October 10: Breaking the Norm

I noticed this past Wednesday that when my little sees me in the hallway, she holds back her excitement. When we walk into the cafeteria, she knows exactly where to put her bookbag and always asks, "what are we going to do first?" Instead of me deciding, I flipped the question around and asked her what she would like to do. Immediately she pulled out the journal she had been writing in for the past week. We sat down at a table and shared with each other the events of our past week. I could tell from her journal entry that she really enjoys coloring and writing her thoughts. I learned more about her family, her friends, and things she likes to do outside of school. She is still very shy, however, when I ask her questions, and I want to find some ways to boost her confidence and comfort level when we spend time together. One thing I would like to do is play a game or do a project that she really likes. This way she will maybe teach me something and express herself naturally.

After reading our journals, I helped her write a letter to her family explaining more about the field trip to Winona State. I helped by explaining what she should write, and then she wrote it in English. Because her mother speaks and reads mainly Spanish, we also wrote the letter in Spanish. My little is definitely more advanced in her English speaking and spelling than she is in Spanish. I am not sure if it would be beneficial for her and her relationship with her mom if we worked on some of her Spanish writing skills. As she wrote, I also noticed she has some difficulty in punctuation and some spelling of English words. Despite these minor errors, I am really impressed at how well she can write. I am hoping sometime to write a story with her. We could even make pictures and bind it, making it look like the real deal!

This week we also spent a lot more one-on-one time outside. We played tennis with a small pink bouncy ball and were able to hit it back and forth across the blacktop! I was amazed at how well she was able to hit the ball; I told her that she could be a really good tennis player someday! We later went back inside where a bunch of littles and bigs were playing a game of basketball. Monica hopped right in and played on the girls team. Even though she was one of the smallest, most fragile players, she still gave it her best effort and could not stop smiling! With only a few minutes remaining, we went outside and played with the parachute. I think one of the greatest accomplishments of this meeting is that she had fun and laughed constantly. There is so much more to her that I do not know about, but I must remember to be patient and that opening up comes more slowly for some.

'Til next time,

Big Sis Kelly