I’m taking part in the weekly Slice of Life Challenge sponsored by  Two Writing Teachers, where teachers write and share each Tuesday. Join in yourself or head over to check out what’s happening with other slicers. If you’re taking part in the SOL, leave a link to your post. I’d love to read it.

I look forward to Friday’s in my classroom, and not for the reason you might think.  Friday’s are the day we set our reading goals for the week.   For 10 minutes we all read together.  Since students need to read for the entire 10 minutes to set their reading goal, I don’t feel guilty for not conferencing with as many students as I can during this time.  Instead I get to read along with my students and share with them from the books I am currently reading.

I also take time to watch my students while they read.  While each class is different, there is nothing I love more than to watch my students read, each lost in their own world within the pages.  Some students on some days still look for distractions, but most of them eagerly look forward to the time of uninterrupted reading.  Here are some of the scenes from yesterday:

• A boy who finds it difficult to sit still in a desk perches across the top of two desks pushed against the back wall, reading Gary Paulsen’s Flat Broke.
• A girl who had not read much this week finally got her hands on John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars Thursday.  When she came in Friday, she had read 170 pages and couldn’t wait to dive back into the story.
• A girl in a different class is also reading TFiOS.  She came in and told me, “I’m in love.”  I asked, “With Augustus Waters?”  She nodded and I answered, “Me, too.”
• A boy in one of my morning classes groans when the timer goes off at the end of the 10 minutes.  “We can’t stop now.  I’m at a good part.”
• After I shared the book I was starting this week–Hollow City by Ransom Riggs–one student shared the first volume he started yesterday.  Another student quickly snapped up a second copy of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children that another student had just donated to our library.
• While students share a summary of what they’ve read, I hear students claiming dibs on classmate’s books as soon as they’ve finished.  As students enter class, I hear a common refrain, “Have you finished ____ yet?”

Now I’m off to finish Hollow City this weekend so I can give it to the students who are waiting to read it next.  I hope your weekend is filled with good reading and writing.