Written by Rowonna McNeely – Every Monday, Kiera brings home her reading book. It’s so fun to listen to how much she has learned and how well she is reading.
Of course, Kiera takes a different approach to reading to us. Let me give you a brief example of how it works.
Monday night, we all climbed on our bed so she could read her book to us. She read the first couple of sentences without really having to sound anything out. Then she got stuck for a moment on the word ‘stop’.
“Sss…” She said as she began to sound the word out. “Sss…” Glancing up, she broke out in a big smile as she put her hands together, moved like a snake and giggled. “Ssssssss…”
Focusing back on her book, she quickly sounded the word out and moved on. As she finished reading the sentences on the page, she picked the book up and held it up for Aaron to see. “So, first off. Look over here.” She continued while pointing to one of the pictures on the page. “He’s hitting the doll and over here he doesn’t do anything. He’s like, what is that? And they’re waiting to see what he does to that.”
Before either of us can respond, she settled the book back on the bed, flipped the page and continued to read. “Dip…” She paused and giggled. “I just called her Dip.”
She took a deep breath and sighed. “I mean, Dot… Dot got the big top. Dip…” She paused again and exclaimed, “Ahh! I keep calling her Dip!”
Kiera looked at the picture of Dot on the page. “Well, she has a dot on her cheek. That’s why her name is Dot!”
“How about this?” She began as she played with the end of her braid. “Mom. To help me out on her name, you should get a piece of paper and make a circle for a dot and so if I forget, you can show it to me and I can look at it and say, ‘Oh, Dot!’”
Thankfully, Aaron stepped in to the craziness and explained how to recognize the name Dot. After a few more brief explanations on how she interprets the pictures, we did finish the section she was supposed to read for the evening.
It’s always interesting with this child.
A few days ago in the car, I asked Kiera how her day at school went.
“It was pretty good.” She paused for a moment. I could tell she was winding up to tell me about something that happened.
“Our teacher, she reads these books to us.” She began. “It’s called Junie B… I think… Ya. It’s Junie B.”
“Oh! That’s nice.” I replied. “Do you like them?” I asked.
“Well, my teacher says they are her favorites. I’m not a fan.” She stated.
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “Oh, really?” I said. It was all I could manage without letting a giggle escape.
“I mean; I’m a fan. I’m just not a big fan.” She explained.
I nodded my head in acknowledgment as she proceeded with her explanation.
“But, the story she is reading… well… it has bad words.” She hesitantly said.
My eyes shot to the mirror to look at her in the back seat. “Bad words?” I questioned.
Kiera met my eyes in the mirror. “Yes. It has the… ‘s’ word.” She responded.
My mind immediately went to the ‘s’ word that I knew was bad. I racked my brain for a reason that Kiera’s 1st grade teacher would be reading a book to the kids with that word in it. I came up with a blank.
“Can I say the word?” Kiera asked from the back seat.
“Well,” I paused trying to decide how to get her to tell me the word without thinking it was ok to say on a regular basis. “You can tell me the word right now, but I don’t want you to say it when we aren’t talking about this. OK?”
I met her eyes in the mirror again. “Ok.” She replied, taking a deep breath. “The book is called Junie B and The Stupid Bus.”
I almost died. Holding in my laughter, I breathed a sigh of relief. This school year is going to be interesting. I think I will say a few extra prayers for her teacher.
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Rowonna McNeely
Graphic Designer - Mommy to Kiera
Rowonna McNeely works with her husband, Aaron, at Willie’s T’s in the Art Department, regularly volunteers in the community, and has her hands full with her daughter, Kiera, along with two dogs and one cat.
Rowonna is a graduate of May High School (Go Tigers!) and grew up on a dairy farm. She enjoys reading, creating, swimming, and planning events. She’s also a bit of a klutz.
