Proud of Elayna

[yendi]

One thing that's frustrated shadesong and I to no end this year is that ELayna was unable to shake off the lack of reading from the Summertime (with the Grandparents), and her Accelerated Reader points at school have been minimal (and what few books she's read have been way below her level -- Junie B Jones stuff). So we cracked down last week, and told her that each week, she needs to finish an approved AR book (approved meaning either shadesong or I give it the thumb's up) by Friday. Otherwise, no TV or computer for a week (she's already limited to half an hour a day). She picked (as shadesong mentions over here) The Boy Who Lost His Face), one of the few Lewis Sachar books she hasn't read (she was a huge fan way before Holes).

I explained to her that the weekend would be a great time to try to read, since she has more free time then, but she slacked off all weekend. By Monday, shadesong and I were sure that she didn't think we'd follow through, and that it would take a week of actually losing all TV/Computer rights to believe us.

Yesterday, when she headed off to school, she was up to page 70 of a 190-page book (one that's definitely around the fifth-grade reading level).

When she came home, she'd gotten up to page 160 or so, and by the end of the evening, she'd finished the book!

We were stunned. Happily so. This is why it's so frustrating that she doesn't read at her level -- because we know she can (and that once she gets into it, she enjoys it, too). We're so damned proud of her.

Comments

[rollick.livejournal.com]

Wait, how is she getting that much reading done at school?

[yendi]

She's in a Montressori-style school, so when she finishes her tasks, she can read. She also has a designated reading time.

She also has time in her aftercare program and on the bus.

[vill.livejournal.com]

One hopes not the same way I got so much reading done in school, which was by skipping the "stations" I didn't like (particularly penmanship) in order to get all my work done so I could read in the back of the room.

And on the cursing subject in shadesong's journal...I once got in Big Trouble in school for saying "shit," when I didn't know it was a bad word (I was in an early elementary grade, as I remember, and another student kept saying, "Oooooooh, you said s-h-i-t," until I finally said, quite definitely, "I did not say 'shit.'") I didn't even know there was such a thing as a "bad word," and I learned from the teacher and the principal that ignorance of there being such a thing was no excuse for having said it. Such a sheltered childhood eventually led me to being quite gullible, which is not a beneficial trait in the teen years.

Anyway. Good for Elayna for reading past her grade level. And good for schools for encouraging that in such a positive way now. There was no such program when I was a kid, and my kindergarten teacher's solution was to send me to the library (a long way from the classroom) alone every afternoon. Not a pleasant experience for a shy little girl.

[fiddledragon]

For once this summer, we couldn't get Kritter to stop reading - Harry Potter, that is. She caught up on all the books this summer, and is now in the middle of the 5th.

I *think* she's finally gotten out of the stage of looking for the easiest possible book to read, but come to think of it, I don't know that she's actually taken any AR tests this year - the computers were down for a while at the beginning of the year, but I"m not sure of their status now.

Oooh, which reminds me, I need to call the school anyway.....

[rollick.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh, that's right. I keep forgetting she's in a Montressori school.

Damn, I wish someone had put me in one of those when I was young. Though I probably never would have come out of the books.

[gladstone.livejournal.com]

Yay, Elayna!

You, not so yay. I found a grammatical error (http://www.yourdictionary.com/library/drlang002.html) in the very first sentence of your post.

Go Elayna!

[megthelegend.livejournal.com]

That's great. And you guys are doing a wonderful job with her.

[shaydra.livejournal.com]

You're so lucky. My niece is dyslexic and it just breaks my heart to watch her struggle with something that gives me so much joy. It's so hard for her that she hates to read now. We make her read, but it's always a fight.

Elayna is lucky too, to have parents who support her and encourage her to meet her potential.