Literacy Filled Tuesday

I woke up on Tuesday with a terrible cold so I was dragging a bit at school. However, I managed to have a good day because it is hard to feel miserable when happy children surround you. We started off the afternoon with a writing lesson that Alexis conducted about describing words. She read a story about a potluck and then asked the children to think about their favorite food and describe what it feels, tastes, smells, and sounds like when you eat it. The children really liked this lesson and they enjoyed talking about their favorite food or drink. Some children wrote about iced tea, cucumbers, apples, macaroni and cheese, pizza, ice cream, hot dogs, and lollypops. After writing workshop we went into a math lesson where the kinders worked on making 7 with green and red blocks and then drawing them. The first graders did the same activity only they made 11 instead of seven. After math we went outside for a quick recess and arrived back in our room greeted by our 4/5 reading buddies. I found it so fascinating to watch a blind fifth grade student read a story to one of our first grade students. She would read the story using brail on a sort of handheld device while the younger student (first grade) looked at the actual book, illustrations, and flipped the pages. As I watched I become completely intrigued by this. I thought about how this is a prime example of the best possible situation to describe “no child left behind.” When I was growing up, I do not recall having disabled students in the classroom or participating in activities like reading buddies. However, this scene was so neat and I am so happy that my student is paired up with a blind student because she will learn so much and be so open and accepting towards all people.