02 February 2010

Further Evidence

The curly-headed girl learned two new vocabulary words during our fifteen minute reading lesson that lasted 45 minutes today. And it wasn't exactly one of those pie in the sky, teachery "bliss" moments. It was engaged learning, though. I was engaged in learning not to, well...here's the paper:

Reading
curly-headed girl (names have been changed to protect the indignant) Feb. 2, 2010

Brer Fox and the Peanut Patch
Setting: peanut patch
Characters: Brear's Fox, Bear, Stinky old Rabbit. (Just this one.)
Plot: A rabbit that is stinky tells lies to get out of trouble. =( to Brer rabbit

Okay, then.

To help you further understand, I offer a brief synopsis of our literary selection for the day: Brer Fox grows peanuts. Brer Rabbit figures out a way to steal them. Brer Fox traps him. Brer Rabbit talks Brer Bear into taking the fall. The curly-headed one gets indignant.


She was worked up over this story and the unfairness of it all for a good twenty minutes: tears, grumbling, refusal to look at pictures of Brer Rabbit and general disgust. I was preparing myself for a day of unexplained outbursts, due to her tendency to mull stuff like this over in her brain until she feels good and ready to let go.

But then something unusual happened. I said, "You're upset about what Brer Rabbit did to Brer Bear, aren't you?"

"Yes," humphed the curly-headed girl.

"It was not fair for Brer Bear, was it?"

"No!" she emphatically announced.

"That's injustice," I informed her.

"Well it's not right. Stinky old Brer Rabbit," she said it as solemnly as if she were a judge pronouncing the death sentence on a dangerous criminal. "Can we not read any more of these stories today? I don't think I can take it." We were totally in agreement over that one!

The second word she learned was "scurvy," but that's another story.

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