One girl came to the easel and began to paint. "I have that book," she said.
I was a little confused. She had been painting in silence. We had not been talking about anything so I wasn't sure what book she was talking about. I glanced at the easel and saw the name at the top.
"You have a David book?" I asked. She nodded. "The book where he gets in trouble?" She nodded again.
"I have a David book, too," I said.
"I have all the David books," she said. She continued to paint throughout our conversation.
(I did tell her that the David we were talking about was not the one in her books but a different David.)
I didn't think anything about our exchange at the time. But, later, as the incident came to mind again, I marveled at how significant it was. This girl has looked at a group of letters that formed a name. She recognized that the name was the same as one in some books she had. That's an important milestone in reading and literacy. Recognizing letters and words in different contexts shows that her reading ability is growing.
So often I miss these significant events. I'm glad I was able to recognize this one, at least after the fact. I will definitely need to look for ways to build on my kids' emerging literacy.
(Haven't seen the David series? Check out No, David and others by David Shannon.)
