Tag Archives: reading

Is it Catching?

Reflections on teaching, Slice of Life, What Are You Reading?, , , ,

Part of Slice of Life Tuesday Slices on Two Writing Teachers! 
Join in and write on Tuesdays!


It was quiet this morning. I looked around the classroom, wondering why it felt extra calm.
Reading.
Reading is why.
There were a bunch of kids reading.
I should have collected the data. How many kids were reading? What were they reading?

Am I right that reading is catching?

A few weeks ago, we finished a chapter book read aloud: Legends of Lotus Island. Kids started signing up to have a turn to read the second book in the series. So I ordered another copy of the second book and the third book. The librarian lent me another copy of the second book and even gave me a few copies of the first book. Last week I ordered book four, gave it to a student on Monday, and he brought it back finished today. The next student on the list started reading it right away.

Is reading maybe catching?

I noticed we had kids reading each of the books in a series, so I had to take a picture.
“Sit on the couch in order and hold the book up,” I said.

“I’m going to really read it,” the student who had just gotten book four said.

“Yeah,” one of the other readers said, “Me too.”

After the picture, it was time for morning meeting.

“Can I bring this to share?” one of my readers asked, clutching book four.

At sharing, he said, “I am reading book four of Lotus Island!”

And another student said, “I finished that this weekend.”

“Was it good?” I asked.

“It was my favorite one,” he said.

I wondered when Christina Soontornvat might write book 5. I mean, we need to keep this momentum going!

Around the circle, another student had a book in her hands. “I just got this Wings of Fire book this weekend,” she said.

“It’s the newest one.”

So, it isn’t just about one series then . . . reading is catching.

It’s funny. I know that this is how it works – a series inspires readers, readers inspire more readers… a reading culture is created.

But when you see it start to happen, it’s a little like magic.

Magic and pressure – because I gotta fan those flames with more real books!

Celebrate (late)

Celebrate, ,

celebrate-image

 So glad to be participating in the Celebrate link up. Thank you, Ruth Ayres for this awesome Saturday tradition. 

I am celebrating. . .

1)  Back to school reading excitement!  I spent a nice chunk of my winter vacation reading. I attempted to do a #bookaday challenge,  but that was a little too ambitious for my life-with-small-children. I did read every day though, and I loved the consistency and immersion. I shouldn’t admit it, but it also was a good excuse to not fold laundry or clean up  (it helped take my mind of things like bats too!)  I went back to school on Thursday with a small pile of the young adult books I had read, and my students devoured the pile. I told them about my #bookaday challenge, and how even though I didn’t accomplish that goal, just trying it made me read more – which I loved!  On Friday I went to school with my new “to-read” pile, and most of those books were taken as well. It’s sometimes hard for me to give my new pretty books away for students to read first, but I do it anyway!

My "to-read" pile

My “to-read” pile

2) Speaking of reading. . .  I finished this:

Reading In the Wild by Donalyn Miller.
Reading In the Wild by Donalyn Miller.

I have gotten so many ideas from this book for my teaching, and that is something to celebrate! I have already implemented many Wild Reading strategies in my classroom, and now my job is to go back through to all of my post-its and implement some more! I think Donalyn Miller should be celebrated daily. Her books and her confident attitude about what’s important has really given me the go-ahead that I need in my reader’s workshop. 

3) My best friend, K. I met her when I was 3 and she was 4. She lives far away now, but I got to spend (a little bit of) time with her during the holidays. Today her mom came over to drop off a Christmas present. A framed picture of us from back in the day eating our pudding pops. Do you remember pudding pops? They had a little figure 8 of ice on the bottom, and they were The. Best. Summer. Snack. Ever. What I’m celebrating, aside from that icy treat, is the fact that I have K. She may live far away, and our lives may be busy,  but we are each other’s childhood memories and our friendship has lasted over 3 decades.

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