I was finally able to volunteer at Geetle’s school on Friday. I was kept away the last 2 times by a school safety lockdown and a teacher vacation day. But I made it on Friday!
My job was to work one-on-one with certain kids to practice reading flashcards and putting words in alphabetical order. I also did 3 End-of-Unit vocabulary tests. One was on Geetle. The other 2 were a boy and a girl testing on a lower level reading book. I am not sure if its the same in every 1st grade, but in Geetle’s they bring home a reading text book every night. As soon as they “master” a story, we are supposed to sign our name in the cover. When they master all the stories, they test by reading the vocabulary words from the entire book. The first book was pretty thin and the stories pretty easy. As you test out of each book, the next becomes harder. Geetle is on the green book, which is the 4th one, I think.
The boy and the girl’s vocabulary list was about 12-15 words, things like “Nan, sat, see, like, and.” They each missed one and I believe that means they have to test again on Monday. Geetle’s list was 143 words and included things like “aquarium, Jose, collage, o’clock, turtles, dropped, loudest.” She got 3 wrong but when you are in the green book, you get to re-look at your mistakes and try again the same day. She got them all right the second time. It irked her that she got 3 wrong…especially when they were “of” (she said “off”), “quite” (she said “quiet”) and “collage” (she said “college”). So she was very eager to try again. I am glad she got them right the second time, or she would have been pretty upset with herself for reading too fast.
I would like to note that she got “Amy” correct, which was one she and BAGD worked hard on all week. You know how if you do something wrong enough times, the wrong answer starts to feel right and then you can’t trust your gut on it any more? That is where she was with “Amy.” But she and BAGD worked out a way to remember it and she got it right on the reading test.
Grandma asked me what level of book she was reading in class and did not seem to think my answer of “she is in the green book” was that helpful (hahaha!). She said you can tell what level reader the book is meant for by looking on the back. Well, the green book is a “Level 4″ but that is not terribly informative either. She said it would say it it was meant for early 1st grade, late 1st grade, etc. I tried to look up the ISBN on ISBN.com, but it was not listed. Maybe she can tell us more with this scan.
I think Geetle’s favorite part of my visit was that I was waiting by the classroom door when they came in from morning recess. All the kids noticed me and a few of them who remembered me from when I volunteered in Kindergarten whispered “Geetle, your Mom is here!” She grinned and waved to me from the bathroom line, doing this made-up sign language/pantomime she uses when she wants to tell me something secret. When the class made it to the door, I waited and asked Geetle if I could hang my coat in her locker. She had not thought of that! She was pretty excited by the idea of me doing it. In fact, when I got ready to leave for home she told me not to worry because she would bring my coat home on the bus. I explained that I would need it to get home and she looked disappointed.
As I was leaving, the class was lining up for lunch. The lunch supervisor who leads the group to the multi-purpose room stuck her head inside the door and said “Hello Geetle’s Mom. Geetle told me you would be here today! Hello!”
After she got home from school she asked me lots of questions like did I see the girl in the white shirt? That is her friend who thinks giant spiders are real. Did I see that John was the Top Banana this week? That’s why he got to be the line leader. Did I see her Johnny Appleseed drawing? Did I wonder where the desks were? Did I see that her table is “Table 4?”
I am glad we will be settling into a routine with my visits. It looks like Pookie’s teacher will welcome my visits too, she already asked when I am coming back. I always like going to school. And I love that Pookie and Geetle like it too.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I think most reading series begin with what is called pre-primers- levels 1,2,3, (usually 3 softcovers) , 1 hardcover primer (level 4) and 1 book 1 or sometimes called first reader –level 5. That is grade one. When a reader is ready for the next books they will be grade 2 usually hardcovers and called 2.1 and 2.2 or levels 6 and level 7 . From my experience most students would be reading in the softcovers (level 1,2,3,) in October of their first grade. It seems to me that Geetle’s teacher is having her work through each level and that she has not found her a challenging level yet. She must also be learning about sequencing, cause and effect, and other comprehension skills as she goes along. I would not be surprised if her teacher will request that the school’s reading specialist access her reading so that they can work with her to be sure that she not only can read difficult level books but that she also will learn the reading skills that she needs. Love MOM
Worldcat has an entry for that ISBN: http://www.worldcat.org/search?qt=worldcat_org_all&q=0-02-163490-4. The book is over 20 years old and was part of something called the “Connections Macmillan reading program”.