hour of code

Finished an (‪#‎hourofcode‬) hour of code with kids today at Traditions Montessori School. 30 minutes with eight 3-4 year olds; 45 minutes with seven 5-6 year olds, and 70 minutes with seventeen 6-12 year olds. We used Scratch Jr. this year, and it was a success.. must have been anyway.. my kids are now playing with it.

​ I'll have to video the ones that the kids made when they got home.. pretty cool magic happening here.

pre-preteenage stress

Last night, we didn't get home from dinner until 7:30 and Zoe had a lot of homework to still accomplish, but she was at the end of her rope.  She put a lot of pressure on herself to get it all finished and in the end I had to physically get her to move away from her homework and get ready for bed.. She was in bed by 8:15, but was crying and wanted me to leave her alone.. push me away, turning away, telling me to go.  But I could tell she needed me.  I stayed with her.  Quiet when I could, just sitting there.  Offering and giving massages despite half hearted refusals.  Identifying with moments when I was stressed, tired, and crying. In the end I gave her a visualization of the leaves falling from trees, walking amongst them, blowing one as it fell in front of her, to let if float higher, letting it fall to the ground, finding another.  Still crying, but settling, until she finally fell asleep.  In the morning she gave me a hug and apologized for giving me a hard time.  [Wow!]  I told her I understood and that we all have those moments, especially when we are both very tired and very stressed.

A glimpse of the future?  or perhaps we will have a handle on it?  I'm not sure.

After school skate!

Advent calendar

4 days into her first lego calendar and Zoe has already decided that she is not going to do them in order, so she can get the other friend...

She will go far in this world.. Out of the box thinking... Literally!

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"Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand."
Chinese Proverb


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Dr. Amy Ashurst Gooch          http://www.sci.utah.edu/people/agooch.html
Research Scientist                                          amy.a.gooch at gmail.com
Scientific Computing and Imaging                          agooch at sci.utah.edu
University of Utah               
   
979 353 1230    (Texas Virtual)
801 828 5038    (Cell)
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Growing, learning..

I feel like it has been so long since I wrote much on the blogs.  Zoe and Finn are growing in leaps and bounds, not just height, but in all they know.  It is so fun to hear their knowledge come out in words exchanged with friends, things they teach us like

Z: mom, let's play a game, each of us are a part of speech.. What do you want to be, I think Finn is and interjection.

M: remind me what that is

Z: like " ouch!"

M: oh yeah, that fits Finn

Or like when Finn was doing two digit math in his head.. 32 - 23, and he had to jail (a picture of a 3, that was changed into a 2), and he got the right answer.  

They recently performed in the thanksgiving program at school.  Zoe had three long speaking parts and her teacher told me that she could have easily recited the whole play and was always willing to take a part from anyone who gave them up.  Finneas also had one speaking part and I could easily hear him belt out the songs.

Both Mrs Bethke and Mrs Ledbetter spoke at length with me on how excited they were by the achievements of both kids.  It made me remember how far both of them have come. 

 A year and 4 months ago, Zoe came to the school without reading or writing in English, she was still doing letter reversals and numbers too.  She is now reading Harry Potter and any other text she can find.  She masters her spelling easily, seeing the corrections and remembering them.  

A year ago I had a conversation with Mrs Keelan and Mrs Ledbetter on whether Finn was ready for first grade.  He was having trouble with sounds.  Over the last 4 months he has mastered his reading, and whenever he sees something new, it becomes a permanent part of his knowledge base.  He is taking on his math by storm too.

More soon...

--

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    
"Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand."
Chinese Proverb


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Amy Ashurst Gooch          http://www.sci.utah.edu/people/agooch.html
Research Scientist                                          amy.a.gooch at gmail.com
Scientific Computing and Imaging                          agooch at sci.utah.edu
University of Utah               
   
979 353 1230    (Texas Virtual)
801 828 5038    (Cell)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~