Early Literacy Teacher Traning

I was asked to do my first ever teacher training recently! And although I was nervous, I was also thrilled that I was going to be getting out of the house to go contribute to society in a way that had nothing to do with my family (though I did end up referencing my children several times in my talk). I got to dust off some of my wonderful books, pack up my handy-dandy gigantic tote, and spend the morning in a building free of children!

For my first time leading a training like this, I think it went well. There are definitely some things I would like to change up for next time. But I think I motivated and maybe even inspired them a little bit... maybe.

One of the things I had them do was spilt into groups (according to the ages they teach) and brainstorm a literacy activity for one picture book (per group). A lot of their responses were ideas for using their chosen book to teach math or other such concepts. Ugh! This is exactly the kind of mindset I was trying to break them free from.

Why do early childhood teachers think a book always has to be turned into a theme that can be taught in each of their classroom centers? Or that books should be chosen based on the theme of the class' current unit? Is that now a part of getting your teaching degree? I think many of the "literacy" resource books geared toward these teachers are often to blame. It just seems to me that the idea of doing actual emergent literacy teaching with a book is a totally foreign concept. As if simply reading a book during circle time fills the early literacy teaching quota for the day.

Anybody else care to weigh in on this? Do you agree? Disagree?

Snow Days

This post has been sitting in my drafts folder for about a week waiting to be posted because I couldn't get these stinkin' photos off my phone. Here they are though, and here's the post... finally.


Believe it or not we are about to have our ninth snow day here in our county of middle Tennessee. Ridiculous.

Today there was barely any snow and it was FREEZING outside. I wouldn't let my boys play outside because of it being so cold and the fact that they both seem to be teetering on the edge of possibly getting sick (one's been coughing, one's nose has been running all day).

I compromised with them by bringing the snow inside. I did that literally, and then I also mixed up some SnowWonder for them to play in.

Now my older boy (and my girl) aren't ever eager to be read to. But while the boys were playing with the snow, I went and got some snowy stories off the bookshelf. Mel was actually protesting my reading aloud, but once he saw that we could read and play, he was digging it.

I had them try out some of the things Peter (from The Snowy Day) did in the snow. Mel really liked that. He even tried making snow angels with his fingers. Later he got out some of his toy cars and drove them around in his bucket of snow. "Look, Mommy! Like in the book!" he said.

After I finished reading The Snowy Day, the story he had protested, he grabbed All You Need for A Snowman and asked me to read that one too! Both boys listened attentively while they continued playing in the snow. They asked questions, answered mine, and made plenty of comments.

I was happy to see one of my reluctant readers enjoying some reading. It warmed my heart on this cold, cold snow day.

My Compromise Toys

Oh, how my world has changed since we brought our two beautiful Ethiopian children home! I still feel like we're in survival mode. I still miss Literacy Launchpad and what a big part od my life it was, and WILL BE again when we finally shift into thrive mode here someday... soon I pray!

Reading has been such a challenge in our house. Life is just crazy, and not normal lately. There are things I know I should be doing, and I never get around to it, or I just lack the energy some days (I'm parenting in a whole new way these days that can often be very draining).

Our Ethiopian kids are very into the TV, computer, and video games. So as a Christmas gift we went out and bought them Leapster game systems. This is honestly not something I ever imagined buying any of my kids, but if they want to have screen time, this is some of the better kind of screen time they can have. It's educational! In fact, they kind of resisted it at first because of that. One of them had a really hard time figuring out how to play the games because it requires you to think and learn. Gasp!

They have come around on the Leapsters though. And I've been very pleased to see that they play them at appropriate times, and don't seem to be addicted to them. Our son, Mel, recently had a birthday and he got the Toy Story 3 game for his Leapster. I love hearing them it now as they sound out words in parts of the game. It really is helping them learn while also keeping them busy from time to time.

Since we bought the big kids Leapsters, we decided to get Isaac the Leapfrog Tag system. We got the pen and a couple books, and he's really been enjoying it. Again, he doesn't play with it ALL the time, but just enough. He'll go get it out himself, and I'll hear him from the room next door "reading" the books to himself. It's also really great for those moments when I would like to read him a story, but I'm in the middle of making lunch or dinner. I can bring out his Tag books and set him down near me and let him "read" the books to me. They also fit in a bag or purse well, so it's great for keeping him busy at a store, or wherever he might need some entertaining.

Again, neither of these products were something I ever thought we would have in our house, but I'm evolving (for better or worse) as a mother and this is one of those electronic toys I was willing to compromise on. Both products have turned out to be good buys, and with additional games and books we can by, they kids will probably stay interested in them for quite a while.

Note: I'm not getting paid or reimbursed in any way by Leapfrog for this post.

Little Reading Moments

So I have learned that when you adopt older children, you have to kind of lower your expectations some. I'm learning to do this. But it's difficult when I have a bio son that I have pretty high expectations for. Sometimes I feel like I'm cheating him. He's definitely not getting all the time and attention he used to get when it comes to reading. I worry that he's going to lose that passion for books that has been built up in him.

But this week instilled some confidence in me that he is still as passionate as ever.

He filled up this basket with books, pushed it to the top of the stairs, and then asked me to carry it downstairs for him so we could read them together.

He kept his brother company while he was taking a bath by reading to him.

Shifting the Paradigm

I've been home with my Ethiopian children for 8 weeks now. And my world is totally shook up.

Life with three kids is WAY harder than life with one.

Post Adoption Depression is very real, and very complex.

I have no idea when I will return to teaching Literacy Launchpad classes to my kiddos. Soon, I hope. But right now, nothing seems clear.

I am in the midst of a major paradigm shift. My reality is that I have two older children from a totally different culture, whose backgrounds are still very much a mystery to me, they have very special needs, and my oldest has never been to school and struggles much more academically than her younger brother.

This is totally new terrain for me... A mom who read to her bio child everyday while he was in her womb and hasn't quit since. A gal who is passionate about children's literacy, and strongly desires to limit electronics and TV time and such in my household.

I am talking and talking and talking with other adoptive parents and realizing that expectations must be lowered. Concessions must be made. I have to meet these kids where they are, and for the sanity of us all, allow much more screen time and much less reading than I can hardly stomach.

I mean, there's only so much reading I can do with a 10 yr. old who doesn't know their ABCs yet. She actually is asking for bedtime stories now though AND listening to them while I read. Progress.

Today I made them little blank books and they cut out magazine pictures to illustrate them. Yesterday I gave them card making kits and they made Christmas cards for some of their friends.

For Christmas, they are getting Vtechs. GASP! I hardly recognize myself anymore, I know. But it's all about shifting my paradigm. It's very hard. It kind of feels like it's slowly killing a little part of me each day (O.K. a little dramatic).

What's hardest is that my 2 yr. old is now consequently watching more TV and such. More so over Christmas break here, but even when the kids are in school there's more that needs to be done and less time to just sit and read like we used to.

I think this is all a healthy perspective that I really needed to gain as an educator. I was really idealistic, and didn't even realize it till now. I'm trying to look at all this paradigm shifting as a learning experience... a needed maturing.

I'm still trying to fight the good reading fight, but some days it just feels a lot more like a losing battle than it used it.

I Need A Pep Talk!

We've been home with our Ethiopian children for 3 weeks now. And I'm feeling the pressure. Pressure I didn't think I would be feeling so heavy at only 3 weeks home... Academic pressure!

Everybody told me during the adoption process how I would be so good at teaching my children English and reading and such with my Literacy Launchpad experience. But I feel VERY ill-equipped. Introducing preschoolers to the joys of books and reading is a far cry from teaching English to a six year old and ten year old who are going through a traumatic transition.

To be honest, right now I don't even feel motivated. This whole family of 5 thing is still so new to us all. And I'm more interested in working on that right now than doing phonics drills with them.

BUT, we started them in public school (a decision I'm torn about) and now the homework begins and the pressure is on. Or at least that's how I feel And while they are by no means expected to be doing what their peers are doing in class, they still get ESL homework... And Mel has math to work on right now. And while I know that school is what they need now, it's hard to have teachers to answer to. It's hard to feel like those 3 or 4 hours between school and bedtime aren't ALL mine!

Then there's the reading thing. Isaac loves books. My Ethiopian children... not so interested. Mel is mildly interested. Mary is hardly. And why would they be? They don't understand what's being read to them. Right now, they are only interested in electronic things (which we have been trying to keep at a minimum).

I have a lot of knowledge in my noggin about how to raise a reader from birth. But I'm not so sure about raising a reader from where we're at. I worry that my children will never be fluent readers. I worry that they will never feel good at reading. I worry that they won't want to read. And I worry that they won't like reading. That's a lot of worrying.

It's all so overwhelming for this momma who's a bit of a perfectionist. So I had to vent into "the cosmic void" this evening.

Goodnight, Dear Void.

We're Home!

It's been a little quiet here for a while. I'm sorry. We got word that we were leaving for Ethiopia and it's been a whirlwind ever since.

We are now home with our two new children, Mel - 6, and Mary - 10. It's been hard, but it's been good. Adjusting to 3 kids from 1 has been tough, and has been all consuming lately. Hence the silence here.

The reality of being home and the new dynamic of our family has us reevaluating some previously made decisions. We wanted to homeschool AT LEAST for a a little while, but after a lot of thought and talking with some trusted resources, we have decided to put both Mary and Mel in public school. They will begin next week and I'm really excited to see how it goes. I think it's going to be great for everyone. I'll post more about that soon.

I feel like I am floundering with all I want to accomplish with my new kids (and Isaac) and how suddenly ill-equipped I feel. And to be completely honest, I have felt a real lack of motivation to get going on any of that. Some of that is probably jet lag. Some of it is probably this nasty cold I have come down with since returning home. And some of it is just the plain old physical and emotional exhaustion of the whole adjustment. I'm trying to have some grace with myself.

Right now, I'm trying to read simple books with the kids at naptime and bedtime. It's tough, because they don't understand English. But how else will they learn. We've also been doing some alphabet puzzles. And I've been trying to have them watch some PBS kids, but they haven't been super interested in that. Mary even less so than Mel. We have some "first word" type books that I try to encourage them to look at. They seem to like those somewhat.

I'm trying to get my inspiration and creative juices flowing again, but it's harder than I thought it would be.

Some things I want to do:

- Put some books in baskets by the potties and in the car

- Buy some kind of Leapster type devices. They are really into electronics, but I would like them to at least be learning with whatever electronics they're using. Suggestions welcome.

- I want to try to find some more good books for them. Mel I think I've got pretty covered with what I've currently got. But Mary is more tricky because she's older, but yet, can't read. She needs simple, but yet she's not interested in babyish stuff. Tough! Again, suggestions welcome.

More to come later. Just wanted to let you know we're still here!!