1. 1. The Read Aloud Handbook. M at JBTC mentioned it
a while back and I bought it and consumed it fairly quickly. What can I say about it? Well… it’s not
overly earth shattering with the facts. It’s pretty cut and dry really. However
it did make me feel inadequate as one of my favorite things to do is read and
you know what I hate more than anything? Reading Aloud. It was one of my
biggest concerns in parenting if you want to know the truth. And I do read to
C, every day. But it is painful for me.
I
didn’t even like reading aloud in school. The first day of classes, when you
read the syllabus so that the moron in the back can’t say he didn’t know that
the class policy was such? Excruciating. I have always loved reading. Always.
And I’ve always been pretty good at it. And I read fast. When we did read
alouds I was always chapters ahead. I never got in trouble per say but no
teacher I ever had (3rd grade-grad school) was overly kind about the fact when they called on me to
read I never knew where we were. (And as someone who went to school for theatre
we read aloud a lot because plays are meant to be heard you know.)
Anyway.
This book freaked me out so much that by the end of chapter 2 I started
reading it aloud to C and Husband while I read to make sure that I was picking
enough varied materials for him. And we’ve started reading Harry Potter now.
The book list is a really nice resource and overall I did enjoy this book. I am
just a Type A, Virgo, Not-Chinese-therefore-I-can’t-fully-subscribe-to-tiger-mothering-techniques-though-some-of-it-wasn’t-so-bad
kind of a person who’s only question to judge people’s character is “What’s
Your Favorite Book.” (The ONLY wrong answer is “I don’t read” or a variation. I
will even accept Where’s Waldo for a grown adult as long as they name it
without being prodded.) Honestly along with all the What to Expect books and how
to make your baby sleep/eat/birth the way you want books this should go right
along as a book to read while expecting. It’s that important. And not just because I'm who I am but because who doesn't want their child to like reading?
2. 2. Peppa Pig. There’s just something about a
British pig having adventures that’s fun. Plus each Peppasode is 5 minutes
long. With theme song and credits so… that fits my attention span. C also seems
to like it as one of his words (granted the list grows daily so it’s not that
ridic) is Peppa.
3. 3.. When your child picks a new book to read over
and over and over again. C has taken to shoving books in your face/throat/head
when he wants a book NOW. I’m a bad parent and after 3+ days of the same book
it may or may not go up on a high shelf take a nap.
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| This book is possibly currently napping. |
4. 4. Rearranging furniture. 2 weeks ago we did an
overhaul of our living room because my parents were coming to stay with C while
we were in Chicago. This served 2 purposes, deep cleaning and making room for a
desk to set up a docking station for a laptop so it would be a desktop as my
mom isn’t a fan of laptops. Yada yada yada… this is a long story to
get to my point which is I love the new arrangement. The initial newness has
since past and now it’s super comfortable. Other than needing to buy a lamp I
am a huge fan. It’s fresh and different. And I like it.
5. 5. Getting ready for Advent. In September. I know. But the Jesse Tree Ornament Swap needs to be planned for. Join in--what a fun way to count down and keep Christ first.
Elizabeth and I attended our first session of the fall ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education) that all school districts in MN offer throughout the year and it is super fun way to meet other moms, kids, etc. I love the classes - 1 hr and 45 minutes, once a week. 1/2 of the time, everyone is together - parents, kids (ages 0-5), and teachers, the other 1/2 of the time, the parents go off into the next room and talk about a certain topic and the kids stay and play together led by a group of teachers. All of that to say, the topic of today's parents group was reading aloud to your kids. I almost was jumping out of my chair I was so giddy. The group leader is a retired kindergarten / 1st grade teacher of 31 years and she said the #1 thing she would say to parents when they would ask her "what can I do at home to help my kid do better in school" was "read to them". And they would ask again "no, really what sort of things can I do to help them." And she would repeat "read to them. It is that simple".
ReplyDeleteIt seemed like she was a walking billboard for this book and she hadn't even mentioned the book. I love it when stuff I read is confirmed in real life (well, not like this is rocket science, but you get my drift). Anyway, I brought up the Jim Trelease book and she was very familiar with it and talked a bit about it to the group.
And then, wait for it...you probably wouldn't have been pleased. She passed around a bunch of Dr. Seuss books and we talked about the importance of reading aloud some more and she asked us each to read a page aloud to the group to "practice" our read aloud techniques. I thought this was a great idea and my partner (we partnered up and shared a book with 1 other parent) and I picked out what I thought were funny tongue twisty type of pages from "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish". We both laughed as we read our individual pages aloud. But then the 2 women next to us looked visibly stressed about reading aloud to the group and both picked short passages and rushed through it. The leader asked the 2nd one to repeat hers because she didn't hear it and the women said no and that she didn't like reading aloud in front of adults.
Can we say "awkward"?
I felt horrible for her. I mean, I didn't think it was a big deal, but if I didn't like to read aloud in front of other people, I totally would have felt like I was put on the spot.
Thanks for providing your take on it!
Thanks for providing your take on the book that is. I promise if we meet together in person I won't ask you to read aloud to E and C. That would be just weird. :)
ReplyDeleteI would totally read to E and C. The funny thing is because of all of my background I am actually really good at reading aloud. I have been mistaken for an automated system at work before no lie. My brain just moves 100 times faster than reading aloud allows for.
DeleteIf Green Eggs and Ham had been an option I would have been fine. That one doesn't bother me so much. :) I wish we had ECFE classes here. That is one of the many things MN does better on plus C would love it.