Spring Blooms

Ahhh.... spring! Our weather isn't consistently great - rainy and windy one day, sunny and warm another.  My students aren't consistent either.  Reading fluently one week, then completely slowing down the next.  Somehow they don't let these valleys on the line graph stop their enthusiasm for learning.

The best thing about working with developing readers is watching them bloom in the spring.  This is the time of year that I don't have to pull them through text.  More of them are pushing themselves.  They've made such strides, and their confidence has increased.

I don't follow a set curriculum with my readers, but sometimes I feel like I haven't taught them nearly enough this year.  When my students get rolling, it's dangerously close to the end of the year.  I start to stress out. 
Then I stop and breathe. 
I realize that it's better to do deeper thinking and understanding than to rush through a bunch of text.  I can't worry that we haven't gotten through enough lessons in my intervention kit.  The point of helping developing readers is to help them find books that they like, then another book, and another.

This is my renewed goal for the remaining weeks of school.

I like to tell my most stubborn students, "I can't make you love reading, but I can help you dislike it a little less."  It's time to plan some book talks!