My Little Reader

Alright, I guess since this is MY blogsite where I can share whatever I feel like sharing, that I won't feel guilty for doing a little motherly bragging today. You moms out there will understand. For those of you who aren't, I apologize . . . you may want to skip this one and try back a different day for a different post.

Gracie checked out her first chapter book from the school library yesterday. Not a short picture book, an honest to goodness Junie B. Jones chapter book.

And she hasn't put it down yet! The last time I checked she was already on chapter 7. A chapter book!!!

I know that it may seem silly for me to feel such overwhelming emotions over a library book, but this is such an accomplishment for Gracie. She struggled in Kindergarten, to the point that the teacher talked about holding her back. Her self-confidence was shot. In fact, one time during church she came to sit with me (leaving the pew where she was sitting with her best friend) to tell me that she was sad because her friend could read and she couldn't. She hated school. She cried every day. I cried every day. Homework was a nightmare!

Then God shook things up. I spent a summer in turmoil looking for an assistant principal's position within our district and ended up with three offers. Initially I leaned toward the "easy" choice of staying at the campus where I had taught for nine years. After all, I knew all of the staff members, I had a couple of years of experience serving as an administrative intern there, and staying seemed like the best choice. But God nudged me (gently at first, then a little more firmly through a couple of my mentors) to trust in Him and try something new . . . something that would bless my family and me. I ended up at one of the elementary campuses in town (elementary . . . like small people . . . REALLY small people for a former sixth grade teacher) that has both a daycare room for Lily and a fabulous support system for Gracie. (Not to mention that I LOVE the people that I work with.) And the blessings began to flow . . .

Gracie had a fabulous first grade teacher who worked diligently to reach and teach EVERY child in her room. She also spent the year working with an outside tutor and was pulled daily by the dyslexic therapist at school (another fabulous teacher). By the end of first grade, she went from a struggling Kindergartener unable to recognize all of the letters and sounds, much less try to put them together into words, to a confident first grader who knew and believed that she could read just like everyone else. And now, as she is a month into second grade, she continues to gain confidence and shine. Last week when they tested the kids, she was reading at a second grade level, actually ahead of some of the kids in her class.

So here were are. I have an excited second grader who loves school, and now she has her first chapter book. She read after school yesterday afternoon, last night in bed, on the way to school this morning, in the office before school . . . she's a reader! And to quote The Little Red Caboose, a book that my MawMaw read to me as a child, my "heart nearly burst with pride."