Reading is a Laughing Matter

The other day, we were busy publishing our first poems for our Poetry Anthologies.  As the children finished, they went to the carpet, chose a book and could read alone or with a friend.  I was pretty much preoccupied with helping the publishers finish their first poems when I looked over at the carpet and just had to stop, smile and grab the camera.  I'm not sure if we have ever mentioned this before but our class LOVES books.  They love to be read to, they love reading on their own and they love sharing books with friends.  It is often a mad dash to the front of the classroom where many of the new favourite books are stored.  Sometimes children bring in their favourite stories to share with the class.  After a recent trip to the public library, one of the students had brought in 8 joke books he had found.  They quickly became very popular.  Anyways, as I looked over at the carpet, it was exciting to see the children just loving books.  They were sitting in little groups giggling and enjoying literature.  I must admit most of the jokes were pretty corny, but there they were, a bunch of six and seven year olds, totally focused on reading.  Having children develop a love for literacy and find reading a pleasurable way to spend a morning is pretty special.  Joke books are definitely on my wish list.  What a great literacy center or different genre for the children to explore.

Thanks L for bringing in the books.  We enjoyed the laughs while practicing our reading!