Reading During Recess? {Slice of Life Story Challenge}

I ran an errand today during the second indoor recess and when I came back, I was surprised to see four to five girls with books out and reading at the carpet.  I've taken some ideas from the book Playful Purpose and have my students sign up for an area during indoor recess in hopes of promoting more detailed play and lots of social skills.  Reading was not on this list as an option and never really has been; we just finished independent reading.  I scan the room and notice reading was added to my sign up board in very cute student handwriting with a list of participants underneath.  How can I say no to any of this.

Then M comes over to share with me she finished a book and started a new series - Judy Moody.  She's so excited to share with me a discovery she made.  The end pages have pictures of each character and a little bit of information about them.  To me it looks like a mini biography.  We just did a reading mini lesson yesterday and discussed how sometimes readers get confused about the characters and one thing they could do is take notes about each one on a post it note.

M is grinning ear to ear and energetically sharing how this book has already started what we talked about yesterday.  She's going to share what she discovered with her classmates tomorrow.  Watching M connect a mini lesson to her own reading made me realize how helpful authors can be to support their readers.  I'm going to school tomorrow to see if all the Judy Moody books have this support and hope on their own my students add reading to our inside recess choice board.

Thank you Two Writing Teachers for organizing this Slice of Life Story Challenge.

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