We are ready when we are ready! 
This is a guest post by my famous kindergarten teacher sister, Anneliese Johanna Ash. She has been at my side holding my hand through the whole writing of my picture book, “Annie’s Special Day.” She is the best sister in the world, just flying here to be with me while I gave the authors panel presentation at First Friday Leesburg. And she didn’t stop there, she then told everyone at the family reunion how good I was! Take it away, Anneliese.
When I saw this strip today, it reminded me of Clar’s new book, Annie’s Special Day. {In the book, Annie is so very much looking forward to her sleep over, that she is constantly aware of time standing still or advancing to the next activity in her day. } In the story , it isn’t clear if Annie knows how to read a clock, but time is the overwhelming concept in the story.
In this strip, Ruthie is sitting down with her dad, and her dad is trying to get her to focus on the homework. Ruthie is to concentrate and remember what her dad is telling about reading a clock. As she says, she can’t listen and pay attention at the same time. She just isn’t there yet. Knowing Ruthie to be a very clever, precocious kindergartener, she may be referring to being able to play the part of a good student, but knowing young children, I know also, that she may not yet be ready to learn about telling time.
Annie is seven, and we aren’t sure if she can tell time. I taught young children of different ages for 34 years . Teaching time was one of the more challenging concepts. Time is abstract, and the need for recognizing it is something our society teaches us. Children know it is time to eat because they are hungry, and time to sleep because they are tired. We approach time with vocabulary like “first we must brush our teeth, then we will leave the house.” “ After we eat lunch we will go out for recess”. These are signals interpreted to them by adults. Our language with youngsters is rich with prepositions and sequences. We scaffold our sentences by adding more and more to them, and indirectly, the concept of time is taught.
Our institutions require life to be lived on a time clock for convenience. Annie’s Special Day shows this progression well…her time in school, time with her mother, time looking forward to her friends coming, and then the down time, when all is still, and Annie waits for the sleepover to end. The clocks in the story add to this concept, because they are all different times. History and the progress of inventing different markers of recording time is evident. There is a lot to notice in Annie’s Special Day. If Annie isn’t “just there yet” with telling time, it won’t be long before she is!
Anneliese Johanna Ash’s Bio: Johanna, Clar’s sister in Dallas Texas taught for 34 years and nineteen of those glorious years in the same kindergarten and when she retired missed the kids so much she is now substituting for one to four days a week. She loves her sister so much she waded through one hundred rewrites of “Annie’s Special Day” to support her sister’s crazy idea of wanting to publish a children’s book.
Thanks Johanna, for this delightful and informative guest post! If ever you want to write another guest post for me again, let me know. You are in great demand. Before you know it, you may choose to start a blog yourself.
I am in the middle of a blog tour given me by “Lightning Book Promotions” For those of you who don’t know, there is a book give away on tour with me.Also the publisher has said she would give one book to http://www.kidsneedtoread.org/ for every book you buy. Isn’t that GREAAT!
I hope to see you there!
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As an adult in the business world, I sat through many a management meeting feeling exactly like Ruthie.
lol. You oldster you! I’ll just start calling you my elder.
I love the concept of Annie’s Special Day. I can’t wait to see the book. It sounds terrific.
Thanks, Rosi,
You can get a copy at : http://www.etreasurespublishing.com/ right from the publisher. Hope you just love it.
Such an excellent post — you and your sister are both obviously in tune with kids. So wonderful that the publisher is doing such a generous thing for kids who need books! Wow!
Thanks, Beth. Yes I’m very proud of my publisher.
Have a wonderful tour! … love the cartoon!
Thanks, Widder.
Love the comic (They’re the only things I read in the newspaper!)! I like post! Next – to get the book!
Thanks, Erik. So glad you enjoyed this post!