The Tall Order of Super WHY! – Part 2
When last we left off talking about Super WHY!, I was sent home from the Super WHY! blogger event with a backpack full of swag homework for me and Olive. It was everything we needed to do a Super WHY! Five Day At-Home Workshop. They have created this 5 day workshop to build on the curriculum of the show through games and worksheets.
I’ll start by saying that Olive and I are a receptive audience to this type of thing. A few months ago, because Olive is so in love with the chart episode of Sid the Science Kid, we made this chart to track the growth of our newly-planted seeds.
With gusto we tore open the PBS backpack, and for about 5 minutes I tried to follow the step-by-step instructions before dismissing them entirely. They lost me at the “Super WHY! Pre-Assessment” for two reasons. One, it was a lazy Saturday morning and I didn’t really want to test my daughter in this way. I know that they want me to have done this step so I can see just how much she’s learned from the workshop, but it’s not my style. The other reason is that some of the material is completely inappropriate for her.
You may remember that I’m coming off of producing Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read, so I know a bit about steps to reading and literacy standards for different age groups. Here we get back to the tall order issue with the show itself – trying to teach core reading skills to the massively large age group of 3 to 6-year-olds. I recognize that through repetition of the show and these activities, I can get Olive to read as sight words the words of the show. But that’s really not what’s important to me right now. I just want to keep developing her love of books, and so far so good.
Now, my problem is with this idea of the workshop trying to teach skills that are too advanced for her. That’s not to say we didn’t have lots of fun with some of the activities (the age-appropriate ones, naturally). The character masks were a big hit, and Olive enjoyed doing the kinds of alphabet worksheets she’s already doing in her Pre-K class.
One of our favorites was a scavenger hunt, taping letters to things around the house that begin with the letter. It was fun when my husband tried to guess what each letter referred to, “Why is there an I on the door?” “Because it’s Inside!” And look how well our P for Plants are doing!
My recommendation is to head over to the robust PBS Parents website, skip past the workshop and go straight to the activities that will be exciting for your child and are at the right level for your child. There’s an excellent Child Development Tracker which will help you know what to expect from your child at different ages, along with activity recommendations. Not only does it span ages 1-8, but it cuts across all different subject matters and PBS Kids shows. I’m going to have to go browsing for some more Sid chart activities!
And for some Super WHY! fun this Saturday, visit Toys”R”Us between 12:00 and 2:00 for a Super WHY! Play Day, with giveaways, story time, and alphabet bingo.
