First Steps

Thinking back, I can't really remember how I first started to learn how to read, but there are moments I can recall when I was engaged in reading. My mother used to always read to me every night before I went to bed and there is this one book I will always remember. It was called Goodnight. I had her read it to me every night and could not go to bed without hearing it. Eventually I memorized the whole book and pictures. I also remember that this book was read to me around the same time I learned how to read in school and eventually I would read it with my mother. Like I said I don't really remember how I started to read, but I do remember reading off of a big notepad in front of my kindergarten class during reading time. We all sat on this rug facing our teacher sitting by the notepad. We would first start off the day by reading or writing the date and weather of that day. Then we would create different sentences related to what our teacher would be talking about, or she would write something on the pad and we would all read it together at the same time. Other than that I can recall a time in second grade when we were able to pick a poem from one of Silverstein's poetry books and had to memorize it. This definitely helped me read different poems that are not always easy to read fluently. I was always good at memorizing things but this assignment was a significant point of my life because it really helped me build my confidence in speaking in front of a class where as reading something out of a book out loud for the first time gave me less confidence.