Reading with Erica

This week I went to Quayle United Methodist Church to read with the children. Project Transformation is a program for inner city children. I read with three different children. The first, Erica, was a good reader. She was reading Amber Brown is not a Crayon. With a little help, she finished the book and picked out an Animorphs book for next time. Then, I was assigned to a sweet little girl that had a lot of trouble reading. She was obviously familiar with sounds and phonics, but she could not seem to see the words through the letters. She sounded out each sound never pausing to recognize when one word ended and another began. Reading was frustrating to her. She was tired and unenthusiastic. She finished her book and then I read a book to her. Finally, it was time to pick two new books. “Pick out a book for me to read, and I will pick one out for you,” I offered. We selected our books and returned to our seats. She picked out Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See? I opened it and her face lit up. She read along with me…at first she wanted to peek at the next page to help her along…when I didn’t let her, she very patiently and very enthusiastically sounded out every word. She did great and I discovered the genius behind Eric Carle once again.