Who Can Read?

'Jeremiah learns to Read' by Jo Ellen Bogart is a wonderful book to introduce the importance of reading to children.  Jeremiah, who has children and grandchildren, and can do almost anything, from building split-rail fences to making maple syrup, wants to learn to read.  At the end of the story he ends up going to school and learning.

The book is also great for creating discussion.  Who is Jeremiah?  Why would he want to read?  What would he read if he could?  I wonder why he can't read.  Do you read?   Who else have you seen reading?  and  next will be What do you read? What have you seen others reading?

I used the book with my fluent readers for guided reading and as a read-aloud with my kindergartens.  With the Ks I went on to do a chart on 'Who can read?'.  They all now know that THEY can read.  They read their and others' names, numbers, some letters...

We are working on this little repetitive book.
They draw, I write the words.

For this little guy I wrote the first page words, he took matters into his own hands for the next.  I never saw it until I checked their books after school.

When I came around to him again and asked what to write this time, he said, "Darion can read."  

 "I can read." I said and wrote it down that way.  Well, he knows what he wants to say, and (honestly, this is the first real writing he has done!)  He wrote it his way!  I love it!