A Summer Day

This morning, following their "slumber party" Chloe was reading to Alexa.

How sweet is that? We went to the beach this afternoon... eventually after some bickering/arguing/ dramatics.

If you bring Alexa to the beach bring her a bowl of watermelon. She will eat basically the entire bowl.

Chloe took up sand drawing with a feather. New meaning to the feather pen.

Reading Evening

No bike ride tonight since it was raining. I was a bit surprised to find them all in the same chair reading!

Library Stock Up

The kids went to check in today for the summer reading program at the library. Having read for the first week they earned their t-shirts.

Then they stocked up on reading materials for the next well....

likely just a few days at the rate she goes through them. As of dinner time (it was a rainy afternoon) she had already finished two chapter books and all the pictures books she checked out. That is just her pile too. Alexa has her own stack checked out on her card.

A Girl and Her Library

Today was the first day that kids could sign up for the summer reading program at the city library. This girls love this program. It is Alexa's second year to be able to participate and Chloe's fourth. Chloe approached the start of this program as if she were preparing for a high profile sporting event. Last night I went up to her room and found this pile next to her bed.

I asked what it was and she said she was getting herself ready for the start of the reading program. These are her back up books in case she finishes all the library books she checks out and needs reading material. Seriously. We biked to the library today and she carried back this pile.

We will probably be back there in another couple of days for her to stock up again because as soon as she got home she started a timer and spent the afternoon like this.

After dinner she wanted to read some of the books Alexa brought home. I told her if she read them to Alexa then they both could count the minutes.

As you can see Alexa was pretty excited about that. Alexa also took advantage of the face painting available at the library today. She passed on being able to talk to the mayor though.

Alexa's Literacy Breakfast

I went to school with Alexa this morning for her Literacy Breakfast. She read to me from a lot of her books.

Her teacher has them choose a Beanie Baby stuffed animal to read to during class. Alexa chose this kitty months ago and hasn't swtiched it out yet. I think their parting at the end of the year will be sad. As you can see Kitty loves to listen to Alexa read.

Pooh Bear

So I missed a day. Remember my goal to post something each day... even if it was just a photo. Well I missed last night. Sorry about that. I actually went out with friends for dinner. So I will catch us up and post two today. Really I am just avoiding the pile of grading I need to do since the grading quarter closed yesterday.

Alexa and I have been reading a chapter book just for her at bedtime while Chloe gets her shower. Chloe said she didn't want to hear it, although she has joined us the last few nights and laughed rather heartily at some of the parts. We have been reading the new Winnie the Pooh book that came out in 2009.

Obviously this is not written by the original pooh author A.A. Milne. It is written by David Benedictus who writes a wonderfully humble dedication and humorous exposition at the beginning of the book as he tries to pick up more or less where A.A. Milne left off. Eeyore points out the "He'll get it wrong see if he doesn't. What does he know about donkeys?" And Benedictus admits, "Of course Eeyore is right, because I don't know; I can only guess." I liked that, and the book seems to be written with the approval of the estates of the original author and illustrator. We have enjoyed the story immensely and now Alexa wants to have a Winnie the Pooh themed birthday. She also came home with her own version of  Pooh she drew in school the other day.

Any book that makes her think about it during the day is a mark of a well enjoyed adventure.

Summer Reading Program

Yesterday I took the girls to the library so they could sign up for the summer reading program. It is Chloe's fourth year and Alexa's first. They are both very excited to get started. Chloe loves to read and plows through books so quickly I was wandering through the stacks with her encouraging her to pick out multiple chapter books so that I wouldn't have to be back to the library the next day. I don't think it bought me too much time as today I found her in her room like this...She was so involved in it she never even noticed Alexa and I sneak in to take her picture. The funny thing is it seems like just last week when I was reading Owl Babies to her for the 1,000th time that I can remember thinking, "I can't wait until she can read for herself." And now... she is.



Alexa is so excited to finally get to sign up for this program. They have to be entering kindergarten in the fall to be able to do it. And don't think that watching her sister get prizes each week of the summer for the last four years hasn't built up some envy. She is so proud to finally have her own chart to fill in. It has further fueled her determination to learn to read. She marched us over to the learn to read books and we picked some off the shelf for her. The two of us sit together reading and working on our phonics. I can feel my brain digging back to all of the early reading lessons I haven't done since graduate school. But she is getting it!

Tonight she read several pages of one of the books to me with no help at all and she was pumped about it!

A Good Book

My kids were mad at me today. It actually happens multiple times on any given day, so it isn't all that shocking. You build up a sort of immunity to it all after a bit. Today they were mad that we missed the ocean costume party at the library. In all fairness it wasn't really my fault that the furnace guy was running late and that our furnace had a lot of gunk to be cleaned out of it. I mentioned that in say January they would be glad that there was heat in the house. Chloe, to be fair, was fine with it. Alexa was pretty pouty about the whole thing for a bit. Until her sister offered to let her pick and keep the prize from her check in at the library this week. This opportunity to fish through a bowl and pluck out at five cent toy made everything seem all better. I was very grateful to Chloe for her generosity.

Chloe has become something of a reading machine. I gave her a small light by her bed and most nights she sits up until about 9:00 PM reading. It has gotten to the point where we bring a huge tote bag with us to the library just to be able to lug it all.

We will head back in about three days to return these and check out more.

She has also been enjoying Nancy Drew books as well. Each night we have been reading a chapter from the first book. Actually both girls have really gotten into the book. Tonight Alexa tackled me from behind hanging on my back yelling, "Don't stop there read another chapter of Nancy!" Since they were so into the story I did some basement digging.

Aunt Andrea gave us all her old copies of Nancy Drew that she had collected as a kid. I brought them all out and the girls are pretty excited to have so many to listen to. We may be reading Nancy Drew mysteries at bedtime for the next two years.

What a Difference a Year Makes

It is hard to believe that Chloe has become so independent. We stopped by the library to stock her up on fresh reading material. As soon as we got home she piled all the books on the chair and started reading.

She didn't even know I took the pictures.

Alexa was checking out some of hers too.

She didn't last as long though and made her way outside to make some spin art.

Another advantage of a sunny summer day, art takes place outside... less clean up!

A Cup of Tea

I have been reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. I am really enjoying it. It is a wonderfully powerful reminder of how one ordinary person can make a huge difference in this world. As a teacher, I am also blown away by children and communities who will sacrifice everything and work amazingly hard for the chance for their children to receive an education. I have seen so many children in this country that care so little for the opportunities that they have. It is inspiring to see other places where that is not the case.

I was reading last night and came upon this story that was told to the Greg Mortenson about Balti custom. I love to read about real people and real experiences. The wide variety of religions and customs in this world fascinate me to no end. So I wanted to share it here. I believe we can all learn a lot about life from all kinds of people. This story focuses on the small, isolated, villages in the mountains of Pakistan and the Muslim religion. Neither of which I know much about and I have been finding them fascinating.

When the porcelain bowls of scalding butter tea steamed in their hands, Haji Ali spoke. "If you want to thrive in Balistan you must respect our ways," Haji said, blowing on his bowl. "The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything, even die," he said, laying his hand warmly on Morenson's own. "Dr. Greg, you must take time to share three cups of tea."  

I read this passage several times. I love it. What an amazing way to live. It is the sweetest, most simple idea; share what you have, take time to get to know one another, and slow down.

No Nagging Required

Chloe came home from school today with a new library book. This in and of itself is not a big deal, she does this every week. The unique part was that she chose the book because she wanted to know more about penguins. See her class has been studying penguins and Chloe loves penguins. She was so interested in them that she wanted to know why penguins and seals are enemies. So she checked out a book on seals and sat down herself to read about them. This people is huge. If you were a teacher right now you would get my excitement. Reading non fiction text in order to find information... well now we in education get all excited about that skill. And doing it of your own free will... now see it just doesn't get any better than that. So I, of course, snuck up on her and took the picture.

In case you were wondering she did answer the question herself. She figured out that seals eat penguins and also have really sharp teeth. Enough to make anyone enemies.

On a different note my tomato kid has been dutifully looking after her plants. Each day she fills up her watering can and waters the seeds without being asked. I will keep you posted on our gardening excitement. As you can see from the picture there isn't much snow around outside so we dream of warm days and planting outside.

The safety cone out on the street, I can't explain only to say it seems to be working its way down the block. In this neighborhood we don't ask a lot of questions about random things that show up in front of your house. Last year the women down the street had a couch left in front of their house. Not one you would want mind you and it took over a month for them to get the city to get rid of it. So safety cones... that wont last long.