World Read Aloud Day

World Read Aloud Day takes place on the 7th of March - a Wednesday.  If you want to know more, click on the picture below and read about it on the LitWorld's website.

My class and I will take part, unfortunately Wednesday is a day when they go to a Secondary school in the morning for such things as cooking, metal work etc.  So we will really only have the afternoon, and  we will make the most of that.  I will need to discuss with them what exactly we will do.

The thought of dedicating such a day has got me thinking about reading aloud.  I believe it's really important and I have always read aloud daily to my class.  While I never read aloud as a child to my younger siblings one of my sisters did and she entertained them with many a bed-time story.

When I went to primary (elementary) school in the '50's we had radio broadcasts. One such broadcast was a book that would be read aloud.  Only excerpts, that would make you want to go out and find the book. I loved listening.  I still listen to books on my ipod!

I have been teaching for around 37 years, so I guess that's a lot of books read aloud to my class over time. I don't remember most of them, although there are a few that stand out. Once when I was teaching 10 year olds, a girl brought to me a book called Momo by Michael Ende and asked me to read it to the class.  I did that, we were all totally in love with Momo and I remember to this day the sense of togetherness we shared and I remember the student who suggested the book.  She would now be nearing forty years of age!

Another time while teaching 8-9 year olds I read them The Magic Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton, one I had never read myself but one that my sister read to our siblings and they had all been enchanted by it.  Remembering that I picked out the book from the library - lots of pictures- and settled down to share it.  Not long into the book I had the children all inching closer and two of the 'tough' boys hanging over my shoulder ready to turn the pages.  I know Enid Blyton is a frowned upon author, with good reason, however when I was growing up she was my main diet as there was very little else available to me in my small New Zealand town.

Last year I read aloud Because of Mr Terupt by Rob Buyea and again there was that anticipation each day as we began to read and groans and pleadings to continue when I put it down.  I believe there has been mixed reviews to this book, however we are on the "we loved it" team.  I think it may be one of those books that really works best when read aloud.  We skyped the author and he read aloud to us the first page of the sequel.  We will be among the first to buy it, and I am sure he was rewarded by the spontaneous laughter that erupted from the class as he read.

About ten years ago I had a class of 11-12 year olds who just didn't like reading, nothing chosen suited. I heard about this wonderful new book out - Harry Potter - so I hurried to buy it and began reading it aloud. About a quarter way through the book I had to abandon it.  It did not take!  I was so disappointed and for many years was mystified as to why such a popular book did not work.  A few years back I read somewhere, someone writing that in their opinion Harry Potter was not a read aloud book. Who knows? It didn't work for me that year.  I could count on one hand the books that I have abandoned over the years so I guess that is remarkable.

When school starts back on the 31st of January in New Zealand, I am ready to go. I can't wait to begin sharing with my class "Okay for Now" by Gary D Schmidt.  I know my class and I know they will love this book as much as I do.

How about you?  What book really worked reading aloud to your class? Do you have one that you remember that just did not catch fire?

Sype with author Rob Buyea - author of 'because of mr terupt'

Over the last number of weeks I have been reading to my class, "because of mr terupt". The story is about some fifth graders and their teacher. A very special teacher. My class and I were enthralled by this book, each time I ended they would groan. I always seemed to end just at a place where we wanted to know what was going to happen! I didn't do that on purpose, I was reading the book for the first time along with the students. The book is written from the viewpoints of  seven students, and it is only when each character's voice is heard that the reader builds up the story. This is just one very clever aspect of this book.

Where did I hear about this book? I live in New Zealand and this book is not published in New Zealand or sold here. This is where the beauty of the internet comes into play. I read about it on The Two Writing Teacher's Blog. That post and its links made me want to read the book. My next decision was would I buy it on Kindle, or as a hold in your hand book. As I know that students often want to read the book for themselves after I have read it to them, I chose the hardback version. Great choice!

Then today we were able to meet Rob Buyea, the author of this outstanding book.  For a whole hour we were able to share with him our thoughts about the book and ask him questions.  It was a magical hour, and a great end to our first term for 2011.  I finished the day on a high. I owe my thanks to the Two Writing Teachers and also a teacher on Goodreads, who said he was open to skyping with classes.

To those of you who have had a skype with an author, I hope you share my excitement in our ability to do so these days, even if they live thousands of miles away, to those of you who haven't, do it, it is a wonderful experience. Hopefully it will switch my students into reading and writing even more than they are already.

Technicalities.
I did have some heart stopping moments as I am sure many of you identify with.  Our internet was working at lower capacity and slower than normal.  After sharing my anxieties with the Principal, we set up with his notebook, which linked with cable, rather than my wireless laptop.  The video reception was not perfect, we could see Rob well although there was some breaking up of the picture from time to time.  I had linked our computer to speakers so there was no trouble with sound!

There was some slight problems with accents.  New Zealanders have a very odd way of saying the short 'e' sound. (Don't tell Australians I said that!).  So we had a few laughs later about that.  However we were delighted. I am still on a high!!