I love reading.  Losing myself in a story and connecting with the characters is a great way to relax and enjoy myself.  I could spend hours in a bookstore browsing, including in the children’s section.  I believe it is my responsibility as an educator to inspire a new generation of children to become life-long readers.

 

Last year in 2nd grade, I loved sharing my favorite authors and stories with my students.  It gave my joy watching my students go to the classroom library and pick out some of my favorites, or what had become their favorite series.  When I introduced Amelia Bedelia stories, one of my favorite characters, the students laughed a lot and then those books were flying off the shelves.  I loved when students asked me to read a book during Daily 5 that I had read during a Read Aloud or introducing a reading strategy.  It was very rewarding at the end of the school year to hear from parents how much their child loved to read all the time, even compared to some of their older siblings; they attributed the love of reading to the teacher.  It helped me realize that I had accomplished my goal of sharing my love for reading with my students.

 

This year in 1st grade, we have an Author of the Week.  Each day, we read a different book written by that author for a read aloud.  We talk about the author and illustrator, and sometimes they’re the same person, if the book has a dedication page, and styles and similarities between the authors.  This theme really helps students understand the purpose of writing and the parts of a book.  When it is library check out time, students love finding books written by the current, or past, Author of the Week, and they proudly share these with their teachers!  The librarian loves having a theme because she can more easily direct young readers to good books, and she creates a stack of books by that week’s author for the teachers to use.  So far this year, Eric Carle, Leo Lionni, Jan Brett, and Mo Willems have been the favorite authors.  I helped introduce Mo Willems using the Elephant and Piggie books; I have never had students laugh out loud as loudly as mine did when hearing these stories.  Even at this young age, students have a joy for reading and hearing new stories, and I think we are successful at instilling a love for reading in them.

 

What are some of your favorite authors and stories?  How else do you share your love for reading in the classroom?

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