Arianna is really starting to interact with her books now. We were reading her January 2005 issue of Babybug and she read the title of the poem, “My Cat” as soon as I turned the page. I wondered if she could do more, so I paused in front of a few words to see if she could fill them in. She could.
I also pointed to the "A" and "a" to see if she could recognize them in text, like she can on the fridge (and my socks!), but she couldn’t.
I am pleased that her memory for language is developing so well. Here’s the poem, I put the words she “read” into capitals.
MY CAT
By Marilyn Helmer
A rubber ball,
A piece of string –
My cat will play
With ANYTHING.
IN A DRAWER
Behind a CHAIR,
My cat will hide
Most ANYWHERE.
But when she wants
To take a NAP
Her favorite place
Is on my LAP.
Who wants it?
By Cindy Breedlove
A bear might GROWL. Grrr!
A wolf might HOWL. Arooo!
A snake might HISS. Sss!
So who might want my KISS?
She has also been saying, “thank you” when I hand her something or do something for her. I’m so glad all of that role modeling is starting to pay off. Lev Vygotsky really knew what he was talking about when he said that all learning is SOCIAL and culturally-based. I guess that's a nice way of saying, "Monkey see, monkey do!"
From one tree-swinging primate to another,
Rebecca