Emma's recital

Here is video from Emma's recital a couple weeks back.

DRA2 testing

I had the reading specialist set up another DRA2 test for Emma since in the Spring they were not able to fully test her.  Looking back she tested at level 8 but did not go further.   I have a good idea where she is at but I was hoping that we could narrow it down so when I look for books, it might help.

She had Emma run through a list of words and the ones Emma missed were ones she knew for the most part.  There were a couple that were vowel combinations that we have not touched on but that she has read correctly.  This list was to help the reading specialist find a level to start testing Emma at.

I am not sure what level she started Emma at but we went through 3 levels (I assume they were in order) and in the end we left with Emma testing at level 20.  She had no problem reading level 20 but I am not sure how she scored on the narration and retelling at that level.  I am not sure what was expected of her but I know she is doing fine for a 1st grader.  Suggestions made were to keep working on retelling the story and using names instead of pronouns.  At level 28, writing is required and that might be a reason she was stopped at level 20 even if she did “pass” it.  Her speed was on par for the level as well.

It seems at level 28 they have to write out their narration in complete sentences, spelling does not matter. 

The specialist  also passed on something that I had heard before but have not brought it out of my mental filing cabinet yet!  The five finger rule…  If on a page with lots of words (which is where we are with Junie B. Jones and Magic Tree House), if Emma hits 5 words she can not figure out, the book is too hard.  That there convinced me we are right on track with MTH.  JBJ is good for her in the fact it is chapter books and she is able to read them independently.   I just in the past couple days have caught her reading silently or at barely a whisper to herself.  This is a new “skill” for her!

Best Friends

Part of getting back to Denver involves meeting up with Emma’s best friend so they can see each other and play for a bit.  I think we have made 3 visits so far since moving from Denver.  A trip to the zoo, a couple night/day visit in 2009 and this year lunch and a couple hours at the park. 

What is neat is that this friendship is about 3-4 years old now.  Pictures from exactly 3 years ago yesterday: (had to post all three cause Emma looks so little!)

Sept 2008 (according to camera date, taken exactly a year after the above!)  Again so many since Emma is just adorable lol)

June 2009

Sept 2010

Memorization

I took the time tonight to video Emma's latest two memorizations. 'At the Sea-side' was for August and 'The Caterpillar' is for September.

But what about….the “S” word?

I am pretty vocal that we home-school, especially now that she is the age she HAS to be in school…Which in CO I believe is the year she is six by August 1st, which is this year.

I have not run into anyone who is strongly against homeschooling yet but I have found those who think that it is a great thing and would do it if they could; or those who think it is a great thing but there is not way they would be able to home school their kids.  Then there are the ones who jump in with a ton of questions that all lead to ONE main question, and never fails, it is always there… “What about socialization?  Aren’t you worried that she is not around kids her own age everyday?”

And to answer that question, no concerns yet.  Hard to have concerns that she is not able to socialize when you go to a park and within minutes she is playing with a little girl or boy that she had never met before.  And she does initiate the meeting at times.  She has run up to a kid her own age to play and they are the ones who did not know how to respond to a friendly girl. 

There are times we sit back and wonder maybe she should see kids more often and slowly that is happening.  As classes start up again, it will happen on a more regular basis.  She has “lost” playing with one friend who has not been at her grandma’s (in this neighborhood) lately. 

One good thing is we know who her friends are.  While there are some I am not thrilled with, we see what happens when they are together and we can teach Emma on how to handle friends like that.  Dave says he has seen huge advancement with Emma and some of her “aggressive personality” friends. 

One situation that happened at co-op last year (and I can not remember if I blogged about this then or not)…  Emma was playing with some toy with two other kids.  They would all grab the pieces as they fell out and at one point, 2 of the kids had many pieces and the 3rd had none (this one was a little younger).  After seeing this happen a couple times, I pulled Emma aside and talked to her about what was happening.  She was one of the 2 who kept talking many.  I asked her how she would feel if she were that 3rd person, and she said she would not feel good.  She was not happy about being pulled aside but, she went back to the group and on the next turn, I saw her pass a couple pieces over.   I can only hope situations like this help her reflect and learn for new situations and help her make the right choice, even when others do not.

What I love is the fact she is able to make friends with lots of people, no matter the age.  She plays with 1 year olds, 5-7 year olds, 9-10 year olds on a regular basis.  She is able to talk to teenagers and adults easily. 

All about Egypt

So Emma is studying Ancient History this year and we have been reading about Ancient Egypt.  It has been interesting to see how we are able to connect this with real life events right now.  Some are right on, others a little silly but funny about the timing. 

As Emma was getting ready for bed last night, Dave was flipping through the channels and stumbled across Rick Steves’ travel show with him in Egypt.  She was able to see the pyramids and mummies and what Egypt looks like today. 

King Tut is on the cover of National Geographic this month and we stumbled across that at Walmart yesterday so we bought it and she was asking all sorts of questions as she flipped through it in the car.  The King Tut exhibit is in Denver and we will be there soon, however I think we will pass on it due to the price and her age.  If it had been at the Nature and Science Museum, rather than the Art Museum, we probably would go since the cost of the exhibit (around $70 for the family) included the museum entrance as well.  However, there is an Ancient Egyptian exhibit with mummies at the Nature and Science Museum so we will hit that.

The funny connection… We are finally going to try to hit the drive in theatre this weekend in Delta.  I have never been to one, neither has Emma and as Dave says “long long ago”" for him.  The first movie is “Despicable Me'” and the summary starts out “When a busload of tourists stops at the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, a boy named Justin accidentally falls onto it to discover that it has been stolen and replaced by an inflatable rubber duplicate. News of the theft shocks and puzzles the world.”