Emma’s class is really devoted to reading. They have a silent reading period every day. They have beanbags and nice chairs to sit in. I remember doing that once in a great while when I was in elementary school–we called it a read-a-thon and I LOVED it! Emma gets to do that every day. They also have a dedicated period where the teacher reads to them everyday. They have finished quite a few books already. They also do numerous activities centered around the books they read–they dress up as the characters, they cook meals like they ate in the books, and act out parts of the stories. It is really wonderful!

Emma has always liked to read, but lately she has been LOVING reading. She started the Harry Potter books and I think that just pushed her over the edge. In a matter of weeks she has read hundreds of pages and is now on book 4. As part of the reading emphasis, the kids can sign up to do “book talk”. This is the equivalent of book reports from when I was in school, only the kids are much more into it and much more involved. They aren’t required to do them. If you want to do it, you just find a time slot and sign up. You can ready any book you want.

Emma has done one already. Last time she made a poster and talked about the book. This time she really went all out. She did her talk on “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets”. She made an amazing poster. She drew each of the characters from the book. I seriously don’t think I could have drawn as well as she did! Then she decided she wanted to dress up as Hermione Granger. Since she has been so into Harry Potter, I decided to order her a nice costume. It came just in time and Emma was thrilled! She couldn’t wait to get to school today so she could do the presentation.

It sounds like it all went well. Emma was happy with it and she said the class LOVED her costume. I’m proud of her that she worked so hard on it! I didn’t get any photos of her, but her teacher did. She also videoed the presentation. As soon as I get it, I will post it here.

I am so happy that Emma is so excited about school. I feel so incredibly lucky that she has such an amazing teacher. I can’t wait to see what the rest of the year will bring for Emma in 3rd grade!