This is what I'm doing

Now you know I haven’t been on here as much as I would like to be lately and I have to tell you that it is mostly PK’s fault and I thank her. She gave me some wonderful teaching hints that seem to be working but they are time consuming on my part.

Here is what I have found out about my third graders so far. They cannot read the books their teachers send that are on the third grade level. They do NOT want to try to read them aloud and when they try they seem to not hear or understand what they have read and they do NOT want to read ‘baby books’. So this is mostly how my ‘lessons’ go. I read the 3rd grade books to them and we discuss them, what happened, what we think is going to happen and sometimes how we would have changed the ending to make it better!

I went to the kindergarten teacher and ask if my children could read to theirs once a week, one on one. There are several programs similar to this in the school but my little ones (the fairly poor readers) were not participating. Now in order to get ready to read to these younger children, my little ones must pick out a ‘baby book’ that they think some one in kindergarten would like. Then we ‘practice’ reading them aloud to each other to make sure we are reading with feeling for our ‘audience’ they are growling and making faces and really getting into these little easy books. But they are reading – and liking it!

The second idea PK sent me was to let the children tell me a story. I pick a topic each week and while others are getting a library book each one tells me a short story, about their pet this week. I type the story and then when I get the chance (and why I have no time to blog!) I type up the story that they have told me in their own words. I get pictures off the internet to illustrate what they have told me and make a title sheet with the name of the title and, most importantly, the BY: _____________ they seem to love seeing their names in print. They love to read these stories to each other and seem amazed at some of the big words they really know and since they are reading their own story the can get many of the harder words in context. Now that they see what they are doing they seem to try to talk in ‘bigger’ words so it is helping their vocabulary too!! I am so excited to see their excitement. But you can imagine no faster than I type it is all I can do to keep up with them and find pictures – well now you know where my time is going!

Tom seems really proud of me. I love that! I have never for a minute doubted his love for me but to sit with him and explain what I am doing and see his interest and respect, well that makes me feel so very special.

There you have it. I am working harder that I ever have before, I love it, but I am tired. Tom does not fuss about me getting off the computer when he thinks I am working on school work so I can stay up later and he really doesn’t know when I have switched from working to emailing and blogging LOL, so some of you may be hearing from me late at night. The only problem is that I have to get up way earlier that a person should have to to begin the next day! This is fun but I will not be sorry to see summer come! See I sound like a teacher already!