Jaime's Ch.11 Reflection

I agree with Taberski that matching children with books is not that easy but it’s very effective. I’ve seen the Kindergarteners in my class gain confidence when they’ve read books that were just right for them. I’ve also seen children ‘bark at the text’ when the books were too hard. Taberski also mentioned that teachers should have about 1,500 books in their classroom. I think my Kindergarten mentor teacher had more. I had to pack boxes and boxes of books during our move to the library (due to the renovations). I told my mentor that I was going to hate books by the end of the day. She had books in the closet, in the back of her room, and in the back of her desk.

I guess teachers have different approaches when it comes to selecting books for the students during library time. The Kindergarteners at Kapalama and my daughter’s kindergarten class are opposites. At Kapalama, as Leila mentioned in her post, the teacher chooses 22 books for the children, lays it out on the table, and then when they’re done completing their library work they’re allowed to choose a book. My daughter’s teacher at Hokulani, allow the students to choose their own books. I think it works in both cases. Choosing the books for the children is good because you’re selecting books that you think are just right for them. The ‘junk’ part is that it might not be interesting to them. On the other hand, allowing children to choose their books is good because they’re choosing books that interest them. Some of the books my daughter chose were too hard for her but I read it to her and she enjoyed the story. I guess I just have to get to know my students and figure out which method would work best.