Reading is FUN!

Just about 3 years ago, I volunteerd to be a mentor with the Everybody Wins! mentor reading program. My first year, I was paired with a female student** who had just started 2nd grade in a DC public school. Once a week during our lunch time, we would read very beginner books. Even though she chose to be a part of this program, she was very timid to read. She often got the words "on" and "one" confused. She was really only interested in the pictures and she would choose her words based on what the pictures may have been implying rather than what the words really said. Each week, we continued to work on her reading. We read in various ways whether it be her reading the pages on the left, and me reading the pages on the right, or her reading for as long as she could go before getting frustrated, and me picking up the rest. When the year concluded, progress was evident. She was still reading at a lower pace than other 2nd grade students, but I was so proud of her progress. When it came time to sign up for the next school year, I knew without a doubt that I needed to read with my now 3rd grader if she agreed to sign up for the program again! Sure enough, she did. We were so excited to read together again, and even though she does very little reading at home or during the summer, we picked up right where we left off. Closing out the end of her 3rd grade year, she began to show signs of the ability to read "chapter books". This was huge! Her attention span could not hang on to a book with more than 20+ pages, but at least her desire was there. One of the last books we read in her 3rd grade year was a chapter book that had over 60 pages. I made a BIG deal over this!! I was so proud of her!!! She did it! She read a real chapter book and her confidence soared. I began telling her that I could not wait to continue reading chapter books with her when she entered 4th grade and that we were finally able to read one of my favorite books ever! Sadly enough, she told me that her mom had mentioned that she may not return for 4th grade and if she did, she did not think she would sign up for the Everybody Wins! program again. My ego felt a bit deflated and rejected (isn't it amazing how you can feel rejected by a kid more than half your age?) but I hoped that after a summer off from reading, she would return to 4th grade at the same school and realize she missed me (high hopes, eh?). I signed up for the program as I have the past 2 years, but this year I indicated I would only do the program if I was paired with the same student as last year (hoping that she had signed up for the program as well!). Sure enough, she signed up!!! Which brings me to yesterday, our first day of reading in 4th grade! I am so proud that I now have a 4th grader who is excited about reading. Once my girl** picked up her lunch and walked into the reading room, she ran up to me! I gave her a huge hug and could not wait to hear how her summer had been. Before she could tell me about her summer, she said "lets go pick out a book!". When we walked up to the book shelf, she asked "Kristen, what is your favorite book that you said we could read in 4th grade?" I think my heart sunk. My absolute favorite, most memorable book from 4th grade was Judy Bloom's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (ever read it?).

We found it on the shelf, and jumped into reading. She read an entire chapter, on her own, with very minimal assistance. When she wanted to take a break, we started filling out our "get to know each other" sheets (which we laugh at now because we already know each other!) but it was fun to catch up on her current list of best friends and when she had to answer her most favorite book, she said ............ TALES OF A FOURTH GRADE NOTHING! ahhhhh I was so happy!!! We have read over 100 books together, but as of yesterday, she says that is her favorite book. It was one of those moments that hit home in that spending just one hour a week with a child to help them read can make a difference in their life forever.

In other news, I follow a virtual book club and they just announed the second book!! I'm off to the library to pick up my copy. The first book they chose was something so far out of my realm of choice books, but once I started reading it, I couldn't stop. I actually read the entire book in one sitting. I spent hours on end flipping through the book as fast as I could, which left me SUPER excited for the 2nd book to be announced! Come join the book club!!

**due to the privacy of the students, I am not able to include her name, school or photos of her on here.