Zoophonics (the last class)

Kai in his African dance wear.

April 29, 2008 Tuesday

Today is Kai's last zoophonics class which we really enjoyed. Every week he looked forward to attending even if he was easily distracted. All those stuffed animals you see there were of his doing- he would drag them in from the waiting room and they plunk his little body on it (he's in the yellow tshirt).

(A picture of a picture of the students after the African dance session.) His instructor was really good. Kai can match all 26 letters of the alphabet (which really impressed me), will chant all the animals name with each letter and do the sign that goes with each with some assistance.

Plus now, he is talking in 3-word sentences and using bigger words like "choke" - when he swallowed his popsicle wrong, and "loud" when Blue our parrot was sqwaking away. Daycare tells me he talks all the time. And to add, he is learning his colors by picking out the colored M&M I request. I like the part where if he doesn't get it right, I eat the M&M. ... a neat idea I got from my sister. Thanks ug!

Despite short attention span... he is learning!

Tuesday April 22, 2008

Meet Ms. Renee, Kai's instructor at the zoo-phonics class he's been attending every week this past month. I was happy to share her joy when she showed me the plaque "You Make A Difference Award" that she recently received for also helping special needs children. This woman travels all around the Bay Area to work with children, and I would say she was very patient and talented in getting Kai to participate and learn to identify quite a lot of the letters of the alphabet. There is some proof with the video below! I'm impressed with every class!

With several kids and adults watching Kai, he didn't buckle under the stress! He did match the Sammy Snake "S" amongst all that confusion!

Video: Letter placement


On the way back driving past St. Joseph's Cemetery, this caught my eye and made me pull aside. My first thought was they were pulling a body out of the grave! No such luck- but this was what was resurrected instead!

Dance & Zoo Phonics

March 18, Tuesday
We hang out at the daycare facility before class.


Every Tuesday for the next 5 weeks, Kai will be attending the zoo phonics class in San Pablo that focuses on teaching the alphabet using 26 animals to assist with letter and sound recognition. At the end of class, the children learn a multi-cultural dance. Today was salsa dancing!

2 points! Kai tries a gordo taco from the fridge.

Initially Kai was shy having practically all his fingers stuffed in his mouth (that was a first!) and then was brave enough to run to the front of class to pick out the letter Ms. Renee was teaching at that moment. I think it was the pointer that grabbed his attention (which the teacher had to hide from him to continue class).

Kai tries out salsa dancing and gets carried away.