Troy has been having a wonderful summer so far. He has a posse of boys in our neighborhood that are all about his age and they hang out together basically whenever possible. Troy wakes up in the morning and immediately asks, "Can I go play with my friends?". The kids are outside most of the day except when one gets called in to eat a meal. They make the rounds and ring doorbells until the whole group is assembled. They then decide (I don't know how) what activity they will be doing. It's often hockey, baseball, soccer, going on someone's trampoline, etc. Then a couple of weeks ago they got into trading cards. (I won't say which ones.) So now before Troy runs out to play he grabs his baggie of cards. The funny part is we did not buy him any of these cards, but he has a whole collection already. Anyway, he's been asking us to buy him some more. We've been saying no. However, the teacher in me came up with an idea to use this desire for good. We told Troy that if he read 10 books by himself he could have one pack of cards. (Our kids are amazingly driven when they want to be and this did the trick.) Troy was immediately gathering easy reader books from all around the house. I sat down with him and listened to 7 in a row. (With a beginning reader this is not an easy task!) I needed a break, so he asked if he could get his friends to listen to him read. I eagerly agreed! So a few minutes later I looked out the front door and this is what I saw. I love it! These two boys were patiently helping Troy sound out words and listening to him read. What fun! Troy was rewarded with a pack of cards and I did buy a few packs so he is anxiously working toward the next one.
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