The Foorce

James is reading a book about a boy who is angry and anxious because his parents move him across the country away from his school, friends, soccer team, etc. The main character spends at least the first 3 chapters explaining why he is so upset with his parents, and how he used to be good but now he is acting out because he hates that they are moving, that he locked his doors when the movers came, he cried when he left his best friend – a lot of good supporting material to work with.

Since James is recovering from our mini-vacation this past weekend (and a case of the Mondays) I picked what I determined to be the easiest question in his reading log: How is the character feeling? How do you know?

James is enjoys reading and is good at it, so “read for 70 minutes” was an easy assignment. My youngest has been sick all day so I then asked James to answer the question on his own (rather than dictating it to me) and to list three supporting reasons for whatever feeling he chose.

James simultaneously completed his homework and my Monday Minute post in the same shot. And now you will get a glimpse at why I feel that reading level and comprehension level should be two completely different grades. And why homework takes soooooo darn long around here.

45 minutes after starting the question:

James is in italics, my responses are in bold.

Are you done?

Almost. How many minutes did I read for?

70.

Okay. The Kid In The Red Jacket. What is the night and date?

1 dash 23 dash 12.

Okay.

Okay read your answer to me out loud so we can check it.

(silence)

Okay read it to me.

I just read it.

Out loud.

Oh. How is your character feeling in the story? How do you know? Howard Jeet is feeling worried.

Good choice! (I knew this would be easy) Why is he worried – what are your three supporting reasons?

1. Molly Vera Thompson says his name wrong. Who? 2. Molly wants Howard to play house with her. What else though? Why else would he be feeling worried? 3. Molly pretended to squirt water at her cat. 

And here I thought this one was a slam dunk.