3V1425.2

3V1425.02 Writing: sending a letter through the mail I have been doing my Christmas Cards. After a while, Peggy brought the piano bench over to the typewriter because she wanted to write a letter. She typed several lines on a piece of paper (I don;t remember what she said they meant — it was nothing …

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3V1421.1

3V1421.01 Reading Test (in P203/K27) (12/13/81) In P203/K27 (which began with Peggy’s first captured dance), I gave Peggy a reading test based on two groups of words — the first from her reading of books; the second from her computer experiences. From the first group of words she recognized only “NO.” (Gretchen has been reading …

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3V1420.1

3V1420.01 Turn” vs. “Truck” (12/12/81) Peggy played with BEACH world, put a ZOOMing SUN in the sky and so forth. She had some figures on a screen — I believe a ZOOMing MOON which she wanted to have move in the opposite sense. When she asked how to do it, I told her to look …

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3V1415.1

3V1415.01 Reading Vocabulary (12/7/81) In P202, I gave Peggy her first “reading test.” She showed clearly that she recognized -in their very specific contexts- these words(19) : RECALL (by keying it) RECALLING (by contrast of the display screen) READING (on display screen, shares “ing” with recalling) BLOCKS (on tape cassette, keying, and on prompt card) …

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3V1380.1

3V1380.01 Drawing and Writing (11/2/81) Peggy has made many drawings lately, of which I have saved a large number, writing down her explanations as made and dating them. This is a small but important collection for documenting Peggy’s developing command of writing. On this day, Peggy wrote a “message” on one piece of paper, showed …

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3V1322.1

3V1322.01 Making up Names: frequent activity of uncertain import (9/5/81) Peggy has been making up many names (the context escapes me now, but I imagine those names as applied to her toys), examples are “pooski” and “poo-me-yeh.” I noted this on the chalkboard not because I could make anything of it, but because she did …

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3V1284.1

3V1284.01 “Supposed to” (7/31/81) This phrase seems to carry a lot of meaning for Peggy — almost a weight equivalent to natural law. I can now no longer recall the particular application Peggy made of this phrase. note written 8/30/81

3V1277.1

3V1277.01 First nearly complete Alphabet song (7/22/81) Peggy is much interested in the alphabet. Recently she sat on the couch reading Richard Scary’s book, saying what the letter picture correspondences implied, “A is for Apple,” etc. Getting stuck once or twice she asked me to tell her what was intended by the picture (eg. Q …

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3V1270.1

3V1270.01 Alphabets: the litany and “A is for Apple…” (7/15/81) Today Peggy was singing, chanting material about the alphabet. She has “ABCD” pretty well, but later on always goes “L-O-M-O-P” The similarity of M and N appears to confuse her. She also repeated several times, “A is for Apple, B is for Ball…”

3V1252.1

3V1252.01 Pure Conditionals (6/27/81) Last observation was not accurate or complete. This becomes clear from a very surprising thing Peggy said as she and I had breakfast this morning (actually, I believe she finished first, then returned to the table): “Dad, if I want some orange juice?” I looked at her and asked, “What was …

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3V1247.2

3V1247.02 Past tense and conditionals (6/22/81) For the past month or so, Peggy has been forming past tenses in the typical non-standard way — ie. RUN, RUNNED. (I will have to see if I can get her to discuss this in the next session, P181 now) — to get at the question raised by Seigler …

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3V1247.1

3V1247.01 Computer as Word-tester (6/22/81) Peggy sorts through the cards of the BEACH WORLD – She read the card WORLD with a questioning tone in her voice, then adding “I’ll try it and see,” executed it with considerable satisfaction. Later, after creating some objects, she sorted through the cards and picked out DOWN. She acted …

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3V1246.1

3V1246.01 Edit Shape 16: Miriam makes a pony shape for Peggy (6/21/81) Miriam made a PONY shape and procedure for Peggy’s BEACH WORLD. After I saved these on a tape and Miriam went away, Peggy took over her computer again, In the interim, somehow the shape had been cleared (perhaps a crash). At any rate, …

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3V1239.1

3V1239.01 Discovering “Turn” (6/14/81) After what seemed initially an unproductive session (P177), Peggy discovered the word TURN. Looking through the RED lettered cards (probably for some other word) she selected and keyed it. The TRUCK (or VAN) which was the current objects reversed as directed and Peggy exclaimed, “It turned !” This does not argue …

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3V1238.2

3V1238.02 Recalling a Word (6/13/81) Peggy just spelled ZOOM from memory. Two girl shapes were ZOOMing too close together. The FAST card sat nearby so I instructed Peggy to key it. With some trouble, she keyed that familiar word of unknown spelling, copying letter by letter. Disappointed that the current girl was going slow (fast …

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3V1238.1

3V1238.01 Debugging Spellings (6/13/81) Peggy copies the cards letter by letter, but sometimes she copies wrong. For example, after we returned from the hospital with Kate and Gretchen, and I loaded procedures, Peggy executed WORLD, SUN, UP (many times) then PAINT GREEN; she then tried “VAN”, a familiar shape but a less familiar word; because …

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3V1234.3

3V1234.03 Reading: one word at a time (6/9/81) Peggy played with the computer — off and on — during most of the day. Mostly she was “on.” (She even left the supper table to play with her “world”) although she took a break now and again to have a snack or to join Robby and …

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3V1234.2

3V1234.02 Peggy’s Reception of Card-words (6/9/81) After setting up the world subsystem with last minute perfections, I went off to the dentist, leaving four sets of cards stacked separately near the computer with the WORLD word leaning against the front of it. I left with the WORLD display set up, with a HOUSE in place …

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3V1234.1

3V1234.01 A New Way of Presenting Words (6/9/81) Peggy’s biggest problem in typing words [from a list] was recognizing which word she was copying to the keyboard. I began telling her to look at the first letter of the word and to remember what it was, emphasizing it that way and by identifying it by …

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3V1233.1

3V1233.01 Peggy’s first Word World: a summary description (6/8/81) Objects: SUN (base color) (via UPx N) (help with WALK/SLOWERx2) GIRL (base color) (Via DOWN x N=4 (started at road) CAR (help with GREEN) (help with MOVE) (via DOWN x 5) (help with WALK/ FAST) DOG (base color) (help with MOVE) (via DOWN x 1) HOUSE …

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3V1230.2

3V1230.02 Writing What ? (6/5/81) Peggy drew a heart on her chalkboard. With Kate’s birth due at any day, her sister’s are much on Peggy’s mind. She drew her favorite shape, a heart, and drew some wiggly lines inside. she asked, “Dad, does that say ‘babies and sisters’?”

3V1230.1

3V1230.01 Xylopipes and letters (6/5/81) The Xylopipes were set up on the piano bench — an inconvenient place but a flat surface of approximately the right size. Ages ago, I had put letter labels on the pipes as I did also on the piano keys. Today Peggy banged on the pipes with no apparent recognition …

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3V1223.2

3V1223.02 Duets (5/29/81) Peggy has begun to ask me to help her sing, even ‘The Fox went out on a chilly night.” What typically happens is that I sing a little, she sings a lot and when she is stymied, I sing a little more. This scenario seems to derive from two sources; one may …

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3V1217.2

3V1217.02 Spelling “load” and being grown-up; contrast toilet training (5/23/81) Peggy sat alone at the computer. The rest of us were out in the dining room, eating lunch. She called with notable excitement, “Daddy, come see. I’ve spelled ‘LOAD.’ Come see it, Daddy.” Because of her excitement, I left the table, witnessed her achievement (it …

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3V1217.1

3V1217.01 The Alphabet Song: letters change but the melody lingers on (5/23/81) Coming home from Cambridge, Miriam was singing the litany ‘ABCD-EFG…” and getting Peggy to join her. At home, singing by herself, Peggy gave evidence of knowing the tune well but her text was somewhat corrupt: “ABCD-FIG…” was how she began then petered off. …

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3V1212.1

3V121201 Writing words: in order to load programs (very impt.) (5/18/81) Peggy has spontaneously begun to “write” (ie type) words in order to control the loading of programs. While waiting for Gretchen to make available the DRAW program, Peggy typed “LO” (Did she ask if that was right ? Did she ask what next ?) …

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3V1199.2

3V1199.02 Two Drawings (with Polaroid sample) and “wwords” (5/5/81) Peggy made these figures (see photo in notebook) on her chalkboard as I watched (After the first was completed). She explained they were two hearts, the one at right having the message “I love Daddy,” the second “I love Mimi.” Peggy wrote the marks in the …

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3V1192.2

3V119202 Unusual construction: “I won’t make sure I’ll slip.” (4/28/81) no further detail with this note.

3V1192.1

3V119201 Issues in learning graphical language: Logo logon messages (/28/81) Peggy has more or less read “BY” — the common word in her story books. Her reading it shows little discrimination but for length. Today, Peggy began reading (in my presence, for the first time) the Logo Logon messages “Setting up” and “Welcome to Logo.” …

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3V1188.2

3V1188.02 You can spell everything, not merely “French” (4/24/81) Peggy is apparently coming to realize that all words can be spelled (not merely “French”). The cause of this conjecture I can’t document, but she sat in my lap this afternoon and asked me to spell word after word…. words with no apparent connection, ending up …

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3V1186.1

3V1186.01 Learning by observation during Story hour (4/22/81) Today was the last in a series of story hours for Three Year Olds given weekly at the local library. The Childrens’ Librarian would take a group of children (maybe 10 to 12) into a meeting room where they might sing a little song or play a …

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3V1185.1

3V1185.01 Computer at home: TI-99 (4/21/81) I finally brought home a TI-99 from the Logo lab. The machine’s storage extension is very flakey and the tape recorder would not work well for the first week or so. Consequently it was hard to program little systems for Peggy. We began using the computer in experiments with …

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3V1173.1

3V1173.01 Typing “Bear” variously as “BAER” and “BERA” (4/9/81) Peggy sat playing quietly with her typewriter a few feet from where I was working. I don’t recall that her BearHug was with her, but it may have been (and probably was). She typed in sequence the following, with a significant pause between each: B, A, …

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3V1171.3

3V1171.03 Counting in French: “Quatorze” (+ dog) (4/7/81) Peggy counts in French, which to her is “spelling”, i.e. reciting a list of non-sense sounds as an amplification or explication of something about a meaningful (?) work[d?]. Beginning with “/cat//twank/”, Peggy has picked up “/cat//torze/” (single word, no caesura) from Miriam’s recitations — partly offered as …

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3V1171.2

3V1171.02 Letter roller: compared to Rubic’s cube (4/7/81) Peggy has played with Rubic’s cube for several weeks, first destroying the complete pattern by a single or double twist, then “fixing” the cube by reversing the operation — uniformly with great pride and delight. We, of course, applauded her efforts. This was not at all surprising …

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3V1171.1

3V1171.01 Letter names versus Meanings: now even “the mommy letter” is blind coded.(4/7/81) In the last experiment, P167, Peggy made a distinction I have observed otherwheres since. When asked the name of any letter, she would reply “D”, no matter what the letter was, no matter what meaning it had for her. For example, she …

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3V1170.1

3V1170.01 Reflexive pronoun means symmetrical directed action: “The guys are killing themselves” (we would say “each other”.) (4/5/81) Peggy noted as she banged the Fischer-Price dolls against each other. That is, she uses the reflexive pronoun to describe symmetrical directed action.

3V1169.1

3V1169.01 Recognizing “By” in another context: Asterix book (4/5/81) Peggy asked me to read “Asterix in Britain.” On page 6 (bottom) there appears a balloon with “Attack by Juno” in large capitals. As I was reading near the top of the page, Peggy pointed to “BY” and said, “That says ‘BY’.” Now it appears that …

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3V1162.1

3V1162.02 Not quite right, even yet: “By” in Hop on Pop (3/29/81) Peggy offered to read ‘Hop on Pop’ to me and began with the title. Pointing to the word “HOP” (alone on the top line) she said, “Hop on Pop.” Pointing next to “ON” (alone on middle line) she continued her reading as “by” …

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3V1160.2

3V1160.02 Subject and aspect: repetition expresses continued activity (3/27/81) Peggy is very vocal and most frequently describes verbally her action. The subject of her verbal predicates is usually herself and most often is “understood.” Today she ran through the kitchen, with her BearHug, putting him through actions. She said (manipulating him the while) “Run after. …

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3V1160.1

3V1160.01 Imperfectly articulated Guessing Games (3/27/81) While we were at dinner, Peggy came running around the table, behind Robby’s chair, waving her BearHug. She said, “You’ll never guess what’s behind my back.” Non-committally, I responded, “I won’t.” Peggy said, “It will be a bear,” then hid the bear.

3V1156.1

3V1156.01 Spelling a word: “B-E-R” for bear, from “BearHug” Peggy sat on the floor by her typewriter. She looked up at me and said, ‘I spelled ‘Bear’.’ when I asked her how, Peggy pressed in sequence the letters, ‘B’, ‘E’, & ‘R’. I asked how she knew to spell Bear that way, but she did …

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3V1155.3

3V1155.03 New question form during March and April: [Can we x — yes or no ?] ( 3/22/81) Peggy has a habit of posing a question and demanding an immediate answer. “Can we go for a walk ? Yes or no?” Almost every question is accompanied by this insistence. Gretchen.

3V1155.2

3V1155.02 Auxiliary introduced in non-std. way: “Should” ( 3/22/81) Peggy has been using the verb form “should” as an inquiry “Should I have cereal?” “Should you help me get dressed?” She does this where you expect her to say “can” or “will”. Gretchen

3V1153.1

3V1153.01 Peggy volunteers a spelling: letters instead of words (3/23/81) Miriam worked on her school work in the dining room, writing a composition. She called out to her mother , “How do you spell ‘couples’?” Peggy volunteered an answer, “L, N, G, P, L.” While Gretchen supplied a more nearly standard one. A few seconds …

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3V1152.2

3V1152.02 More names of French numbers: [Cat…twank] (3/19/81) Peggy talking to herself again. I heard a recognizable ‘Tra…cat..twank’ followed by what seemed to me to be reproductions of higher French numbers (around eleven to fourteen) which Miriam and I had discussed earlier. Gretchen

3V1152.1

3V1152.01 Letters: [N…G…Y.. spell N…G…Y…spell?] (3/19/81) Peggy commenting to herself. A few letters, the ‘…N…G…Y spell… N…G…Y…spell. ? Gretchen.

3V1148.1

3V1148.01 “Tendy” (3/15/81) While working on dinner in the kitchen amidst a circus of children, I suddenly heard out of the chaos Peggy counting, ‘eighty, ninety, tendy, eleven…’. She trailed off there, perhaps having said ‘eleventy.’ Gretchen

3V1147.1

3V1147.01 Letter H: “Is this for jump ?” (3/14/81) ‘Is this for ‘jump’ ?’ Peggy asked, bringing me the letter ‘H’ from her set on the floor. I explained that ‘H’ was for ‘Happy.’ (maybe I should have said for ‘Hop’ — but would she recognize that as different from ‘jump’ ?) The letter names …

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