Green Eggs & Ham

Last week, which I forgot to mention, Jimmy finished the book he was reading aloud. It was a level 2, but it was loooong. He would have gladly read a shorter book all in one sitting, but a looooong book apparently needed to be broken into 2 page chunks. Sigh. I am happy, though, with our experience reading it. The book was about the history of the American flag. Jimmy had to read some difficult words in this book, such as Philadelphia, Revolution, British, colonists, and soldiers. There were a lot of tears but also a lot of opportunities to explain that it sometimes takes work to get things right. Jimmy is a perfectionist & doesn’t like when he doesn’t get something correct immediately.

As a reward for finishing the looooong book, I let Tuesday’s reading session slide; he had a poem to read in math that I allowed to count as his reading assignment. On Thursday, I selected his next book – Green Eggs & Ham. After the looooong book experience, I expected Green Eggs & Ham to last us several lessons.

He read it all in one sitting.

Let me say that again. He read it all in one sitting. And he only made one mistake, which he caught before I had a chance to say anything! He was so proud of himself!

So now here is the question: do I push him to read the harder books, helping him to understand that he needs to put in effort sometimes to get something correct? Or do I allow him to read the easier books in hope of fostering a love of reading? I know the real answer is a balance of both. I hate the balancing act!