I think a lot about how to better make connections with my students. I have a very large class--26 Kindergarteners. When I pick them up in the morning, the first thing they want to do is share something with me, especially after a weekend. I usually don't take the time that I should to listen to each of them, we do have morning work to do and reminders to make about folders, etc. I read somewhere the other day, probably a Twitter post, that you should take 2 minutes to have an actual conversation with each student every day. I really, really try to do just that.
I also try to incorporate their interests into our lessons and the books I choose for their read-alouds. One thing I like to do every year is to share with them the first books I ever learned to read. My sister and I both started reading at about 2 1/2 years old (I credit Sesame Street for that-my mom says that I would cry if I couldn't watch it the twice a day it was on, even if it was a rerun!). The first book I ever read by myself was:
I actually found a used copy of it-thank goodness for Amazon and their booksellers!
And then Jonathan Bloom's Room was one my mom said I liked to read over and over again.
It's so funny to share them with my kiddos because they do not think of you as a real person! You have a mom!?! Does she make you lunch?
They crack me up. But I want them to know I was once in their shoes and reading books like they are reading. Someday maybe they will even share books we read together with their children!
Making connections from our lives to what we're teaching sure does make what we're doing seem all the more real. (I've no idea what book I ever read first.)
ReplyDelete❀ Tammy
Forever in First
I bring my reading journal to school and show them my goodreads page. I remember Go Dogs Go and The Little Engine that Could being read to me over and over and over again. I don't remember what the first book I read on my own was....hmmm going to see if I can figure that out.
ReplyDeleteLaurie
Chickadee Jubilee