New vocabulary

“Mommy, sometimes, when I’m lying in bed, I can’t tell if it’s going to be stratus clouds or if it’s just the gray light of morning.”

Living with AJ, you never know when there’s going to be poetry at breakfast.

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This morning at breakfast, AJ was asking for more Native American symbols. They’ve been learning some in their unit at school and AJ is trying to figure out how to write things using them. He wants more. I’m having trouble finding reliable sources. Few seem to identify symbols with any particular tribe, which makes me suspicious as to whether they are real or not. But AJ doesn’t really care about authenticity. He is just interested in language.

After breakfast and after he finished his chores, I set him up on freerice.com, the vocabulary-building website that donates 20 grains of rice to the UN World Food Program for each word answered correctly. AJ got up to level 9 before he had to go to school. I don’t know why I didn’t think to send him to this site before. It’s a good site for a number of reasons. It gives you the correct answer when you make a mistake, and it asks the missed words again after a while so you can actually learn new words. And it uses a lot of words with common/important roots, so if you learn your Latin/Greek roots, you can often guess correctly. Plus it’s fun. I’m kind of hooked on it myself.

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I spent an hour and a half in AJ’s classroom this morning working with three of the more advanced reading groups. I love seeing how the individual personalities play out in these groups. First up was AJ’s group, which has expanded to three kids. The book they’re reading this time is about Jacques Cousteau and had some much more challenging vocabulary than I’ve seen in their books before. It was interesting to see how the addition of the third boy changes the dynamic of the group. They are more competitive with each other, racing to be the first to figure things out. AJ likes to work alone. He writes down his answers fast rather than shouting them out like the other two boys. But all three of them clearly enjoy the social component of reading together. They were very silly and giggly and making a lot of jokes that probably only the three of them would get — word puns and pronunciation jokes that the other classmates aren’t quite up to yet. I’m hoping AJ will be in a class with at least one of these boys next year. I think it would be good for him. In the group, though, AJ doesn’t always know when to stop being silly and when to start working. His teacher assures me that this is a problem that is driven more by my presence than by the group itself. AJ and N have some inside jokes because they’ve been in this group longer, but N and S are in class together, so they have some of their own lingo too. And S is one of those kids that just randomly bursts out with facts about himself on occasion. I find this behavior hilarious. Example:

Harriet: Can anyone tell me what the word “spokesman means?”

AJ: It’s someone who talks about stuff.

N: Yeah! Stuff!

S: It’s like speaking. “SPOKESperson.” I’m part Thai and part Mexican.

A classic first grader non sequitur.

The second group was AJ’s science fair partner O and K, O’s best friend and next door neighbor and the girl he says he’s going to marry when he grows up. They were hilarious because they already act like a married couple, finishing each other’s sentences and needling each other occasionally. K races through things and acts superior because she’s always the fastest. O takes his time, but he’s very rarely wrong. Still, they work out their differences amiably and go off hand in hand when we’re done.

The last group had four students, two boys (AJ’s friend C and Z, a bright boy who complains a lot and usually seems depressed) and two girls (E, who’s a dead ringer for a young Hermione Granger (who, incidentally, she dressed up as for Halloween) with the same tendency towards raising her hand extra high and blurting out the answer, and K2, a very quiet and thoughtful girl. I introduced them to their new book on a subject right up my alley: Louis Armstrong. Z tugged on my sleeve.

“How long are we going to read for?”

“About 15-20 minutes.”

“I only want to read for 10.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s not really up to you. You need to read with the group.”

“I have a headache.”

Last time I worked with Z, the teacher warned me not to listen to his many ailments. “He’s not really sick,” she said.

“I’m sorry to hear it. Lets read about Louis Armstrong.” But Z persisted.

“My sleeve is all wet and I’m not wearing a t-shirt.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do anything about that. You need to open your book now.”

Eventually, though, Z got into it. He was the one who made the best observation of the day.

“Hey, this drum says “Dixie” and the picture of the steamboat is called the “Dixie Belle.”

And thus began my first ever lecture on the American Civil War in 100 words or less. I really hope I didn’t say anything egregious.

The house seems so quiet after working with all the busy readers. This was my last volunteer day of the year. I’m so glad I’ve had the chance to do it, and especially to have some many opportunities to tutor reading. I’ve learned a lot about AJ’s class and I’ve loved getting to know the other children both as individual and also the way they work in groups. I’m going to miss them next year.

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There’s another new post up at AJ’s clubhouse. Check it out!