Special child's diary Jan - Feb 08

I have taught Amy to type on the computer and she has caught on surprisingly quickly - uses the right fingers on the different keys. However, she types very slowly. I try to get her to practice both spelling and typing by typing rows of same or similar words e.g. these and those or day and say. She quickly tyres of this. It is boring and although I see the progress, it lacks meaning for Amy. She enjoys typing her diary though. Her language ability is poor and she struggles to construct sentences, so I help her to think about her day and to give her the means to verbally express her daily experiences. Most sentences are dictated and words are spelled. This is itself is significant: I hope that one day she will be able to take down messages. At this stage it seems more important to learn to "write" from dictation than to be able to spell by herself. But because many words are repeated often, she types quite a few from memory e.g. the word chicken. We have made several purchases of chicken for several chicken recipes. Through reading the word in her recipes, shop adverts etc. and through writing it out in various shopping lists and budgets, she is now able to type it from memory.

I have taught her to copy and paste text, so some sentences lose out on the actual typing practice, but then learning to use windows properly, is also "so cool".

Whilst the diary helps her with spelling, sentence construction and typing, it is also a mini record of what she has done in school - for herself, her parents or anyone to read. (I often let her read her previous inscriptions and she loves this.)

From now on I'll post her diary inscriptions regularly, but here is the whole lot to date:

Tamerin’s diary
9 January 2008
Today I learned about money.
I read My secret unicorn page 1 to 3 .
I swam 40 laps.
I painted a rainbow.

10 January 2008
I drew a cross.
We went shopping.
We made bobotie.
I practiced spelling.

11 January 2008
I drew a heart and a Bible.
I counted money.
I practiced words.
We played a memory game.
I started to knit

15 January 2008
I started to sew.
We played cards.
We swam 50 laps.
I read My Secret Unicorn page 1 to 4.
I made a shopping list.
The electricity was off.

16 January 2008
I learnt I must obey my leaders.
The electricity was off.
We went shopping.

17 January 2008
I made chicken a la king.
The electricity was off.
We played cards.
I sewed again.

21 January 2008
On the news they talked about power cuts.
We watched weather forecast. There was a 60% chance of rain.
We practiced ay spelling words like day and way.
We read My Secret Unicorn page 4-6.
I sewed on a button.

22 January 2008
On the news they talked about power cuts and a man who was charged with murder of Bret Kebble.
They talked about tennis in Australia.
We watched weather forecast. There was a 60% chance of rain.
I learned about google earth.

28 January 2008
Last week the power was off often.
Last week I practiced sh spelling.
Today I practiced th spelling.
I counted in twenties.
I counted my money.
We danced and did exercises.

29 January 2008
Yesterday I went to have my eyes checked.
Today I drew Joseph and his boss’s wife. He said no!
We watched weather forecast. There was a 30% chance of rain

4 February 2008
Last Thursday I burned my arm.
On Friday I went to my cousins’ house.
Today it is windy. We walked to the gate and back.
I practiced th spelling.
We played ball.
I weighed my animals. Duchess weighs 370g and Poodle weighs 110g.

5 February 2008
I practiced th spelling some more.
I nearly made a crab stand. We danced for 30 minutes.
We checked for Ingredients.
Chantel came to visit. We had chicken for lunch.
We watched High school musical 2.

6 February 2008
I went to the garage with Daddy. A man worked on his car.
I learned about the Passover ( Exodus 12).
We revised all the sight words until page 8 of My secret Unicorn.

7 February 2008
We went to the shop. We bought Food for R 98.65. I got R1.35 change.
I made lasagna without spinach. The shop did not have spinach.

8 February 2008
I watched news with my Daddy. Today was the opening of parliament. I saw President Mbeki.
Mommy is going to the dentist. I am going to the eye doctor.

11 February 2008
I played tennis. I sewed on the sewing machine. I made a bag.

13 February 2008
Yesterday I sewed a lot on the sewing machine. I typed a recipe.
Today I made my parents cards. I counted my money. I made a budget.
I made valentine cards.

15 February 2008
Yesterday we bought food at PicknPay . I made chicken pie and roast vegetables. Our guests liked it.
Today we measured the distance between the house and the gate.
I did ½ price sums.

19 February 2008
Yesterday we practiced When and Where questions.
I made sums from 1+1=2, 2+2=4 till 25+25=50.
I practiced words of page 9 of My Secret Unicorn. I read pages 1-9.
Today I typed God’s ten great laws and painted the two stones. We walked 6 times to the gate and back i.e. 1.2 km.

21 February 2008
Yesterday we went shopping. I counted money. We went to school and I gave my friend her watch.
Today I made chocolate squares for my birthday party on Saturday.
We practiced sums while we walking. We walked 7 times to the gate and back
=14 x 100m
=1400m
=1.4km

22 February 2008
Yesterday I got my glasses. Now I can see better.
Today I made a fridge tart for my birthday party on Saturday.
I practiced explaining how to make the tart with my teacher, in case my aunts ask me how I did it.