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Nevada Reading Week, or Reading is Almost Magic

All week long as the kids read a book in my classroom, they fill out a little card and we tape it on the wall. We are making a “bookworm.” This morning I looked up and said, “Wow! You guys have been reading. How many cards are up there?”

Izzy — the laziest kid in the class — jumped out of his seat and ran to the wall. Touching each card he started to count, “One, two, three…” his classmates and I stared in open-mouthed surprise. A couple of kids even pointed at him. “…four, five, si–.” Izzy stopped. Shrugged his shoulders. Looked at me. “A lot,” he said, then he plodded across the room and plunked into his seat. For just a moment I had hoped ….

(Jasmine is in the process of taping the 102nd book card on the wall.)

Quilly is the pseudonym of Charlene L. Amsden, who lives on The Big Island in Hawaii. When she is not hanging out with Amoeba, she is likely teaching or sewing. Or she could be cooking, taking photographs, or even writing. But if she's not doing any of that, she's probably on Facebook or tinkering with her blog.

16 Comments

  1. 102 is very impressive, unless you have around 100 in your class of course. We are very pleased because Katie our daughter started school last September and she is currently in a class of 12, the normal class size in Hull is around 30.

  2. Bazza — I have 23 students. My largest class (which was in the smallest classroom I’ve ever had) was 47 students — 7 of whom were named Juan. That was an interesting year.

  3. Wow, 102 books! 7 Juans, I had some teachers who could relate. When I was in kindergarten there were 5 Kathy’s, 2 Kitty’s, and 1 Kitten.

  5. It is a lot of books. Pretty much all my kids are doing is reading (they scream when I try to teach math, and that’s usually our favorite subject). And one of my non-readers was reading out loud — choppy, but he used to not have the confidence to try. I see progress!

  6. That’s actually pretty exciting. I don’t think we ever had anything like that when I was in school, though my siblings all participated in a program and got free passes to the amusement park on the Jersey Shore (Wildwood). That was great fun…though, sadly they were only in it for the goods. Now unless it’s an assigment for school they won’t pick up a book.

    Heck, my (very smart) sister wanted to drop her Honors English class because she didn’t want to read Farenheit 451! Can you imagine?

  8. Darn! I was *cheering* there for a minute! LOL! 102??? Your kids have read 102 books in ONE WEEK??? I AM impressed!

  10. Silver — I don’t remember this kind of stuff either. It’s fun. I enjoy it every year.

    Doug — you can’t count any higher than that, either?

    Melli — you know of course that they are reading intermediate picture books (yes, there is such a thing!) They aren’t reading novels — but they do have to do a synopsis of each one, and I ask them questions about the story for proof they’ve read it.

    Dr. John — as a rule anything but sitting requires too much energy expenditure for Izzy.

  11. The poor kid probably saw y’all staring at him with mouth agape, and realized he was blowing his cover. Either that or he saw, just before it was too late, that his toes were covered …

    Would Marcia have counted any of those 102 as books? I don’t imagine any of them was Moby Dick … 😉

  12. OC — it was the realization that he was actually standing of his own free will. Don’t get me wrong — this kid will play soccer for hours if one lets him, but in the classroom he sits in his chair and stays there — period. That glimmer of enthusiasm yesterday was something to behold. If I could just capture the essence ….

    Marcia? [shudder] She would be horrified by the state of my classroom these days. I have pillows, comfy chairs and stuffed animals for lounging while you read. The boys are currently reading in goups, clustered around an almanac. Clearly that is not real reading — but ask them anything about the planets in our solar system — including why Pluto is no longer considered a planet — and they’ll tell you more then you want to know. (Just don’t ask, Ty, okay?)

  13. Hi, Quilly, and thanks for trying to overcome blogger. It was worth coming over here for your comments; I owed you a visit!

  15. Impressive. To make a lazy student jump up out of his own accord, that is the first step!
    What will teh 103 book be?

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