Day 22: Doing homework with my 4-year-old

15 Minutes

My daughter Ally is in a 3-4 year old class at Alton-Darby Preschool.  It's a peer model preschool at Hilliard City Schools.  My wife and I felt lucky to get her in this year.  We filled out the application when she was 1, just to give you an idea of the preschool's popularity.

It is obvious to me they value literacy at the school.  My daughter brought home a book-in-a-bag for homework.  After getting over the shock of homework in preschool, I thought, "We already read every night before bed, so I'm not sure about this...".  

I'm glad we did the homework.  I learned so much about my daughter as a reader.

Ally's writing in her reader's notebook. She drew a picture and copied the title because, "I just want to".

We read the book Too Many Tamales, by Gary Soto.  In the story, a girl is making tamales with her mom for a Christmas dinner.  She feels grown-up and even gets to wear make-up and her mom's apron.  When she sees her mom's diamond ring on the counter, she can't resist and puts it on.  Later she realizes she lost the ring and orders her cousins eat the stack of 24 tamales thinking the ring came off when she was making them (You'll have to read the book to find out what happens).

In just 15 minutes, Ally:

• Did a picture walk and predicted what would happen ("In the story, I think it's going to snow.")
• Figured out what the problem was ("She lost the ring!")
• Worried about what will happen next ("I think she will get in trouble.")
• And summarized what happened ("I think the ring was eaten, but it wasn't.  It was on her ring finger!")

This kind of reading is completely different than the reading we do before bed.  By doing the assignment and asking simple questions like "What do you think will happen next?" or "What's the problem?", I was able to see what Ally is able to do as a reader.

I encourage any parent to try this out.  Just ask the question and let them talk.  You will be amazed!  

It only takes 15 minutes.