SCHOOL INFLUENCE(5 YRS OLD)

School has had a great influence on S. Before school started, she was adding simple numbers and counting. Actually, counting incessantly. Now, S is now obsessed with math. She likes to ask herself various math questions, especially the multiple grouping of numbers. For example, she often says: 3+3+3 =9, or 2+2+2+2 = 8. She likes to talk about numbers and patterns -- pointing out which number is odd and which one is even. This is great because momma loved math and daddy's known as the "human calculator."

Besides math, S is starting to sound out words and write more. She could read simple words beforehand, but was reluctant to try to sound them out to spell. Today, S said, "Ms. Eliza moved me to the red books. They are the beginner reader books." S seems so proud when she said it. Long words are daunting to her and she often guesses at the word, using the story context. When encouraged to sound it out, she gets it! Momma heard her say the other day, "reading is easy."

One of the many things her class does is make their own books. Over the weekend, she wrote a book about colors. She stapled a bunch of paper together and colored each page a different color and then labeled it accordingly, "PRPL" (purple), RED, BLK (black), YLLOW, (yellow), BRWN (brown), PNK (pink) and GREEN. It's wonderful to see her excitement about putting the words and sounds together.

Despite all of this, momma must admit, doing math and reading homework isn't always fun. S complains how tedious it is, but is often proud of her finished product.