Apr. 24, 2008 - Reading Journals, Play dates, Sunset dinners

Once again our friends arrived at 8.30am for the Reading Journal Workshop.  It has worked really well, with us both being disciplined not to stay too long.  We have taken 15 minutes for a quick catch up and then 30-45minutes with the read aloud and discussions afterwards.  I have found it great to have this daily focus knowing that this routine is only going to happen for a short while.

We started our session discussing some questions one of the girls had.  And then, during the reading we discussed workplace protection, development and security of communications, the Ghan (train from Adelaide to Alice Springs – now to Darwin).  We had a brief discussion on RM Williams, a famous bush character / business man who has left a legacy behind him.  I introduced the idea that when we read a book we can ask questions of ourselves –

• what does that mean
• what did I notice or observe
• why did that happen
• what surprised me

The kids will be expected to write in their journals the answers for at least one of these questions.  The idea is that as we (the mum and reader of a read aloud) ask questions the children get used to this level of thinking and eventually will begin to ask questions of themselves and record their answers (which are verbal at the moment) straight into their reading journal.

We concluded our time with Peter showing us the various places on the map – next time I hope to get a map that shows the outback in more detail but for today we just looked at the Australian map and saw the vast distances they traveled and marveled considering the era in which they lived.

Later in the morning other friends visited for a long day play date.  The boys have played cricket in the cricket nets, sword fights in the cubby and who knows what other adventures they have lived.  The girls though they started off with gentle pursuits ended up running around with spears and swords as well.  Jessica has decided to keep today as a study day so she has been very diligent.  Next week is our wrap up week (at the end of an assignment block) but she wants to declutter the so-called hobby room and make that functional.  So she is working extra hard this week, in her free time, so she can dedicate next week to that.

We headed into town late afternoon to catch the sunset from the local lookout.  We wanted pizza but couldn’t get it early enough (sun sets at 5.15) so we settled for fish ‘n chips.  Always delicious going down but we always regret the greasiness moments later!! The sunset was intense for a moment and then slipped away into peacefulness.  It was a nice evening – on our way home we grabbed some icypoles and visited some friends to share dessert with.