Saturday, November 8, 2008

Learning with Robert Munsch


Robert Munsch is an awesome Canadian author. His books are a huge hit in our house and we have at least half of the 50+ children's books he has published.
T1 is currently being assessed for several learning disabilities and has lately been struggling with his grade 3 reading comprehension. He can read and understand what he has read but answering specific questions seems to stump him. I figured maybe if he were to answer questions about books he enjoys, he might find it easier. A while ago I bought a book - Reading with Robert Munsch, from our local teacher supply store. It has activities relating to some of his books including reading comprehension.
When T2 went for a very much needed nap, I sat with T1 while he selected a Munsch book (he chose 'Something Good') and read it (he chose to read it silently) and then I asked him the questions from the teacher book. I thought he would make it a long drawn out process as he dislikes anything resembling school work and often decides he can't do something before he has even tried. Surprisingly he was totally into it and answered questions with long detailed responses and when asked to find words in the books with specific consonant blends - he spent quite some time not only finding appropriate words but wanting to find more than the three required.
This was supposed to be a learning opportunity for him - to practice his comprehension skills to help grade 3 be a little easier for him - although I feel it did, the learning opportunity was as much mine. I saw a different side to him - an enthusiastic reader, willing to go beyond the requirements, calm without the after school chaos and content to hang out with Mom and a good book.

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