I have been reading The Book Whisperer By Donalyn Miller. Donalyn is a 6th grade L.A. and S.S. teacher. She believes in the power of reading. Although I am a First Grade teacher, I found much of what she said about teaching the love of reading to line up perfectly with what I believe even with "Firsties". I had just been reading the section about "stealing time for reading" on Sunday, Mother's Day. As I slipped in to my pew at church I waved "Hi" to one of my "Firsties". Then I noticed that she was reading her library book. I smiled to myself although I had mixed feelings. I was so happy to see that she was "stealing time to read" but in church??? My worries were soon put to rest, for when the service started she quietly closed the book and put it to the side. I feel validated that we truly can teach a love for reading to 6 and 7 year olds. They can learn to use every minute to get in a bit of reading time. There is nothing I love more than reading stories to children. I have always hoped it was contagious. Our school is moving toward the Daily 5 model for our schedule and the CAFE for our conferring. Everything is coming together. I love my job!
I'm a kindergarten teacher and I'm right in the middle of reading The Book Whisperer. It's bringing me right back to the 20ish years ago when I started teaching. Can't believe how much time I spend on skills and not actually reading! UGH! Reading First and NCLB killed my schools goals for reading. Hope we get the love of it back. Thanks for sharing and I hope other teachers read it!
ReplyDeleteThanks, you are so right. Our school is really making an effort to move in this directions. I have watched such a change over my 20 some years of teaching as well. I love where we are headed.
ReplyDeleteI am an elementary school librarian. I am reading Book whisper, also. I love the section about " Stealing time for reading". I am going to do a bulletin board using that ideas. I thought I might take pics of kids reading in unusual places and put up a list of suggestion.
ReplyDeleteI am going to recommend this book to the teachers at my school. Maybe try and do a book club.
There is no such thing as too young to appreciate reading. I love the thought of encouraging children to read whenever they have a few spare minutes. You may not realize how much you read even when you only have a few minutes to spare.
ReplyDeleteBarbara from Online PhD UK Programs