Day two: the sly avoider

Well, great news! This morning my friend met me at the door and asked if he could have that Spongebob book for the morning session with my partner. A bit surprised, I exuberantly agreed.

Later, when his class switched and came over to my room, he brought the book, huge grin on his face. "I finished it! Do you have more?"

I put both arms around him and gave him a huge hug. "Do you know how awesome that is?" I exclaimed. "You are such a GREAT reader -- you finished it!" And then I made a huge announcement to the class. "My friends, your classmate C knows what it is to be a good reader! He stuck with this book and FINISHED it!" They smiled and gave him a "Kiker cheer" with their hands.

I always make a point to CELEBRATE any accomplishment -- especially breakthroughs like this.

We headed back to the TV/movie bin, but alas, my other Spongebob books were checked out. But I didn't hesitate a moment -- I didn't want disappointment to set in...

I grabbed another graphic novel, Kit Feeney. We previewed it together and he agreed to give it a try.

How did it go?

Well, after independent reading, he needed a bookmark (which I tell them is a clear signal that they are committed to a book -- they are going to continue on)...

IT'S BEEN A GREAT DAY!