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EARLY LEARNING / Teaching Your Child to Read / Re: Labeling objects at home
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on: March 20, 2009, 08:50:09 PM
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Thanks for the information on the Trebellina. I was reading this thread and did not know what that was, but am specially interested in that.
Not to change the subject, but look up at the top of your screen where it says "Get Discounts from Crfistofori on Trebellina Products." That will get more information and a coupon.
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EARLY LEARNING / Teaching Your Child to Read / Re: Labeling objects at home
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on: March 20, 2009, 07:26:46 PM
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I did this when my kids were infants. [They are both obscenely early readers.] My friends and neighbors thought I was nuts. Now they think my kids are geniuses. As my mother in law used to say, you can't plant cabbage and get corn! I think the truth of the matter is that kids learn what you expose them to, geniuses or not. This is the philosophy that led us to develop the Trebellina DVD (to teach babies music and to read musical notes) that Brillkids is so graciously informing people of.
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Parents' Lounge / Introduce Yourself / Hello everyone!
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on: March 20, 2009, 11:35:48 AM
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Hello everyone. I am the mommy of two early learners. The concept of this internet community of like minded parents is truly a stroke of genius and a wonderful resource for all of us! I am also the co-creator of an award winning music-teaching DVD entitled "Trebellina." This DVD teaches babies how to read music, pitch, instrument names and sounds, and more. It will surely come up in some of my posts. Some additional information about the DVD is listed above in the "Forum News and Announcements" under "Get Discounts from Cristofori on Trebellina Products." Looking forward to seeing you all online!
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EARLY LEARNING / Teaching Your Child - Other Topics / Re: Teaching an 18 month old to swim
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on: March 16, 2009, 12:49:47 PM
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Do you have instances where the child, anticipating she is about to go under and trying to avoid it, lifts up her head and looks up (trying to keep her face out of the water), but in doing so, makes it worse cos in that position the water gets into the nose very easily?
does anyone have young kids/toddlers enrolled in class currently?
My kids didn't do that, but I think the protocol was to put some pressure on the top of the head to prevent it. Needless to say, if a child is so hysterically upset that she is flailing around, it is not a good time to work on this technique. This is not to say that if the baby doesn't like it you should never push forward. The instructors who got the best results had big hearts but kept going through the tears. Not every parent will be able to suffer through the rough spots. [And I really think it is the parent who suffers more than the child.] Lessons are sort of over now -- my young kids now swim on a team. [They still work on stroke development there, though.]
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EARLY LEARNING / Teaching Your Child to Read / Re: The phonics debate
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on: March 14, 2009, 02:34:52 PM
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My son is now being taught "is this word a monograph? A digraph? A quadgraph?" If he had started school on this method, being unable to read anything at that point (as most kids arent), how thrilling would reading seem? He luckily was taught it when it replaced Letterland at the school, when he was in Grade 3, and he was absolutely bored by it. He was grateful he wasnt in the lower grades when it was brought in.
Why on earth does any kid need to know that? I don't even know what those words mean. That clearly isn't a necessary part of a phonics program. It sounds like that program was created by people who didn't know what they were doing...the same people who came up with "the new math," thinking that you could teach mathematical logic to little kids, complete with the academic jargon, and it would do some good. You can learn how to read with a simple phonics program, at a very early age (my boy started before age 2), and I continue to maintain that doing that (i.e., if the program really is simple) is going to be easier than any whole word approach. It gets worse than that, by second grade they spend ages learning the rules for how to break a word into syllables properly. it is a complete waste of time -- there is absolutely no reason for anyone to know this.
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EARLY LEARNING / Teaching Your Child - Other Topics / Re: Teaching an 18 month old to swim
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on: March 14, 2009, 11:49:47 AM
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I toolk my kids to a place called Saf T Swim when they were babies. I've seen hundreds of baby swim lessons through the one way mirror. [They take kids ages 3 mos and up.] From the first lesson, the instructors would count to three and gently blow in the baby's face so that the baby would hold her breath and then put her underwater. Not a dunk down, but a forward pulling motion underwater. When the baby came up, the instructor would smile and praise. Usually it was well received, but some babies will not like it and will cry and receive some comforting (patting on the back and calming) before it is attempted again. From my observations, it is always attempted again and again!
Another technique they always seemed to work on was to place the baby onthe pool edge and -- while holding her -- submurge her in the water, turn her body to face the wall while still underwater, place her hands on the pool edge while still underwater, and then she will pull herself up somewhat (or you should help!) and teach her to go hand to hand to move to the stairs. This is taught in case the baby should ever fall in while unattended. It it happens, the baby will hopefully instinctually turn around underwater, grab the wall, and make their way to the ladder or stairs. With repetition, it works very well.
They also put swimmy arm bubbles on the arms and have them "float" independently. It is great way for them to learn balance in the water. As they get better at it, deflate the bubbls so that the baby is closer to the surface of the water. That way, the baby will not get used to being high above the water, which one is not when swimming.
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EARLY LEARNING / Teaching Your Child to Read / Re: The phonics debate
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on: March 14, 2009, 11:39:56 AM
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I agree with Nikita -- just show the words. When a young child has seen and learns enough words, they will have figured out the rules themselves and be able to read anything. We started out showing our baby words like "chiropractor," "chocolate," and "cheerfully" all at the same time -- the rule and the exception. She learned those words right away and at a very young age could sound out any complicated new words you showed her -- most of the time correctly.
Teaching sets of words that are phonics related may help young children learn faster, but I don't think it is necessary by any means.
What I do think phonics is helpful for us teaching kids to spell. Some kids have a memory for spelling and others don't. For those that don't phonics is a great way for them to become good spellers.
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EARLY LEARNING / Teaching Your Child - Other Topics / Re: Rice, beans and water - more fun than you may realize
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on: March 14, 2009, 11:28:44 AM
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How very Montessori of you all.
How about this one: tweezers and cotton balls and pom poms. separate by color.
Or try walking on a tape line on the floor carrying a pom pom on a spoon (don't drop it) or a bell without ringing it.
Here's another (must supervise): take a thumbtack and make holes "tracing" a picture you have drawn on construction paper (a star, heart, whatever) over carpet so that you can make a proper hole. once you hav e made holes all the way around the picture, it can be gently pushed out. You will then have the shape and the template of the shape. Take a clean sheet of paper the same size but a different color. Glue the template to one side and the shape to the other. Kids love to do this. (You may have to enlarge the grip part of the thumbtack if you child cannot grasp it -- a few rounds of duct tape?)
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