Just before the holiday break we got an email from Maddux's teacher. Seeing an email from her teacher didn't raise any red flags immediately because Maddux's teacher often checks in with us about various things via email; it's one of the many things I love about her. Once I read the email though, I have to admit that my instinct was to chuckle rather than get mad...that girl....
...for our reading assignment, the kids were to pick books to read that are on their level, yet still challenging....She chose a Flat Stanley book. We did the same thing before she started reading and I felt the book would be okay for her to try and read independently. When she went to fill out the story elements for the book, I was amazed! The vocabulary and spelling were not what I usually see from Maddux. Come to find out…. She copied the summary on the back......When I asked her about it, she said she had trouble with the book and could not remember what happened or she did not understand.....Of course I will not force her to read a book that she does not comprehend, but I also want her to persevere and build that reading stamina. I want her to learn that if she starts something she needs to finish it, even if it is challenging. With that being said, I am going to send the book home with her to read with you guys......I will also send home a story map for Maddux to complete when you guys are done.
When Maddux got home I had a serious talk with her about this and explained the concept of plagiarism to her; my choice was to assume that she was ignorant to the concept and meant no ill-will. We then talked about her consequence, given by her teacher: she was to read the whole book and complete the homework for it over the break. Maddux didn't like that, but I reminded her that had she done what the teacher asked, she would have completed it in class over the last week or so instead of on her time off from school.
While Maddux has shown a lot of progress with her reading, she definitely gets distracted easily while around others. If she's in her room reading books, I watch her read one completely and then move onto another, never breaking her focus, but when she's in the classroom full of other kids, I know she doesn't quite know how to 'tune out'. And she is perfectly capable of reading most anything she wants, she will pretend to struggle sometimes if she doesn't feel up to it. Too bad Mommy's on to her.....
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