Ninjas and Bullies.

Isaiah and I were reading a book the other day. He was reading unusually well this day, and didn't seem to be getting tripped up on the words that normally trip him up. Finally, he reached one word, looked at me and said,

"I had almost forgot that there was a ninja on the end of that word."

I pictured a ninja and wondered what he was talking about which, if you know any five-year-old boys, could be absolutely anything. "Excuse me?"

"Silent 'e' is a ninja, mom. Didn't ya know?"

"No, I didn't."

"Yeah, mom. It sneaks up on the vowels and changes them. Kinda like 'bossy r' does."

"Bossy r?"

"Yeah, mom. R is the bossiest letter in the alphabet. It bullies all the vowels. And she's just a consonant."

'Just a consonant?' .

"That 'r' is so bossy, Mommy! She's a booolly!" Zachary chimed in.

"Uhhh, okay," I chuckled.

Isaiah keeps reading. He then reaches the word "march."  He pauses for a few seconds, and then reads it no problem.

"Good job, bud," I said.

"Have you seen the music man sing about 'ch'?" he replied.

"No. . . not familiar with that one."

All of a sudden, Zachary jumps up, shakes his booty in that perfectly four-year-old way, and starts singing something I have never heard. I later learn that it's The 'ch' Song.

Yeah.

Silent 'e' the ninja. Bossy 'r' the consonant. And The 'ch' Song. Sigh. I can take no credit for any of it. I owe it all to the snow.

All of this crazy goodness is courtesy of the new and improved version of "The Electric Company" on PBS--the show that tortured my children all last week.

While I must admit that I do allow my children to watch some television, to help relieve myself of guilt, I try hard to limit it as much as possible. When I do limit it, it's to things on PBS Kids or movies of my choice.  During the big Atlanta snow week, it was hard to keep them from watching so much TV between snow play (and Zach didn't like the snow, remember?) so they were stuck watching repeats of PBS Kids shows.

Enter "The Electric Company."

I felt terribly guilty about all that TV until that moment. But now? I can honestly say that it has helped my son to pick up some new reading skills. So, I guess what I'm saying is that strategic television isn't so bad. In fact it might be good sometimes. And besides.  If Morgan Freeman and his old school version didn't ruin me, this Y2K upgrade can't be too bad, right?

Long before he drove Miss Daisy, he drove kids like me.

 Yes. I will continue to read to my kids, whip out the sight word flash cards and take them to the library, but on those days when this full time working mama is running out of gas?  I'll welcome a playdate with bossy 'r', music man, and ninja silent 'e' any time. (And if I can find it on YouTube, Morgan Freeman can come, too!)

Check these out for fun. . . .
"Silent 'e' is a ninja. . . ."



"The 'ch' song. . ."


". . . .and bossy 'r'!"


Oh yeah. . . .and, thanks to YouTube, I found Morgan, too. . . . just in case you want a blast from the past!