Sam's Recipe

Sam (8) woke up hungry for French Toast this morning. As it was quite early, I was still in dreamland. He came in my room, armed with pen and paper, and asked for the recipe. As Sam is not much of a "reader" or "writer," I was wondering how he was recording (and at lightning speed) the recipe I was giving him (half asleep). He left my room excitedly and proceeded to make himself some delicious French Toast. Here's what I found when cleaning the kitchen a couple of hours later:


I had no idea what it was and asked Sam. It looked like some kind of Egyptian writing to me. He said: "Oh. That was my recipe for the French Toast. The first picture is an egg with a one under it to show one egg. The second picture is a picture of a cup with a one over it to show one cup of milk. The third picture is a fork to show that I stir the mixture with a fork. Then I put a picture of cinnamon being sprinkled in the bowl. The next thing is a four, to show that I put the burner on number four. Then I put a picture of bacon grease to show that I have to grease the pan, and finally I put a piece of bread to show that I dip the bread and put it on the pan."

Wow! This was pretty amazing to me. Not that Sam is some kind of genius, as great of a kid that he is; it has to do more with another important part of the learning equation: relevancy. In order for learning to really take place, the information has to be relevant to the learner. Oh, and maybe us moms have to sleep in a little more often!!