Fall in Love with Books Again and Again

Our first day of class made me realize again how much reading can be fun and be an adventure with the right book. Fall in love with books again and again could be a theme from our reading this week and our class session.

It was fun to see our class share in our favorite and not so favorite books that we remember. A key theme I saw is the emotional connection the stories had for people. When I see someone have a good emotional connection to a book, it makes me want to read the book too. Teachers’ enthusiasm for reading and writing can have enormous influence our students.

One example I thought our professor displayed very well in class is the description of our text books. She showed how each book could be a valuable resource to our professional career. There was thoughtfulness in the selection of the books we needed in class, and it was nice to see and feel because as we all know, books can be very expensive. However, if we know why we need a particular text, our purchase seems more worthwhile. This is a good example for our own classes. We need to share why we want the class to read or listen, and why reading is worth their time.

The concept of introducing a book is a good main point to remember. Why are we reading this text? Why have you chosen to read this book to the class? Is there a listening purpose? I never asked these questions before when I thought of a read aloud, but now I see their importance. Is there a connection piece to the story and the students?

I like the actual simulation of a read aloud we did in our first class session with the story of Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse. I learned a lot from the modeling done and it made me think about my own experience. In my main placement, one of the routines I started doing is the read aloud section. The first grade class is reading Magic Tree House chapter books. I have only been stopping to tell the kids meaning of vocabulary words that I think they may not know. The kids have a very hard time sitting still for twenty minutes of story telling. I now see the importance of stopping places and having good questions to ask along the way. I can see how this will help with their attentiveness, comprehension, thinking, and listening skills. My concern for first grade is the outbursts and getting their attention back to the story. After you ask a question and tell the kids to tell their partner their answer, how do you get that excitement to calm down and be focused again on the teacher again more easily? Sometimes students are so eager to share how the story relates to their life. When I let one share, then a sea of hands goes up because they want to share too. Then I have to rein them in again. How do I make stopping and going back to the story transitions more fluid?

Another key important point I learned is finding great books to read to kids. It is stressed very clearly the incredible value of knowing your students. Some of the hooks for reading are the reading level piece and also the interest piece. I have a more appreciation for librarians now that this has come to my attention. As I began this week looking at kindergarten books, I was reminded of how enjoyable children’s books and the pictures of these stories could be. It is exciting to know that as teachers we have the ability to be a part of a child’s literacy experience, be a part of their favorite stories, and promote the love and value in reading they can use the rest of their lives.