#4 - Loads of Reading - Great Reminders

Wow - I finished reading all the chapters and I feel energized. Okay a bit overwhelmed too. I sometimes forget that some children don't have a lot of back ground knowledge and it's my job to help them love to read. Starting with the cover and the importance of print concepts. The assessments we do on children is so important we don't want to assume anything. We must report the facts. Understanding the importance of terminology as well as punctuation marks are important as a reader. Our reading for chapter 6 is jammed full of suggestions and information such as the ten pointers for reading aloud. Rehearsing before we read to children. We need to preview information to be sure it's appropriate. The way children are arranged. I know that's a must in my classroom. Drawing children into my group by changing my voice is an important too because I model how to read. At my school we model, lead, teach and reteach information. Children love to hear a story more then once. I like how they defined the goal of reading which is to construct meaning from text.

I have never taken a personal day but I did for the first time in 20 years. I flew to Boise State University for Parents Weekend. I read at the airport and in the plane and the lady that sat beside me notice that I was taking notes. She said my grandaughter reads to me and I need to help her. Is that okay? I found myself going into the importance of reading and recognizing print as well as sharing research based information. I encouraged her to do picture sorts, read alouds and the importance of connecting phonics instruction with words. This chapter was loaded and I shared information I was learning and reviewing. She asked me about readability and lexiles. I felt confident in sharing the knowledge I've learned in this class. I've been doing running records this week. My student has great days and then he comes up with some make believe stories too. I wish this class lasted longer. I feel like there is so much information to hold onto. I'm looking forward to our class time.