A Very Nice Afternoon

I was teaching my little heart out this afternoon in a reading conference during independent reading today, when I looked up and scanned the classroom. What I saw brought me to tears.

I saw a couple of kids sitting under a table, a handful laying in various positions on the carpet, a kid sitting in my chair, two kids sitting back to back leaning on each other, and the rest of the class sitting at their seats. As I scanned the room a second time I looked at the books in their hands: Hatchet, Charlie Bone, Darth Paper, Wonder, Brian’s Winter, Princess For Hire (this girl did an actual fist pump because of something that was happening in her book) , Amulet, Bone, Latasha and the Little Red Tornado, The Big Fat Cow that Went Kapow.

What I didn’t see was kids sharpening their pencils, getting a third drink of water, throwing things away, or organizing their pencil box.

Things are far from perfect in my little classroom at the end of the hall. We have a long ways to go and probably not enough days to get there. I wish everyone was reading above grade level, heck, I wish they were all reading at grade level. Although we have our issues and we are not perfect, today was perfect. I got to sit with a classroom full of readers. We spend the day reading, writing and talking about reading and writing.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

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