What do Cats and Reading have in Common?

 Rascal and Rocco.

Other than getting that going, I volunteered to teach an ongoing early literature class at the D.L.C. for around K-1st grade level. I will read a children’s book, then do fun activities having to do with the story for comprehension, basic reading, writing, math, and even some science, art, and life skills (Wow, all that?! Aren’t you impressed?!). With more emphasis on a different one (or two, or three) of those each week, depending on the story.

We’ve been working on the 3 R’s more at home with Monkey, but it’s so much more fun to do with friends! My first class was this week and it went great! It was small, but I expected that, being the first class and with so little notice. I announced it only a few days before starting and had to quickly scrounge for materials! I looked through some lesson planning books that had kids books and activities all written out for me, but they were just too basic; pre-school material. So, like everything else, I had to do it the hard way, starting from scratch and paving my own way to satisfy my high standards. Why do I always do that to myself?
 
I brought cookies (can’t go wrong there, right?!) to do math with and made it so parents could tailor it to their child’s level, making it easier or harder. We did addition, division, and even multiplication and fractions. I’ll post more about the story and materials, but everyone had fun and I had good feedback from all the parents there!