Switching Things Up
We've switched things up at bedtime a bit and it seems to be working out really well.
Instead of Abby & Ellie reading with one of us and Spencer with the other, it is now Abby & Spencer with one and Ellie with the other.
Abby really loves to read to Spencer. Not just at bedtime, but any time of day. And really, not just to Spencer but to anyone who will listen. The only catch at bedtime is that she likes to read books... to him... that aren't at his interest level. So they all take turns choosing books and so far everyone is quite happy.
Ellie and I've then been able to have some good 1:1 time at night. She's really a great reader, she just doesn't realize it. She proclaims that she is nervous about reading to people and she isn't very good at it. We are hoping this switch will help her build up her confidence level! Last night after I read for a while we talked for a bit and then she got up and chose a book to read to me. She totally volunteered to read to me and she did absolutely fantastic. It wasn't even a super easy beginning reader book and she read the entire thing cover to cover. My wish for her would be for her to really know and appreciate how great she is doing.
After she read her book we talked some more. She wanted to talk about who was great at doing what. She thinks Spencer is going to be so great at basketball. Of course she thinks Abby is so great at reading. She talked about how great she is at diving. Then I reminded her how great she is at math! But again, I don't think she buys it.
Hmm… An AHA moment! She has totally bought into this idea that she is a great diver, thanks entirely to her swimming teacher. Maybe we need to setup some opportunities for someone else she admires to comment on her reading skills? That will be easy to do as we have house guests arriving very soon!
The real challenge though is that she compares herself to Abby. It is true that Abby is a more advanced reader than Ellie; there is no getting around that one. But as I tried to explain to Ellie last night, it wasn’t all that long ago that Abby was reading just like she is reading and with practice she’ll be reading like Abby in no time. Ugh, I just wish she wouldn’t compare herself to Abby. She isn’t being fair to herself by doing so. Abby just has a natural and intense love for books. As evident by Abby springing a new plan on us this morning that involved us taking them to school early so they could get books from the book fair that started today.
As Ellie and I were talking last night she tells me that she would like to check out a different school for 2nd grade. Talk about being surprised!
Okay, so what would be so exciting about going to a different school? And what would we miss from our current school? It was a fascinating discussion and we ended up staying up far later than we should have. So much for turning out the lights early!
One thing that became clear is that she is missing some friends who were in K last year but moved to different schools this year. We actually knew that was likely going to happen for a particular student and we should have done more to keep in touch. She is such a sweet girl! So we'll start this afternoon! Ellie plans on writing a letter to her friend and she wants to include one of her 1st grade pictures!
She brought up the new school topic again this morning with Carie while they were getting ready for school. Fascinating!
This is something we'll have to keep discussing. Thank goodness conferences are next week!
Instead of Abby & Ellie reading with one of us and Spencer with the other, it is now Abby & Spencer with one and Ellie with the other.
Abby really loves to read to Spencer. Not just at bedtime, but any time of day. And really, not just to Spencer but to anyone who will listen. The only catch at bedtime is that she likes to read books... to him... that aren't at his interest level. So they all take turns choosing books and so far everyone is quite happy.
Ellie and I've then been able to have some good 1:1 time at night. She's really a great reader, she just doesn't realize it. She proclaims that she is nervous about reading to people and she isn't very good at it. We are hoping this switch will help her build up her confidence level! Last night after I read for a while we talked for a bit and then she got up and chose a book to read to me. She totally volunteered to read to me and she did absolutely fantastic. It wasn't even a super easy beginning reader book and she read the entire thing cover to cover. My wish for her would be for her to really know and appreciate how great she is doing.
After she read her book we talked some more. She wanted to talk about who was great at doing what. She thinks Spencer is going to be so great at basketball. Of course she thinks Abby is so great at reading. She talked about how great she is at diving. Then I reminded her how great she is at math! But again, I don't think she buys it.
Hmm… An AHA moment! She has totally bought into this idea that she is a great diver, thanks entirely to her swimming teacher. Maybe we need to setup some opportunities for someone else she admires to comment on her reading skills? That will be easy to do as we have house guests arriving very soon!
The real challenge though is that she compares herself to Abby. It is true that Abby is a more advanced reader than Ellie; there is no getting around that one. But as I tried to explain to Ellie last night, it wasn’t all that long ago that Abby was reading just like she is reading and with practice she’ll be reading like Abby in no time. Ugh, I just wish she wouldn’t compare herself to Abby. She isn’t being fair to herself by doing so. Abby just has a natural and intense love for books. As evident by Abby springing a new plan on us this morning that involved us taking them to school early so they could get books from the book fair that started today.
As Ellie and I were talking last night she tells me that she would like to check out a different school for 2nd grade. Talk about being surprised!
Okay, so what would be so exciting about going to a different school? And what would we miss from our current school? It was a fascinating discussion and we ended up staying up far later than we should have. So much for turning out the lights early!
One thing that became clear is that she is missing some friends who were in K last year but moved to different schools this year. We actually knew that was likely going to happen for a particular student and we should have done more to keep in touch. She is such a sweet girl! So we'll start this afternoon! Ellie plans on writing a letter to her friend and she wants to include one of her 1st grade pictures!
She brought up the new school topic again this morning with Carie while they were getting ready for school. Fascinating!
This is something we'll have to keep discussing. Thank goodness conferences are next week!
posted by Sonya at 10:12 AM
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