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Story Time
In preschool, we used to have story time where our teachers or volunteers would read to us. We also used to walk to the library nearby and attend story time there, and complete a craft afterwards. This was when I really started to learn about books and reading. -
Learning to Read
In kindergarten is when I really started to learn to read. I remember learning letter sounds, sight words, syllables, and other things that helped me learn to read. One thing I really remember, is learning how to sound out each part of the word, so that I could put it all together and create the word. I also remember clapping out the syllables in a word. [https://youtu.be/lY8JG85nxmQ] -
Sharing Stories
My first grade teacher Mrs.White was big on reading, and always encouraged us to read books, and write stories. I can remember writing stories and putting them into a hardcover book that we designed, and at the end of the year, we had a book full of stories. We would read our stories to the class, and I remember finding this really enjoyable. -
Technology and Reading
In third grade, we had a reading program on the computers. It was brand new, and everyone was so excited to use it. We would read, take quizzes, play games, and it would track our progress. Our teacher was able to look at it and keep records of our scores, as well as see our progress. I remember doing really well with the program and enjoying it a lot. -
Reading with Dr. Suess -Read Across America
In fourth grade, we celebrated Dr. Suess's birthday by participating in Read Across America. I remember reading some of his books, as well as a bunch of others. If you know Dr. Suess, you know that his books are like tongue twisters and incorporate a lot of rhyming. I surprised myself , and the teacher when I was able to read one without getting tongue tied. We even made up our very own Dr. Suess'esqe stories. -
Summer Reading
Starting in 6th grade, we had to do summer reading. I remember dreading it, and not wanting to waste my precious summer vacation reading, but I actually ended up really liking the books. -
Mrs. O'Connor
I would say that I always liked reading, but it wasn't at the top of my favorite things list. In ninth grade, my English teacher Mrs. O'Connor changed that. She had a way of making the stories we'd read in class come alive. She'd engage us, get us into the story, and really make us understand what was going on. She'd relate it to the real world, or retell us certain aspects in a way that we could fully comprehend. She made reading fun and interesting. -
Rekindling My Reading Relationship
During the end of my freshman and up until my junior year, I went through a rough patch. I kind of lost touch with the things I enjoyed, didn't want to deal with school, and definitely didn't want to read. I finally got back on track, and was able to rekindle my relationship with reading. It's safe to say that reading helped me get out of the place I was in, and helped me move forward. I was able to read about things that related to what I was going through, so that was helpful too. -
Graduation!
2008 was my senior year of high school. During this year, I wrote one of the best papers I've probably ever written. I was asked to share this paper, and even won an award for it. Reading my paper aloud was one of the most nerve wracking things I've ever done, but it was nice to share my story, and express myself to a large group of people. This really taught me how our words can touch other people, and how reading aloud can really help convey a message. -
Telling Stories
When my nephew entered kindergarten, I had the opportunity to go in and read to his class. They absolutely loved it, and it brought me back to one of my favorite past times. I was also able to read with my nephew at home, and help him learn letters, sounds, and how to sound out words. It was really neat to be able to do this, and to see how my knowledge of reading could help him.
