Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Reading Class

Early last week I had the privilege of going to Little S’s class and helping with Read Across America Week. (It was actually the previous week, but due to the fire at the school they had to move it back)

When I first got there Mrs. E had me sit over in the reading corner and listen to the kids read to me from their book box. It was very eye opening listening and watching the children read. They each picked a different book and I heard so many stories. She does not have the parents own child read to them but I get to listen to Little S read each night.

I did that for about 15-20 minutes and then Little S had packed one of his favorite books in his back pack that morning for me to read to his class. He recently bought a book with some nursery rhymes in it and that is the one he chose.

I had an absolute blast reading to the kids and letting them fill in here and there since most of them knew the words. There were a few rhymes in there though that neither I nor the teacher had heard before. She even grabbed her Mother Goose book and they weren’t in there.

One was:
Higgledy, piggledy, pop!
The dog has eaten the mop;
The pig's in a hurry,
The cat's in a flurry,
Higgledy, piggledy, pop!

Another was:
I had a little nut tree
And nothing would it bear
But a silver nutmeg and a golden pear.

The King of Spain's daughter came to visit me,
And all for the sake of my little nut tree.

I skipped over water,
I danced over sea,
And all the birds in the air couldn't catch me.

Have you ever heard either of these?

The most eye opening part of my being there was when the kids read to me. I was never quite sure Little S was reading up to speed and I want him to love to read so I push him a little harder with reading. Let me just say that I am proud of how well he reads. I found out from the teacher that he is one of the top readers in his class. Yeah Little S!

However I was a little saddened at some of the other kids reading abilities. I understand it is kindergarten and I hope that perhaps they didn't have any type of preschool and they will catch up. But one kid in particular I can't get out of my mind. He memorized the whole book so that he could "read" it. I stopped him at one point as he read the wrong word, so I thought, but when I asked him to sound it out, he didn't have the first clue as to how to do that. He couldn't even tell me what the letter 'a' was when I asked him. My heart just breaks for him and I so wish I could help him learn to read.

Other than that I had a blast and can't wait to go back again!

Stacy

2 comments:

Crystal said...

It is so wonderful that you had that experience. From the other end of the reading spectrum. Some kids simply don't like to read. I am totally embarrassed to say this, but my daughter (who will start kindergarten in the fall) hates books. She hates reading and will only write on her own terms. We have tried so many different ways to get her excited about reading, but she refuses. She wants to be doing something with her hands. My son (who is two) LOVES books and will be one of those readers, but I am at a loss as to how to get my daughter interested. I am very worried about how she is going to do with it in kindergarten. Do you or any of your readers have any ideas for getting kids to read? I would love to learn some! :)

Jen said...

What a nice thing to do! I am glad you enjoyed it! I bet the kids LOVED it!

You made me I wonder what other moms must think of Garrett when they visit the class... he is almost a full grade-level behind his classmates and if someone wasn't told about his autism diagnosis, they probably wouldn't understand why he is delayed. (Not saying that is the reasoning for the child who was slower than the others, of course.) It was just interesting to think about what other moms must think. I had honestly never pondered it before.

My heart hurts for the little one who memorized his book - he must be terribly ashamed of the fact he cannot read if he went to that much trouble. :( Poor little guy. I wish I could help him, too.

On Read Across America day at our school, I had a work commitment I couldn't get out of and Travis didn't want to take off work - Travis paid Matt $10 to go on our behalf. Matt had a blast and Garrett loved showing off his big brother! :)