First grade is in full swing around here. If you're blessed with school aged children, you know that this means reading and packing lunches and math facts and sight words and packing lunches and phonics readers and packing lunches and soccer practices and spelling words and general back to school busyness. {Guess who's already sick of packing lunches... THIS girl!} We try to take care of all the homework as soon as I pick up the littles. In my ideal world, after our nutritious after school snack, we would all smile our way to the table to engage in thrilling discussions around each of the items on their pint-sized to-do list. Checking off each in record time, we would then have oodles of free time to giggle, play, and just enjoy each other's company immensely. That fairy tale ending to this afternoon routine that hasn't panned out yet, but it's only September. ;) Instead, I'm treated to a daily reminder of just how different twins can be.
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| Always remembers her finger spaces. |
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| "Mom, I'm going to write a letter to Cage about our play date." |
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| "I can spell that! It's one of my sight words!" |
First, let's take our eager learner. She loves school and takes her work up to her room after she's finished to teach it to her dolls and stuffed animals. Lately she's been complaining that her walls in her room are too bare and need posters like a real classroom. For FUN, she makes lists of her sight words and writes letters to her friends. She asks to do extra sight word practice and makes extra sight word "cups" with the challenge words. She wakes up every morning excited to go to school and several times a week comments on how fun school is.
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| It's hard to get started when you can make such cool shadows on your page. |
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| Seriously, are you seeing what his fingers can do? |
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| "My teacher needs me to write all of those words?" |
Next, let's examine her twin brother. Though he also loves school, you can be guaranteed two mornings a week he will complain about having to go to school because he'd rather stay home an play. You can also be certain that he'd rather chew off his right hand than write ANYTHING, much less sight word lists. It takes much cajoling to get his homework completed and he probably will tell me that I'm being mean at some point in the process. He picks up on things very quickly, but would rather not have to work or practice much. The letter "s" is the source of intense frustration.
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"I always write the "s" backwards." :(
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As a teacher, I had both of these kids in my classroom many, many times over. It's funny to be on the opposite side of that fence. So, while we may get for those fairy tale afternoons later in the year, I'm focusing right now on finding a way to make that letter "s" go the right direction. ;)
