Greetings to everyone at Sinking Springs Elementary School from NYC!
My name is Val. I am a stay-at-home mom of two boys: Simon and Ethan. Today marks the 64th day of our reading streak. I was so excited when Mrs. Hartman found me (via my blog) and invited us to share in your Reading Promise Project.
I came across Alice Ozma's book at our school book fair last spring. I knew right away it was something I wanted to read. Once I read it, I couldn't stop thinking about it, talking about it and being inspired by it. After discussing the idea with my boys, we decided we'd try a little reading streak of our own.
Our summer reading streak began the first day of summer vacation (June 29) and was scheduled to end the last day of our break (September 5). So technically, we're almost finished...
...Except, none of us want to stop. We intend to keep reading and are currently figuring out how we will keep our streak going during the busy school year.
And now that we are part of your project, we feel all the more motivated. I'll definitely be checking in with y'all throughout the school year.
If you'd like to hear about the books we've read so far, here's the list and links:
- The Boxcar Children
- From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
- Holes
- Sarah, Plain and Tall
- Charlotte's Web
- Schooled
- The Wolves of Willoughby Chase
Ethan is almost 7 years old. His favorite books in kindergarten were the Piggy and Gerald series by Mo Willems. He continued working his way through all sorts of picture books in first grade, determined to catch up to his big brother (his hero and arch nemesis). Next week, he will begin second grade. His current reading project is the Boxcar children series.
Ethan likes me to read aloud to him because I read the books that are above his reading level... he figures that will help him catch up to Simon a little faster (strange competitive little kid... I swear I had nothing to do with that!).
Simon is 9 years old. He'll be a 4th grader in just 6 days. He's wild about basketball, creating detailed Lego structures and reading Manga. He tells me he wants to be the 2nd best Anime-guy (?) in the world when he grows up.
Si was not a strong reader for the longest time. He recognized only a few words going into 1st grade. Per Simon, he entered 2nd grade at the lowest reading levels in the class. But he loved to listen. When I started reading chapter books to him (@ kindergarten), he would stay riveted for as long as I would read. When he began reading chapter books (mid-year second grade) for himself, he started with the books we'd read aloud together.
Today Simon reads non-stop. Of course, all the graphic novels he can get his hands on. But just about anything else I bring home as well. Nonetheless, Si loves it when I read to him. He says it's great because I can always explain vocabulary and concepts to him as we go along. He calls me the ultimate dictionary.
But he also says reading aloud is special because we get to spend time together... I'll take that any day.
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