Say My Name

"Noni! Noni!" Kailyn called.
"My name is not Nomi," Naomi said. "It's Naomi!"
Kailyn looked puzzled.
Naomi repeated, and Carol helped break it down into syllables.
"Na-o-mi," Carol said.
"Na-o-mi!" Kailyn repeated. "Na-o-mi."

Kailyn is working on her articulation, and her friends are helping her. As she continues to mature, her articulation will become more clear.

Turtle Stories

"Pet Store. I didn't have anything. And then my sister said, "I want a pet shop." I was with my dragon fly. It was a petshop with my teddy bear and with my sister. I gave it to my sister. He was saying, "Thank you!" He was having lots of toys. He was putting into their... I was getting something else. I was getting all on my something that I like. We were getting one little thingy. Like a teddy bear, like an orange teddy bear, like my sister and I likes it.
There were letters of the computer with a turtle on it.
My mommy burn myself. She was making something. It was burning on the stove. He hit her foot on the tree.
I got a scarecrow. It was like a girl. Cause my mommy want one like that. Cause she was getting one. So my mommy...so everyone's getting some."

Kailyn's Hair

Show this to Kailyn

Sharing a House

Davie had built a huge magna-tile house for her animal, working with car to balance the sides. 
"Can I play with you?" Noah asked.
"Sure," Davie said, "I think I made it big enough for lots of kids."
"I play too?" asked Kailyn.
"Sure, you just put your pet in there," Davie said.
Kailyn put here teddy bear next to the flamingo laying in the magna-tile castle. Davie and Kailyn continued playing for a long time, making "presents" out of the magna-tiles, and exchanging them.
David noticed their play. "What are you making out of those squares?" he asked.
"A home for the animals," Davie explained.
"Yeah, we making a house," Kailyn added.
David carefully walked around the building to get some cars. He brought some cars over to the building.
"It's not for cars," Kailyn explained. "It's for animals."
"But I want to use my cars," David protested.

"I'm done," Kailyn decided.
David and Davie decided to build a garage attached to the house, so that the cars had a place too.

Kailyn is building her repetoire of play skills: she uses her words to enter play, sustains play themes, and uses her imagination to enhance their play.

Counting Bears

Kailyn quickly noticed the new sorting bears on the table. She sorted them by color, red, blue, yellow and green. Her teacher asked, "How many red ones are there?"
Kailyn counted the big red bears, touching each one, "1, 2, 3!"
"How many big and little red bears are there?"
"1, 2, 3, 4...3, 5, 6."

Kailyn enjoys sorting objects and can do so by multiple categories (color, size). She is developing her understanding of one-to-one correspondence, the concept that one object corresponds to one number. As she continues to strengthen this skill, she will be able to touch each object as she counts, keeping track of what has been counted.

Flubber Science

Kailyn was working with a tray of flubber. She used a metal fork to scrap the surface. She worked with intent, watching the effect of the fork as she scraped it across the entire surface. Then she took the rolling pin and began flattening it. She took a small circle and began twisting it on the top of the flubber. She explained, "I turn and turn and turn."
Tamara asked, "Does it go all the way down to the tray?"
"No it just is twisty," Kailyn explained.

Flubber provides endless opportunities for exploring the physical properties of a very compelling material. Kailyn spent more than 20 minutes exploring the ways she could manipulate it, using tools in inventive ways, and experimenting with cause and effect.

Turtle Stories

"It starts about flamingos. They are hop. They jump on the beach. They hop to cave. They learn numbers. One little person likes a flamingo. They count their numbers. They like the spots of a puzzle. They sit down of a wen. They like elephants, but they are scared of them. They running really fast. They like the flowers of they mommas. They like the peoples of the blocks. They eat some food. They like some animals, and persons. They like the hand lotion stuff. And they like the 'puters too. "

Caught in the Net

Kailyn is developing her strength and coordination through vigorous play. On this day, we had walked to the Lower School Playground. Sometimes tentative in new situations, Kailyn clearly wanted to climb up the round net, but other children were playing at the top. She grabbed her teacher's hand and brought her over to the net, saying, "I do it too?" Her teacher nodded and encouraged her, and soon Kailyn was scrambling up the net, beaming. "I caught in the net!" she exclaimed, joining the children's game.

Kailyn's large motor strength and coordiation will continue to develop as she builds her confidence to try new things.

Exploring Flubber

We made Flubber on Tuesday, and the next day the children were so excited to play with it.
Kailyn said, "I'm making a cat." She pushed a large piece into a long oval. Then she methodically pulled little pieces off, attaching them to along the bottom of oval.

The next day, she returned to her work, saying, "I make animals." She turned to her teacher and asked, "You make a reindeer?" She again worked to push the flubber out into a broad flat shape, working against the tendency of the flubber to contract upon itself.

Kailyn was captivated by the feel of the flubber, and she worked with great focus exploring the ways she could manipulate it, even returning to the themes of her exploration the next day.