But, I know a good thing when I see it - occasionally even if it doesn't involve chocolate and frosting - and so when Mama Mo, an elementary school teacher turned stay-at-home-mom to twins, who writes the lovely blog Attached at the Nip, sent me a email about reading with the alphabet challenged - I mean beginning readers - I immediately said: GOOD. THING.
Mama Mo wrote that my post was funny (thank you, flattery will get you everywhere), but that she sensed, perhaps, just maybe, a bit of real frustration beneath the humor and just in case, she had some suggestions.
Well, first of all, I have no idea where she gets that idea and I'm a little offended. I love - lllll u vvvv - reading with my sweet, little children. But, I tried her suggestions to be polite and HOLY READING HAPPINESS, WORDGIRL. My kidz ken rrrrr-eeeee-dah.
I give you Mama Mo's recipe for reading success:
"There is actually a method to "reading" those level one primers." What? You mean besides mocking my children and their primers?
"First, flip through the pages and talk about the pictures. Make sure you say the word that is different on the page. For example, "Oh, look! She loves to make a mess with PAINT. And look at this picture. What is she using? Yep, CRAYONS. I see crayons, do you?"
"Then, (and here's the best part) YOU read the book. Yep, you read all those simple easy words to your kid. And you touch underneath every word you say. And you use funny voices to spice up the incredibly boring text. And you make connections, talking about the time your child did/saw/wanted whatever you're looking at on the page. But when you're saying the printed words, you touch underneath them.
"When your child gets the pattern, and there is always a pattern of predictable text, have her "read" it. I know, and you know, and the Great Dane probably knows, this isn't reading, it's recitation. But with enough repetition and enthusiasm, eventually there will be word recognition."
So the deal is, according to Mama Mo and I would now believe her if she told me she had a government to sell me in Cairo, it's okay for them to memorize the book and recite it back to me. In fact, that's why these damn boring ass books are so repetitive. They are meant to learn these words as sight words, not necessarily sound each one out.
That sound you hear is a choir of angels singing and they can all read music and their angel mommas did not go insane practicing with them.
Try it. Reading nirvana, I tell you. I enjoyed reading with Saige and Garrett last night. They memorized the book as I read through it and when they "read" it after me, we only had to sound out one or two words.
Huge thank you to Mama Mo. And a quintuple huge thank you to elementary school teachers everywhere. I do not know how you do it. Unless it involves drugs.
Finally, every single one of you that terrified me with tales of math homework owes me a dollar. For my straitjacket fund.
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