Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Reading to My Babies Reminds Me of My Class

I have been reading to Nolan and Brooks more and more lately. My mom saved a ton of books from when I was little and I have started a new collection as well. I've always loved to read, and I hope to pass that love on to my children.

Most of the books are just "baby" books with sounds, colors, textures, and things like that. I had a Peter Rabbit one at Easter that played music and a colleague from school sent me a book about little league, which I read to them recently. But I've found myself using my "teacher voice" now that I'm reading books with more words: I use different voices, I give dramatic pauses, and I point to the pictures.

In doing this, I am thinking more and more about my class still at school and previous classes I've had. One of the greatest parts about being a teacher was to see the joy on a child's face when reading a story to them. No matter what the situation, whether a child was screaming, crying, fighting with another child; whether it was raining, snowing, or gorgeous outside; whether it was Christmas, Halloween, Easter, or Groundhog's Day, there was always a book for the occasion. If a child was crying and didn't want to be consoled, I could quietly get out a book, sit on the floor, and that child would be sitting in my lap 5 minutes later listening to me read.

I had a class that was 90% boys one year, and at Halloween I was reading a book about a little witch. On one of the pages, there was a description of a Halloween party that talked about cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, and a black cat on the stairs...... and a raven on a shelf. Being from Baltimore, and this particular day being purple Friday, I had a little boy (complete with spray painted purple hair to go with his jersey) say, "Hey! I don't see a Raven!" I was confused at first, and then had to hold back my laughter as I had to explain how the 'Baltimore Ravens' actually had to do with the name of a bird. That example of innocence and devotion to sports, and how he related it to a book thrilled me and makes me laugh to this day.

I also had a class that could listen to me read to them all day. I read the longest books to them, and I'd let them lay down on the floor and they just loved it. Snow White, Cinderella, The Lion King, everything. I had a boy one year who acted like he didn't care for me very much. But at Christmas, when I read The Grinch, and I let them all sit around me instead of in front of me, he sat smack up against me and at one point I felt his head on my shoulder. And now I'm so excited I can do it with my boys.

I want to go back and see my class. I'll take the boys with me, but I think I'll wait for the weather to get a little nicer and then hopefully the school will be more germ-less! I can't wait to see my old students. They were so excited for me to have babies. I had such supportive parents and co-workers, too. It made all my struggles that much better.

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