March 26th

It was amazing seeing my little again after two weeks! I surprised her today by picking her up at her classroom door; she was not expecting me to be standing there!

We first read our journals, which she remembered to bring and even wrote four detailed entries. She really likes reading mine first, and I noticed that when she can find someway to relate with my experiences, she speaks up more and asks questions. Often she has trouble with some of the words, and when this happens, I usually wait a few seconds for her to figure it out on her own before I help her. Today, after a few difficult words, asked me to not help her. She wanted to do it all on her own! And the amazing thing is that she was almost always correct. This is tremendous progress not only in her reading skills but also in her self-confidence. Maybe this will lead to more reading when we are together because of her greater comfort level.

After this we went outside to play tag with some of the afterschool kids. This was the first time I ever really met her school friends. It was a good experience to see how she interacted with them and how I was just like one of them. It is critical for kids to have someone that is consistent and trustworthy in their lives.

Next we went back inside and spent some time with Amanda and her little. Amanda and I are both taking a literacy for ELL students course, and we wanted to do a little "experiment" with our littles. We went to the library and each wrote about our favorite dream vacation, and this helped both Amanda and I observe how each of them feel about and approach open-ended writing. My little was very insistent that she included everything she was supposed to and that she filled up the entire page. Amanda and I also wrote about our dream vacations, which I think gave them more incentive to stay focused and keep writing. I really liked how my little wrote about going to Miami and spending time at the beach. I have told her a lot about the beach, and she commented on how she would see the ocean and lots of "star shells." If either of them started to lose interest or did not know what else to write about, I asked them where they would after they went to their dream vacation spot. This opened many more doors and questions! I loved how we did not just write; we talked with each other, asking questions and sharing stories.

Amanda's little and mine are in the same ESL class. I was told today that my little had made the most artistic rabbit, which must have been an activity they were working on. I asked her to draw it in her next journal entry so I could see it.

We wanted to play Apples to Apples - her favorite board game - but we ran out of time!
I also did not have a moment to talk to her about becoming a "community little." I will have to set aside time to do that next week.