Reading Is Fun

Duncan is away tonight at a "sleep-over" with middle school students from church. He is a braver man than I. And the moon is full.

I thought I was done with origami boxes, but then I found easy directions to make this pretty star box This one is done with 12" square paper I bought at an art supply store and cut to size myself. I am going to use it as a bowl when we serve food after church tomorrow.

My year is underway with new books. I have one to read now called I Was Told There Would Be Cake -- you got to love that title. And The Last Campaign about RFKs presidential campaign is on reserve at the library. In excessive payment for origami boxes, Laurie Evans sent me a Barnes and Nobles gift card so I went over there tonight thinking I would indulge in a good biography. I ended up with something called The Big House which seems to be a family memoir told from the perspective of a summer home at Cape Cod "that watched over weddings, divorces, deaths, anniversaries, birthdays, breakdowns and love affairs for five generations. . ." I like that the author is male. I have been creating a list of books I've read for my Facebook profile and notice a preponderance of "women's books". I need to branch out. While at B&N, I found a hardback copy of Mary Pipher's Writing to Change the World on the sale table for less than $3! I have read it before, but am happy to own it. It is good examples of techniques for writing letters, op-eds, speeches -- even blogs!

Since I have always enjoyed reading so much, it seems natural to get involved in a reading program with 1st graders that I heard about at church. Everything I do these days has to be prefaced with "If I get a job, I won't be able to. . ." but until I get a job, I'm extremely flexible and ought to be of some use to someone else. And who knows. . . my next job might be right around the corner from the school and my boss might be very supportive of me continuing with this. I can't sit on my hands just so I won't have to quit something when I go to work.

This particular program appeals to me because it is1st graders -- very nonthreatening -- and it is quite structured. I will go twice a week and meet with the the same child for 45 minutes. We will read familiar things, make lists of words the child knows, write some sentences and finally read something new. There will be a reading specialist in the room if I have trouble. It seems to have more potential than waiting until children are in middle school and not reading. By then, not reading is only one problem. I went to one of two training sessions this week. I think I will actually meet the student I will be paired with right after the MLK holiday.

And when IS the inaguration, exactly?