I love what happens when I read... the rest of the world goes away for a moment and I am injected into someone else's world. I like my world just fine, but my world can get monotonous at times. I love holding paperback books. I love the anticipation of starting a book that I just might love and be able to tell others about. I love talking about books with other people.
Then there's reading to my kids. When I was teaching Kindergarten, my absolute favorite thing to do was to read to the class. I had a captive audience - and if some of the audience was a little unfocused, I had ways of getting them back - like saying, "AND THEN - now you won't want to miss this part..." - and they were all right back with me again... well most of them.
So now that I get to read to my own children every day - I get to use different voices and make those stories come alive. I LOVE that my five year old wants me to reread Fantastic Mr. Fox to her before the movie comes out in November - she would "like to have her memory refreshed." What's not to like about reading?
I had Wordgirl on in the background for some reason (I think I just mindlessly turned on the TV and then left the room)....anyway, the word of the day was "Contrary" and they were using that word in so many interesting ways. I'm thinking that Maya might be picking up some of her interesting vocabulary not just from you and Dave, but also from Wordgirl. For example, I don't see you using the word "hideous" all that often--maybe it was on Wordgirl???
ReplyDeleteI need to read Fantastic Mr. Fox myself.
good point - that crazy word girl...
ReplyDeleteOh, and I love to read to my AP seniors, too! I think one way almost any teacher can be sure of a captive audience is to read aloud; however, you need a really good book and you need to practice.
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