Reading Rollercoaster
Will's school had Parent Visitation this morning b/t 9 and 11:
There were only a few parents at a time, and we tried to be "invisible" :-P to just observe how the morning goes. Will is reading even more than I realized! He has apparently gotten into the Junie B. Jones series at school. I'm excited, b/c they are 80-120 pages - much longer than the usual AR (Accelerated Reader) books he brings for nightly homework. He reads a chapter here & there when he finishes his work early and is so proud of himself! [Me, too!] I asked if he liked the Magic Tree House series, as well, but I think he's been too into Junie B. to try it, yet. I'm so glad to see he is reading more long, non-picture books.
When I picked Annelise up from school today, one of her teachers said she really needs to practice her reading, b/c it has taken her two weeks (instead of the usual two days) to get through her last book. WHAT?!?! Her teacher & I both unraveled the truth back & forth over Annelise's head in her car seat - she had no place to hide. She had told me that she "wasn't being tested on her books right now, b/c of working to finish her Explorer Chain." She had told the teacher that she "didn't have time to read, b/c of cheerleading." [Is she really only 5 and not 15?!?!] I was AGHAST! I looked her straight in the eye and said, "Cheer has been over for almost two weeks." I looked at the teacher and said, "We will fix this." As we drove out of the car line over to dance, I told Annelise how disappointed I was in her, that she did this and lied about it. I took away the candy treat someone had given her to eat after school and had her read her latest book in the dance parking lot before going in to change. It's the first time anything like this has really come up, and she knew she had messed up big time. She was so sad getting her tap clothes on, and all of a sudden, when it was time to go into class, she burst into tears. Her first school-aged, girly "I'm so embarrassed & upset all I can do is cry" meltdown. Bless her heart. :-P She was inconsolable, and everyone swarmed around her, b/c no one at the studio has EVER seen her w/o a smile before, and they could not imagine what ultimate horror had befallen her. :-P I told her she needed to let it go for now and go dance. She was all smiles when Will & I picked her up. She did apologize, and I had her read her book, again, this evening and told her that there will be a punishment coming for lying. (I don't spew out punishments on the spot w/o careful consideration. There's nothing worse than going back on a punishment you doled out in the heat of the moment, and I make sure that the kids' punishments won't also punish ME!)
This afternoon, Will brought home the book Gila Monsters Meet You At the Airport - one of my ultimate favorites from Reading Rainbow when I was a child! After he read it, I told him we could watch the show that Mommy first learned about this book on:
[God bless YouTube!] :-D How cool to share something that was such a big deal to me when I was his age with Will?! I remember this episode being all about the Gila monsters, but it's really all about moving; that was a concept that had no meaning to me whatsoever as a child, so no wonder I ignored that part and focused on the nature aspect that our family was so obsessed with.
Thankfuls: Will wrote on his Gratitude Tree leaf that he was thankful for "eating pizza", while Annelise wrote that she was thankful for "dance" and "movies".
When I picked Annelise up from school today, one of her teachers said she really needs to practice her reading, b/c it has taken her two weeks (instead of the usual two days) to get through her last book. WHAT?!?! Her teacher & I both unraveled the truth back & forth over Annelise's head in her car seat - she had no place to hide. She had told me that she "wasn't being tested on her books right now, b/c of working to finish her Explorer Chain." She had told the teacher that she "didn't have time to read, b/c of cheerleading." [Is she really only 5 and not 15?!?!] I was AGHAST! I looked her straight in the eye and said, "Cheer has been over for almost two weeks." I looked at the teacher and said, "We will fix this." As we drove out of the car line over to dance, I told Annelise how disappointed I was in her, that she did this and lied about it. I took away the candy treat someone had given her to eat after school and had her read her latest book in the dance parking lot before going in to change. It's the first time anything like this has really come up, and she knew she had messed up big time. She was so sad getting her tap clothes on, and all of a sudden, when it was time to go into class, she burst into tears. Her first school-aged, girly "I'm so embarrassed & upset all I can do is cry" meltdown. Bless her heart. :-P She was inconsolable, and everyone swarmed around her, b/c no one at the studio has EVER seen her w/o a smile before, and they could not imagine what ultimate horror had befallen her. :-P I told her she needed to let it go for now and go dance. She was all smiles when Will & I picked her up. She did apologize, and I had her read her book, again, this evening and told her that there will be a punishment coming for lying. (I don't spew out punishments on the spot w/o careful consideration. There's nothing worse than going back on a punishment you doled out in the heat of the moment, and I make sure that the kids' punishments won't also punish ME!)
This afternoon, Will brought home the book Gila Monsters Meet You At the Airport - one of my ultimate favorites from Reading Rainbow when I was a child! After he read it, I told him we could watch the show that Mommy first learned about this book on:
[God bless YouTube!] :-D How cool to share something that was such a big deal to me when I was his age with Will?! I remember this episode being all about the Gila monsters, but it's really all about moving; that was a concept that had no meaning to me whatsoever as a child, so no wonder I ignored that part and focused on the nature aspect that our family was so obsessed with.
Thankfuls: Will wrote on his Gratitude Tree leaf that he was thankful for "eating pizza", while Annelise wrote that she was thankful for "dance" and "movies".
I loved, loved, loved Reading Rainbow as a kid! And that is so cool that you can share that with Will. And kudos to using discipline and not being reactionary about it.
ReplyDeleteThanks. :-) The final verdict: I threw away the rest of her Halloween candy for her lying. (There wasn't *that* much left, but enough to matter.)
ReplyDelete