I come to school early in the morning. I get more done when the building is quiet and my mind has fewer things crowding the (somewhat limited) space. I have a general rule for myself that I only listen to Christian music or music on my iPod in the morning, after prayers, because the news these days is full of sadness, and I would rather that all of my attention can go to my students each day. For some reason, I turned on my radio on Monday for the last 10 minutes of my drive and heard the news from Las Vegas.
I love the half hour after lunch and recess, after the bathroom breaks, long drinks of water and stories of playground successes. Once we calm down, we move back to the rug and settle in for an adventure. I desperately try to reserve this time for our daily read-aloud. This year I have had to be flexible and we often have to wait until the end of the day, but I am desperate to have that special time with them. We love having the opportunity to take a break from our lives and get lost in someone else's adventure.
As an elementary school student, my librarian, Mrs. K, used to read to us. I am sure that my classroom teachers did, too, but I remember Mrs. K's love for books and literature and the way that she read to us. I remember having to wait in suspense until next library class to hear the next chapter. My parents read to us a lot, too, but there is something exciting about adventuring into another world with your classmates. It is a bonding experience. I knew when I started teaching that reading aloud would end up being the most important part of my day. I knew that I wanted my students to wait in suspense for the next chapter in our books. I love reading to my students, but academically, why do I find reading aloud so important? Reading aloud fosters a life-long love of reading! As a teacher, you realize early on that not all readers are at the same place. For some, reading comes easily and early, while others have to work hard on it! In the lower grades, the "stress" of learning to read can easily be associated with the idea that reading isn't fun. With a read aloud, the students gain a lot without any of the "extra baggage." Reading aloud builds vocabulary! In our classroom, it can take ten minutes to read two pages. I will stop and ask the students to make predictions, infer meaning and define words. It is so much fun to hear them use the words we learn from books later on. They often look at me as if they are trying the word on for size! Reading aloud exposes us to a variety of literature! It is easy to get caught up in a series of books and believe that those are the only books you will enjoy. It is also very easy to pick the trendy books or books tailored to a specific gender, and believe me, I am a FIRM believer that we need to let children figure out what they like and read what interests them, but I also believe that because interests change, we should continue to expose our students to a variety of books. This year we will read adventures, fairy tales, award winners, classics, historical fictions, non-fictions and some old favorites of mine. Many of them they will have heard of, but many of them will be brand new adventures that we will explore together. Reading aloud models fluent and expressive reading! Fluency is a red-hot topic in the world of reading instruction. Fluent readers read fluidly, smoothly, at a reasonable speed and are able to comprehend what they are reading. Both fluency and expression while reading are developed over time with lots of practice! The more that a child hears fluent and expressive reading, the better. I happen to be a fan of voices and varying my tone to suit the book. It makes it more fun to listen to, and WAY more fun to read!! I will always cherish the time that I spend reading to my students. As I said above, I wait for this time of day. My goal is that every student leaves my classroom with at least one "all-time favorite book!" and a lifetime love of books. One of my passions is high quality children's literature. I also love Catholic literature for children. If you would like recommendations for your child (or have some for me!!) please don't hesitate to e-mail me! Many blessings, Elizabeth I begin the year calling my students authors. Even when I taught the wee little ones, they were authors- usually of tall tales of late bedtimes and imaginary friends that were whispered loudly in my ear. In 3rd grade my students are authors of incredible stories, non-fiction tales and beautiful poetry. I love to sit on my couch (or on my chair at school) and read what they have written in their journals or on thin newsprint paper. I learn so much about them, their families and what interests them when I read what they write. I learn what makes them laugh, what scares them and what they really think about the books they read. During Writer's Workshop, we often share as a whole group and in pairs, but I have been eager to start peer conferencing. I want to encourage my students to not only be learners and authors, but also teachers and editors. So this week we began learning how to edit using the Editor's Toolbox and editing marks. I explained to them that editing marks are a sort of universal code between authors and editors. This was a hit. Anytime I can turn something into a "code," I do it. It makes the whole experience much cooler. Since editing marks are a code used between author and editor, I thought we may as well dive right in to peer conferencing. I encourage peer conferencing to be a completely positive experience. You can take a look at the picture to the right of our Peer Conferencing Expectations to get a real taste of what we are doing when we are editing. I am so proud of their writing, imaginations, handwriting improvements and sheer determination. I can't wait to see what they come up with next! Many blessings, Elizabeth |
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