Recess

Day: Friday, June 29, 2012
Book: A Field Guide To High School
Pages read:69-77
Time: 20 minutes


We discussed school spirit, traditions and weird private-school stuff according to the book.    Our discussion started in the car as we were heading out for ice cream. Little seemed very confused about what he had read earlier in the day. He did remember reading about Secret Santa but didn't quite have the facts straight so we reconvened after he had time to review.

Upon reviewing, we discussed that each class has a cleanup job, to which two students are assigned each week.  Little thought it was a good idea depending on the job assigned and if they were equal amounts of work for each class.  He also liked that they called their lost and found, Pandora's Box. I was interested to find out they still had recess in high school. It was complete with snacks of milk and cookies. YUM YUM! Makes you want to go to that high school.

The Prom

Day: Thursday, June 28, 2012
Book: A Field Guide To High School
Pages read: 57-68
Time: 30 minutes


Little read extra today to make up for the time he missed yesterday.  We discussed the difference between public and private school breaks and social activities.  The one thing that was interesting was the author suggested that you do not go to the Prom with a date, rather go alone and hang out with friends.  Little knew that Kit Kat went to the Prom this year with her friends and had a blast so I guess the author might be on to something.

The Owl

Day: Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Book: A Field Guide To High School
Pages read: 52-56
Time: 10 minutes

I am not sure how closely Little read this section but when I asked him about what is the "Owl" he had no clue. He was upset that I asked him about stuff so specific that was only mentioned once and didn't have anything to do with the plot. I let him talk about the section and I could tell that he did read the brief part and had some good insight but he is not grasping on to all the details.

Mailboxes

Day: Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Book: A Field Guide To High School
Pages read: 40-51
Time: 20 minutes

Little and I further discussed the building and grounds section of the book.  I was a little confused when I read about the mailboxes at the school but Little did not find it confusing at all. After a brief discussion I figured out that I misread the passage.  I guess even Little can help out a confused Momoko.

Buildings and Grounds

Day: Friday, June 22, 2012
Book: A Field Guide To High School
Pages read: 32-40
Time: 20 minutes

We started talking about the pages Little read and he seemed to struggle with my questions.  I asked him to re-read the pages because he said he "skimmed" the section instead of reading it.

This section was about knowing your school and talked about the different places in the school such as the cafeteria, gym, library, deck, and art room.  Little like the part about the balconies the best.  I guess it would be cool to be at a school that has balcony seating to admire the grounds around you.

Carpoolin'

Day: Thursday, June 21, 2012
Book: A Field Guide To High School
Pages read: 21-31
Time: 20 minutes

In this section they talked about how you should arrive at school and riding in the carpool with a popular/upperclassman was the best way to arrive.  Having your parents drop you off is the uncoolest way to arrive, so Little informed me I will have to drop him off down the street so that he is not seen with me.  Let's just hope he doesn't miss the bus.

What to Wear

Day: Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Book: A Field Guide To High School
Pages read:7-20
Time: 20 minutes

We begin getting into the knitty-gritty of the Field Guide.  It starts with what you should wear on day one of school and suggestions on how you should talk to as many different people as you can during orientation.  I hope Little is taking notes for his first days of High School.

First Book Study

Day: Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Book: A Field Guide To High School
Pages read: 1-6
Time: 20 minutes

I spent last night reading our new book selection.  I read about 40 pages and I was excited to talk to Little about what he read.  Little read for 20 minutes and I was surprised that he only read 6 pages.  I guess with more practice he will increase his reading speed.  This book had a lot of references to teen movies that he had not seen so he didn't understand the references like, she is going to Yale like Rory on The Gilmore Girls or First Daughter Barbara Bush.  We spent some time discussing the references as well as some vocabulary.  The word that gave him the most trouble was "cliche".   I think he has a better understanding now because he used it in a sentence about annoying little brothers.

The Gift of Books

I recently hooked up Little Kat with an Amazon Kindle Reader loan. He created a new account to associate with the reader. Little Kat needed a credit card or gift card to establish his account. I was going to buy some Kindle books for him to read this summer anyway. So I decided to get him a gift card.

I went onto Amazon and bought a gift card that I could print out myself. I put enough cash on the gift card for a single Kindle book purchase. Little Kat was able to enter the secret code on the gift card to create his Kindle account. He then proceeded to buy the first book he plans to read.

Next we decided to let Little Kat also purchase a second book he plans to read with Momoko this summer. I purchased and printed a second gift card for Little Kat. He is still very excited with this Kindle Reader. The thing is very light. It looks like a digital copy of a real book. The background is bright with black lettering.

Little Kat already figured out how to browse the Internet using the Kindle Reader. Let's hope he spends most of his time on it actually reading. He did an initial test of his first Kindle edition book. I bought Momoko a paperback version of the same book so he could read along with Little Kat. He found that the Kindle version matches word for word with the paperback, as it should.

Kindle Challenge

To increase Lil' Kat's reading skills, Black bought a Kindle.  He has challenged Lil' Kat to a reading challenge over the next year and he will upgrade the Kindle to a Fire and even throw in some $$ for new books.  Sweet!


 Lil' Kat and I will be reading two books together to start off reading challenge.  We each selected one from a summer reading list.  My pick is "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury and his is "A Field Guide To High School" by Marissa Walsh.  We flipped a coin to see which book we read first.  It looks like Lil' is the lucky one and we are starting with his pick.  Join us if you like, the more the merrier.