let's have a party...again!

Just before we left for Hong Kong, we were able to celebrate Samantha's 100-Lesson Reading Party. I must preface all this with saying - in no way did I intend to have Samantha on a structured reading plan this early. This was all her own doing, her own initiative. If a day passed where she didn't ask to do reading class, we didn't do it. If she asked, we did it. And finally, several months later, she finished! I think she has absorbed a lot of influence by watching Emma read and read and read and read...and she was excited to be a reader herself!

I had a little bit of a hard time trying to think of some fun activities we hadn't done before, because I didn't want her Reading Party to be a rehash of Emma's Reading Party. Lucky for me, I live in the Internet Age and found some great ideas online.

Nothing says, "I love you" like using your stashed away Rainbow Chip icing on your kids' cake. I love my kids...and I love my icing. It was a toss-up for a few moments, but the maternal instincts kicked in. The icing came out of the cupboard.

I decided that instead of decorating a big cake, just cutting it apart seemed easier and quicker - and since this part of decorating gets done after the kids are in bed, quicker is always better.

While I was away on my escape-to-eat-ribs-and-pray retreat, I stopped at a kids bookstore and bought some new readers especially for Samantha. I chose Bolt - because she LOVES that movie - and a Richard Scarry book. I was hoping she'd approve of my choices!
After breakfast - and no! we didn't cake for breakfast this time! - we started some of our activities. For the first activity, I wrote out several things you can do when you know how to read, and I stuffed them inside of balloons.
Then we took turns popping them and reading what the paper said. Let me say something here about Emma - that girl has some spunk. I love her energy and enthusiasm!

Samantha was a little more dainty in her jumps, but finally succeeded.

Mom and dad also took turns popping balloons...but there's something very disturbing about seeing yourself jumping in the air, hair flying everywhere, trying to pop a balloon. That's why I'm not pictured, thankyouverymuch.

After we had read about all the great things you can do when you know how to read, we went back in the house for a practical example. Samantha had to read a list of ingredients and Emma had to read the directions that went with the ingredients.
They had no idea what we were making, so they just had to keep reading and following the directions until the end result became clear.

Told you she was funny.
I love her hand in this picture - the part you don't see is her saying, "Why do I put the milk bag inside another bag?" I LOVE surprises!

I'll let you in on a secret that they didn't know: we were making ice cream in a bag. (There is tons of information about this online, and it was great fun! We didn't approach this from any of the scientific angles you could do with this kind of project; we only used it for reading and following directions -but it is definitely a keeper!)

When it came to the shaking part, everyone had to take turns. The bag was sooooooo cold!



They were still very confused when I finally pulled out the little bag.
But when I squeezed it out onto the bowl, the synapses started firing. And, a bonus - it was not bad! It wasn't Ben and Jerry's, of course...but it wasn't bad.

At the very end of our reading party, I gave both the girls some hot pink freshwater pearl necklaces I had bought for them during that escape-to-eat-ribs-and-pray trip. They weren't super expensive, but they are certainly a jump up from dress-up jewelry. I was proud that they have both been willing to work hard and persevere, and giving them both a special big-girl gift seemed to be a fitting way for them to see what a big step they taken.

Ahhh, I love those girls! And here's that great poem about learning to read that I mentioned but idiotically forgot to post when I blogged about Emma's Reading Party:

When you can read, then you can go

from Kalamazoo to Idaho -

Or read directions that explain

just how to build a model plane -

Or bake a cake or cook a stew -

The words will tell you what to do!

When you can read, then you can play

a brand new game the proper way -

Or get a letter from a friend

and read it . . . to the very end!

-Bobbi Katz

For more great poems about reading, check these out.