(I’m getting behind transcribing these pieces… – L)

My Playground

I love swinging on the swings. I love sliding down a slide. I love going up the stares with my dad. I love going to the playground. It is fun.

Jon
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I Love the Zoo

I like to see animals at the zoo. The lions rore. The monkeys say oo oo ahhhhh ahhhhhh. I love rideing the camels.

Jon

(spelling words are in italics –L)

I love going trick or treating on Halloween.
I love having some treats on Halloween.
I like going to some houses.
I said I love spelling.
I like wearing a pirate hat.
I like building a house.
I miss you.
I like to see the butterfly fly.
I love running into the house.
I like going up and down in the elevator.
Jon

Holy moley – as Jon’s teacher Tami said in her note home today: “Every time I raise the bar he meets it, even faster than I could have expected or hoped for!”

Tami decided that for his spelling tests she would use each word in a simple sentence, which he would then type out. Today, Jon decided he wanted to be tested (remember, he only got his new list yesterday). Then he asked to generate the sentences himself. Tami thought this would make the exercise more meaningful for him so she agreed.

Well, he sailed through coming up with and typing the 10 sentences, and spelled all the words perfectly. He self-corrected himself two times with that tough word “building”, but finally nailed it. The only word he asked for help with was “butterfly” (a word not on his list), used in the sentence

I like to see the butterfly fly.

He first asked if “butt was “t” or “t-t”, and then asked if “er” was “r” or “e-r”. The spelling word was “fly”, so he had no trouble with that part. And then laughed uproariously because there were two instances of “fly” right next to each other.

Jon’s new spelling list includes the words “weather” and “channel”. This one’ll go very quickly!

Tami’s goal is to now get Jon to do writing (either his creative writing or spelling sentences) every day. When I think about where he was at the beginning of the school year, it makes my head spin!

As soon as I post about Jon’s spelling they change the rules… Jon’s teacher decided that since he is spontaneously using so many tough words in his creative writing, his spelling tests from now on will feature the trickier words from those pieces (rather than words from the Dolch list). She figures this will improve his spelling in his writing, since those are words that he uses and thus are more relevant and meaningful to him.

She also decided that spelling tests wouldn’t always be on Fridays; he could take the test whenever he felt ready. (That sound you hear is a cheer of relief from his parents: Jon usually memorizes his lists within 3 days; practice sessions after that are pretty soporific.)

Looking at his new list is an eye-opener: It’s quite a bit more challenging than his previous lists. “Halloween”, “elevator”, “pirate”, “building” are some of the words; “building” caused a few tears of disbelief and frustration today. That darn English language!

I Love Practising My Spelling

I love spelling the word o’clock. I love pushing the word enter after each word. I love finding my spelling words in my reading book Hide and Seek.

(Jon gets a spelling test every week of 10 words in the Dolch list of common words, and “o’clock” is in this week’s list. So far he’s covered over 250 words and he’s gotten 100% correct! Whoo-hoo! – L)

Not to steal Jon’s thunder, but some backstory to the post below. I’m sure we’ve mentioned that Jon is generally wheeled from place-to-place by others. Mind you, in certain situations or environments he has shown that he will propel and steer himself. Situations like a noisy book launch when he suddenly and very accurately bolts for the door towards Queen Street West (bad), or environments like Mountain Co-Op, where he takes charge to wheel himself to the elevator (good). But generally, he is pushed.

At his last school assessment (an annual teacher/parent/vice-principal/visual consultant/sometimes physiotherapist get-together), it was decided that Jon’s vision and maturity have progressed to the point where he would benefit from “mobility training”. This will include all sorts of lessons about driving a wheelchair, including outside on the sidewalk. Big stuff. We signed some papers for his assessment and training.

From all reports–well, two, including Jon’s–trainer Pam showed up today, and started the process. He was exhausted at bedtime. Laura and I would love to know what happens in these sessions, but in a curious way we are delighted that we aren’t part of it at the moment. No doubt we will be in time.

I Love Giving a Tour of Sunny Voo School

Today I took Pam on a tour my school. I liked showing her the adventyour sentr and the gim and the snoozelen room. I loved pushing my wheel chair every where.

Jon

Glossary: Sunny View School has an indoor courtyard called the Adventure Centre, and a gentle stimulation room called the Snoezelen (pronounced “Snooze-ellen”) Room. An amazing word to even try to spell.