Reading Aloud...Don't Stop!

This post about reading aloud to older children got me thinking about reading aloud. I remember being read too so fondly. Some of our family favorite included The Wind in the Willows, Watership Down, the Tolkien trilogy, and Stuart Little. I remember being cozied up with my brothers listening to my mom read Peter Pan during a thunderstorm. During a particularly dramatic moment, my mom read about how Peter spied, "PIRATES!" and with a clap of thunder, the electricity went out! I sometimes have conversations with families about their emergent readers. Sometimes they want to push their children to read aloud, saying, "But they can read! They should practice!" While young children are working hard to master the difficult task of reading, it is so important to hold onto the pleasure of discovering new worlds through reading together. So take the time to enjoy those moments...they are the stuff of imagination and memories!

The Teacher and Curriculum

"The teacher neither brings the curriculum to the school nor is he or she solely the creator of such. Rather, the teacher is only one of the contributors to the creation of the relationship they call 'school'."

--Carol Brunson Day, in The Unscripted Classroom by Susan Stacey 

This quote inspires me as I consider all the ways that learning happens with young children. In so many ways, the role of the teacher is that of the facilitator. We are opening up and shining light on the explorations that young children naturally encounter. We are creating environments to provoke and engage young children's creativity and imagination. We ask questions, tell stories, laugh, and ponder alongside your children. In short, we engage in "relationship" and together make school.