Kelsey is reading everything in sight. She curled up the other night on the couch with The Cat in the Hat, and read the entire book by herself.
Today, a snow day, she has gone through all her school reading skill level books (level 6, for those familiar with such things), and is looking to delve into some higher level books. She read Puff the Magic Dragon today along with the CD, her eyes following the words as she heard the song. Once she learns to recognize a word, it is almost instantly added to her sight words. Her recall of words on sight is really quite amazing.
On her school evaluation, Kelsey received all IMs (Independent Mastery)and DMs (Developing Mastery), mostly the former. Her Spanish, art, and music teachers also gave her IMs. Considering that she just began this new school in mid-November, after 3 months in public school, she is doing phenomenally. She’s ahead of her class in some areas, catching up in others where she doesn’t have as much experience. We’re going to work on getting her up to speed on the Wilson Reading exercises that the other kids have been mastering since August — although Kelsey knows her phonics pretty well, knowing the method the other kids use will help her confidence when doing phonics exercises as a class.
The choice to put her into this school was easy. Paying for it isn’t, but we’re managing. Seeing the results — a child ecstatic about learning, voraciously reading and questioning and experimenting, HAPPILY going to school and fitting in with kids whose parents also give a damn about their children’s education — has been one of the most satisfying, validating experiences of being parents thus far.
