read aloud

As I establish who I am as a teacher, I think back to the things that I loved most in school. From day one of teaching my class of littlest kids (thats right...the ones who asked me if I could speak German as I was speaking German with them...love) I started reading them picture books. There is something so magical about the marriage of pictures and words that builds bridges of understanding. Plus, I love reading picture books. I have almost exhausted the library's collection. Well, of books that I find enchanting. I love knowing that when I love something, they will love it too. And I love it when they beg for another book when the first one is over.

Last week, I started thinking about read-aloud for one of my older classes. It started with looking for Encyclopedia Brown (remember, these kids are kind of obsessed with mysteries) ... which led to finding From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, another childhood favorite ... which led to The BFG. I checked out all three and have been wandering through childhood read-aloud books for the past few days. Although I have come to the conclusion that it is too close to summer vacation to start any short novel, I have decided that, come fall, I will start reading aloud a chapter of one of these books every week. I am pretty excited.

Now go read a childhood favorite. ~love~