Over the weekend my daughter and I sat to do a reading lesson. I decided that she could read the first story of Days with Frog and Toad. This is a particularly easy book for her to read, but I chose it just to observe her skills for reading silently. Is she still comprehending? Do we need to talk about rereading until she gets it? She particularly enjoyed this reading because I gave her post-its to make notes while she read. I think that really made her feel like a big girl and the next time we go through a book together, I will model it for her.
Things go very smoothly. Even with jotting down little notes, she finishes too quickly. I was trying to get other things ready while she read. Anyway, she retells the story, and we discuss the conflict and resolution. She's on it.
It's time to write about the lesson she learned in the book. Since she's been working hard all morning, I let her choose whether she wanted to draw or write first. Of course she chose draw. Her reasoning being that the details of her drawing would help her to write. Good choice? Not so much. She gets really upset that her drawing isn't coming out the way she planned. To me it looks great, but she erases it all. Tries again, but she thinks her toad looks more like the frog in the story. This upsets her to no apparent end, and she cries and nothing I do seems to console her. I would think punishment, but she's genuinely upset that she can't do it.
What did I do? I called her dad. We both talk her down, and as you can imagine I could only get one sentence from her writing.
What could I have done differently? I am officially soliciting advice for how to handle these meltdowns.
Until next time...
Cheers,
Faith
