Chapter Book

One of the third grade teachers allowed me to borrow James and the Giant Peach.  Lane and I spent several nights reading it.  I wasn't entirely sure if, at the age of five, she understood what we were reading.  We trudged on any way. 

Then Alex's third grade teacher loaned the movie to me.  Prior to reading the book, James and his Peach weren't on my radar at all.  I had zero interest in reading it.

It was a great book and a fun movie!  I am so glad we took the time to read the book and followed up with the movie.  

I'm thrilled to report that Lane asked me if we could compare and contrast the movie and the book! She remembered the differences and similarities of the two and that was very exciting.  I'm so glad she has high comprehension skills.  Now that her first chapter book is read, it's time to pick another one.  

Pocket Chart Books

I bought a pocket chart and hung it up in our small play room. The kids didn't even notice the red thing hanging on the wall. Until today when I asked them to sit on the rug and watch as I made a magical book appear on the wall. All three children sat amazed at how the red thing transformed into a fun book with words they could actually sound out and read. It was just a couple months ago that Gabriel's lightbulb went off and now Alex has begun CVC worlds and site word recognition. It's fun to watch them work on the words and figure out what each lines says in the book. Gabriel did an exceptional job and after practicing a couple times, he read the senence strips fluently. I have two more little books printed and ready to set up for reading practice. I wish I could say this idea was mine but it's not. In fact, all I had to do was find the link and print the three books. Someone else did the work and even had links for me to use for free. I'm grateful! http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/PocketChartPrintables.html Use the above address if you want to use this idea too.

Take My Breath Away

I will admit that few moments in my life have taken my breath away. I have been beyond lucky in regards to travel. I have seen the Great Wall of China, the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben, just to name a few. While those trips were undescribably exciting and wonderful, I wasn't blown away.
It takes other experiences to give me that giddy, over-the-moon feeling. The sound of the first cry of each of my newborns when they were born. When I heard, "I now pronounce you husband and wife." The first time I felt my children move when I was pregnant with them and the first time I heard each one of them say. "mama." These are the types of moments that catch me off guard and make me realize how incredible life is.

I had another moment last night. This time it involved our oldest son, Gabriel. He has been struggling learning how to read. He has only a few sight words memorized and should have close to 100 at this point in his education. He can recognize very few words. I have been working on sounding out words with him for over a year and a half.
Last night I watched him sound out 12 words on his own - I couldn't not stop giggling with glee. There were no pictures, just twelve short /a/ words. He sounded out each letter and put it together. The biggest, broadest smile erupted on his face as he realized he COULD read.
He can read twelve words - cat, bat, rat, sad, man, fan, jam, bag, map, pan, can, and hat. It's a start. This was a huge hurdle for us and watching the lightbulb click on for him was nothing less than a moment that took my breath away.

Silliness Pursues

We have a lot to accomplish before getting our house in order. We need the house in order prior to getting back to a decent routine.
This is our fifth cross country move but our first with three young children. Andrew has been back to work for two weeks and I have been left to my own devices to deal with daily tasks as well as unpacking and organizing. I also have to purchase furniture. It's fun to pick out things I like (or in the case of the red couches, something our kids like) but it takes time and extra energy with three children who have little interest in furniture shopping.
Yesterday I took a break from it all. I played with the kids and had a fantastic time. Of course, I feel guilty because I have to get this house in order so Gabriel's world is back in order. I have to start deep cleaning and get the kids back in therapy, classes, etc.. Oh well, for one day we were silly and lighthearted. It was nice to sit and interact with my three beauties rather than give in to the pressure of creating our home. I think it was good for my soul.
At night, I read the Go To Sleep Book. I highly recommend it to any parent. I laughed through the entire thing, again.
Here is a photo of Lane being a silly potato head.