Written by Gramma:
Hi all,
I wanted to take a moment to comment on Sebastian's work with me today. He was awesome!
We reviewed Spanish phrases as well as his English words and sentences from last week and he even added a few words to the Spanish list. He had tried out some of his new phrases on one of his friends but he said the cafeteria was kind of noisy so he wasn't sure if the friend heard, but he did try which was one of his assignments from our Thursday session last week.Might be something to reinforce at home. : )
He remembered everything from previous lessons, and made a focused effort to do well with review time. We then worked on some new sight words (sent all the information for him to be reviewing with you in his bag...not overwhelming but something to reinforce) in English, new Spanish phrases, one of which he wrote, made a non fiction mini book on animal habitat and read it in English. We do the Spanish version of the book on Thursday, but he was beginning to notice that sounds in Spanish and English are similar as are many words (animales; animals) so if he learns the reading process in English, naming the words will flow naturally in Spanish.
Comprehension has to be happening in both languages so we are working on that but I think the relief of the realization that consonants and some vowels are the same in both languages (we had a good discussion on this) is considerable for him.
He is starting to self correct which is a major breakthrough. We talked about miscues he made and why he might have made them (the word started with w so I thought it was wild, it made sense there, it didn't sound like the right word, etc. Anything we can do to help him think about the reading process will move his progress along considerably.
We then completed his second of 20 reading lessons (if we can complete one each lesson, I'll be happy and confident that he'll be reading fluently in English (maybe Spanish, too) by mid November) and he really did well with onset and rime (mad, sad, had, cat, at, bat, etc.). Also making and reading short sentences was a major step forward today.
His reward for such outstanding work, he really was reading and blending on his own without picture cues, was to go up to the second floor of the library (we work on the first floor) and listen to the silence. It's a quiet floor and they really do enforce the silence. He loved wandering through the bookshelves and watching the lights automatically come on (motion activated). Before we went into the silent area he'd asked what he should do if he needed to go to the bathroom while we were up there! I assured him a whisper was really ok. He beamed.
Can you tell I am very pleased with his progress? Next week we'll continue working on both languages and I'm trying to figure out what it is he's doing in his class...especially at the "table for little kids" that he and another child have to go to practice Spanish? Sight words? Sounds? I'm guessing but don't know. He tried to help me so I was getting some idea.
Anyway, more than any time I've seen him, he focused, followed directions, and was very earnest.
He said he earned five checks today in class and was understanding more. "I'm having better communication." I hope there is some reward in store for that progress in class.
Rita
Hi all,
I wanted to take a moment to comment on Sebastian's work with me today. He was awesome!
We reviewed Spanish phrases as well as his English words and sentences from last week and he even added a few words to the Spanish list. He had tried out some of his new phrases on one of his friends but he said the cafeteria was kind of noisy so he wasn't sure if the friend heard, but he did try which was one of his assignments from our Thursday session last week.Might be something to reinforce at home. : )
He remembered everything from previous lessons, and made a focused effort to do well with review time. We then worked on some new sight words (sent all the information for him to be reviewing with you in his bag...not overwhelming but something to reinforce) in English, new Spanish phrases, one of which he wrote, made a non fiction mini book on animal habitat and read it in English. We do the Spanish version of the book on Thursday, but he was beginning to notice that sounds in Spanish and English are similar as are many words (animales; animals) so if he learns the reading process in English, naming the words will flow naturally in Spanish.
Comprehension has to be happening in both languages so we are working on that but I think the relief of the realization that consonants and some vowels are the same in both languages (we had a good discussion on this) is considerable for him.
He is starting to self correct which is a major breakthrough. We talked about miscues he made and why he might have made them (the word started with w so I thought it was wild, it made sense there, it didn't sound like the right word, etc. Anything we can do to help him think about the reading process will move his progress along considerably.
We then completed his second of 20 reading lessons (if we can complete one each lesson, I'll be happy and confident that he'll be reading fluently in English (maybe Spanish, too) by mid November) and he really did well with onset and rime (mad, sad, had, cat, at, bat, etc.). Also making and reading short sentences was a major step forward today.
His reward for such outstanding work, he really was reading and blending on his own without picture cues, was to go up to the second floor of the library (we work on the first floor) and listen to the silence. It's a quiet floor and they really do enforce the silence. He loved wandering through the bookshelves and watching the lights automatically come on (motion activated). Before we went into the silent area he'd asked what he should do if he needed to go to the bathroom while we were up there! I assured him a whisper was really ok. He beamed.
Can you tell I am very pleased with his progress? Next week we'll continue working on both languages and I'm trying to figure out what it is he's doing in his class...especially at the "table for little kids" that he and another child have to go to practice Spanish? Sight words? Sounds? I'm guessing but don't know. He tried to help me so I was getting some idea.
Anyway, more than any time I've seen him, he focused, followed directions, and was very earnest.
He said he earned five checks today in class and was understanding more. "I'm having better communication." I hope there is some reward in store for that progress in class.
Rita
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