The Audiblox Diary of Kori Mitchell

May 2002

Posted by Michelle Potter on May 8, 2002, 2:58 am

Hi everyone!

We had a busy week last week. Kori had a play she was performing through her homeschool umbrella and they had a dress rehersal every day. We didn't do Audiblox on Thursday and Friday because the week was just to crazy for me. So there's not much of an update.

Sequencing - 32 Benetta, do I need to order more blocks? I don't mind if I'll need them. If she gets the 38, which I think will be this week than I will have to improvise somehow.

Pattern 2 - She made her goal of 24.
Auditory Pattern - working hard!
Reading - she is doing well but sometimes she is a little slower than I think you'd like her to be.
Spaitial - same, no problems
Arrows - I can't believe how she started with the clapping doing ok but is still having a hard time. It's not that she misses much but more that she is working so hard at it. She isn't doing it with ease.
Coutning - This is going great. She counts from 2 - 40 with very little hesitation.
Logical thinking 1 - We've been mostly reviewing the old ones.
Logical thinking 1b - We are working on Group E. She likes this one the most and so far hasn't had a problem.
Logical thinking 3 - This has become difficult. I think we need you to send the answers to Group L. I just can't get it.

Tables - We are still working with 8. I think I'm going to have to push her on this. She knows them but it just takes her forever to say the answer. If it's alright with you, I'm planning on doing this everyday during math in addition to the Audiblox time.
Bean Bags - This is hard! I guess time and practice will help! We do have some fun and laughs doing this.

Posted by Benetta on May 9, 2002, 6:22 pm , in reply to "Kori's Diary"

Dear Michelle and Kori,

Thank you for the latest update! Kori, how did it go with the dress rehearsals for the play?

Michelle, I am not going to make any dramatic changes today, due to the fact that you missed out on a few sessions. I think it will be a good idea to order another Audiblox learner set, so that you will have enough blocks for the Sequencing exercise.

Achieving 32 blocks with the Seqeuncing exercise in only 12 minutes is excellent, especially if we consider that the current practice target is starting with 8 blocks/adding 6 blocks whenever Kori manages to do it correctly. Also, to achieve 24 blocks with Pattern exercise 2 within only 12 mniutes, and with a practice target of 6/6/0 is excellentt, I cannot think of many other learners who will be able to beat this! Kori, I cannot wait for you to achieve 38 blocks with the Sequencing exercise! No change to the practice targets for the Sequencing and Pattern exercises this week.

Michelle, just another week before we can start adding new words with the Reading exercise again. Please try and speed her up as much as possible! I shall only change the Arrows exercise if she is able to maintain her rhythm with ease. Continue as is with the Arrows, Spatial and Auditory exercises.

Concerning Logical thinking exercise 3, let us look at example number 1 from Group L for an explanation:

r b g b g y
w r b g y B
r w g ? ? ?
w g w ? ? ?
g r B ? ? ?

For me to refer to specific colors in the pattern, let us first give each position in the pattern a number. Let us number the first row 1 to 6, the second row 7 to 12, the third row 13 to 18, the fourth row 19 to 24, and the bottom row 25 to 30.

To find the answer, you have to notice that the red blocks on 1 and 8 are replaced on the right side by yellow (6, 11). So, obviously, where you have red, you will have yellow in corresponding places. This means that no 18 will then be yellow, and also no 29. Further, look at blue and green alternating in nos 2, 4, 9 (blue) and 3, 5, 10 (green). This means that, where you have green, you will have blue. So, 16, 23 and 30 will be blue. Lastly, note that white and black alternate. So, 17 will be black,, as will 22 and 24. Quite easily done... :-)

Michelle, I think it will be a good idea to do some extra tables with her during the normal school lesson, as we do not have enough time on the program for this exercise yet.

Well, that is all for now! I hope to hear from you soon again!
Benetta.

Hi! Benetta, I've must be a bit scatter brained this week. I made an error on the sequencing. I did 6-6 yesterday and today. I didn't realize I was somehow off until she managed 36 blocks and then she said, "I thought I was working on 38 but it doesn't add up." So anyways she did 36. I ordered an other set of blocks a couple days ago.

She is still getting 24 on the pattern.
Auditory Pattern - she is still trying to get 9 correct again. She is so close. I know she already did the 9 once but can't seem to manage it again yet.
Spaitial - same
Reading - I still don't think she is fast enough. After missing a few days at the end of the week she seems to have become slow again. We are going to try and put some extra time into this and the tables exercise starting next week.
Arrows - she is doing better on this now.
Counting - great!
Logical thinking - we just reviewed yesterday.
Logical thinking 3 - She did well here. With your explanation we realized we were correct but didn't quite get the logical part.
Logical thinking 1b - We've been working on all up to E. I've also been reviewing. She hasn't had and struggles on this yet.
Bean bags - very clumsy! We need lots of practice.
Tables - We are working on 10 cards now. Like I said before, she knows the answers but is slow.

Thanks,
Michelle

Posted by Benetta on May 17, 2002, 3:36 pm , in reply to "Kori's diary"

Dear Michelle and Kori

Greetings from a cold South Africa! My apologies for not responding sooner, but things are not back to normal yet since the burglary. Hopefully we shall have more computers by next week, which will make it less of a balancing act.

Kori, you are doing very well with the Audiblox, but I do not want to make any earth shattering changes to your program this week. A few small changes will do the trick. Thanks for all your hard work, I am so proud of you!

Michelle, with most of the exercises, she seems to be on the verge of a big breakthrough. I am really holding thumbs that we shall be able to jump to the next level with all the exercises very soon.

Concerning Kori' program, please note that you should disregard the program from my e-mail dated 2002-04-05, and follow the new program that I sent to you in my personal e-mail.

Concerning the Arrows exercise, time for a change! When doing Steps 2 and 3, continue as is. I am adding a new step, i.e. Arrows exercise Step 4, for which you must also use the yellow arrows chart. This step is not in “The Right to Read,” so follow the description given in my personal e-mail.

Concerning the Counting exercise, she is doing very well and you can make the changes indicated in my personal message.

Michelle and Kori, these are all the changes for now. Thanks for all your hard work and commitment.

Have a great weekend, we shall speak again soon!

Hi everyone. Here's Kori's latest results with Audiblox.

Sequencing exercise - 32
Pattern - 30
Arrows - she is doing great on the step 2 & 3. She all at once became very good at it. The new step is comming along good also. She does it very slow but I thing she'll get it in time.
Spaitial - same
Reading - We are working on the speed and it seems to be improving. Toward the end of this exercise she starts slowing a bit so I haven't been adding or anything.
Counting - 2 - 60 is going good. She still needs a little bit of practice.
Logical thinking 1 - She has mastered group N and has been reviewing the groups before that.
Logical thinking 3 - She has finished group L and we are reviewing the groups before L.
Logical thinking 1b - She has completed through group F and reviewing the groups before F.
Bean Bags - We are getting better at the new step but still needs work.
Auditory Pattern - We are still working on the 9 and 10s.
Tables - we are working on 16 cards now. She is doing them more quickly.

Benetta, next week I will start working her more on the tables exercise. She has SAT testing this week so things are a bit rough. Let me know when you are ready for her to do another reading comprehension.

Hi there! It was great to hear from you again! I am sure it will be less hectic once the summer break starts. Michelle, how did it go with Kori's SAT testing?

Michelle, the suspense is killing me, I cannot wait for the next comprehension test! I think you can do a test again next week.

Concerning the Sequencing exercise, it went well this week, but I am a bit wary of making too many changes this week, due to the fact that she is under a lot of strain with the SAT testing and the busy schedule. Please continue with the current practice target.

Concerning the Pattern exercise, she did extremely well this week! Please change the practice target as indicated to you in my personal e-mail.

When doing Steps 2 and 3 of the Arrows exercise, continue as is, i.e. replacing one of the arrows by clapping of the hands, but now use the arrows chart that you had to draw on your computer. When doing Step 4, continue as is.

Concerning the Counting exercise, change the current new step to counting in 2s, from 2-70 and back.

Michelle and Kori, these are all the changes for now.

Keep up the hard work and have a good weekend,
Benetta.

Hi everyone!

We've got some great news. Kori hit 38 blocks a couple of days ago but has only managed 32 since in the sequencing exercise.

The other good news is that she did another reading comprehension sheet and scored....are you ready for this? She scored 100%. Ok, I didn't believe this either so I made her do another one today. She scored 100% again. I did use a different book than before because there were some problems with the other curriculum but this is a very advanced 3rd grade curriculum. It's the Abeka Book read and think sheets. 6 months ago she couldn't even read the title on the first story in the book. The book says they should read and answer the questions in 4 1/2 minutes but it took her 25 minutes to complete todays. It was very hard but she did it. I even asked her some additional questions and she knew the whole story very well.

Pattern exercise - 26 correct
Auditory Pattern - 9 correct
Reading - we've only been able to add to the Friday stack but have gotten so much quicker at responding in the last few weeks.
Arrows are going good but the new step is still rather difficult sometimes.
Counting - still working on 2 - 70
Logical thinking 3, Working on L-3,
Logical thinking 1b, Just finished group F
Logical thinking 1, Working on O
Bean Bags - She's starting to get good at this. A couple more days with it and I believe she will start getting consistant results.

Benetta, Kori is very excited about her score. I think that it has given her a new confidence. We are excited again. There were some very difficult words and I know that even a few weeks ago she wouldn't have been able to do this. Is this really possible? We are stunned. Thanks again for helping us. I know that without this accountability we wouldn't have come so far so soon!

Dear Michelle,

We were praying for 50%!! Isn't God just wonderful!

Michelle,

My daughter and I have been following Kori's diary very closely. I was so excited when I read your post today! Isn't it wonderful to see how much you have accomplished? You two have done a great job, and I just wanted to congratulate you both!

Dear Michelle and Kori

Hi there! What a wonderful surprise it was to hear of the 100% in the comprehension tests! Michelle and Kori, thank you for all your hard work, you have made my day, my week, and my year! Michelle, don't know about you, but I felt like balling my eyes out, I was so happy and proud! Kori, you created magic, girl!

By the way, Michelle, how did it go with Kori's SAT testing last week?

Concerning the Sequencing exercise, this went very well, I doubt that I shall be able to achieve 38 blocks with such a difficult practice target. Well done, Kori! Please change the practice target as indicated in my personal e-mail to you.

Concerning the Reading exercise, when doing any of the piles, throw down the words 5-5 at a time at maximum possible speed. Do not add any new words, even if she manages to do all the words from any of the piles 100% correctly. For the next two weeks, we shall focus on increasing the reading speed.

When doing the Auditory exercise, do not start with 9 blocks any more, but start with 10 blocks and work it up towards 12 blocks. Come on Kori, I know you can do it!

Michelle and Kori, these are all the changes for now.
I shall speak to you soon again!

Congratulations to all of you!!!

I've been following your diary closely and am so happy for all of you!!!

I was glad to hear from all of you this morning. I'm really happy about my score in my reading book. Thank you for helping me with my problem. I couldn't have done this without you. I really like Audiblox and it is helping me so much.

I am glad that I was able to speak to you! Keep up the good work, we are all very proud of you!

Hi! It was so nice to hear from you all. Kori was so excited to talk to you in S. Africa! You know how kids are. When she hung up the phone she called and told her grandma about the call from Africa! Being that you are way over there it seems to make her feel that much more special. She will be very pumped up after this! Thanks you so much for your taking the time to call her. She was a little shy! You guys are so important in her eyes and the fact that you are interested in her progress has made all the difference to her.

Benetta, her SAT's went well. They don't have her do the reading comprehension part and the rest of the test is read aloud to her so it isn't that difficult. The lady that read to her said that she did horrible on the spelling part but did okay otherwise. We will get the results in July (hopefully). She does these test in 3 days and for 3 hours a day with a short break. I was told by the tester that Kori is always very well behaved and is able to sit and endure just as well or better than her peers that don't have learning difficulties. They are amazed that she is so self disciplined. I always say that it's because she is so used to working very hard to get done what some others do so easily.

We feel we are reaching the light at the end of our tunnel and we give lots of credit to you at Audiblox. I know when we started I was rather negative and sceptical. God is good and we are so happy that you had given us this opportunity.

I am glad that we took the opportunity to phone her. We are very proud of her achievements, she has been working extremely hard these past few months. She is very special to all of us!

I hope we shall see many more successes like the comprehension tests!

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