly he was happy! :)


3. I had the premonition that connecting Pictures --> Words --> Sounds is what we needed to talk about. Instead of a whole speech about it, I just interjected bits of the idea while we were doing the rest of the lesson.

Jacob fully grasped the concept. That words represent pictures, and that sounds are how we figure out what a word is.

(Seriously, how do kids get this idea quickly? It's so weird.)


4.I introduced Jacob to the Alphafriends.

Basically, they are all the letters attached to an animal/thing with a name. It helps them learn phonetics.

Like "Andy Apple --ahh, ahh, ahh" and "Benny Bear --buh, buh,buh" and so on.


Here is a link to a printable.

This is how my boys learned their letters and sounds in Kindergarten.

I loved their teacher. She not only taught them, she HAMMERED phonetics. She is sort of a Kindergarten Miracle for Boys. I wish Jacob could be in her class.





Here is a link to the Alphafriends song. 


Over the period of 20 minutes, we took one letter at a time, went over its sound, sang the song (JUST the part of the song with that letter) over and over, then introduced another letter.



We kept adding letters because Jacob loved it! He seems to be really "in the moment" sometimes. Wish I could tap that or stretch it out a little longer. :)

So we got to five letters: A, B, C, D, E

5. I mixed up those letters to spell some simple words and let him try sounding them out.

Some words were fairly easy for him to sound out. Some were harder.

Any word with B and D in it made his head spin. We talked about how B and D are SO CLOSE that it makes it hard.

But did pretty dang well. He sounded out at, cab, cat, bat, dab, bed, bad. (Yes we added in the T but he likes T and remembers the sound.)


6. Two lessons in a row now, Jacob has told me: "I wish writing wasn't invented, because then there wouldn't be school, or reading....."

I responded with:

*There would still be math! And history, and..... so yes there would still be school.
*God gave us the scriptures and technology and so many things.... why?? Words must be important.


7. That led into what we are each good at.

Jacob: I am good at using a bow.
Carrie: I am good at words, but I don't know how to use a bow.

So we are going to trade! Reading for archery.

Sounds like a good trade, huh? :)

Lesson 5 - April 13, 2015

Jacob was in a really bad mood when he arrived.

Something to do with his younger siblings coming into his room.

So it was good I didn't have a definitive plan for today's lesson -- I didn't feel inspired to do anything in particular -- so we had a more relaxed day.

Also, there are lots of things to figure out....

*I am still trying to figure out how his brain works.
*I am still trying to figure out his learning pace.
*I am still trying to figure out how his long-term retention works.

Once we chatted and he had a snack, we started on some of the lesson. Though in between there was LOTS of chatting about random things.

----------------

1. I had printed out the four B words from last week in really large font so he could take some beans and arrange them over the betters of the word.


We decided to just stick with the word "bear" for today.

He practiced writing the word "bear" a few times with a pencil.









2. Here he practiced writing lower case b and upper case B.

3. Next I let him play with my camera. He took the toy bear outside and I asked him to take 4 photos of it doing something so we could make it into a book.

We downloaded the 4 photos and he told me what was happening. Then we printed and stapled it.

The story was about bear looking for honey in a tree... then looking for a deer on a cliff.... then breaking up a helicopter.... then Jacob throwing the bear in the zoo. It was really funny!



We sat down and read the book aloud, and I had him circle the word "bear" on each page.





4. Next he painted a picture and the word "bear" on a paper.

For the next lesson, I feel like we need to go even more basic. I want to use the Alphafriends that my sons used when they learned the alphabet and see how he does. It would introduce basic phonics sounds while learning the alphabet... all with pictures.

Lesson 4 - April 10, 2015

I am pretty amazed by this kid. Like his mom keeps saying, Jacob's brain is amazingly complex and amazing.

So teaching him means as a teacher, you better be on your A game every single second.

Thankfully I like challenges!

1. I have to tell you about my brother Casey. He is sort of a genius. He's been in Europe for several years pursuing a degree about.... something to do with learning language + computer software. So you know the LDS MTC, where they learn some of their language lessons via computer? Someone has to write that software. It's very complex. He has to know how the brain works and how it produces audio and written language.

He already got his master's in it, and now he's almost done with his PhD. That's my brother, Dr. Casey!!!

 He lives in Germany so it's hit or miss as to whether we are online at the same time to chat via messenger. But we were yesterday, so I told him about Jacob and how he struggles with reading.

Then I basically said, "HELP ME."

2. Casey explained how we learn language as toddlers. Our parents point to stuff and say sounds. So our brains learn that sounds = things. Later our brains learn that sounds = actions. And so on. We connect things. Our brains make many, many connections and notice patterns. Over years of practice and experiencing it all, toddlers learn to talk like their parents.

Jacob has an amazing grasp on this. His spoken vocabulary is actually quite extensive. And his abstract idea center in his brain is actually quite amazing. He can grasp concepts that most 9 year olds would not fully comprehend. So he has the spoken connection to objects down very well.

So, my brother Casey then explained that later, when we are 4 or 5 or 6, we start to learn how to read and write. This means that in addition to assigning a spoken sound to an object, we learn the assigned printed word to the object. Most kids grasp this pretty well. They get that the object and the sound and the printed word all go together They connect ALL THREE together. Then they figure out that a word has sounds, and if we sound things out, we can get a word that then equals an object.

How we are able to do this is quite remarkable. The brain is amazing!!

The problem is though -- some people don't learn printed words very well. Like our dear Jacob. So he knows sounds equal objects, but there was a disconnect between PRINTED WORDS and objects and then its corresponding sound.

So in the triangle of speech-object-printed word, he's missing the printed word. And he can't learn it in the traditional way. So we must come up with a way that he CAN learn it.


3. Casey proposed that I test out a little theory of his. It is all based on OBJECTS + PRINTED WORD. Basically learning with tactile + how the word looks.

a. Gather 3-4 objects Jacob wouldn't recognize or know the name of.
b. Assign each object a random gibberish name. (Only a few letters to keep it simple.)
c. Teach Jacob that these objects go with these printed words.
d. Here is the catch .... NEVER SOUND OUT THE OBJECT'S NAME.

So keep the sound completely out of the equation. Seems weird, right?

Also, don't just use a picture of the object, use the ACTUAL TANGIBLE OBJECT.

4. It took Casey a few times explaining it to me for me to actually grasp this very abstract idea. It's the opposite of how most people learn. But once I "got it" it made total sense. And Jacob's mom agreed that it made sense.

So I tried it today.

5. I gathered 4 of my son's Snap Circuit pieces. Jacob doesn't know their names, but they are unique in shape and color, and he can hold them and move them with his hands.

Here are the four and the random "names" I assigned to them. This picture was just for me to remember which was which.

  

6. We went into our spare room, where I told Jacob it was a "NO SPEAKING" zone. He thought it was silly. But he went with it.


7. So one at a time, without speaking at all! I taught Jacob 3 of the objects (I didn't get to bettz today).

Starting with the blue one or "naka," I held up the printed word and the object. I gave the object to Jacob. I kept pointing at the object and the word so he would know that naka = (blue object).

Then I pointed to the printed word and then gestured to have him do things with the blue object.... 
like put it on the pillow, put it on the right edge of the Snap Circuit board (that grid thing below), etc. This concept was very easy for him to grasp. 

I also pointed at the printed word and had him draw the OBJECT.... then write the printed word. To further connect and help him remember the object with the word.

It seemed like the idea was sticking.






8. So I did the same thing with "ooi" red object, and the "inu" yellow object.

I taught them to him one at a time, had him do things with the items, draw them, etc... (without speaking out loud... we never sounded out the word audibly).



At one point he wanted permission to speak... He asked, "What do these words sound like?"

I said, "It doesn't matter. We aren't talking."

And that was that!






So once I felt like he understood which one was which.... I tested him by using all three items at once.









9. I grabbed a random printed word and pointed at it. He picked up the corresponding object.

He was 90% CORRECT EVERY TIME!!!!

Then I would point at a random printed word and had him throw it, or put it on the grid, or on the pillow, or on the floor, etc.

Again, he was amazingly accurate.


By this time he was noticing how excited I was. So we said it was time to SPEAK and I explained that I think that his brain thinks in pictures. He agreed. He pictures objects.

Then we talked about sharks and lions and other animals. LOL

10. Then he wanted to play with my camera.

Here is his picture he took of our cat running away.




11.  So then we left the Snap Circuit objects alone and moved on to items that he DOES know the sound of.

One at a time, we took an object and its printed word outside.

As I pointed to the printed word, I gestured (no talking) and he did things with the object, like throwing it, handing it to me, setting it down, etc.

In between learning each object with its printed word, he shoveled my garden. He loves shoveling in dirt!

Finally, once he learned all four objects and their printed words..... I tested to see if he could put the correct object next to the printed word. His accuracy was 70-80%!!!

I am very encouraged by this.

What does it mean? I am still trying to put it into words....but I THINK that Jacob.......

Thinks in pictures. That as of right now, sound is a barrier to learning to read. So phonetics is out the window at least for now. He is currently making a connection that this object goes with this printed word, and so on. So feeling the object (tactile), doing things with it (action), and connecting that it is married to a printed word (without using sound), is what seems to be getting through.

So we'll go with it and see where it takes us. I am sure Jacob will throw many curve balls, but for now he seems to be having fun with this.

Lesson 3 - April 8, 2015

Jacob was happy and excited to learn today. 


Learning the letter Bb and some b vocab words.



1. We bounced a tennis ball back and forth while saying, "Buh, Buh, Buh." We actually put the letter b (printed out) on the floor and bounced the tennis ball on it.



2. We got out the playdough and formed the letter b.

Jacob really liked this activity!

I explained that some people learn through DOING so it can get from their hands to their brains.


We talked about how the capital B is an adult with a belly and a head, and the lower case b is a kid with just a face. Jacob is so funny.

3. Next we listened to a song about "what it would be like without the letter b" .... we'd have to ride in an oat instead of a boat and wear oots instead of boots. I found the song clip here. We listened to it a few times and talked about it.

4. Here are the 10 vocab words. Maybe I picked too many? Jacob was enthusiastic so we went forward. He said all of them without me asking him to say them.








5. I had Jacob pick 5 of the words for a little game. He chose:

BEE
BOW
BEAR
BALL
BIRD

He was especially drawn to BEE the whole lesson. Maybe because it's got a double e?? 

I took the 5 words (with picture) that he picked and posted them all over in our basement for him to find.

So back upstairs, I handed Jacob a little slip of paper with just the word (no picture), and he had to run down to the basement and find its match. He loved it!

He got all of these right.

Jacob loves to learn by DOING something very active.






 
 6. Next, we sat at the table and he drew pictures and we wrote a story about the five words. It was really funny how he combined the words.....

A bear tried to bite the boy. Then a bee came and stung the bear to save the boy. 

(There was a very long story here, but I tried to narrow it down. He obviously has a huge imagination.)



7. Then we placed all the 5 words (with picture) on the table, and when I held up the slip of paper with each word (no picture) he had to SLAP!!! the matching word. He loved this game!

(See my hand in the top left holding up just the word?)

He got most of them right.

I think since this was a faster game, and all the words were sitting next to each other, it was a little harder than just one at a time.








 8. Next we repeated the basement game and drawing/writing a story and SLAP!! with the last five vocab words:

BEAR
BOY
BOOK
BIKE
BAT

He did great with these also!


9. Finally, this was the true test. Would Jacob remember the words without the aide of pictures?

I am sad to say no. He didn't recall these on their own. I showed him each slip of paper one at the time and he couldn't get them.

I felt pretty let down, but Jacob seemed fine with it. He wasn't sad. After he got several wrong, we stopped.


I felt let down because he was doing so well! He was matching these slips of paper to the pictures.

But once the pictures were gone, so was the recollection.





I wonder if we spend another session on these words, if it will help him draw a connection. We'll try it.


10. I sent this little book home with Jacob to look through. It's just smaller print outs of his vocab words.

Jacob was awesome today! Very happy and willing to do anything I asked. A little less chatty than before. That is progress in my book --- it shows me he is OK with doing the learning activities.

Lesson 2 - April 6, 2015

Jacob was in an "let's see what happens" kind of mood.

He brought his awesome bow to show me, which was super cool. He was very descriptive and detailed when he talked about it. He liked showing me how far he could pull it back.



1. Going back to all our words from Lesson 1, we reviewed them.... then cut out letters and mixed them up. Jacob had to figure out which letters went where to spell the word.



This was not an easy task, but he tried REALLY REALLY hard and did great!!!

He did really well on these words. He always got the double "r" first.

He kept putting "a" upside down until I told him it needed to sit on its bum.

The "ow" was the same in both words, and he liked associating that.







We did the other words, like "love" and "live" and "Idaho" and "spider" ... he did pretty well with those too.




Jacob did really well with STOP.

Perhaps it's because it is very familiar to him.

Also last week I told him to YELL it, since it had an exclamation point. Boys love yelling. :)

2. Next we played this game I found on this website.

It is great because you can write in the letters. Today we did A-F.

The first time we played, we used cards with either a picture or a typed word. So if you choose "apple" you get to move to the next "a" on the board.

The second time we played, we had to find stuff around the room.

 Jacob loved this game. He also loved beating me twice!

He also loved eating gluten free crackers and strawberries.

Jacob has natural instincts about words and sounds that are mostly correct. But sometimes he doesn't trust his instincts. 

He needs A LOT of reassurance.

3. Next I wanted to see how far Jacob could go. This next activity was a matching game--- it was going to be TOO HARD. I knew it would be too hard for him. But I wanted to see how he handled something that was too hard. 

I asked him to match the word to the picture. He had a lot of trouble getting multiple sounds to escape his brain.

After two cards, he completely shut down. His face, body, and attitude were totally gone.

So we stopped the matching game.

------

4. Next we just talked.

He talked about how he DOESN'T KNOW letters.

He talked about how OTHER KIDS LEARN FASTER than him.

He talked about how traditional school DOESN'T WORK for him.

He talked about how he has had teachers GIVE UP on him.

It is so hard to see him so sad and frustrated and defeated. 

I told him I wouldn't give up on him. That he knows at least half of the letters. That different people learn different ways. That he IS SMART. I told him I was sorry he was so sad and frustrated.

Sometimes a step back or a breakdown in learning is really quite essential.

And you know, usually it happens in week 2. (I was a camp counselor at a summer camp, and the girls were a dream for a week, then had breakdowns in week 2. Kids show their true selves, and this is where they learn who they can trust. They are also testing you.) 

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5. I did want to show him that even though he felt "done" that he could still COME BACK quickly and keep learning.

That's where humor comes in. I read him this book about this boy tipping on his bike. If you are silly enough with your voice, the story is funny, especially to a  9-year-old boy.

I also want him to know that books aren't scary. So we will read one every lesson, whether I read it or he reads it to me. This time I read it.

6. Finally, I printed the alphabet and had Jacob circle his FAVORITE letters in red, then his LEAST favorite letters in purple (because that's a girl color :).

He kept saying "I don't know... I don't know...."

I said, "Right now I am learning what you DO know and DON'T know, so that we can know what to do next."








Jacob was in an OK mood when he left. 

I feel bad that he has carried this around for so long. His mom has tried so so so hard and it's been a challenge.

Our First Goal is to get him to a 3rd Grade reading level. So that's what we'll do.

Lesson 1 - April 2, 2015

Jacob was in a great mood and ready to learn.


1. We started brainstorming about something he loves -- his bow and arrow. He could talk for hours about his bow and arrow. 

Using a child's interests is key!





Jacob drew his bow and arrow to show me what it looks like. 

Drawing helps get the brain going. It also helps them know you as the teacher care about their interests. 

I asked him questions and he talked some more. I wrote down and drew key words.

I pointed out that making a story can start this way -- by drawing and writing random things. This makes it less scary.








2. Jacob learned some words (I printed and placed them beforehand).



 It's important to use JACOB in the story. If he can place himself in the story, he will care about what happens. If he cares about what happens, he may actually want to read it.

Notice how the words are colorful and have pictures with them. That helps them stand out.

Also notice how they are placed at the ceiling level. Read this article about teaching Right Brained kids.




3. Next we used those words and read a story I made up. He read it pretty well.

One thing I noticed is that he will talk about ANYTHING else in order to distract the teacher, so he doesn't have to read. That Jacob is very tricky. So I gave him crackers and turned his attention back to reading.


















4. I asked him to illustrate each page. Then we read the story again about three times.

He loved drawing. See how he copied the word "stop"?

I love using "stop" because kids always see stop signs. 

   
 He wanted to add a thought bubble saying "Me Like Bow." So we went with it. All ideas are welcome! Notice how he doesn't leave spaces between words? We'll work on it.

 He mixed up his "s" and "c" here. They sound the same, so it's pretty normal. 




 



He also added details that weren't in the story, like his PACK OF ARROWS.










  

5. Now it was time for Jacob to add to the story!
I asked: "What happens next?" He totally went to town.

See the blood? Lots of details.


 Notice how Jacob wrote his name. Two backwards letters and one capital letter out of place.






 We talked about the hook in his J, and he said he gets it mixed up sometimes. I said that's ok, so does my son.

Notice how he fixed it? But only that. We'll work on the rest later. 

Jacob had a long explanation of what happened next, but I wanted to write it simply. This is what it boiled down to. But the fact that he has such a large and detailed imagination is so awesome.





6. Next we read a bunch of simple books. He already knew the word "see" so it was easy for him.

I like these because they have pictures. Sometimes he couldn't get the word because the picture could also mean another word, but then he noticed they were supposed to be "g" words and his brain went searching. He didn't always get it, but he is building confidence in books.

He asked if he could take them home. :)

Here is a video of him reading by himself.

He needs constant feedback to make sure he's doing it right. Some kids are afraid to even pronounce things wrong. So help them feel safe!

 



7.  Jacob learned a few new words.

He actually does love spiders. Which I already knew. :)

I purposely chose LIVE and LOVE since they are so close in spelling. I wanted to see if he noticed the difference. He did once I pointed it out.

That was hard at first, but then we circled the O and I and he figured it out. The pictures with the words helped.






8. We quickly read the next story I wrote about him.

 This story was harder for him to read.


 He was getting restless, so we headed outside.

 Physical activity WITH reading can be helpful to get the brain moving!










8. First, we stuck the words on the fence. Then I said each word, and he raced over and grabbed them. He got them all right away.

9. Next he had to race over and put the words IN ORDER of "Jacob lives in Idaho" and "Jacob loves spiders." He did great.

We talked about how sentences usually have a person/thing, and then an action.












10. He wanted to draw a picture about something that happening in his family, so he did. It was about him and his friend Hazen on the trampoline, then his little siblings came over and were "blah blah blah" and so they ran off to his room and locked the door, so they tried to pick the lock then went away. Later his older brother came and they all played together. 

It was funny!

I really believe that letting kids talk helps them read and write. 
Also as their teacher it helps you know how their mind works.

While he was telling me the story, I wrote down 1, 2, 3, 4, and asked him to repeat what happened first, then second, then third.

11. For the next lesson, he wants to talk about guns. "Except my mom doesn't like guns!"

I give Jacob an A for effort and attitude. He is awesome.