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Where it all started
My family believed in reading to their children as early as possible in order for them to become a great reader someday. My mom would usually read picture books to me almost every night. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie was one of my favorites. The mouse really caught my attention and I loved it. My family reading to me was a great start to my literacy. -
Where the reading really began
I started to really get into reading when I entered kindergarten. My favorite animal was a dog and my teacher had an obsession with dogs. The whole classroom was filled with dogs and she had many books with dogs. We would read various books with lots of pictures and more and more words everyday. We would have 5th grade reading buddies that would also come in and read to us. It helped us both by listening and reading. -
Group Circle
In first grade, our teacher would always have us get into a group cirlce and spell out words. We would always go over the strategies of reading so that we could practice using those strategies while reading on our own. Some of the stragies include souding it out, chunking, looking at the picture, etc -
AR Tests
I wasn't always the best reader. I had to start on a lower reading level compared to most of my peers. There was this program called accelerated reader and you would have to pick out books and take comprehension tests on them. You would have a certain amount of points that you would have to reach by the end of the quarter. I felt that this was motivating to read more books in order to get more points. -
More Into Chapter Books
As I was getting older, I started getting really interestd in Junie B Jones. There would be book fairs and I got so excited just so I could get another Junie B Jones book. I was challenging myself because I still wasn't the strongest reader but learned more words at a faster pace. I even joined the summer reading program and we received prizes for reading your goal each summer. -
Batavia History Project
In fourth grade, we had to research our town and create a presentation about it. We had to read books that were all about Batavia and interview people that were from there. After we completed our research, we presented what we found to the class. This is when I discovered that I hated public speaking. This project helped our reading skills and our oral speaking skills. Those are very important and especially as you get older. -
Reading 360
As a freshman in high school, I didn't enjoy reading, so I never read. This made my reading scores go down so I decided to take a class that would help me improve. It was a computer program that had spelling, videos, and questions about the material I was reading. I believe it helped me get back on track, but at my own pace. I never felt rushed. This helped build my confidence as a reader and my literacy skills improved. -
Africa Journal
I had the opportunity to go to Africa my senior year of high school. Our teacher told us to bring a journal so that we could record any feelings or experiences we were having. I will forever save that journal and got to put my exact thoughts down on paper. I read that journal a couple times a year just to bring me back to those days. I think it's important for some people to express their feelings in different ways and journaling is one of them. -
Kenya Reading
I was given another opportunity to go to Africa and this time in Kenya. I spent several hours reading with children ages 5-13 over the course of the three weeks. I was so amazed of how much they could read out loud to me. They were practicing their English and it made me so proud of them. They would use their fingers to guide them as they read along and I would compliment them on their skills so that they would be more confident in reading out loud
