Day 23 SOL #2017 A visit to Kindergarten

After 3 weeks of retirement, I'm still coming to terms. I'm still trying to figure out a schedule. I want to be productive, by accomplishing something each day. Yesterday I had friends over and we painted for a couple of hours. This morning, I finished one painting and completed another. That was after my routine of exercise, take the dog out for a walk, shower, laundry and breakfast. So I texted my sister who teaches kindergarten. She' d asked me to volunteer in her classroom to listen to her students read. I ask if today would be a good day. She readily agreed so I changed clothes and headed to her classroom.

I took a book by Mem Fox to read to the class, then I sat and listened as children read their AR books to me. The children wanted to know if I knew their family and some of their parents, I did remember when I taught at this district. It seems a lifetime ago.

I quickly noted the sight words on the board so I could remind them about that. Some children were already strong readers. Some did not want my help. They all had new AR books and had not spent much time with them. One young boy wanted to take the test right away, I told him he needed to practice reading his book a little more and the person giving the AR tests was gone for the day. A couple students were quick to share their AR stories with me. Some of the AR books were not too interesting. The activity going on with the other students was more interesting to them. I could not help but think,  if the student could focus on the book, the reading skill would come much faster.

I spent one hour and listened to only 6 students read. But that completed her list of students who had read the day before, so I accomplished a great deal. My sister asked me if I would be back next Thursday and I was non committal. Maybe.