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Reading as an infant
When I was young my parents always made it a priority to read to me at various parts of the day. This would include bedtime stories as well as always having books available in my bedroom and house. -
Reading with neighbors and peers
Growing up I had multiple kids on street that I grew up with, some were older and some were younger. This held a lot of opportunities with learning about different stories. -
Pre school
My first school experience was going to preschool when I was 4 years old. This was where we had circle time and introduced to more formal reading times. We also had more opportunities to read school like books that we would see later on in elementary school. I feel like this is where very popular books like the very hungry caterpillar were read to us, and this sparked a love for reading. -
Kindergarten
In kindergarten one reading event that was a constant thing to be excited about, was reading buddies. Every week we would partner with an older classroom to do reading as pairs. Sometimes we would read outside on our school field or even in our school garden. This allowed us to read advanced level books with older students, which really intrigued me. -
3rd Grade
This was the first time we read a larger chapter book in elementary school. I can remember us all being very weary of the name of the book, it was 'The tale of Desperaux'. This book was so interesting to me because it involved humans and animals talking in the book and being involved in the story line. We also were able to watch the movie after we read the book which was interesting! -
4th grade
In 4th grade my teacher really prioritized us reading as a whole group. We would each have our own individual books where we were able to follow along as our teacher read. I can remember the book that made the most impact on me as a young reader. The book was called island of the blue dolphins and we go to do multiple projects and have class discussions that kept us excited and engaged. -
6th grade
In 6th grade one of my teachers also made it a large point for us to read individually at home with assigned chapters. We would come together in class to talk about certain points and ask our own questions. I feel like this was the first time I started reading in a more private setting and found that I really liked reading and it had a calming affect. -
Freshmen year of High school
Summer reading became a large part of high school. This meant we were assigned a few books over the summer to read before the school year started. This helped me discover different genres of reading and what I did or didnt like -
Sophomore year of High school
During my second year of high school I became very interested in reading more fiction books on my own. I feel like this was because I had a friend that gave me really good book recommendations and I was able to talk to her about it! Some of these books included hunger games and the mortal instruments. -
Currently
From about 2017-2020 I don't think I picked up a single book. Though this changed with the pandemic happening. I fully started reading again because there was simply nothing else to do. I have made it my goal to read weekly if not every night. In 2023 I read 24 books and my goal this year is 30 books. My favorite read of 2023 was Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros