February 27th

On the bus ride to St. Charles I talked with the new director of BBBS about how my time with my little is going. I mentioned to her that I want to become a full-time community big next semester, which means I must talk with my little about meeting either on Wednesdays or any other day of the week. I am not sure what this will entail on her end, but I am hoping it will work out!

Before we started reading our journals today, I asked her if she had any homework to do. When I asked this question, she sort of shrugged off the question until I asked to see what was inside her take home folder. Once she opened that, she named at least three things she needed to do! She had been sick this past week a couple of times so she had to do quite a bit of make-up work. We found three worksheets to do, and our incentive was reading the journals when we were finished. The first two worksheets were practice with homonyms. One had her write each homonym next to another (i.e., matching) and the other had sentences where she chose from two different homonyms to put in the blank. After helping her with the first few questions, she understood the concept of homonyms and was able to complete the rest easily. One thing I stressed was not only writing the words but understanding what each one meant. For example, she had the words "beat" and "beet." I asked her to define both words before she moved to the next question. I was really impressed at how well she was focusing!

The last worksheet worked with symmetry. She had to draw a mirror image of an object over the line of symmetry. At first she kept saying "this is too hard" and "I don't think I can do this," but after I helped her understand how to gage where to draw the lines, she was able to do the rest with little trouble. I was there for her to ask questions and to listen to her work outloud.

Next we read our journals! I noticed while she was reading mine that she was having difficulty reading some of the words I wrote. Next time after she finishes reading mine, I want her to write down the words she cannot say well or does not know on a separate sheet of paper. We could then look in a dictionary or talk about the word's meaning outloud. I told her about my spring break trip to Florida and about how we will not be meeting next week. She was a disappointed, but I told her that I would bring pictures and write in my journal everyday. I encouraged her to do the same!

I was really impressed at how well she concentrated during this time of intense homework and reading! We finished the day by playing Uno and Jenga.

I am so thankful that she was willing to work through those worksheets with me. I think it helped us develop more trust and let her know that I am always here to help, not criticize, the work that she is doing. Maybe it is a start to igniting a drive in her to enjoy learning - something she is not too crazy about right now.