Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Reading Buddies

A couple weeks ago when I took the kids to the Library, I came across a registration form for a reading program called the Reading Buddies. I have noticed that Aaliyah has been reading quite confidently and has developed a love for reading books. Many a times in the recent past, I have caught her reading to Ayaan in a very gentle and loving manner. Just like a good big Sister. She already goes through reading half the books that we get from the library, on her own. Of course these books that she reads are below
her grade level as I pick them primarily for Ayaan. But by reading them she is developing her confidence and it is simply amazing how quickly she is applying her confidence to her own grade level. So, to encourage and stimulate her love for reading, the reading buddies program seemed like a perfect match.

Before I  picked up the registration form,  I asked Aaliyah if it was something that she might be interested in. And she replied with a nod and her annoying-Aahaa! When I got her to articulate a real yes from her mouth, I got the form and made her fill in her name and phone number. I filled in the rest. This free program is a six week program for children in grades 1-3. It runs every Tuesday Sept. 25th-Nov. 6th 2012 from 4-4:45 pm.

Today was the first day of the Reading Buddies program.  Aaliyah was paired with an older school kid and together they read book after book. Aaliyah was very proud of her name tag and a bookmark that she got. She seemed to have a good time and was happy at the end of the program. Her happiness makes my efforts so much more worthwhile.

While Aaliyah was busy with her program, Ayaan found a couple DVDs and went up to a Librarian and asked him "Can I help you?" the Librarian was puzzled. He said that he should be the one asking Ayaan the question. So he asked him if he needed help. Ayaan said that he needed to "measure" (check out) the DVDs. The Librarian was clueless. I was following their conversation and clarified what Ayaan was trying to say. The Librarian had a good laugh.

Another Librarian helped me locate the meager supply of French books for kids. She suggested that Livemocha would be a good alternate option for learning a foreign language and browing through e-books. Apart from French, livemocha had about 80 other languages that you can learn. I have registered for this website. I still have to start my online lessons.



No comments: