Showing posts with label Basher. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Basher. Show all posts
Friday, February 8, 2013
Element Face-Off
My son’s school sent home the following in his backpack the other day.
Kai had drawn it during break time.
Recently, Kai has had a renewed interest in the periodic table that he first learned two years ago. His current interest has been sparked by his recent accumulation of element flash cards when he does the online Thinkwell math program.
Kai enjoys the pictures on these flash cards, but I wondered whether he was learning any of the information on the back of the cards. Sure, he learned the symbols and atomic numbers for all of the elements from long ago, but did he know anything else about them.
On his last birthday, Kai received a Jeopardy-style quiz game from his grandmother. These days, he asks me to make up new questions based on the information from his flash cards. Then, with me playing the Alex Trebek role, he squares off against Mom.
Which element is named in honor of the German state of Hesse?
What acts as the positive half of many batteries?
Which alkali metal aids nerve function, allowing the brain to transmit information back to the muscles?
Which noble gas gives off a distinct reddish-orange glow?
Which element was named after the creator of the periodic table?
My wife is reluctant to play these games as she knows how it will go. Still, Kai really wanted her to play so he gave her a handicap – she could look at the flash cards to help answer the questions.
While that was generous of him, the outcome did not change. Kai won, 430 to 120.
We worry about Kai’s reading comprehension. But when it comes to learning facts on the back of flash cards, he seems to be doing okay.
The answers to the above questions, in order, are:
Hassium, Lithium, Potassium, Neon, Mendelevium
How did you do?
Extra points for every element you can identify on Kai's drawing, with bonus points for telling the reason behind each particular element picture.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
A Better Week
Now that’s how it’s supposed to be.
I got over my illness and was able to go to work every day this week. I started to settle into my new job, and all of us are settling into the new routine.
The best thing, and perhaps the biggest surprise, is that Kai has been doing amazingly well. He has adjusted to everything without a hitch.
We thought the changes at home would be tough for him to get used to, especially as he is also beginning a new school year with some changes in his classroom staff and schedule. But he has had a great disposition every day, rarely getting frustrated. And that has translated to school as well. He is off to a great start this school year, and it is especially wonderful that he has been safe every day. We haven’t had to throw out a shirt yet. ☺
The other night was Family Night at school. We got to see Kai’s third grade classroom, and meet the staff. Here, he is showing the robot the kids made from recycled materials they brought to school.
Kai’s school has a Point Store where students can 'spend' the points they earn for good behavior on small toys or treats. Kai suggested that we open a Point Store at home, too.
We thought that was a good idea, so we opened our store in conjunction with the start of the school year. Kai and I jointly determined how he could earn points, and the ‘prices’ of the items for sale.
We decided that he can earn points for having a safe day at school, earning a specified score on his school Point Sheet, and for not knocking on our bedroom door in the middle of the night.
I don’t know if the Point Store contributed to his good few weeks of school, but I do know that the incentive to earn points strongly motivated him to not wake us up at night. I think we may have finally broken his habit of having to have me sleep in the extra bed in his room.
With his good performance, Kai quickly earned enough points to ‘buy’ his first reward, a Basher book on Rocks and Minerals.
Who knew that rocks and minerals would lead to a good night’s sleep?
A happy boy, a rested dad, and a good week all around; gotta love it!
I got over my illness and was able to go to work every day this week. I started to settle into my new job, and all of us are settling into the new routine.
The best thing, and perhaps the biggest surprise, is that Kai has been doing amazingly well. He has adjusted to everything without a hitch.
We thought the changes at home would be tough for him to get used to, especially as he is also beginning a new school year with some changes in his classroom staff and schedule. But he has had a great disposition every day, rarely getting frustrated. And that has translated to school as well. He is off to a great start this school year, and it is especially wonderful that he has been safe every day. We haven’t had to throw out a shirt yet. ☺
The other night was Family Night at school. We got to see Kai’s third grade classroom, and meet the staff. Here, he is showing the robot the kids made from recycled materials they brought to school.
Kai’s school has a Point Store where students can 'spend' the points they earn for good behavior on small toys or treats. Kai suggested that we open a Point Store at home, too.
We thought that was a good idea, so we opened our store in conjunction with the start of the school year. Kai and I jointly determined how he could earn points, and the ‘prices’ of the items for sale.
We decided that he can earn points for having a safe day at school, earning a specified score on his school Point Sheet, and for not knocking on our bedroom door in the middle of the night.
I don’t know if the Point Store contributed to his good few weeks of school, but I do know that the incentive to earn points strongly motivated him to not wake us up at night. I think we may have finally broken his habit of having to have me sleep in the extra bed in his room.
With his good performance, Kai quickly earned enough points to ‘buy’ his first reward, a Basher book on Rocks and Minerals.
Who knew that rocks and minerals would lead to a good night’s sleep?
A happy boy, a rested dad, and a good week all around; gotta love it!
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Telling Grandparents All About It
We were on vacation last weekend so we missed our usual weekly Skype call with Kai’s grandparents in Japan. I thought we would have our next call at our regular time, but Kai did not want to wait until then to talk to them.
I was wondering what the urgency was. I should have known.
When we got Jiji and Baba online, Kai brought his entire collection of Rocks and Minerals Flash Cards that he had earned so far. He wanted to show all of them to his grandparents.
Well, he didn’t just want to show them. He wanted to read all of them.
We told him that he could read five cards. He said he wanted to read all of them.
I could see where this was headed. I could either argue with him for a long time and have all of us get upset, or I could just let him read the cards.
I gave in.
But I told him he had to read fast, and only read the most important parts.
So, for the next 20 minutes, Kai read his grandparents facts about
limestone and granite and quartz and the rest of the 30 or so rocks and minerals he had accumulated so far.
His grandparents don’t understand speak much English, and they did not understand a word he said.
But I think they were happy to see him so obviously enthused about something, and to see him talk non-stop for so long.
After he had finished reading them his flash cards, we got him to talk about our vacation. And once he started, he went non-stop on that topic, too, telling about all the highlights of our trip.
When my wife tried to translate what Kai was saying into Japanese, he told her “Mom, be quiet!”
Kai still has a lot of work to do on two-way communications, but you can see that he is getting quite verbose with his soliloquies. In a way, for a child who loves to talk but often doesn’t listen well, it is perfect for him to talk to his Japanese grandparents as it is hard for them to interrupt him with questions.
One day I hope that he will be better able to pause and listen and interact. But on this day, I thought he did just great. It was another sign of progress for a boy who once did not speak.
I was wondering what the urgency was. I should have known.
When we got Jiji and Baba online, Kai brought his entire collection of Rocks and Minerals Flash Cards that he had earned so far. He wanted to show all of them to his grandparents.
We told him that he could read five cards. He said he wanted to read all of them.
I could see where this was headed. I could either argue with him for a long time and have all of us get upset, or I could just let him read the cards.
I gave in.
But I told him he had to read fast, and only read the most important parts.
So, for the next 20 minutes, Kai read his grandparents facts about
limestone and granite and quartz and the rest of the 30 or so rocks and minerals he had accumulated so far.
His grandparents don’t understand speak much English, and they did not understand a word he said.
But I think they were happy to see him so obviously enthused about something, and to see him talk non-stop for so long.
After he had finished reading them his flash cards, we got him to talk about our vacation. And once he started, he went non-stop on that topic, too, telling about all the highlights of our trip.
When my wife tried to translate what Kai was saying into Japanese, he told her “Mom, be quiet!”
Kai still has a lot of work to do on two-way communications, but you can see that he is getting quite verbose with his soliloquies. In a way, for a child who loves to talk but often doesn’t listen well, it is perfect for him to talk to his Japanese grandparents as it is hard for them to interrupt him with questions.
One day I hope that he will be better able to pause and listen and interact. But on this day, I thought he did just great. It was another sign of progress for a boy who once did not speak.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Niagara Falls Vacation – Day 1: Visiting Grandparents, Playing with Rocks & Mineral Cards
We just returned from a trip to Niagara Falls. As you might expect, there were plenty of highs and lows, and I will be writing about all of it over the next few days.
Our son has a three and a half week break between the end of summer school and the beginning of fall term. We typically like to use part of that time to travel – to give Kai exposure to new places, and also because he would drive my wife crazy if we stayed home the whole time.
After our experience on last summer’s vacation, we tried to scale back expectations. This year, we thought a shorter trip might work out better. We also wanted to pick a destination that would be fun and interesting for Kai, but not so jam-packed with sights to see that we would be tempted to do too much.
After much consideration, we decided on Niagara Falls.
As a kid, my family took driving vacations almost every summer. We saw most of the United States that way with my dad driving our station wagon from place to place. But one area of the country we never went to was the northeast. And so, I had never seen Niagara Falls myself.
I wanted to see it as I had heard from others that it is a place you must see at least once. But it was also hard to imagine that there would be so much to do once we had viewed it for five minutes. I thought there would likely be plenty of free time to go to the pool and take it easy.
In the days leading up to our trip, Kai was very excited. It reminded me of how excited with anticipation I used to get as a kid before my family’s vacations. In his last speech therapy session before the trip, he had a nice conversation with Alyson, telling her about his upcoming journey. I think he most looked forward to traveling to a state he had never been to before: New York.
On our first day, we drove to Kai’s grandparents house, as they live about halfway between home and Niagara. Kai was happy to see them, and they gave us a warm welcome.
After all the greetings, Kai could not wait to use the community pool.
He showed Mama Dell what an improved swimmer he is compared with our visit last summer. Though, to our chagrin, his form is never as good with us as it is when his swim instructor supervises him.
When we visit relatives, it is often hard to have a conversation, as Kai requires so much attention. On this visit, however, he was content much of the time playing with his latest obsession. When I was a kid, I collected baseball cards; Kai now collects cards about rocks. But there is no doubt that he enjoys his cards as much as I enjoyed mine.
Mama Dell was the person who first introduced Kai to Basher books a couple of years ago. This is a series of kids’ books on various science topics. The thing that makes these books different from others, and so appealing to Kai, are the fun, colorful illustrations that go along with the explanations of each topic.
Kai now has the Basher books on the periodic table, the human body, biology, algebra and geometry, and astronomy, among others. Recently, he discovered that the company also makes flash cards, and he has been collecting the set of Rocks and Minerals cards.
We have been using the cards as motivators to get him to do the online Thinkwell math program that I learned about from my blog friend Shiroi Tora. Without the cards, we struggled to get Kai to do one section a day. With the chance to earn cards, he eagerly does five or six a day.
Now, sitting by his grandmother’s coffee table, Kai busied himself by re-creating the entire set of cards.
Whenever Kai gets a new card, he wants us to read all of the information on the back. Some of the descriptions are not easy to understand, using words that are difficult for even my wife and I to pronounce. So, we wondered if he learned anything we read him. I was surprised when I quizzed him and realized that he had memorized many of the facts on the cards – things like pyrite is a look-alike of gold, that talc is one of the softest minerals while diorite is a hard igneous rock.
His preoccupation with these flash cards allowed us to have some serious conversation with Dell and Earl. It was funny, though, when every now and then, Kai would yell over from the living room to comment on something that we said. Even when he was engrossed in his own activity and not appearing to pay attention to us, he was listening. (However, when I want him to hear something, I may have to repeat it a dozen times to get his attention.)
Anyway, after great home-cooked meals, a good night’s sleep, and a nice time with the grandparents, we said our goodbyes and moved on to our next destination.
Tomorrow – On to Niagara!
See our Facebook page for photos from our entire trip
Our son has a three and a half week break between the end of summer school and the beginning of fall term. We typically like to use part of that time to travel – to give Kai exposure to new places, and also because he would drive my wife crazy if we stayed home the whole time.
After our experience on last summer’s vacation, we tried to scale back expectations. This year, we thought a shorter trip might work out better. We also wanted to pick a destination that would be fun and interesting for Kai, but not so jam-packed with sights to see that we would be tempted to do too much.
After much consideration, we decided on Niagara Falls.
As a kid, my family took driving vacations almost every summer. We saw most of the United States that way with my dad driving our station wagon from place to place. But one area of the country we never went to was the northeast. And so, I had never seen Niagara Falls myself.
I wanted to see it as I had heard from others that it is a place you must see at least once. But it was also hard to imagine that there would be so much to do once we had viewed it for five minutes. I thought there would likely be plenty of free time to go to the pool and take it easy.
In the days leading up to our trip, Kai was very excited. It reminded me of how excited with anticipation I used to get as a kid before my family’s vacations. In his last speech therapy session before the trip, he had a nice conversation with Alyson, telling her about his upcoming journey. I think he most looked forward to traveling to a state he had never been to before: New York.
On our first day, we drove to Kai’s grandparents house, as they live about halfway between home and Niagara. Kai was happy to see them, and they gave us a warm welcome.
After all the greetings, Kai could not wait to use the community pool.
He showed Mama Dell what an improved swimmer he is compared with our visit last summer. Though, to our chagrin, his form is never as good with us as it is when his swim instructor supervises him.
When we visit relatives, it is often hard to have a conversation, as Kai requires so much attention. On this visit, however, he was content much of the time playing with his latest obsession. When I was a kid, I collected baseball cards; Kai now collects cards about rocks. But there is no doubt that he enjoys his cards as much as I enjoyed mine.
Mama Dell was the person who first introduced Kai to Basher books a couple of years ago. This is a series of kids’ books on various science topics. The thing that makes these books different from others, and so appealing to Kai, are the fun, colorful illustrations that go along with the explanations of each topic.
Kai now has the Basher books on the periodic table, the human body, biology, algebra and geometry, and astronomy, among others. Recently, he discovered that the company also makes flash cards, and he has been collecting the set of Rocks and Minerals cards.
We have been using the cards as motivators to get him to do the online Thinkwell math program that I learned about from my blog friend Shiroi Tora. Without the cards, we struggled to get Kai to do one section a day. With the chance to earn cards, he eagerly does five or six a day.
Now, sitting by his grandmother’s coffee table, Kai busied himself by re-creating the entire set of cards.
 |  |
Whenever Kai gets a new card, he wants us to read all of the information on the back. Some of the descriptions are not easy to understand, using words that are difficult for even my wife and I to pronounce. So, we wondered if he learned anything we read him. I was surprised when I quizzed him and realized that he had memorized many of the facts on the cards – things like pyrite is a look-alike of gold, that talc is one of the softest minerals while diorite is a hard igneous rock.
His preoccupation with these flash cards allowed us to have some serious conversation with Dell and Earl. It was funny, though, when every now and then, Kai would yell over from the living room to comment on something that we said. Even when he was engrossed in his own activity and not appearing to pay attention to us, he was listening. (However, when I want him to hear something, I may have to repeat it a dozen times to get his attention.)
Anyway, after great home-cooked meals, a good night’s sleep, and a nice time with the grandparents, we said our goodbyes and moved on to our next destination.
Tomorrow – On to Niagara!
See our Facebook page for photos from our entire trip
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