Warning: I'm On My Soapbox ... You May Want To Stop Reading Now

So I did my Wednesday volunteering in Layla's class this afternoon. I read with a couple of groups of kids. They were reading a first grade level book and what should have taken ten minutes to read took more than thirty. Layla's teacher came out into the hall just as they were finishing to see if the book was too hard for them. The kids went back into the class and I told her that it was very frustrating to read with these kids because I feel bad for them. It is clear that their parents don't read to/with them ... ever. That may sound all judgey-mcjudgerson but it's just the way I feel. Anyway, her teacher agreed and said she wanted to show me something. Now, she's not really supposed to show me this but I have known her for years (she was Gage's teacher) and she knew that I would just look at what she wanted me to see. It was the MAP test scores for the second graders. Layla had the highest score for reading ... by far. She was so far above that she was in her own catagory. Her teacher was pretty excited that they had to create a box just for Layla!! Now you may think I'm just bragging (no shit I'm bragging) but I'm not just bragging. I just want it to be known that the only thing Nick and I did was read to her ... every night whether we felt like it or not, whether we were tired or crabby or busy ... it didn't matter. Sometimes it was a pain in the ass and sometimes none of us felt like it but look where it got her!!