A Budding Young Author

 As most of you know Morgan will be starting Kindergarten in two short weeks. It is so hard to believe she is that old already. Overall I feel like she is really prepared and ready to start (I am not so sure I am but...). She knows her alphabet, most letter sounds (knows at least one sound for each letter, the multiple sounds some letters make like a, c, y still challenge her), numbers, can count to 30, and knows over 30 sight words. She also is getting much better with her coloring and cutting skills and can write her name (and it is legible for those that know her). Since writing is a challenge for Morgan we have decided that we should also begin teaching her how to use the computer and a keyboard. I really want Morgan to be able to write and sign her name, however, I know that in the future in order for her to keep up with her peers in class the best way for her to write will be typing on the computer. With that being said I didn't want to wait until 1st or 2nd grade when she should be writing sentences to teach her how to type. I want her to be ready to write those sentences by already knowing the keyboard and where all the letters are. Anyway, we had that put into her goals for this year and have been starting on it at home as well.

For Christmas when Morgan was 3 we had purchased a Cra.yola kid-friendly keyboard. It has enlarged keys and the letters are colored green, numbers purple, etc... so the kids can more easily find what they need. We hadn't used it too much over the past year and a half, but with school starting soon we have been pulling it out more and more. Morgan is getting pretty good with knowing where the letters are. Her biggest challenge is the space bar. When she pushes it she can't release it immediately so it often puts several spaces in.

Anyway, the other day I wanted to practice typing some more. Morgan has become bored with just typing her name. I decided we should try some simple sentences. I thought the best way to motivate her would be to have her write her own pony story. Morgan is obsessed with reading her horse books and talks about horses nonstop, so why not write about them. She loved this idea. So with some help from me with sounding out the words Morgan typed this story below:

***Note: I did go back when she was finished and edited all the extra space marks, but other than that she did it! She even did the periods at the end, of course she calls them "dots."

I did do the by and illustrated part for her.

I was so impressed with her drawings. This is her pony. You can see his four legs and his tail.

This is a close up of his strong legs.

This picture is what really impressed me. She not only drew her horse, but put a pink saddle on and then drew herself. She did ask me to help her with the helmet, but other than that she did it 100% on her own!!!!

Here is a close up of her final drawing.

Morgan was so proud of her book and so excited to read it to her sister. The next day she wanted to read it again to Makenzie during breakfast. I couldn't find it where I last saw it (on her desk) so I asked her if she knew where it was. She said, "It is on my bookshelf with my other horse books." Sure enough it was. She and David had placed it there the night before by her request. So cute that she wants to keep her book with all her other horse books. I told her this would be a great career for her when she gets older. After all, she LOVES books and LOVES horses even more so why not spend her adult life making many little girls like her happy by supplying them with countless horse books to read.