R is for Rainbow

Since it is no longer February, we decided that the hearts needed to come down off the window, and a new theme needed to replace it. So we decided on rainbows! We were going to make a rainbow for the window yesterday, but instead we just painted rainbows with water colors, and painted a rainbow R. Which reminds me – I don’t know how to say rainbow in Portuguese. We’ll figure that one out this week.

This afternoon, when the babies wake up from naps (yay for both of them napping these days! I guess I am sufficiently wearing them out!), we will make the rainbow for the window. I think that tomorrow we will play some counting and sorting games with colors.

I have been realizing that I need to expose Little E to numbers and letters a lot more. He knows his numbers… sort of. He used to know his letters when he was little tiny (smaller than Baby E) but I think that was a natural consequence of going to college with his mom. Now that we’re at home playing all the time, I neglect talking about letters.

Although, we’ve been reading a lot more lately, and he’s starting to ask me where words are in books. Particularly when we read the scriptures. We read scriptures each morning as part of our morning devotional – basically, I read it and he repeats. We also read scriptures together as a family before bed. The past few times we have read scriptures, when we read something for him to repeat, he will ask “Is __(repeat what I just said)_ right here?” and then he’ll point to some of the words. I take this as a sign that he is ready to start learning about reading. But first we need to learn some basics. For right now, when I read I have started pointing to the words as I read, so that Little E can solidify his hunch that those marks on the page have something to do with the story I am telling. I also encourage him when he repeats some of the words with me.

Another note about his reading – He is very good at reciting a story, or telling me what happened/is happening. His “reading” comprehension is amazing, and I’m glad, because that’s more important than being able to read at a 6th grade level when he is 5. So, now we just have to be careful not to sabotage his comprehension abilities. And we need to work on expanding his Portuguese vocabulary (which means, I need to work on expanding my Portuguese vocabulary!)

We’re getting back in the swing of things, and hopefully I can continue to blog about it.

I also found a few really neat blogs about learning through play and I will be posting about those blogs soon.

PS I need to remember this link forever and always. This is how you fix the images in windows live writer for wordpress. Here.