Week 7 May 11-May 15
Monday, May 11
This weekend, a friend/colleague of mine gave us some 24" bikes. The one for Adrian, unfortunately, is still a bit too big. But Seb's fits great. He LOVES it. We love to go bike riding at Stonehill or Wompatuck...hoping we can get some good riding in this summer. Seb's "journal" entry today was to write a thank you note to my friend.
And here he is...it's a great bike!!!!!
His opinion piece, in case you can't read that amazing writing and see in my amazing picture, is supposedly going to be about why everyone should learn another language.
I have to admit I'm freaked out about his math still. I know the report card is based on up to March, but B on a lot of his math...yikes. I don't know what is wrong with his math processing. I simply don't understand why his memory is a trap for useless facts, wrestler heights, etc. but he CANNOT remember or memorize an addition or subtraction fact. It just does NOT connect. We do math facts every M-Th evening. We *rarely* ever miss. And while he has definitely gotten better...Adrian literally flies through...and Seb continues to stumble his way through. It's also a lack of focus. When I get him to zero in on the problems, he actually does get them quickly.
As for the two and three digit problems, he's getting those when he can use a number line. He still has some issues with crossing the century, particularly in subtraction. We're working on it. I'm also working on the expanded form with him...he gets it...sort of. I have to scribe for him half the time to get him to work through enough of the problems to actually explain to him. Otherwise, he just doesn't focus or doesn't do anything. It's so frustrating. But he *does* seem to be making some progress. I'd also say he generally gets the concept of the hundreds, tens, ones place...but still working on that too. He was good at time...we'll keep going back and practicing. Money is also coming pretty well. But will practice that too.
Watching Power Rangers (worst show ever) with dirty clothes on the floor in the corner. Amazing. We did books in Epic today and he worked on Lexia. He's much more motivated now that he's in a new level. However, I don't really encourage Epic...I want them to learn to read an actual book and hold it in their hands and give their eyes a rest. So sorry if it looks like we're not reading. We are. We just do 20 min with a book after lunch and I read Little House at night. So we get about 40 min daily. Reading is super important to me.
For music, we watched the video of George visiting the Sydney Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. The boys LOVED IT. My mom also got Adrian a used drum set (free!) over the weekend from someone so both boys have been messing around on it...you can't imagine...Adrian has some natural talent...Seb, well, not so much!! :-)
Tuesday, May 12
Yikes. But seriously--he panics when things are timed.
I often have to scribe...but he is starting to get expanded form. I wanted him to try this instead of the number line, which he has pretty much grasped.
Journal:
They watched someone read the book "Pigcasso and Mootisse" for art.
Wednesday, May 13
Here is a Screencastify video of Seb reading the Ice cream fact/opinion poem:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ncupks_RF1kyD_jnbXbVO-gbxHH5RP_H/view
Riding bikes this morning! He insisted on wearing shorts...even though it was like 35 degrees!
He just finished his second Transformers chapter book. :-)
Ok, to be honest (not like you can't tell), I scribed for him. I figured that the *main* purpose of this is to get them to understand how to write an opinion piece. And I have so many battles with them at home that I had to pick one. Seb was fighting it (so was Adrian). So, I helped them do the organizer by scribing their ideas. I had to help them organize their thoughts a little, but I think they got the main idea. I hope to get Seb to do this more often--the graphic organizer thing. Because he has no shortage of things to say--he just can't organize the thoughts in a meaningful way. So once I scribed the reasons for him, I scribed his thoughts for the essay.
I had to ask some guiding questions, but he liked his ideas and how it came out. I told him to think about how it makes him feel to be able to talk to his abuelitos and also how Daniel's mom feels when Seb tries to talk to her in Portuguese. That was able to help him get at the main ideas he wanted to say. I told him he has to write it all over again in his own writing after! LOL
He did his math without a fight today...and did the number lines by himself! He still needs some help doing expanded form. He gets twisted up and adds the wrong numbers together sometimes. But he's getting better. But I left Papa in charge of the math to go to the supermarket...and as I went to post the problems I realized half his expanded form problems are wrong. Shame on Papa, who apparently is also mathematically challenged. God help me. LOL. We just fixed them together.
Thursday 5/14
He was NOT getting the idea of regrouping. Just another mental block.
So I showed him how to add and carry the one, old school style. He got it. He was so pleased with himself.
He got the coin problem within a few seconds. I was surprised LOL.
I scribed again. I feel like I'm cheating. But I think he got the idea of what conclusion is...
Playing Power Rangers outside
Friday, May 15
We did not do the social studies stuff this week because we'd done back in March. I hope to have him do his suitcase this weekend. He also needs to copy his essay over in his own writing. I wish I'd done that differently...but at the same time, I don't think he would have done it if I hadn't scribed for him. Or he wouldn't have gotten the idea of the essay. He wants a YouTube channel. I'm thinking for the summer, *maybe* I'll let him review books or toys, but I'll tell him he has to write his "script" first. And we can work on these skills. He loves to write--he just doesn't like me to tell him how to do it! LOL
I am embarrassed that we have also largely skipped the SEL lessons. My boys need them more than anyone. But they have been in therapy for 2 years. Not a single one is new to them. Adrian does breathing...Seb will not. We will keep working on it. But Seb had a 45 min session via Zoom with his "coach" today so hopefully that counts. They made a thermometer and talked about what worries would put him where on the thermometer. And they did the 5 things you see, 4 you hear, etc. Then they did some calm down activities. So believe me--we're working on the SEL. My dwindling bank account can attest to it. :-/
We did do the Soupman activity, though. I showed them the Today Show video of him. We've actually talked quite a bit about addiction before too. My friend fosters for DCF and we hang out with her and her kids a lot. We've had the opportunity to have some difficult conversations because of that.
I had a 4 hour webinar on Thursday. One of the things I heard (which wasn't new, but still resonates and serves as a good reminder) is it's all about having 100 1-min conversations with kids. Not 1 100-min conversation. Our ride to karate 1-2 times a week are usually are deep conversation times (when the boys aren't killing each other in the back seat). I'm grateful for that time.
He did the money right away. I was shocked.
I reminded him to draw the line below the two numbers he's adding next time.
And THIS. As you know this was important to him. We hadn't done the since March. We did one earlier this week and he got 11. Then he did this one and got 18. He really does know them. He frustrates himself with how distracted he gets when we are doing math. I hope now that he's done this, that mental block is removed. We'll keep at it. Adrian does them all in 41 seconds--and he's a slow writer. He can do them out loud as fast as I can. Seb wants to catch him so badly. :-( I don't like them to compare themselves, but maybe this will actually motivate him. Just like he was pissed that Adrian is ahead of him in Lexia because tecnically, Seb is a better reader. He blew his placement test I think. And Adrian who runs circles around Seb in math, got placed in 1st grade math in Happy #. So he won't do it. He's doing 6+1....The whole placement test thing with everything online was a hot mess! But it's a good lesson to always do your best...or pay the consequences of your carelessness!
Here's the link to the Google Doc checklist:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gvlCBHgkxe22WhusTi-jhTh6aOqUcO51MQ8I25855lw/edit?usp=sharing
A late addition: Immigration Suitcase
Also, his essay and a link to him reading it:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dXqQn29H_bzMGWNSJ-pEbRDUnplhAdo_/view
This weekend, a friend/colleague of mine gave us some 24" bikes. The one for Adrian, unfortunately, is still a bit too big. But Seb's fits great. He LOVES it. We love to go bike riding at Stonehill or Wompatuck...hoping we can get some good riding in this summer. Seb's "journal" entry today was to write a thank you note to my friend.
And here he is...it's a great bike!!!!!
His opinion piece, in case you can't read that amazing writing and see in my amazing picture, is supposedly going to be about why everyone should learn another language.
I have to admit I'm freaked out about his math still. I know the report card is based on up to March, but B on a lot of his math...yikes. I don't know what is wrong with his math processing. I simply don't understand why his memory is a trap for useless facts, wrestler heights, etc. but he CANNOT remember or memorize an addition or subtraction fact. It just does NOT connect. We do math facts every M-Th evening. We *rarely* ever miss. And while he has definitely gotten better...Adrian literally flies through...and Seb continues to stumble his way through. It's also a lack of focus. When I get him to zero in on the problems, he actually does get them quickly.
As for the two and three digit problems, he's getting those when he can use a number line. He still has some issues with crossing the century, particularly in subtraction. We're working on it. I'm also working on the expanded form with him...he gets it...sort of. I have to scribe for him half the time to get him to work through enough of the problems to actually explain to him. Otherwise, he just doesn't focus or doesn't do anything. It's so frustrating. But he *does* seem to be making some progress. I'd also say he generally gets the concept of the hundreds, tens, ones place...but still working on that too. He was good at time...we'll keep going back and practicing. Money is also coming pretty well. But will practice that too.
Watching Power Rangers (worst show ever) with dirty clothes on the floor in the corner. Amazing. We did books in Epic today and he worked on Lexia. He's much more motivated now that he's in a new level. However, I don't really encourage Epic...I want them to learn to read an actual book and hold it in their hands and give their eyes a rest. So sorry if it looks like we're not reading. We are. We just do 20 min with a book after lunch and I read Little House at night. So we get about 40 min daily. Reading is super important to me.
For music, we watched the video of George visiting the Sydney Youth Philharmonic Orchestra. The boys LOVED IT. My mom also got Adrian a used drum set (free!) over the weekend from someone so both boys have been messing around on it...you can't imagine...Adrian has some natural talent...Seb, well, not so much!! :-)
Tuesday, May 12
Yikes. But seriously--he panics when things are timed.
I often have to scribe...but he is starting to get expanded form. I wanted him to try this instead of the number line, which he has pretty much grasped.
Journal:
They watched someone read the book "Pigcasso and Mootisse" for art.
Wednesday, May 13
Here is a Screencastify video of Seb reading the Ice cream fact/opinion poem:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ncupks_RF1kyD_jnbXbVO-gbxHH5RP_H/view
Riding bikes this morning! He insisted on wearing shorts...even though it was like 35 degrees!
He just finished his second Transformers chapter book. :-)
Ok, to be honest (not like you can't tell), I scribed for him. I figured that the *main* purpose of this is to get them to understand how to write an opinion piece. And I have so many battles with them at home that I had to pick one. Seb was fighting it (so was Adrian). So, I helped them do the organizer by scribing their ideas. I had to help them organize their thoughts a little, but I think they got the main idea. I hope to get Seb to do this more often--the graphic organizer thing. Because he has no shortage of things to say--he just can't organize the thoughts in a meaningful way. So once I scribed the reasons for him, I scribed his thoughts for the essay.
I had to ask some guiding questions, but he liked his ideas and how it came out. I told him to think about how it makes him feel to be able to talk to his abuelitos and also how Daniel's mom feels when Seb tries to talk to her in Portuguese. That was able to help him get at the main ideas he wanted to say. I told him he has to write it all over again in his own writing after! LOL
He did his math without a fight today...and did the number lines by himself! He still needs some help doing expanded form. He gets twisted up and adds the wrong numbers together sometimes. But he's getting better. But I left Papa in charge of the math to go to the supermarket...and as I went to post the problems I realized half his expanded form problems are wrong. Shame on Papa, who apparently is also mathematically challenged. God help me. LOL. We just fixed them together.
Thursday 5/14
He was NOT getting the idea of regrouping. Just another mental block.
So I showed him how to add and carry the one, old school style. He got it. He was so pleased with himself.
He got the coin problem within a few seconds. I was surprised LOL.
I scribed again. I feel like I'm cheating. But I think he got the idea of what conclusion is...
Playing Power Rangers outside
We did not do the social studies stuff this week because we'd done back in March. I hope to have him do his suitcase this weekend. He also needs to copy his essay over in his own writing. I wish I'd done that differently...but at the same time, I don't think he would have done it if I hadn't scribed for him. Or he wouldn't have gotten the idea of the essay. He wants a YouTube channel. I'm thinking for the summer, *maybe* I'll let him review books or toys, but I'll tell him he has to write his "script" first. And we can work on these skills. He loves to write--he just doesn't like me to tell him how to do it! LOL
I am embarrassed that we have also largely skipped the SEL lessons. My boys need them more than anyone. But they have been in therapy for 2 years. Not a single one is new to them. Adrian does breathing...Seb will not. We will keep working on it. But Seb had a 45 min session via Zoom with his "coach" today so hopefully that counts. They made a thermometer and talked about what worries would put him where on the thermometer. And they did the 5 things you see, 4 you hear, etc. Then they did some calm down activities. So believe me--we're working on the SEL. My dwindling bank account can attest to it. :-/
We did do the Soupman activity, though. I showed them the Today Show video of him. We've actually talked quite a bit about addiction before too. My friend fosters for DCF and we hang out with her and her kids a lot. We've had the opportunity to have some difficult conversations because of that.
I had a 4 hour webinar on Thursday. One of the things I heard (which wasn't new, but still resonates and serves as a good reminder) is it's all about having 100 1-min conversations with kids. Not 1 100-min conversation. Our ride to karate 1-2 times a week are usually are deep conversation times (when the boys aren't killing each other in the back seat). I'm grateful for that time.
He did the money right away. I was shocked.
I reminded him to draw the line below the two numbers he's adding next time.
And THIS. As you know this was important to him. We hadn't done the since March. We did one earlier this week and he got 11. Then he did this one and got 18. He really does know them. He frustrates himself with how distracted he gets when we are doing math. I hope now that he's done this, that mental block is removed. We'll keep at it. Adrian does them all in 41 seconds--and he's a slow writer. He can do them out loud as fast as I can. Seb wants to catch him so badly. :-( I don't like them to compare themselves, but maybe this will actually motivate him. Just like he was pissed that Adrian is ahead of him in Lexia because tecnically, Seb is a better reader. He blew his placement test I think. And Adrian who runs circles around Seb in math, got placed in 1st grade math in Happy #. So he won't do it. He's doing 6+1....The whole placement test thing with everything online was a hot mess! But it's a good lesson to always do your best...or pay the consequences of your carelessness!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gvlCBHgkxe22WhusTi-jhTh6aOqUcO51MQ8I25855lw/edit?usp=sharing
A late addition: Immigration Suitcase
Also, his essay and a link to him reading it:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dXqQn29H_bzMGWNSJ-pEbRDUnplhAdo_/view
Sebastian, you are making such great progress in math! I know you get frustrated, but you are doing it! You are really doing it! I love that Mama is having you try out many different strategies. This is great! You will find the one that is best for the way your brain works! Your opinion writing was awesome! It's absolutely fine to have someone scribe for you...when you NEED it! So be sure to let Mama know when you are READY to do it on your own. You'll get there! Keep up the terrific work, Seb!
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