The Power of the Written Word

Little Bit has found it. In church last week, she was sitting at a little table beside our big table (this was Bible study). She had gotten out of her chair several times to hand things to her sister or whatnot and I had "encouraged her" to stay seated. So a few minutes later, this little slip of paper comes sliding across the table towards me.

KAU i si
T Bi U
WOW

It says, "Can I sit by you Mom?" OK, some of the letters are upside down. We may need to work on spacing...but I could READ it! She was delighted. And I think felt quite powerful.

A few days later she "wrote" a book. She writes books all the time. It involves her drawing the pictures and then coming to "read" the story to me. Sometimes I write it down. Sometimes I don't. (She writes a lot of books.) Most of the time, even if it's a book she wrote a year ago, she still remembers the story line. The kid has a sharp memory. Seriously, it's like freaky sharp. She was looking for her lost DS game last week and remembered that the last time she played it was at the pizza restaurant. That was well over a month ago. And she remembers what errands we ran prior to that meal at the pizza place. And probably what she was wearing.

Anyway, she started to "read" the book to me and I stopped her. Her vocabulary was so good I knew I needed to write this one down.

The book was called "Spi Kat."

"In a house deep in the woods and far away...lived Spy Cat. (I edited that name as I typed) He lived in a garage, but the owner didn't know he was a spy!

Spy Cat had a mission at the museum. The diamond was stolen!

He looked high and low.

His friend met Spy Cat at the museum.

They found it! A guy named Dr. Boot had it.

They both got plans to get it. His friend with the scar thought of slapping him with his tail. Spy Cat thought of killing him and getting the diamond. (Violent much?)

Back at the lab, Dr. Boot had the diamond in a special case.

Spy Cat's helper pushed Dr. Boot down. The diamond rolled out of his hands and Spy Cat's helper caught it.

The museum had the diamond again and Spy Cat and his helper were heroes."

The only help I gave her was to verify and type proper names instead of pronouns, which can get confusing when all the characters are "he."

This is a child who can barely write a note--mostly in upside down capital letters--but she is most definitely a writer. How? How can it happen that a 7 year old who only knows CVC words can write?

All I can think is, she's been read to. A lot. She's heard her sister's books that she has written. She's been encouraged and provided with paper.

Is she "on schedule" for a first grader? Absolutely not. She would be considered VERY behind in public school. But I am loving watching this child become a reader and writer. Sure, it's taking longer than I thought it would..but it's happening. And it's very exciting to watch.