First Grade Drawings

And they're reading...
 It's been seven school days since we started putting sounds together and making words.  They did learn how to sound out simple words in Kindergarten, so for some students we are still doing review.  Others have forgotten.  Even though I know the process of teaching a child to read, it is still partly a mystery how this really unfolds.  I'm glad the first month is behind us.  We had a good beginning, but I'm ready to move past this in-between stage.  It's such a relief when they can read well enough to reread the directions and figure things out themselves a bit more.
Most worksheets that my students are doing right now require a little reading but if the child is very observant, they could do much of the paper without reading at all. My students have one set of worksheets that always make me smile.  This set of papers must be read.  The word is given and they need to draw the picture for the word.  My smiles come from the pictures.  Here are a few of the pictures.

 rip Note the hole in the shirt.

 rat.  The artist was a bit unsure about the feet.  I had to hurry them along so the paper would get finished.

 rug.  I like the detail.

 man  Yes, don't forget the beard...  and ears.

men  Interesting perspective.

I like these worksheets.  Some students don't like them at all but there are always a few that excel in artwork and love these pages.  And it's fun to see their creativity.

An Exciting Week

One thing that I have been passionate about for many years is reading.  I remember being punished as a child with "no more books for the rest of the day."  That was a tough punishment.  I also remember responding by asking if I could still read my Bible.  Of course Mother wasn't going to ban Bible reading.  At least one time I remember taking her up on that.  Somehow the intended "revenge" wasn't as sweet as I thought it would be.  Thankfully as I matured, Bible reading was part of my passion for reading rather than revenge.

Now as a teacher, I believe that teaching students to read well, both in mechanics and in discernment, is key in their journey of deciding to do with God's Word.  Obviously if they never learn to read the words on the page, Bible reading will be difficult.  If children's reading material exposes them to much evil, they can be led far from truth while they are easily swayed.  If their reading material is too sheltered, they will grow up thinking that one should believe everything they read as truth. 

I just realized how far off subject I have strayed.  The main point of my post was to show off the books that arrived for my classroom this week.  Our classroom really needed some books of it's own and now we have some.  What better way to get children excited about books!

 This first set of books are going to be used for reading class in the second half of the year.  I'm pretty excited about this experiment and I think the students will be, too.

 The Hardcover books (all ready for our shelves).

The soft cover books.  Sure wish books came already covered with contact paper, but I'm happy enough with my books that I'll try not to complain. 

The students have figured out that the secretary keeps bringing us more books.  They've started to get excited when she walks in.  So do I.

Tonight I went to a 15 year high school reunion.  I think 17 out of 31 classmates made it.  I enjoyed seeing this group again who was such a huge part of my world for 4 very formative years of my life.