Reading Camp Rocks- Week 1

 


     My soon-to-be kindergartner and I enrolled in a Reading Camp (the name I assigned in order to create excitement) or more formally termed a summer reading program offered by Saint Louis University and taught by the Institute of Reading Development with a friend and her son.  This being a parent/child class, I am sure it comes as no surprise that we, the parents, were much more motivated by the anticipated learning of teaching strategies and learning skills.  Our squirts, on the other hand, were moved by our hopeful promises of, quite simply, fun (see picture below, but ignore the mess in the background).

Reading Camp here we come!

     Thus, with GPS in hand and hyper children in tow, we made our way to Reading Camp which happened to be housed in a local high school.  What ensued was a stimulating 90 minutes.  A young graduate student facilitated the class and brought us to attention by teaching us attentive faces (wish I had thought of that when I was teaching)- large eyes and small mouths. 

Attentive Face

Being in this secondary classroom, my inner immature desire to fool around just a bit behind the teacher's back was immediately quashed, and I was soon modeling excellent behavior by sitting up straight in my chair.
     The icebreaker involved students telling their names (after being called upon) with the teacher circling the coordinating letter on the board that begins the name.  I was giddy when a young student announced her name was the same as mine only with a different spelling (okay, I am a big kid at heart).  What was endearing, though, was remembering the pride at this age associated with one's name (before wishing for another name-aaah, how I longed to be "Melissa" for years) as well as the self-confidence one gains when knowing how to spell his/her name.
     After some rhyming activities with eager participation, the teacher read us Caps for Sale as we "followed along" at our seats.  After a retelling of the story, students chose a character from the book he/she wished to enact, and a dramatization was soon in full force at the front of the classroom under the teacher's guidance.  A goofy smile spread across my face as this activity brought to mind my own fond memory of my half-day kindergarten eons ago when we acted out Goldilocks and the Three Bears on what seems to me now a daily basis (a shout out to Mrs. Ziegler!).
     Camp ended with a telling of our homework assignments for the week.  Stay tuned for more Reading Camp Rocks as well as an upcoming Book Partay.