Struggling Readers

Today we watched this video of this well known author that basically tells her story of her childhood. She struggled with reading in school and was picked on and bullied because of it. She really thought she was dumb. One day her teacher Mr. Falker confronted her about her reading and worked with her everyday after school. One day all her hard work and dedication paid off and she was able to read sentences, and paragraphs. She was later able to thank him for being such a great teacher and not giving up on her other teachers have. This book would be great for the first week in a new classroom to set the tone for a class, to teach about bullying, and also to teach about perseverance. Not everything is going to be easy in life, but never give up!! I plan to use this book in my future classes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abN2aP_Dzd0

As a child I remember reading came easy to me but I had a lot of trouble with comprehension. I have a great memory so I knew all the site words right away and I was a very fluent reader. However when it was time to answer questions about what I was reading it was a different story. My parents read  me books and I had many books in my room. While I was a good reader my brother struggled with reading. He is 15 months older than I but he got left back in first grade, so we were in the same grade from first grade on. This was more challenging for him as I found reading and learning easy and he struggled. I also have a found memory of being in 5th grade and reading to the first graders. This was very enjoyable for me and those children. I now read for fun when I have time which is something I have never really enjoyed. One of my favorite books in early elementary was The very very hungry caterpillar. I as well as many children to this day enjoyed reading it over and over again. I think reading is important and should start from a very early age.

Here were some of my favorite:

http://valderi365.com/?tag=sweet-valley-twins

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_in_Sockshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_in_Socks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Wild_Things_Arehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_the_Wild_Things_Are

Fox in socks,. (1965). New York: Beginner Books.
Sendak, M. (1963). Where the wild things are. New York: Harper & Row.
Suzanne, J., & Pascal, F. (1986). Teacher's pet. Toronto: Bantam Books.