Raina Reads!
Eric and I attended Raina's Parent / Teacher Conference earlier this month and Mrs. Moulton made a (fantastic for us) announcement: Raina is on the cusp of reading. She recommended that we obtain some very beginner books and see what she could do. The main goal is for her to feel successful and to learn to love reading.
I took Raina to Borders last week and, after avoiding the "Disney princess gimme!" meltdown, came home with a set of 12 starter books. Each book builds from the previous, has just a few works per page, and allows for great feelings of accomplishment. We sat down that afternoon and Raina read five of them straight-through. She was able to sound out words when she didn't recognize it initially, and she just beamed with pride each time she finished another sentence.
Less than one week later, Raina has read through 11 of the 12 books. She also discovered a set of sight-reading books I purchased a long time ago and she worked her way through those today. I know that children continuously practice something until they've mastered it; Raina is practicing and practicing with reading, and it's wonderful to witness. She tires out quickly -- reading is hard work -- but she jumps back into it and tries again. Raina is entering the magical world of independent reading!
Ages ago, I worked in a psych lab and we measured the connection between pupil size and how hard the brain was working. The pupil is very large when the individual is thinking and concentrating hard. Raina's eyes have been laser beams: huge, intent, focused.
Raina's appetite for parents' reading to her has not changed. We recently finished The Long Winter and The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder, in addition to consuming countless numbers of children's books. She sits and listens to a parent read for 40+ pages, and only gets fidgety when Lola comes by. She's an amazing kid and we are intensely proud of her.
I took Raina to Borders last week and, after avoiding the "Disney princess gimme!" meltdown, came home with a set of 12 starter books. Each book builds from the previous, has just a few works per page, and allows for great feelings of accomplishment. We sat down that afternoon and Raina read five of them straight-through. She was able to sound out words when she didn't recognize it initially, and she just beamed with pride each time she finished another sentence.
Less than one week later, Raina has read through 11 of the 12 books. She also discovered a set of sight-reading books I purchased a long time ago and she worked her way through those today. I know that children continuously practice something until they've mastered it; Raina is practicing and practicing with reading, and it's wonderful to witness. She tires out quickly -- reading is hard work -- but she jumps back into it and tries again. Raina is entering the magical world of independent reading!
Ages ago, I worked in a psych lab and we measured the connection between pupil size and how hard the brain was working. The pupil is very large when the individual is thinking and concentrating hard. Raina's eyes have been laser beams: huge, intent, focused.
Raina's appetite for parents' reading to her has not changed. We recently finished The Long Winter and The First Four Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder, in addition to consuming countless numbers of children's books. She sits and listens to a parent read for 40+ pages, and only gets fidgety when Lola comes by. She's an amazing kid and we are intensely proud of her.
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