RUN, SPOT, RUN! SEE SPOT RUN!

I was 6 years and 2 months old when I discovered the joy of WORDS.  I was in the first grade in a very small school in a very small town, and I had the extreme blessing and joy to have for my first grade teacher MISS ROBERTA CHAMPION.  Though that was so many, many years ago I can see every detail of that classroom; I can hear the simple songs that Miss Champion taught us; and I can hear her sweet voice as she led us each day to recite...A is for Apple, B is for Ball, C is for Cat...

But the thing I remember most from that year is that....I LEARNED TO READ.  Oh, how I loved reading time.  As did most children of that era, we learned to read with DICK, JANE, SALLY, and their dog SPOT.

I can remember the excitement when we did our Round Robin Reading (which is no longer used in classrooms...and really for good reasons) and it was my turn to read.  "Run, Dick, run!  Run, Jane, run!  See Dick run.  See Jane run.  Oh, oh, oh.  Look!  See Dick and Jane run."  (Or something to that effect.)

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT DICK & JANE

*By 1950, an estimated 80% of American 1st graders were reading Dick & Jane texts.

*Every page contained only one new word that the reader hadn't yet seen in any previous Dick & Jane collections.  On ever 3rd page, all the new words would be combined.  And not a single story introduced more than five or six new words.                                source:  www.mentalfloss.com  

Many....so many....years have passed but my love of reading has not diminished.  Many people (including myself now and then) choose to read novels via their KINDLE.  But I, for one, much prefer the feel of a real book in my hands as I turn the crisp pages.  And just as I loved learning new words at the age of 6, I still find joy in discovering words I have never seen before.  In fact, each day on my email, I receive a new word and its meaning...it’s like discovering a little treasure.

I’ve really learned some interesting new words lately.  I doubt I will use them or even remember them, but still...lots of fun just seeing them in print and thinking about how I might possibly use them in conversation.

Here are a few recent ones that have come my way, but instead of immediately telling you the meaning, I’ll let you see if you can figure them out for yourself.  We all need to brush away those mental cobwebs occasionally!  (But just in case, the answers are below.)                  

1.  I was so frumious when my hairdresser broke my much-needed haircut appointment.     (This happened to me today!)

 

2.  Knowing how to speak French, Italian, English, and German certainly makes him an amazing polyglot. 

 

3.  After he swindled me out of a lot of money, I realized what a snollygoster he is.

 

4.  His galimatias was caused by dementia.

 

5.  An exercise in omphaloskepsis is a waste of time, but my toddler seems to enjoy it.

 

Answers:

1.  angry

2.  someone who can speak many different languages

3.  an unscrupulous person

4.  unintelligible talk

5.  navel gazing

Oh, how I love WORDS!  They are magical.  My six-year-old self is far in the past, but my memories of Miss Champion, Dick & Jane, and the feel of that first basal reader will forever be with me...along with my love of reading, a gift and a blessing I will always cherish.

 

And to end on a fun note...

Although he was once a polyglot and a snollygoster, he now spends his days engaged in galimatias and omphaloskepsis; therefore, I cannot remain frumious with him.

I’m someone who likes to rub words in his hands, to turn them around and feel them, to wonder if that really is the best word possible.           (American novelist James Salter, 1993)