Play Wisely

This post is a little plug for one of my favorite programs (no, I'm not being paid) and will also involve a little mommy bragging... ;)
I think I've mentioned the program Play Wisely here before. It's a developmental (cognitive and physical) play program for children 4 months -36 months old. Sam has been in the program for a year now. I fell in love after our first few classes.
In the Toddler 2 class one of the things we work on is sight words. I use that term "work on" lightly because it's literally about 30 seconds-1 minute each week...one or two sets of cards. And just so you know, this is not something I come home and "work on" with him (although I did this morning and will get there in just a minute). I don't make it a habit to sit down with Sam at home and try to teach him things...good or bad?...ehhh, it is what it is. So yesterday in PW class our sight word was "cat". After a few cards familiarizing him the word "cat" he had to point to the word on a card with "cat" and "cow". He did that correctly, AND THEN (made my mouth drop to the floor) he said, "and that is cow", pointing to the word cow! I think "cow" may have been our word last week, or not...I don't know...but we haven't even talked about it since then. He went on to point out the "match" at the beginning of both words..."c"! Needless to say, I was impressed and even more in love with this program. Some of you may be thinking, "What's the point of a 2 year old learning sight words, except for the bragging mom to be able to say, "my 2 year old can read" (which I know is not technically reading). One of the main goals of the program is to build self-confidence in very young children. So that when they do start learning sight words in preschool, or are on their first sports team, etc., they will feel confident in their ability to do whatever is being asked of them or to try something new. It will hopefully be something they've, at least, tried or seen before.
Oh, and about the word "work" I did with Sam this morning...I was reading Moo, Baa, La La La by Sandra Boynton to him. There happens to be cats and cows in this book. Since there is only a sentence or two on each page, and the words are big, I decided to ask him to show me the words "cat" and "cow" on their respective pages...and...he pointed them out correctly! And I'm here to tell you, I take absolutely no credit for this (except for the fact that we read to him). I attribute his ability to do this solely to the Play Wisely class we've been taking the last year.
So, if you have a kiddo 4-36 months old and can catch a Play Wisely class near your house...do it, do it, do it! When I told my mom the story of what happened in class yesterday, she said, "I bet the teacher's mouth dropped when he did that."...nope...Sam's no genius (sorry to break it to ya Nana)...it's something they see happening week in and week out with all their students. It's the mommies mouths that drop in amazement! And the best part about the class is that it's not pushy teaching. It's fun. 30 minute class (once a week)...10 minutes of cards (or less if the kids lose interest) followed by 15 minutes of physical development and then 5 more minutes of cards (the cards being the cognitive development). I really can not say enough great things about it!