#promptone

Something I really treasured during my placement in a foundation classroom was reading aloud to students at the end of every day. Reading aloud gives them the opportunity to deeply listen in to the story and appreciate the emotion and expression used to accentuate the story. It is so interesting when there is a dramatic twist of events and witnessing the students involvement and emotion directed towards the story and their anticipation to see what happens next.

When I was in grade four my teacher was very enthusiastic about reading to the class every Friday before we left school for the weekend. Each week a different student got to choose the book from Mrs Smith’s special library books. This became the highlight of my week and many of my classmates as we had the opportunity to relax and listen to a story that we were interested in, as well as Ms Smith’s amazing storytelling skills, it was as though we were inside the story being told. This excited me to have my own class and be able to allow students to choose books to read once a week to allow them to relax, listen and feel as though they are inside the story being told.

I really appreciated this experience, and hope to pass this onto my students one day too. 

The Magic Hat, by Mem Fox instantly takes myself back to my first year of school, sitting inside my prep class with all of my friends and my teacher: Mrs W. I haven't seen this book until recently, and I instantly felt happy see it after so many years, To this very day i can still visualise my teacher reading it to the class - with such excitement, they way she altered her expressions as the pages went on and how everyone in the class laughed at the different voices she read it in. This book as a child and even reading it 16 years on is one of my most happiest experiences of being read too; no matter how many times we heard it we loved it and were so engaged by the story being told. I have constructed a short video, with some of my favourite pages to give you all a visual of the story that will forever remain my childhood favourite.

In Grade 4, my teacher had a reward system where if you were to collect a specific number of tokens, you had the chance of picking the novel that the teacher will read to the class for the term. I had the chance of picking the next novel that the class will be reading, and chose Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone. I chose this book as the Harry Potter series have always been one of my favourite book series. Not many students in my class had read the book, so it was a great opportunity to read it as a class. After completing the book, the next person who had to choose the next class novel chose Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second book in the series. Every student that had the chance of choosing the class novel following that had chosen the following book in the Harry Potter series. It made me very happy that the rest of my classmates enjoyed the book series as much as I did!

I remember in primary school my teacher reading “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” to us. She would have a range of props and get students up to have a role while she read the book to us. I remember my best friend and I got to hold the 2 pears that the caterpillar ate on the Tuesday and we were so excited. We both stood up so confidently and held up a pear each to let the caterpillar come past and eat us. it was such a fond memory and one I will remember forever. 

I am extremely looking forward to having my own class one day that will hopefully share my love for great stories and the way they can transport you to another place. I hope that I can read books like the ones I was read to and loved growing up (especially Harry Potter). 

A/N: SO THAT WAS THE FIRST PROMPT I KNOW IT WAS A DAY LATE AND REALLY SHORT BUT I AM GOING TO WORK HARD ON THE NEXT TOW PROMPTS BYE.