It's been a while since my last post... sorry. I'm stopping in for a short bit today. My fellow blogger and colleague Karmen from The Naturalista Teacha and her 3rd graders visited my kindergarteners as our Mystery Readers for the morning. My class did a great job! They were great listeners and even the ones that I thought might have trouble enjoyed listening to the 3rd graders read to them. Check out her post filled with great pictures.
I have started doing the Mystery Reader reading initiative in my classroom each year around Dr. Seuss' birthday. It was something I saw in a magazine or something and it has just taken off. I first used mystery readers when I taught preschool and that was many, many years ago. But the process behind it, if you haven't done them before, is that parents/teachers/staff sign up to read to your class. It can be any book they want, doesn't have to be Dr. Seuss themed, and they can just read to your class or they can bring a prop or dress up. I have only had about 2 people dress up and a few people bring props. One year I had an aunt of one of my students dress as The Cat in the Hat (face paint and all!). One year the Spanish teacher came to read to us, first in Spanish then in English and the kids got to make butter while listening to the story.
It doesn't have to be complicated, I really just want the students to take the time to do some fun reading and active listening. Plus it gives the parents/teachers/staff an opportunity to put their job aside for a few and take a breather.
Do you have readers or mystery readers who come to your classroom? Don't forget to check out our Mystery Reading Buddies post from Karmen.
Enjoy!
