-
Dr. Seuss
The first books I ever remember reading were Dr. Seuss books. The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham were the first from the series that I can remember using picture clues to help with the words in the books. Dr. Seuss books were very colorful and fun to help promote reading for fun. -
Story Time
In Kindergarten we would get into a circle and listen to our teacher read us a book during story time. Our teacher would make reading fun and entertaining which began my love for reading. -
Reading Week
In 1st grade, our teacher would have people from all different professions come into our class to read to us throughout the week. The person who was reading would come dressed in the clothes they wore for work. This added excitement to the reading of the books during the week. -
Read-A-Thon
In 2nd grade, we began doing Read-A-Thons where we would get pledges of money for our school fundraiser for every book we would read. There were prizes involved for how much money you would raise. This was a great incentive to get students to read. -
Baby-Sitters Club Series
When I was in 2nd grade I was introduced to the Baby-Sitters Club. This was the first book series that made me want to read for pleasure. My bookshelf was full of Baby-Sitters Club books. -
Goosebumps
After the Baby-Sitters Club books, I changed my reading style to more suspenseful reading with the Goosebumps series. -
Check If You Are Reading
In 5th grade, our teacher would randomly call home to the students and ask the parents if their child was reading. We were instructed to read every night during specific time periods and if the teacher called and your parent stated that you were reading at that time, you would get a certificate for a personal sized pizza from Pizza Hut. This was another incentive program that helped shaped my love for reading. -
Harry Potter
The Harry Potter books were the first set of novels I began to read. Harry Potter completely changed my reading experience. I would finish a book within a week or two and couldn't wait until the next book came out. It is the only series of books that I still to this day will reread because I find them so entertaining to read. I can still to this day remember the exact month and year that I began to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and I remember beginning to read it on an airplane. -
Poetry
Reading and then having to write poetry in high school was a creative way to express my feelings. I found reading poetry to be very therapeutic. -
Out Of My Mind
In 2015 I began my journey back to school. I took a Special Education class and had to choose a book to read for a book report project. I read Out of My Mind and it really made me want to become a Special Education teacher. The book was very moving and it changed my outlook on life.
