Tag Archives: reading

Kevin and Atticus’ Camping Madlibs

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After dinner at Applebee’s Monday, I grabbed up Atticus’ kids’ meal activity sheet and asked him and Kevin to help me fill in the “madlibs” story.

I asked “adjective?” or “animal?” or “your favorite food?” and they answered “pretty” or “wolf” or “hot dogs.”

The words they filled in are bold.

Oh, and Kevin’s Indian name, Badger, is “Uguna” in Cherokee, and Atticus’ Indian name, Stalking Wolf, is “Waya” (at least the “wolf” part). :)

Here it is:

A Pretty Camping Adventure

One wet day, under the bright blue skies of the Virginia forest, Uguna and Waya decided to go on a hike. They put on their shirt and headed for the mountains. Before long, they saw a big wolf walking towards the picnic area. “Nanu,” said Waya. “He sure looks hungry. I bet he’d love a giant plate of hot dogs.” And with that they laughed and ran to Cherokee. THE END!

8/365: RIF (Reading IS Fun)

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I used to have a bookmark from way back in elementary school, probably, that said “RIF: Reading is fun!”

I probably got it from a Bookmobile (Remember those?!) or a book fair in the library or something. I thought it was a little weird that anyone would have to promote reading: DUH! Of course, reading is fun; tell me something I don’t know. I loved to read mysteries, especially, back then. (I read every Nancy Drew book in the Brosville Middle School library.) Today, I prefer the classics.

Since then, I’ve known a LOT of people (mostly students) who do not believe that reading is fun. On the contrary, some of them considered (I’m using the past tense in hopes that they’ve by now seen the light ;-) the act of reading tantamount to serious torture. No whimsically decorated bookmark could convince them otherwise. And neither could an English teacher (namely moi).

When I met Kevin, he wasn’t that into reading either. He didn’t dread it, I don’t guess, but he didn’t think it was fun either. Now, he reads a lot. I don’t think he’d call it fun now, even. When I just asked him if he thinks reading is fun, he said, “Yes, if it’s something I want to read.” A convert!!

I don’t find time to read for fun much anymore (although I did sign up for a reading challenge this year), but I’m reading pretty much all the time.

A lot of my reading is on the Internet: Twitter and Facebook posts, blog posts, news articles. And a lot of it is for my job: tons and tons of essays (Multiply my 124 students by the 10 or so essays they have to write for their portfolios).

Today, I juggled comic books and narrative essays, and although neither is the kind of reading I exactly prefer, I could do much worse on a Saturday.