Donna Lowe Blog Post #2 Routman Chapter 3

One day last week I hurriedly stuck a note in each one of my first grader's homework folder's that said, "Please let your child bring in a favorite book from home to share with the class tomorrow."  The next morning at 7:30am I was amazed as 19 children were begging to show me their books at the door.  Honestly, in the early morning rush of getting myself and my family ready for the day I had not thought once about those books yet.  In fact, it took me a second to figure out why everyone was shoving a variety of books in my face at 7:30am.  But once I did, it was so sweet.  I saw a Llama Llama book, a little golden book (the ones with the gold on the edges), a Minecraft book, a Treasury of FairyTales, and so many more.  Yes, I did have one or two who forgot their book apologizing for not bringing theirs, but thankfully I have baskets full of books for them to choose from.  One thing I noticed was this:  It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor, have new books from Barnes and Noble, old books from the attic, books from a yard sale - children will love books if they become available to them.  They love the pictures, the colors, the animals, the superheroes, and the chance to pretend that they are part of the book.  Most of all, they relate to the person who introduced the book(s) to them.  They will remember who sat and read that Little Golden book with them in the rocker.  So, I think that as Routman suggests that we create a classroom library and an effective independent reading program, it is essentially the connection that a teacher and a student make as readers.  Routman states, "Our students admire us and want to emulate us." I agree.  Young students want more than anything to connect or share something in common with their teacher.  When we, as teachers display our love of reading books and provide books and time to sit together to read, a connection is made.  Over the years I have shared my love of the Magic Tree House series.  I have started with number 1 each year and some years have gotten as far as #28.  All of my students, past and present, know that MTH are my most favorite books.  We have even had parties where the students could dress up like their favorite Jack and Annie character from their favorite MTH book.  Kids come back to me the next year showing off which MTH book they are reading. I have chosen those books because they relate to boys and girls.  There is a main boy character and a main girl character in each book.  I understand, as Routman discusses, that we must help students find books that interest them.  To close, as my students "turned-and-talked" about their favorite books to one another that day last week, they were enjoying discussing their books.  As they shared out loud about what they had learned about their partner's favorite book, they were quoting full titles and authors names.  They were about learning new books from one another.  Sometimes they can teach one another better than I could have done.  The connection between books and people help make reading enjoyable for so many children and adults.