Those Magical Moments

Friends keep asking me how this year is going... and quite frankly, it's off to a great start!  The students are sweet and eager and seem really into reading, especially.  In fact, we have already had TWO perfectly magical read aloud moments. 

Do you know what I mean by that?  Those moments when students seem to be hanging on your every word and just totally enthralled in the story?  It makes me melt.

ATP even documented one of them.  That's right, 55 kids looking up at ME!

It's almost an out of body experience and one I totally don't take for granted.  It's those moments that make you remember "THIS is why I wanted to be a Language Arts teacher!!!"

So what books were we reading, you ask?

The first (the one in this picture) was Fly Away Home by the incomparable Eve Bunting.  It's a powerful and touching story about a homeless boy and his dad who live inconspicuously in an airport.  We were using it to teach "Fix Up Strategies," but it's also great for theme, symbolism, and powerful social lessons, too.

Friday I read Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O'Malley as a way to introduce fiction genres.  It's a hilarious read aloud about a boy and a girl who have to work together to write a fairy tale.

Check out both... you won't be sorry!  Maybe you'll even have your own perfectly magical teaching moment!