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Literacy Testing
Jan. 11th, 2008 10:09 amFirst a little more Mason news. I ran into the school librarian today who reminded me that Mason and I hadn't been back in a while. I'd been sort of waiting on Mrs. R. to do the literacy testing with Mason and the other reader in the class, but the school librarian said we could come in and do it ourselves any time. I'm excited to see what level Mason is reading at, but remembering the apparent restrictions on what books he can take out I've been a little hesistant. We made a date to test on Monday after school. I'll be sure to talk to the librarian about all that then.
Mason and I played Scrabble at the coffee shop again this morning. Mostly what we do to "play" is that he suggest words that I spell out for him. The only rule is that he has to use a letter that's free in one of the words. He's very good at coming up with cool words. We shocked Paul, one of the coffee jocks here at Amore, because he walked by just as we'd finished spelling out "ionosphere." He was like, "Uh, that wasn't Mason's word, was it?" I explained, no, it was mine, and how we played. Mason had spelled out a few of the three letter words on the board, but I'd been responsible for the larger words, even the ones he thought up. I think it's a fun way to start learning spelling rules (although anyone who knows me knows I'm not the best teacher of spelling) -- because we talked about how strange it is that "dolphin" is spelled with a ph, instead of and f, like you'd expect.
Yesterday, our big project around the house was rearranging the 30 gallon fish tank (Joe and Fergus). We'd originally imagined the tank to be a "ruined city" look, but we never found really good cityscapes anywhere. I'd considered making a model train city, but that was a little more complicated (and expensive) than I wanted to do. So, we stuck the ruined Vatican (St. Paul's cathedral) in along with a couple of other building like things. It never really looked right, so we took everything out yesterday and have gone more for the rock/plant natural look -- although we still have a sabertooth tiger "skull" in the middle.
Joe and Fergus were really freaked when the tank was empty, but they seemed to enjoy exploring their new environment after we replaced everything. The water was hazy after all that jostling, but it's been slowly clarifying.
Meanwhile, the bettas never quit. I caught them going for it again yesterday, but this morning already seemed to prove an empty nest (yes, I know I should remove South Africa, but I really have no place for her, and as Shawn pointed out, it's not like we REALLY want fifty betta fry in the same tank.) Regardless of what's happening in the tank today, I HAVE to clean it out today. It's been a week and a half and with two fish in a tiny tank (not to mention the dropped eggs and whatnot) like that, well, I suspect things are pretty gross.
I need to go write now, but it occurred to me that I never pointed people to these two items:
1. An interview with me on Illusion.tv.com: http://www.illusiontv.com/features/author-blast-lyda-morehouse
2. My answers to the meme "How You Know This Book is By Me": http://wyrdsmiths.blogspot.com/2008/01/writers-subconscious.html
Mason and I played Scrabble at the coffee shop again this morning. Mostly what we do to "play" is that he suggest words that I spell out for him. The only rule is that he has to use a letter that's free in one of the words. He's very good at coming up with cool words. We shocked Paul, one of the coffee jocks here at Amore, because he walked by just as we'd finished spelling out "ionosphere." He was like, "Uh, that wasn't Mason's word, was it?" I explained, no, it was mine, and how we played. Mason had spelled out a few of the three letter words on the board, but I'd been responsible for the larger words, even the ones he thought up. I think it's a fun way to start learning spelling rules (although anyone who knows me knows I'm not the best teacher of spelling) -- because we talked about how strange it is that "dolphin" is spelled with a ph, instead of and f, like you'd expect.
Yesterday, our big project around the house was rearranging the 30 gallon fish tank (Joe and Fergus). We'd originally imagined the tank to be a "ruined city" look, but we never found really good cityscapes anywhere. I'd considered making a model train city, but that was a little more complicated (and expensive) than I wanted to do. So, we stuck the ruined Vatican (St. Paul's cathedral) in along with a couple of other building like things. It never really looked right, so we took everything out yesterday and have gone more for the rock/plant natural look -- although we still have a sabertooth tiger "skull" in the middle.
Joe and Fergus were really freaked when the tank was empty, but they seemed to enjoy exploring their new environment after we replaced everything. The water was hazy after all that jostling, but it's been slowly clarifying.
Meanwhile, the bettas never quit. I caught them going for it again yesterday, but this morning already seemed to prove an empty nest (yes, I know I should remove South Africa, but I really have no place for her, and as Shawn pointed out, it's not like we REALLY want fifty betta fry in the same tank.) Regardless of what's happening in the tank today, I HAVE to clean it out today. It's been a week and a half and with two fish in a tiny tank (not to mention the dropped eggs and whatnot) like that, well, I suspect things are pretty gross.
I need to go write now, but it occurred to me that I never pointed people to these two items:
1. An interview with me on Illusion.tv.com: http://www.illusiontv.com/features/author-blast-lyda-morehouse
2. My answers to the meme "How You Know This Book is By Me": http://wyrdsmiths.blogspot.com/2008/01/writers-subconscious.html