YAY!!!
This has been a good week for us both!!
I know what you mean about school my dd is in Kindergarten too and she brings home a book everynight and has to read it to me. Sure its just sight words like what can little and so on but shes reading to me! Picking out the words she knows in our books at home! Wow! I think school systems have come a long way since back in my ancient time!!
The school sent home a "turkey" project for ds to do. It was really supposed to be back on Monday (although they said to return it as soon as you were done) but we had to spend the long weekend working on AB and ABC patterns (which he is now doing VERY well with) so I couldn't force him to do the turkey project as well. It's supposed to be the family working together and decorating a paper that has a turkey on it. He needed to cut it out, glue it onto another piece of paper and then decorate it using objects we have at home. Well, since ds is SO not into crafts - we really have nothing at home. So, I went to Michael's and bought some feathers and googly eyes - my dd is just starting to get into crafts so it won't go to waste. After cutting and gluing the turkey, he was pretty tired and he "helped" me glue the feathers on (really I did most of it - but it supposed to be a FAMILY project and dd helped too). He did glue the googly eyes on and helped with the pretzels for legs and the fruit roll-up for the red thing under the turkey's chin (whatever that's called). He did this Monday and there really was no way he could color it then as it needed to dry. I didn't have him color it before because I figured it would be too overwhelming to him to color the whole thing - this way he only had to color the part that wasn't decorated.
Fast forward to yesterday after school. We sat down and I told him I wanted him to do his BEST try at coloring in the lines. I have never seen him actually color something in the lines - and he almost never uses more than one color. This was going on the wall at school for parent-teacher conferences and I've seen the other "professional" jobs the kids did when I went to school on Monday. So, I "directed" him a bit and asked what color the turkey's beak should be - orange. We got out the orange and I drew an orange line with the crayon around the beak and told him to color the white part that was inside the orange line. He did and colored all of the white and got nothing outside of the orange line! I asked him what color the turkey should be - brown. So, I drew a brown line around where he was supposed to color in brown and he did that as well! Only ONE TIME did he even stray outside the lines. He worked SUPER-DUPER hard on this and took his time (which is key). He did complain of being tired - this is very common with him when he doesn't want to do something. But he did it! I gave him HUGE amounts of praise and so did my dh when ds showed him. He got a special treat for snack because of it. He was very proud of himself.
Anyway, sorry this is so long, but he is 6 and this has been a very long haul. I know he won't always do this - especially when he is going too fast, but now I know he CAN do it - and I didn't know if he could until yesterday. I think now that he likes coloring more (he's been doing it a lot at school) we will start doing that a few times a week at home. Seriously, I couldn't get him to color at home hardly ever for the last 6 years. But, my dd likes doing it, so this has helped encourage him. Thank goodness for younger siblings!
Also, if any of you read my AB and ABC pattern saga last week - ds is doing super. He told me the teacher told him that as well. They are starting ABB patterns like someone warned me. He did that with manipulatives last night with no problem. He did make a mistake once, but he checked his work (something I taught him - to say the letters and then say the colors to make sure he did it right) and realized it and fixed it. Then he started making up his own patterns - he did an ABCC pattern, an ABCD pattern and an AABC pattern. So, he definitely gets the concept! And I think it's just a matter of practicing transferring it onto paper.
That's awesome ... I do know how you feel as my kiddo is the same way.
It's got to be a great feeling!
That is great news!! What a hard worker you have!You know, I keep thinking about what I did in kindergarten - basically they taught us the alphabet - not what sounds the letters made, but just the ALPHABET itself! And we did lots of art projects and we played a lot. And napped (which I hated and never once actually slept). We also had milk and sometimes the "room mothers" had parties - for holidays and birthdays. It is really amazing at what they expect of our kids now... I'm not saying I couldn't have done patterns in kindergarten and I was reading before I went there, but it just seems a lot to expect...That is so great! IKWYM about the school work, even with my dd who things come so naturally, it gets overwhelming! I'm so glad he is doing well! Sometimes it just takes a few adaptaions. You must be so proud!Great Job! Coloring in the lines, sounds so simple but so tough for our littleIt's truly amazing. I mean, I had a good idea as I taught at Head Start before giving birth to my son. And, I have friends who have older children - so I was somewhat prepared for what ds would need to know in kindergarten and we have worked on this stuff over the years. He still isn't really writing his last name. He gets the first letter and then writes different letters, which aren't in our name. He KNOWS how to spell it - has for years! But, he hasn't mastered one of the letters, so he just does it to be silly (at least that's what he tells me). I am hoping they work on this particular letter soon!
Anyway, coloring in the lines is usually something kids do before kindergarten, I know - even way back when. But, I must have had a problem with it as I specifically remember an older child (daughter of my parents' friends) who sat me down and showed me how to draw a "border" and then color it in. After that, I had NO problem whatsoever. I didn't have near the fine motor issues that my ds does, but obviously I had some! I don't recall how old I was, but I'm pretty sure I was close to going to kindergarten (not quite 5).
Does anyone know what a "typical" age is for kids to start coloring in the lines?
Wow, well my dd's coloring skills aren't that great then either! I don't expect a not-quite 3 year old to be doing a whole lot more than scribbling. I know a lot are capable of more than that, but the pencil grip should come between age 3 and 4, from what I understand.
Anyway, does anyone know at what age kids are expected to be coloring in the lines? Now I'm a little worried about my dd!
That is fantastic!!!!Snoop - my friend taught 1st grade for 10 years. She now teaches 3rd grade. She said kids need to know so much more going into school than we did.
Awesome news! Dooder has never liked coloring, so it's always been a chore for him to practice. What I found, though, was that he LOVES color by numbers sorts of pictures (ex. all the areas with 8 are green). He is very motivated to do those and his coloring has gotten SO much better and has carried over to none-numbered pictures, too!So happy for him:)
In Kindergarten this was a huge issue with Sarah..she got written on her papers "draw in lines better!" so many times...it was stressed so much that by the end of the year she was doing great with both coloring in the lines and writing letters/numbers..the teacher was a strictler in this department!
Now her handwriting and coloring are superb..practice practice practice:)
Ooh - I like the idea of color by numbers. I never thought of that - duh! I'll have to try it! Thanks!He colored in the lines? That is so great. The eye/hand coodination required for this is tought. That is wonderful. I recently looked back on some of the artwork I did for my parents in kinder and 1st grade....stick people with not alot of precision coloring....if you catch my drift.
I am glad to hear your good news.
You gotta use their strengths (LOVES numbers) to build on those weaknesses
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