Harried Holidays

I have this notion that I will write nine posts a month.   But this month, I can barely get a thing done.  The holiday season is so stressful.    There are playdates, ornament-making parties, Chanukah on the horizon, thater producations, the flu, gift-buying, charity-giving, preschool parties, and lots of energy going outward.   On top of this, I had a weird ailment and, although not serious, I had to run around and get a variety of tests, coordinated with a lot of babysitting hours.  

Sometimes just getting through the day is all I can accomplish, let alone write a blog post.  

Still there is something rather comforting in my commitment to this blog.   Besides exercise, it is my only other personal commitment that is for me. Writing makes me feel good.  It soothes me.  But more importantly, it is the actual act of sitting down and using my brain in this way--of researching and ambling around the internet with a focus---that makes me feel, well, useful!   Funny thing is that I haven't done a darn thing to find readers, so I often joke that it is just me doing this for me--with the occasional person that reads a post or two.  

I guess what I am trying to say, in this long-winded way of mine, is that I wonder WHY I am writing this blog that no one reads?   Is it this hunch I have that someone, somewhere will find this useful?   Or that I will be discovered and mom's everywhere will be running to buy this in book form?   Or perhaps it is just the ZEN act of writing it because it is fun and interesting?  

Anyway, one thing that I have been noticing is the link between holiday activties and books.   For instance, my step-daughter and I took Mirette to the Teddy Bear Suite, a room in a fancy hotel filled with velvet and teddy bears, and there on the table were books about teddy bears.   Another day we visited Santa's cabin and there was a basket filled with Santa books.    Mostly, we don't have time to read these books, but I do think it's pretty cool that books can compliment almost any experience.

Another great thing about books is that they help our children handle the overstimulation of the holiday season.   There have been many times in the past weeks, that we've chilled out by our tree with a pile of books.   It forms a safe haven from the whirlwind of our busy lives.

Just Right Books: Part One

I have seen education waves come and go.  There's lingo that suddenly is all the rage and then it fades out and something new takes its place.  Keep in mind this isn't based on history, just what I remember from my 15 years as a School Counselor.  (I didn't usually attend reading workshops and in-services, so this is just from an outsider's view.)

First there was Accelerated Reader.  Suddenly some books had an AR label—such as 4.5 (4th grade, 5th month).  A student would read books and take a quiz afterwards.  Kids would know their reading level—like "I'm a 4," or "I'm a 3.2."  Students would want to read AR books because then they could take a quiz and get prizes.

Then suddenly, Accelerated Reading took off like wildfire.  I remember that one school I was at took the summer to completely level the library.  Leveling books means that every book in the library had a label on it as to its reading level.  Accelerated Books and Leveling are no longer trending because now they are just part of most schools.

The new trend, though, is helping kids find "Just Right" books.  A JUST RIGHT book is perfect because it is challenging enough to help the student learn new vocabulary and yet not so challenging that it will frustrate the student.

It makes a lot of sense, but another part of me just wants to puke when I hear over and over again, "choose a Just Right book."  I know it works and is research-based and all that—but it seems to me that it has the potential to take something away from the love of reading.  After all, think of all those first graders reading the entire Harry Potter series—way beyond their "just right" level.

As for us, I see many reading lists for young kids and they are divided into the following categories: Babies, Toddlers, Preschoolers.  It's semi-ridiculous because we regularly read books from all three categories.  In fact, many of the books I have reviewed in this blog would never be on a list for toddlers.

Tune into the next blog posting to see how Mirette reads both up past her "Just Right" level and down below her "Just Right" level and how we have FUN with excursions into both extremes.