3 ms·
I never knew of this, totally going to sign up. Once upon a time, in the 1990's, I was in the 5th grade and the principal asked us (the class) to pull out our
by esaym 6y ago
I never knew of this, totally going to sign up.
Once upon a time, in the 1990's, I was in the 5th grade and the principal asked us (the class) to pull out our favorite book from our backpacks (she told us the day before to bring our favorite book) and wanted to hear the whole class reading out loud all at once.
I pulled out my "Field guide to the birds of North America" [0] and started reading along with everyone else. Most everyone else in the class either brought a comic book or some Dr. Seuss stuff. For what ever reason she noticed me and came to my desk while I was reading and stopped me and asked if what I was reading was "too hard". I don't know what I said, but I was super confused and scared thinking she'd take way my field guide and make me read dumb comics.
[0]: https://i.imgur.com/y3LPxAX.jpg https://i.imgur.com/y3LPxAX.jpg
- salmo 6y agoI used to keep mine in the kitchen where I could see my birdfeeder out the window when I was a kid. being in the SE US, we get a lot of migration crossing through and the seasonal variety is awesome. I started using eBird when my daughter got interested in birds. But I fumble with it too much and went out to Amazon and got a new field guide just for quick access. I could totally see her in the same scenario you were in :). Mostly now she gets strange looks when she refers to a female red shouldered hawk that hangs around the area as "Emma".
- therealdrag0 6y agoKids should be given more credit. When I was no older than that I would read encyclopedic books about guns and fighter jets. Not birds, but I don’t see how reading non-fiction early is anything but healthy.
- esaym 6y agoSame here, though I never really paid attention to birds until my uncle bought me the field guide for some random reason when I was like 7. From just thumbing through it a few times, I started recognizing birds outside which made me thumb through it more. I didn't have TV or video games back then so most of my after school time turned into thumbing through the book. I had alot of it memorized within a year it seemed. From then on, any family trip to a new territory, I could name any birds that I hadn't seen in person before, or if nothing else, could quickly look it up.
- mcqueenjordan 6y agohttp://fallibleideas.com/taking-children-seriously http://fallibleideas.com/taking-children-seriously
- Polylactic_acid 6y agoProbably because some kids will grab the most complex book they can find and read it without being able to understand anything.