Reading Naturally (week 424)

It's hard to imagine that Grandpa John and Grammy were taking care of us just last week.  So many new, different, and exciting things happened this week that it seems like a month has passed since my parents were in San Francisco and my grandparents were staying with us in Long Beach.  The last 7 days have been filled with such a wide variety of activities--art, civic engagement, sports, hard work, awards, church, family time, music--that I feel like Chris and I have really been rounding it out lately. 

Reading Naturally.  One of the new activities that we have to do in 2nd Grade is called "Reading Naturally".  Essentially, this is a timed reading of a paragraph in Spanish.  Each Monday, we get a paragraph from Sr. Dellenbach to practice at home.  Depending on the level and challenge, we have about a minute to read as many of the 100 or so words.  Each Friday we get tested.  If we get all of the words read accurately, we get a star.  Once we get five stars we move up a color and a level.

So last month, mommy talks to Sr. Dellenbach and finds out that I haven't moved up colors all year. My teacher doesn't understand why I can read just fine, but can't seem to pass the Friday reading test successfully.  She also doesn't know that I haven't been practicing the passage at home all year.  Of course, once mommy finds out she tells daddy and everyone in the family gets involved.  I confirmed with everyone that the reading was just too hard...that it was impossible for me to get three stars in a row to move up a color.  If it was supposed to happen it would have already happened.  And, that because I am "a sports person" my gift is not reading like it is for other people in my class (like the girl who is already on pink).

Long story short is that we made a plan that daddy and I would race each morning at breakfast.  I time him and he times me to see who can read the passage the quickest.  Since we started practicing in the morning, I have passed 4 out of 4 Friday tests and moved up a color.  I also (a) earned a trip to In-N-Out and (b) have discovered that I can chip away at something, and (c) reading is like sports and requires daily practice to get better.  It doesn't happen all at once, but progress and improvement can happen over time.

Chris also won a major award this week when he was selected by Burcham Elementary School as the "Golden Pineapple Award" for being "just and fair". This is a big deal, as a few kids from school get selected and receive a free kids meal from Island's restaurant.  The whole family went to Island's after church on Sunday and at hamburgers.  The managers even came out to talk with Chris about his award and what he did to receive it. Chris and I are getting into a lot of cool stuff lately:

• Chris started his first art class on Thursday nights and absolutely loves it.  
• We have started rehearsing for the Spring Children's musical "Oh Jonah!" at Bayshore.  Everyone is invited to the April 26th performance.  We both tried out for solos--Chris as Jonah and I as a Sailor.
• We both volunteered at East Long Beach Pony Baseball "Field Day" and helped to prep the fields for the upcoming year.  We even picked up loads of decomposed granite (DG) with the truck and dumped, raked, and tamped it into the bullpens.
• Daddy read Mark 1:29-39 at church this Sunday.  We sat in the front row and followed along in the Bible.
• I played in my basketball game this Sunday morning and the Ducks defeated the USC Trojans 46-16.  I had 20 points and made my first one-handed layup under the basket.
• The Red Sox have started practicing for baseball season (everyone is invited to Opening Day on February 21st), and my hitting and pitching seems to still be in there somewhere even after taking 6 months off to play other stuff.
• Chris and I are both helping more at home with the chores (Chris is a sweeping genius), and love to mow the lawns, blow the leaves, sweep the sidewalks and porch, and wash the cars.

All in all, we are having a good time with our church, arts, music, sports, family and friends. Life is keeping us pretty busy and we are having fun at it.