On reading...
Jan. 13th, 2011 01:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conuly
Yesterday Evangeline's teacher had to tell her to put the book (Nothing But Trouble, which is a great book) down while walking. My only response to this was OMG SHE IS TURNING OUT AS BAD AS HER SISTER! I'm not, uh, sure Evangeline's teacher understood that choice of words. She would if it were HER nieces sneaking books under the dinner table and HER nieces sneaking books instead of doing their homework ("But reading IS homework!" "Only for 20 minutes. Nice try, kiddo. GIVE IT OVER.") and HER nieces sitting down on the sidewalk to read. I've occasionally seen Ana come out of school a full three or four chapters ahead of where I *know* she was in the morning. ("Did you do, uh, ANY work today, sweetie?" "Some.")
You all think I'm stealth-bragging, and in a way I am, but in a way it really is every bit as annoying as I claim.
But I am happy they like to read. Reading was my #1, #2, and #4 pastimes as a child, and of course it still is today, so you know how happy I am to share my favorite books with them. Ana yesterday sat for a few hours during her sister's nap and read Audrey Goes to Town. Evangeline dragged me over to listen to her read her Book in a Bag.
Let me say something about this Book in a Bag. Because Evangeline's one of the youngest in the class, I spent the better part of the summer teaching her to read. I didn't particularly care if she knew how to read prior to kindergarten, but I felt that she already had the disadvantage of age, and with the idiotic way they push things nowadays she could use the summer to her advantage. So we read every day. Thankfully, I have all our books labeled with their guided reading level.
Now they've started bringing home books to practice reading with. Last week (the first week) Evangeline was at a "B" level. This week she's at a "C" level. Both levels are much simpler than the books she's been reading with me at home for the past few months. *bragbragbrag*
What's more, what she does is really great. Yesterday she came across a new-to-her word in reading. "Find". So first she sounded it out - ffff ih nnn d. Fihnd! Then she realized that didn't make sense so she paused and corrected it automatically to "find". Sounded it out (correctly) the next time she saw it, and had no more troubles with it.
This is what she's supposed to do, of course, but it's something we've been working on for a while. She tends to get stuck on her first reading, even when she knows it doesn't make sense. So that's a big step forward.
But there's something else she does which is better. It's usual for little kids to make mistakes when reading. They're just learning! And I guess it's normal for them not to notice they made a mistake. Evangeline *does* notice. She realizes her sentence made no sense, so she goes back and fixes her problem. I find this very impressive, because, you know, I think everything those girls do is impressive.
You all think I'm stealth-bragging, and in a way I am, but in a way it really is every bit as annoying as I claim.
But I am happy they like to read. Reading was my #1, #2, and #4 pastimes as a child, and of course it still is today, so you know how happy I am to share my favorite books with them. Ana yesterday sat for a few hours during her sister's nap and read Audrey Goes to Town. Evangeline dragged me over to listen to her read her Book in a Bag.
Let me say something about this Book in a Bag. Because Evangeline's one of the youngest in the class, I spent the better part of the summer teaching her to read. I didn't particularly care if she knew how to read prior to kindergarten, but I felt that she already had the disadvantage of age, and with the idiotic way they push things nowadays she could use the summer to her advantage. So we read every day. Thankfully, I have all our books labeled with their guided reading level.
Now they've started bringing home books to practice reading with. Last week (the first week) Evangeline was at a "B" level. This week she's at a "C" level. Both levels are much simpler than the books she's been reading with me at home for the past few months. *bragbragbrag*
What's more, what she does is really great. Yesterday she came across a new-to-her word in reading. "Find". So first she sounded it out - ffff ih nnn d. Fihnd! Then she realized that didn't make sense so she paused and corrected it automatically to "find". Sounded it out (correctly) the next time she saw it, and had no more troubles with it.
This is what she's supposed to do, of course, but it's something we've been working on for a while. She tends to get stuck on her first reading, even when she knows it doesn't make sense. So that's a big step forward.
But there's something else she does which is better. It's usual for little kids to make mistakes when reading. They're just learning! And I guess it's normal for them not to notice they made a mistake. Evangeline *does* notice. She realizes her sentence made no sense, so she goes back and fixes her problem. I find this very impressive, because, you know, I think everything those girls do is impressive.
