Here is Christopher showing off his books.

They write books in school and then share them on "Author's Chair" where they read their own works out loud to their school friends, who then find at least one kind compliment to share about the author's work. Christopher has been unwilling to write books for most of the year. When pushed about it, he said he didn't want to, because his spelling might be bad, and then he wouldn't be able to read it back, and he might make a mistake, and people might laugh. My perfectionist kid had real concerns. I've been working with his teacher to help encourage him (not make him -- because as his teacher so perceptively noticed, Christopher doesn't take well to being "made" to do something). Instead, she helped encourage him to write one 3-paged book -- just enough to get over the hump of fear. He shared it in author's chair to great success last week. It was called "The Steenkee Monster" (or "The Stinky Monster" for those of you who don't read Kindergarten-spelling). It was about a stinky moster who attacks -- you can see in the pictures these horrible squiggly lines coming off his body signifying the stench. Finally, "Captain A" saves the day, by using an anti-stink gun and neutralizing the odor. The squiggly lines are gone, and the Stinky Monster is happy to not stink anymore. It was quite cute and the kindergarteners, of course, loved it.

Now that he has gotten over the hump, it's been book writing all the time. During "quiet time" during Spring Break, when mom works and Cate naps, Christopher has been writing books. Here he is showing off the 4 books he wrote during quiet time today. One is about a church fire (we drove by a big one in town today), one is about a good girl with a Cinderella-like theme (that one was for Cate as a gift), and one was about a hot race car (that one is a gift for Dad).

I love this creative process and seeing what comes out of his mind. I also love how much his teacher understands him and how she was able to help him get through his fear.