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Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Reading

Several weeks ago Benjamin came home with a printing worksheet (as he does every Monday) and one of the words he was supposed to write was "tat."

Tat?

Like what exactly?

Tit for tat? Rat-a-tat-tat? That's a sweet tat?

They seriously couldn't come up with any other word for him to practice? Like...that?

Turns out tat wasn't so bad because just a couple weeks ago one of the words he had to write out was "hag."

Seriously?


Hag?

Who is even coming up with these worksheets?

Today he came home with a paper reminding parents to read with their children for twenty minutes every day...and then talk to them about their reading. It might be useful, they said, to use the "CROWS" strategies.

Completion (ask fill in the blank questions).
Retell (guide children to remember events/idea).
Open-ended (prompt the child with questions).
Wh-questions (self explanatory).
Schema...?

Schema?

I'm all for expanding one's vocabulary. But, like...schema?

They say it means asking the child to relate the content to aspects of their own schema—or life—outside of the book. But...uh...

schema: a mental codification of experience that includes a particular organized way of perceiving cognitively and responding to a complex situation or set of stimuli

I mean, I guess that kinda, sorta works. But, schema and life aren't exactly synonymous...and it frankly seems like a grossly complicated term to foist on a kindergartener (and somewhat difficult one for parents to remember).

Instead, perhaps, we should CRAWL:

Completion
Retelling
Ask away
Wh- Questions
Life

Or maybe, just maybe, we should have our 8-year-old read to our 5-year-old and 2-year-old while we're desperately braiding the 10-year-old's hair the night before Halloween.

Sometimes that's my preferred method of basting my children's mind with literacy.

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