Capitalization

Capitalization October 15, 2010

Today was a hard day.  It was rainy and we didn’t get outside. Our Au Pair was leaving for DC so the boys had to come to work with me.  And I was exhausted.

But I soldiered on and we got through most of their work.  Near the end of the day, I tried to do a more traditional lesson on capitalization, and the boys were having a hard time. They were wiggling, and squiggling and bouncing out of their chairs.  They were rude and silly and disrespectful.  After about 10 minutes of this (the lesson would have taken about 7 minutes if they had cooperated), I calmly said, “I’m sorry.  You’re not going to be able to watch your video now.”

After which, tears and hysterics broke out.  Eventually, though, they calmed down and I started to do my work while they played.  Ten minutes later, Zach enters my office with two pieces of construction paper, folded up and taped shut.  He smiles at me and says, “Pick one.”

“Are these cards?”

He nods.  But squirms.  And I can tell that all is not well.

“Is one of them really mean?”

He looks down and thinks.  He changes strategies, embraces me and says that both cards say how much he loves me.  And then he adds, “But I’m just gonna throw out this one anyway.”

I take the remaining card, and open it up.  When he sees my face, he says, “Uh oh.  Did I give you the wrong card?”

“I don’t know.  Did you mean to give me this one?”

It read:  i hate my mom because she is sometimes very very mean

Which is all wrong.  I mean, hadn’t I just explained that we capitalize words at the beginning of a sentence?


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