More than Reading Blog

Has it ever struck you that there are magical moments happening in your early years’ classroom?

On Tuesday, Sandy reads the morning message. “Mrs. Swan. You’ve made a mistake! One sentence doesn’t make sense – a word is missing.” Later, during shared reading of the morning message, texta in hand, Sandy inserts a carat and adds the missing word ‘the’ into our sentence. It’s a magical moment! Sandy thought for herself and solved the problem.

It’s magical when the children re-read their 5 or 6 journals at the end of the year and see their amazing progress in just 10 months.

Colin is astonished when he looks back at his first journal, “Did I write this? I can’t even read it.”  

* Can you read what Colin wrote (below) in his February journal?

* We’ll send a free copy of  Teaching Strategies for Literacy in the Early Years to the first person who sends in the correct translation of Colin’s February journal sentence by January 31^st 2011.

Colin's first journal - February

Colin's fifth journal - November

Magical moments surface when children are immersed in activities that encourage discovery, interaction, cooperation, repetition – when children realize they can do something they couldn’t do before.

Misty mixes blue and yellow paint and discovers green – her joy in discovery is heard by all.

Izzy breaks new ground along her literacy journey as she writes: ‘I have an adventurous bear…’

We see magical moments in children’s art, in their writing and reading. We hear it in their talk. We observe it in the myriad of interactions between children and between children and their environments.

We celebrate
When we see/hear ‘magical moments’ in the classroom, we share them – we celebrate the magic. We share how children are thinking for themselves. We share how children are doing things for themselves. We share how the ordinary changes to extraordinary.

What is a favourite magical moment from your classroom?

Coming next: Starting the School Year