Erick’s Prize
By Children Rising
January 31, 2013
Erick finished his first book worm and is starting to fill in titles on his next book worm. The prize that he picked was a orbit ball which we immediately discovered bounces in unexpected directions when dropped.
So far, Erick has read twenty-two books and knows the majority of his sight words. He is working on long vowels, like in the words “gate,” “teeth,” “bite,” “slow,” and “cute.” I also found out that he really enjoys doing word puzzles and looking at the miniatures that we keep to teach similar sounds.
Most recently, we looked at the “wh” and “th” puzzles, and put together “thorn,” “bath,” “whale” and “white.” Then we looked in the “wh” and “long e” tubs that had in them models of a tree, whale, wheat, set of teeth, whistle, cheese, whiskers, the number three, and two wheels. We talked about why there are two wheels (because it starts with “wh” and also has the long “e” sound!) and then we mixed up the objects and Erick separated them into their two groups. Then he rolled the two wheels in a synchronized manner to make an invisible bike.
Erick informed me that the next prize he would like to claim is the pull-back race car. With the rate at which he is reading, I think that day will come soon.
Green Eggs and Ham
By Children Rising
January 14, 2013
Erick is so close to completing his 20-book list that his excitement is off the charts!
During our last time together, we read three books, the most memorable of which was Green Eggs and Ham. A little ways through the book, we had this conversation:
Erick: (reading) “…I will not eat them here nor there. I will not eat them anywhere” (then a pause as he flips through the following pages)
Me: Hey! No skipping ahead!
Erick: I know what happens at the end!
Me: Really. What happens?
Erick: In the end, this guy eats the eggs and ham and he likes it.
Me: Oh no! You ruined the ending! Are you sure that happens?
Erick: Yes! He says, “no, no, no, no, no, no” and then in the end he says, “okay.”
Me: I don’t believe it. Keep reading and let’s see what happens!
As Erick reads, he becomes more rushed and makes some mistakes. Part of it is the excitement of getting a prize for reading twenty books and another part is showing me that the main character becomes amenable to verdant consumables in the end. I ask him to slow down here and there, and he manages for a while but then picks up again. He tumbles over most of the words with success and increasing volume until we arrive at the end where he practically shouts with triumph: “I do so like green eggs and ham! Thank you! Thank you, Sam-I-am!!”
And so…with much thanks to Sam-I-Am and Dr. Seuss, we have just two more books before Erick gets a prize from the prize box. Finally, speaking of boxes, Erick also finished a second box of sight words and will be tackling his third and final box next time we meet!
