Me as a Reader

I love the first few weeks of reading for several reasons.  First I enjoy learning about my new class as readers.  I already know that I have a huge group of students who love fantasy and another group that likes classics.  I have several students who aren't sure how to find time for reading in their lives. Finally and most exciting my students know that their teacher loves reading and is a reader. I shared with them the different books I read this summer and some of my different reading communities including blogging and twitter.  We created this anchor chart:  Reading is Fun.  I am excited for students to begin to write about "Me as a Reader"

"Me as a Reader" is an amazing community building experience for our new class.  Each student brings in a photo of where they like to read.  I ask each student to be in the photo reading a book.  After we share our photos (yes I share mine also) we start discussing their lives as readers. If you were able to eavesdrop in our classroom you might have heard students sharing their favorite spots, favorite titles, how it is fun to read under the covers with a flashlight.  

Finally we ended our conversation with Wonder #611 Do you Judge a Book by its Cover?  What a great way to weave community building into reading.  After watching the video which is from Britain Got Talent (Susan Boyle singing for the first time) one of the students said, "Mrs. Caplin why did they judge her before she sang?" From there we discussed the multiples meaning of this phrase and discussed the importance of previewing new books before making a decision as well as new friends in our class.  We left our first class comment and we're off and WONDERing for the new school year.  I suggested for homework that the students should go home and share the wonder of the day and leave a comment.  It's going to an amazing year of reading in Room 228