The Day I Was Glad to Have a Reader

Monday's are my day to go in and help out in No.1's classroom.  I file papers, run copies, you know, the works.  Because the students have a short week (off Wed-Fri), I had very little to do, so I asked how I could be of more help since I had the time.  The teacher pointed out a student who has pretty much been put in his own reading group because he is so far behind all the others.  She asked that he read to me.

I pulled up a tiny chair next to his desk and he began to read aloud.  He loves to read, but struggles terribly.  Simple words like "tan" and "nab" were not in his regular vocabulary.  He had difficulty sounding out even the simplest of sight words like "and" and "has".  He made his way through two short book (the little one line, four words per sentence, I-can-learn-to-read books).

When he was finished, I tested his comprehension.  I had been doing it a bit throughout the books, but wanted to see how long he could remember.  He failed.  Bless his heart, the child has not reading comprehension.

I am sure he will catch on (apparently, according to the teacher, he spent pretty much all of kindergarten isolated from peers due to behavior - which I don't see at all now), but what a ladder he has to climb!  It really made me grateful for No.1 and not only his ability for, but love of reading.  He reads the Scripture Readers each night, he reads chapter books at school and home, he reads about things, he reads to No.2.  What a blessing it is to have a good reader.

So, here's to literacy.

Here's to instilling it in our children.

And here's to a Better Mommy Me.