September 16, 2010

1 of my few talents:


I've never had a lot of fun talents that I could share at parties or in the talent show.  Nope, can't Irish dance or sing or even something silly like tie a cherry stem with my tongue.  I AM though GIFTED at reading aloud.  No seriously.  I excel at read alouds.  Reading aloud to the students is my favorite time of the day.  Last year I didn't make time for it as often as I should have.  This year, I am really making an effort to fit in a few minutes a day.  I love it, the kids love it, and it's a great opportunity to expose the kids to grade level text and model fluency.  But I digress.

In my attempt to make my fifth graders fall as deeply in love with read alouds as I am, I decided to start the year with a silly read aloud.  I chose Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar, one that cracked me up as a 5th grader.  My kiddos DIED over it--they laughed constantly and would actually quiet down and listen intently when I started reading!  

We finished Sideways yesterday afternoon, and I immediately pulled out book two, Wayside School is Falling Down.  Anyways, yesterday afternoon I had a grade-level planning meeting to work on our interventions, so my kids were with a sub (side note: one of my library checked out calculators seems to have disappeared during that time...sweet...), and she read the first few pages of Falling Down aloud.  Today, I pulled out the book and asked how they were liking the beginning of it.  I was SHOCKED when the kids gave me a lukewarm response!  "Eh, it was okay." 
I gasped, "What, you're not liking it?!?"
Someone volunteered, "Well, the sub read it to us."
Half joking, I responded, "What, she wasn't as good at reading aloud as me??" 
"No!  She wasn't!!!"
And that's what made my morning: not only have I succeeded in my goal of getting my kiddos to LOVE listening to a read aloud, but they think Wayside School is funnier when I read it. :)
Not that I need constant reaffirmation, but it is nice every once in awhile... ;)  I teach for moments like this...

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