Thursday, January 7, 2010

Reading aloud preK-2 book - 20 month old

Zo Ee at 20months 4weeks old. (6/1/2010)

Little Zo Ee's reading her heap of newly borrowed library books. She reads about 16-18 new books every 4-5days interval. Books with 1-5 sentences per page, about 20 pages per book.


Little Zo Ee can spend hours reading all by herself, until she finished every book. All this while, Mummy believe that little Zo Ee has been silent reading to herself. Mummy's guessing was proven right after today's incident - little Zo Ee read aloud another whole new book to Mummy out of the blue. Also it's a common belief that children who can read usually can silent read words long before reading them aloud because they can read at a faster pace while silent read.



As Mummy had mentioned earlier, Mummy has never emphasized or forced little Zo Ee to read aloud during our reading sessions (more of a knowledge imparting session). Also little Zo Ee always has the freedom to choose her activities/books, to learn and play at her own comfort pace. So it's not common to hear little Zo Ee read aloud long sentences although little Zo Ee first read an entire early reader book at 15 month old, some longer sentences a month later and recently she was very eager in reading aloud to Mummy (without the need to finger point at each words.) And just now, while browsing through her newly borrowed books, little Zo Ee surprised Mummy when she read another whole new book out loud; a preK-2 level book titled : We Need School Bus Drivers. Of course, Mummy's not surprised with Zo Ee's reading skill as she can read most sight words, even big words she has no ideas of with her natural phonics and her vast vocabulary. Moreover, little Zo Ee can read more than a thousand words since few months ago, and Mummy has lost count of her growing vocabulary as its constantly growing with her daily consistent reading habit. Rough estimation should be a few thousands words by now. But reading continuously needed a very different skill as it requires both stamina and eye coordination - in tracing each words simultaneously.

A sample page of this book.


Little Zo Ee read the complete content of this book aloud to Mummy : We need school bus drivers. She was indeed reading this book for the very first time.
"School bus drivers drive children to and from school. School bus drivers make sure buses are safe and clean. School bus drivers pick up children at school bus stops. School bus drivers put out a stop sign. They turn on flashing lights. Then cars stop to let children cross the street. School bus drivers open bus doors. Children get on the buses. Some children need help getting on buses. School bus drivers help them. School bus drivers stop at schools. They make sure children get off the buses safely. School bus drivers pick up children after school. They drive children back to their bus stops. School bus drivers help keep children safe." (112 words)


....................................................................

Then

15 month old - reading short sentences & early reader book
16 month old - reading long sentences
17 month old - reading big words (3-syllables)
18 month old - reading longer sentence

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

pretending - read chinese - 20 month old

Zo Ee at 20months 3weeks old. (2/1/2010)

Little Zo Ee was browsing and playing with Daddy's Chinese book. When Mummy approached her and asked, " Zo Ee, what are you doing? " Little Zo Ee answered, "Zo Ee is reading." Although little Zo Ee knows more than 200 Chinese Nouns - verbally, but she can recognize only about 40 Chinese characters, thus it's impossible for her to read Daddy's Chinese book. So the curious Mummy probed further, "Do you know how to read Chinese?" The cheeky but serious little Zo Ee flipped through the pages before pretending to read and saying aloud, "ba! ma! yeh! nine! jie! ge! di!..." Little Zo Ee does know these Chinese characters that she had pretended reading aloud (father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, elder sister, elder brother and younger brother). Little Zo Ee was actually pretending to read Daddy's book based on her limited Chinese characters recognition.


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Then

17 month old - reading chinese

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Happy New Year 2010 - 20 months old

Zo Ee at 20months 3weeks old. (1/1/2010)

New Year Count down in our neighbourhood.

Monday, January 4, 2010

Incy Wincy with complete action - 20 month old

Zo Ee at 20months 2weeks old. (28/12/2009)

It's not easy to capture my little Zo Ee in action nowadays as she is always on the move. It's either Mummy's not ready with the video camera when the sudden good mood Zo Ee sang the complete version of Incy Wincy Spider or when Mummy's ready but little Zo Ee is never cooperative. So its very hard to get a good shot of her lately, even a good still picture of her is out of the question.

Little Zo Ee is already able to sing the whole version of this song but her pronunciation deteriorate a little as she tends to concentrate in remembering the many wordings and rush through the whole song. Thus the less words she tries to communicate in a go, the clearer her pronunciation will be and vice versa.

Incy Wincy spider climbing up the spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain

Now Incy wincy spider went up the spout again!


So this is little Zo Ee's 2nd complete song after twinkle-twinkle little star. I tried to get a collection of her singing this song with the complete actions for each line too. : )
video


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Then


18 month old - complete version of Twinkle-twinkle little star
17 month old - partial of Incy Wincy Spider
20 month old - singing more songs

Sunday, January 3, 2010

Putting on own sandals - 20 month old

Zo Ee at 20months 3weeks old. (29/12/2009)

Zo Ee with her new sandals. Mummy's not keen in buying crocs shoes for little Zo Ee after so many happening of children's foot got trapped at the escalator all around the world. Nevertheless, Mummy decided to get Zo Ee a pair from Cotton On Kids (similar design) for her future swimming trips. We will just need to be extra careful not to let her use during our shopping trips with the presence of many escalators.


Little Zo Ee's very keen in learning how to put them on herself. Initially, she needed extra support for balancing from the sofa; holding and leaning against it.


Persistent little Zo Ee spent many hours trying out her new sandals, perfecting her skill. Slowly, after she had figured out how to put them on with support, she challenged herself further to the same task; this time without support from the sofa. First, she tried sitting on the floor before moving on; tried putting them on while standing alone without any support.


Finally, little Zo Ee managed to put them on perfectly. Again, she repeated this feat until she's satisfied with her own progress before trying to walk with them around the house. Mummy was passively observing her throughout the day without offering any help, also neither did the engrossed Zo Ee ask for any help from Mummy. A big applause should be given to my little Zo Ee as it takes a lot of effort from a 20 month old to learn a new skill all by herself and this example has proven how persistent and independent my little Zo Ee is.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

First visit to the Museum - 20 month old

Zo Ee at 20months 3weeks old. (30/12/2009)

Zo Ee first visit to a museum; the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore.


Zo Ee and Mummy



Zo Ee and Mummy

Zo Ee and Daddy

Super slow hydraulic lift
in the museum - it takes 1 minute to move between floors and its safe working load is 2 adults and a wheelchair.


When little Zo Ee was having her afternoon nap, Mummy managed to capture some of the displays.


Friday, January 1, 2010

First tricycle - 20 month old

Zo Ee at 20months 2weeks old. (27/12/2009)

Finally, Mummy found a suitable tricycle for little Zo Ee; one with least metal pieces at a good price. Thanks to the post Christmas sales at Takashimaya Shopping Mall, Singapore. Of course, when little Zo Ee saw this tricycle, she's so excited to try it out. Again, when Mummy wanted to push little Zo Ee in it, little Zo Ee insisted to pedal it herself. She knew where precisely to place her two feet although she has no idea how to pedal it correctly yet. Little Zo Ee knows how to move forward and backward while pushing both her feet against the floor. Occasionally, she managed to pedal a little - moving forward with a partial wheel rotation. Nevertheless little Zo Ee knows a lot about tricycle (knowledge from books); was telling and showing Mummy the tricycle's handles, saddle and pedals and she knows that a tricycle has 3 wheels.

Looking like a little pro in her new tricycle.



Look at the indicator lights - can signal left, right or both at the same time.



Other sound effect; music, siren(fire engine, police), honk, starts engine, accelerator.



When little Zo Ee awakened from her nap, seeing this other rocking mode of her tricycle, the naive little Zo Ee commented, "broken! handle has broken!" She didn't like this rocking mode, even after tried sitting on it. So Mummy converted it back to her tricycle again.


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