Twenty Feet of Grace: My Wiggly Reader

Sunday, February 28, 2010

My Wiggly Reader

Six year-old Madalyn is a now a bonified reader! Keeping in mind that she is a ham-it-up, never-sit-still kind of personality, I didn't know how she would take to having to focus on words for longer than 10 seconds. However, she has blown my concerns out of the water with her desire for books and opportunities to read.
Her kindergarten teacher started a contest at the beginning of the semester by giving each student a reading chart. After they read 13 books to fill up the chart, she awards them a $5 giftcard to Toys R Us. When Mrs. Lee announced the contest, Madi decided right then that she was going to earn enough giftcards to buy herself a "Pillow Pet", which cost about $25. (Did I mention that she's also a very determined young lady?) Every night she climbs into Abby's bed and reads book after book to her older sister. Abby happily charts Madi's progress and they are so excited when another chart gets completed. Needless to say, Madi earned her 6th giftcard this past week.
Last night was movie night for the kids, and I let them each pick out their favorite treat at the dollar store to enjoy while watching the DVD. Katie chose a Pez dispenser, the other 3 picked out Warheads, and Madi -- she asked for a Disney book. Love it!

1 comment:

CynthiaFebruary 28, 2010 at 9:33 AM
That is awesome! Good Mom Award to you for encouraging reading! We LOVE books...we have too many I think. I can see the pay off. They all have very vivid imaginations and are all great storytellers (except, of course for the baby, hee hee). Wow, Toys R Us gift cards? That is a great idea. Here they give out certificates to get a personal little pizza from Pizza Hut. Anyway...good job to Madalyn!
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

From the Mouths of Babes...

02/20/2012 ~ Luke has some unique observations about his baby sister. Yesterday he commented that my belly isn't big anymore because "I don't have anymore people in it". Today he asked me why Karis hates me. A little shocked, I replied that she doesn't hate me. He then asked why she's always mad at me. I guess he assumes that her crying means she's angry?
10/08/11 So excited to see a hard rain in our parched area, Luke looked out the window and exclaimed, "Mud pubbles! I wuv mud pubbles!" (I love his vocabulary!)
Me: "Seth, I've told you a hundred times not to leave your cup at the water dispenser while it's filling." Seth: "It's fine. I won't forget about it." ....Three minutes later Seth runs frantically from his bedroom into the kitchen:"Dang it! Mom! Quick - I need a mop!!!"
The younger children are really into Star Wars right now. Katie was drawing a picture of some of the characters and wanted to make sure she labeled them correctly. "Mom, how do you spell Qui-gon Jinn?" I told her that I wasn't sure, to which she replied, "That's okay. Can you tell me how to spell "Big-Headed Guy"?"
Sometimes, a single letter in a word can change the whole meaning of what one is trying to say. For example, Abby said, "This gravy I made is so good because I added turkey droppings to it." After we all gagged, I asked her if she meant to say "turkey drippings". Oh yes, that's what she meant.
Katie, Katie, Katie... (shakes head in laughter) When asked what she saw at the museum the other day, she replied, "a dinosaur and lots of dead animals!" And later, when she was talking to Luke -- "I went to the museum with the girls because I wanted to see dead animals." So, nevermind all the cool stuff like pottery from 315BC or ancient Roman coins; nope - that place was just full of deceased creatures.
We've been working with Luke to help him speak more clearly. He's often hard to understand because he can't form some of his sounds correctly. Today he asked for a "nanana". I corrected him by slowly saying "ba-na-na" and asked him to repeat it. He tried but still couldn't pronounce it correctly. I urged him to try again, and he replied, "I tan't! My boice is goken!" (Let's see if you can decipher that one...)
I overheard Madalyn singing this the other day: "I've been working on the railroad, over the hills and everywhere, I've been working on the railroad, that Jesus Christ is born..." I guess the name of that song is "Go Tell It on the Railroad."
Ok - I talk with my hands, alright? I'm just very expressive when it comes to body language. Anyway, last week the kids watched one of the old-school Star Wars movies, and a little while later I witnessed the funniest moment: Katie was telling Nate all about the movie, and she said "...And then Darth Vader "died". " She made quotation marks with her fingers when she said the word. She didn't know I was watching until I laughed out loud. When I asked her why she made the gesture she replied, "because that's what you do, Mommy!"
Luke looooves bugs. If he sees one on the porch, he'll step on it and then run inside to get a tissue, use the tissue to pick up the dead bug, and then bring it inside to flush in the toilet. The other day as he was following the routine, he decided to try something different. I asked him where the bug was, and he replied, "in my mouth!". I was speechless.