Amie has always been interested in recognizing letters, and she has been able to write her name for many months, but it was more an exercise in memory than real writing. She can analyze the first and the last sounds in a word, but not the ones in between yet, unless it is an easy …
Category Archives: reading and writing
Amie Makes and Signs her Drawing
I promised to put up the video of Amie drawing this picture. I just managed to upload it onto youtube. Have a look-see! http://youtube.com/watch?v=QmXHvN3B4_U It’s a bit long (5 minutes) but the demonstration is followed by a not-to-be-missed review of most of Amie’s “people” drawings. Enjoy!
End of Tadpoles (?) and Signing her Name
Amie loves this quality drawing paper. It is stiff so it won’t buckle under the pressure of her pen, and it’s smooth, sucking up the Tombow’s ink just right. Expensive materials for a two-and-a-half-year-old, true, but it’s worth it. The only thing that bothers me is that the paper is a bit larger than letter-size. …
Coloring, more tadpoles, trees and Bambi
What with all the house and land hunting, premature planning of gardens and scrambling to find a new preschool – after all the hassle we went through finding one here in Brookline! – I may be blogging less, but that doesn’t mean we’re playing less around here! And even though I haven’t posted her drawings …
Family Reading
Amie gets it! She was talking about something and suddenly said: – Mama, more begins with M. I had always found it strange that she could rhyme so naturally – she picked it up in one day, months ago – but that she couldn’t isolate the first letter, or sound, of a spoken word, until …
The People, Signing Her Own Name, Growth Spurt
Amie drew “The People” today. 4 of them. 1 big person and 3 tiny ones: She also signed her name on the back: We’ve been working on letters, and this is her first full written word (besides “8oo”, i.e., “Boo”). The A she has down pat. The M still tends to flatten out and go …
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Projects Projects
I’ll let you know what I’m working on. I’m researching how best to teach reading. Fascinating that whole Whole Word – Phonics war. So much of the history and psychology of writing is involved, and then throw your own toddler and her talents and interests into the mix. I love a complex challenge! In advance …
Amie Connects the Dots
I’ve uploaded a new video to YouTube, this one of Amie (at now 25 months) connecting the dots her Baba made on paper, unwittingly writing the letters A and MÂ (guess why those). I was quite skeptical when I saw what Baba was up to: I didn’t think she could do it. But she did it …
The Letter Box
Letters A couple of months ago, Amie started showing interest in letters. It was rather unavoidable, as we have wooden alphabet puzzles and alphabet fridge magnets. And she sees us reading, of course, and writing on paper (Mama) and on the computer (Baba and Mama). She now also pretends to read her books,  some of which she knows …