Rosetta and Carter: School Readiness is a Family Affair
Having parents engaged in a SPARK lesson makes all the difference in the world.
As Rosetta took the book from their SPARK Parent Partner Missy, she turned to her son, Carter, and said, “the name of this book is Bunny Cakes. Who do you think makes the cake in this book?”
“Bunny rabbits,” he replied.
Rosetta paused after reading each page and asked Carter a question. Sometimes his eyes strayed to the other items on the table, but Rosetta always brought him back to the the book by asking a question or having him point to an item on the page. Together, they read and talked about how the bunny made a cake for her grandma.
For each activity Missy brought, mom and son engaged together. The Bunny Cakes lesson uses the cakes in the book to teach counting, sorting, shapes, and colors. Carter named the shapes of various cakes, and then Missy asked him which cake was his favorite. He said, “The Spiderman cake, and I know my mom would like the heart-shaped cake.” Rosetta agreed.
Missy asked Carter to come up with ingredients for a cake he would like to make. He decided his cake would require one dozen eggs, five cups of sugar, a hundred teaspoons of jelly, one bag of chips, seven sticks of butter, two cups of flour, and seven cups of honey.
Mom and son then used measuring cups and spoons to place the imaginary items in a bowl, counting as each ingredient was added. With some help from mom on 60, 70, 80, and 90, Carter happily counted to 100. Rosetta had him mix the imaginary ingredients by telling him to “use those muscles you always show me to stir.”
When Missy asked Carter to draw a cake in his journal, he said, “Mom, you draw a cake too.” And she did.
Rosetta’s a single mom with three young children. She appreciates that the SPARK lessons give her uninterrupted time to be just with Carter. They’re working together to be ready for kindergarten.