We applied for faf funding for an ipad for Hannah and got it. Once the approval letter came - we went straight out and got it. She was so cute about it - we stressed that the ipodtouch was for play but the ipad was for all the work she will do in Year 1. I think she understands that but it didn't stop her marching around the house saying things like "Hannah 2 ipods, not Kit!" Kit for his part was fantastic. We gave Hannah the ipad on Christmas Eve (I think) because we didn't want her to think that it was for Christmas. I did explain to Kit that we hadn't bought the ipad for Hannah but that the government had given us some money to buy one to help Hannah at school. He was fine with that.
The decision was made though to put on a few dvds and fun apps 'just for the holidays' so the twins are happy with that. We spent way too much of our savings in the last few months so we haven't bought the proloquo2go app yet - it is expensive but as soon as the money goes into our account I'll get DH onto it. I want to have a good play with it hopefully before school starts.
The same day or perhaps one earlier my 'mathskit' arrived. I had offered to be part of a numeracy research project looking at how parents can help their children with DS in maths. The backpack has all sorts of goodies for maths. I had also bought a lego board and some number bricks just before Christmas as well as a laminated numberline (0-10 on one side and 0-20 on the other). I spoke with Hannah about doing 'work with Mummy' - but 'to yet in Jan - 'a bit more holiday first' I told her. I had planned to get going on the 1st of Jan.
Kit got Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for Christmas and we have all enjoyed reading it. There was obviously a lot of talk about how well he is reading because Hannah was very keen to do some 'reading' too - so I got out the stash of PM readers I have borrowed and she chose one to read to her father - 'Baby' of course! Then during the day of NYEve she told me she wanted to do 'work'. We spoke about getting ready for Year 1 - and so the work began.
SO far our holiday regime has been initiated by Hannah. We have missed one day when we went up the north coast for a day at the beach. I give her a choice of 2-3 readers. We then read it together. Hannah then picks a page to copy. She writes out the simple sentence (I scaffold to help - how much depends on the letters eg I generally will just get her to trace letters like e or g or y but get her to write i, t, a, n etc for herself). Then she draws a picture to match (and I often do too on my own 'worksheet'.
Often she then wants to free draw - so i get her to tell me what she is drawing and away she goes. We use the slant board for all these writing and drawing activities.
Yesterday's book was a bit more involved so after we'd done the above activities, I got Hannah to choose another page to work on. This time I wrote out the sentence and then cut up the words for her to order and paste correctly. I let her refer to the actual book for help. Then as it was about a house I drew some shapes and got her to cut them out and then paste them at the bottom of her worksheet to resemble a house.
With the numbers at the moment all I have been dong is getting her to place the number bricks on the board either forwards or backwards for 0-10. I set up the numberline to assist her and get her to read the numbers out as well. She is strong on 0-3, ok on 4-7 but needs help with 8 and 9 especially when counting back. Still she enjoys it. At the end of this session she gets to draw on the portable whiteboard and then usually she heads off for a game on Kit's Wii. Yesterday I was busy and he wanted her to play on the Wii - I asked her which she wanted to do first - Wii or work with me - wanting her to choose Wii first - but no she wanted to do some work. I am glad that she views it positively, hopefully we will get to do this sort of thing consistently over the rest of the holidays.
Kit also has shown me how to write notes on the ipad so I am using that as a diary of what we have done and for her progress. I am hoping that her teacher next year will use notes as a communication tool with home. It is great!
There are more families using the ipad technology now too so I am reading different reports suggesting best apps. One that has caught my eye is a montessori maths one which I will check out later i think.
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