When Morgan started Kindergarten, she was totally ready. Like, she couldn't wait. She was practically bursting at the seams, waiting for it to start. I, equally as excited, had a bit more anxiety to accompany all that excitement. Would she really be ready? I know she's a bright girl, but would she be able to catch on and stay up with the class? Had we done enough to prepare her? I was particularly worried about reading. She started the school year without a firm grasp on phonetics. If you asked her what sound a letter made, it was always a craps shoot as to what she came up with. While that was a little disconcerting, what was even more difficult was to hear her talk over and over about how she couldn't wait to go to Kindergarten so she could learn how to read. I had no idea how long it would take her to learn. No idea what level she would be at. Would she get discouraged before she really got rolling?
Fast forward to now. She's reading. On her own. It's so amazing. The teacher has commented about how she's going to be a fantastic reader. She sounds out words with only slight difficulty at the crazed pronunciations associated with the English language. She has now started writing sentences (phonetically anyway). And she's enjoying it! She still doesn't have to confidence to go to her bookshelf and pick out a book and start reading. She much prefers for us to do it together, or to get read to. We started a book club with her friend Kaitlyn and we devoured The Tale of Despereaux in less than a month.
Her school is doing a fundraiser that's a read-a-thon. You get people to pledge either an hourly rate or a flat donation for her to do this reading. The gold medal in Kindergarten is awarded when the student has reached 12 hours of reading during this 13 day period. I decided that this was a fundraiser I wanted to get behind and sent an email to my friends and family describing the read-a-thon. With every email that comes in, I tell Morgan who of our friends and family is backing her. She is so excited, she doesn't even want to play! She would rather spend time reading. Her goal is to have read the most minutes of anyone in Kindergarten. Nah, she's not an overachiever or anything. ;-)
Today, they had a "Read-in" where the kids went to school in their pajamas and read all day. Some of the parents came in to read to them and it was such a fun thing for Morgan! She picked out a book to share and a book for me to read (Click Clack Moo, When Cows Type) when I came into the classroom to read. She was so proud of the book she picked and loved that everyone thought it was as funny as she does .
I love seeing this side of her. I love that she's a reader. It's a passion of mine that my mother, my grandma, and my great-grandma all shared with me. I'm so happy to have the legacy live on!
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