During the time I observed in the classroom, I was luckily to see the class having a mystery reader that day. The teacher gathered the children to the rug and told them that they had a mystery reader. The children were getting excited looking around the room to see who was there as the guest. The teacher reviewed with them what a mystery reader was. Some of the children answered, "when you don't know who it is". The teacher introduced one of the students aunt that came to visit. The aunt was able to choose any book she liked to read to the students. As the students aunt was reading the book she asked a few questions regarding the book. She spoke softly and made sure she answered almost every questions the children asked. After the book was read the student was able to take a picture with her aunt holding the book. The teacher would then print out the pictures and add them to the wall of "Mystery Reader".
I was able to speak with aunt about being a mystery reader. She said that the child's mom told her about the class having mystery readers in the class and that anyone was able to stop by at any time to read any book, it didn't matter how long or short. She decided to come up to the school to show her niece the importance of reading. She wanted to share with her something special as reading, not only to her but to her classmates also. The aunt said that her niece like reading at home and she taught today was a good day to come up.
I asked the teacher how did she come up with the Mystery Reader? She said that a few years ago she had parents that wanted to come in and read but it was hard to schedule times and days for them to do so. While thinking of ways for family members to come up to read at anytime when she taught about being a mystery reader. She first had to explain to the students what mystery was. It was a great way to invite families to come up to read on their time. They are able to pick a book to read that's more comfortable to them. As the years went by the wall of mystery reader has grown. She display all the pictures for everyone to see and it even encourage other members to come and read. Many of the children fuss at their family members to come and become a mystery reader.
The lucky student enjoyed hearing her aunt read a story in the classroom that day. She couldn't stop smiling. I also enjoyed the mystery reader that day. I beginning to see why we stick around the classroom for a few hours each model. Have I not came in that day I would have missed out on one activity that I can't wait to share with my own classroom one day.
Hi,
ReplyDeleteWow that is a great idea to have a mystery writer come in and read to the students. It would be exciting for them and get them interested in the story even before the mystery reader began reading. I think it is a good idea to bring new people into our classrooms to bring new perpsectives to the classroom.
Wendy
Great post and what an excellent experience. I will be making careful note of this mystery reader idea. Moreover, I especially appreciate the notion of displaying pictures of all the past and present readers within the classroom. What a great way to encourage community building and belonging. Thanks for sharing such a fun insight!
ReplyDeleteI loved the idea of the mystery reader coming inside of the classroom and reading to the children. I also love that it could be anyone from the student’s family that can come in and share with them. I was wondering if there was a newsletter given the time that families can come in and read to the class. Have the teacher ever had more than one person to show up and how does she split the time? I think that students will be more involved in activities when families are involved actively. Also another great idea that the teacher had was taking pictures with the teachers and the mystery reader holding the book will allow students to look and the pictures of the mystery readers and talk about the book and what they remembered most. At the end of the year it would be good to send pictures home with the students of the mystery readers as kind of keep sake. It sound like you had a great experience.
ReplyDeleteI really like this idea of a “mystery reader”, something I would definitely like to do in my own classroom! Since your topic is poverty I think the idea of having a mystery reader is one that programs can adopt and the benefits are endless. Parents can be involved, grandparents, aunts or anyone who is willing to give a little of their time for young children. From the books to the personality of the reader the possibilities to give the children a great literacy experience and adventure. November is National Book Month and I think that when I will adopt the idea of a mystery reader having children’s parents and or others sign up for this. Along with reading a book the person could add props or have activates to follow related- to the book experience. I use to take my class to Lincoln Library when our program had a bus. At this library a librarian would read a book followed by an activity. This also is a way to integrate activities and learning domains activities and for programs that don’t have a lot of money it’s important to sill find some way to bring something outside the day to day routines to the children. With the poverty we have to be more creative and think outside the box.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great experience for the niece and the other students. I have been trying to think of ways to get parents to come in and volunteer in my preschool class and I think this is a wonderful idea.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be fun to even take it a step farther and have them read the book and then maybe make a class-book of all the mystery readers and feature the title of each book.
In my Head Start class we have people come in and read but I really like the mystery reader. This would be fun for the children and also a good family and community involvment. Thanks for sharing your experince and ideas. This sounds like a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteHello Kenika,
ReplyDeleteA mystery reader sounds very exciting; I feel it is a good idea so that the students can be motivated for story time. I am glad that the teacher opened the mystery reader to the whole family. It must have been exciting for the student to see her aunt reading a story to her classmates.
Hi Kenika,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to take this time to thank you for all of the interesting posts that you have put on the blog throughout this course. I really enjoyed the idea of a mystery writer and thought that this was a great tool to get the children engaged and interested in the book that was being read. I think teachers need to use creative thinking when working with students because there are so many distractions for students now days.
Thanks fo your posts and good luck in your college education.
Wendy Cave
I love that idea and what a great way to get parents involved in their child's education as well as reading.
ReplyDelete