Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A Read Aloud for a Guest Reader

As a "March is Reading Month" celebration we are encouraged to invite guest readers to share a story with students. A few years ago, I invited the super to read. He declined but volunteered the CFO. He was more than willing to read to my fifth graders, but had two conditions. 1) I had to choose the book. 2) He wanted his daughter to come. She was one of our Reading Buddies, so that wasn't a problem.

The book I chose was "Mr. Peabody's Apples" by Madonna. Yes, the famous pop singer is a children's author. The story tells how Mr. Peabody, a little league coach, has his reputation damaged by a player that thought he witnessed a theft. The boy discovers the truth, and seeks to make things right. Mr. Peabody teaches the boy a lesson on how damaging rumors can be to someone's reputation. Repairing a reputation is almost impossible. The story appeals to my fifth graders, as well as younger students.

Sadly, after years of reading this story, our CFO took a new position that prevents him from reading to my students. His daughter is now in middle school, so I needed to find a new reader. Our acting P, who is not a Madonna fan, has agreed to share this story with my three reading classes tomorrow. I'm sure he will hook them. (I think it is important for students to see strong male role models as readers. With only have three male regular ed. classroom teachers at our school, exposure is limited.)

This will also let them meet our acting P, who has stepped in while the P recovers from an extended illness. I'm sure they will be quick to ask if he is going to wear the purple hair the P promised for our 21 MEAP subtests that were better than last year's scores, or ranked us as first in the county. He is sure to defer until she returns. He doesn't think purple and a bald spot are a good pair!

Do you invite guest readers to read to your students? --Marcia
Pin It button on image hover