and....THEY READ!!!

This week is our Phonics week and we are going over beginning sounds so the students can begin reading. It's funny because most of them say, "I can't read, I can't read" whenever you ask them, "what does this say?" Today was no exception. We began by going through each sound that was in the word and before you know it they were reading them. At the end of the lesson I told them, "You wanna know a secret? You just read! And not just one word but 12 words! How do you feel?" We even wrote sentences on the board and they read those. When the lesson finished they were so excited; it was so cute, they all had grins on their faces and they were telling each other that they had read and rereading the sentence out loud.
It made me think two things, one, kids are so easily impacted by things we say. This can be in the negative and in the positive. It is so important to always keep that in mind, you are working with a easily wet sponge and everything you say can affect them. I know a lot of days I can come in sleepy, tired, and worn out and I am just waiting for the week to end. If I am not careful, pretty soon all my kids will start giving off the same vibe. Just the way you act they will act also. Two, how far a word of praise can go. Who knows, maybe one of them is just thinking that he will never read, and with today's lesson it gave them a glimmer of hope that, yes, they CAN! It even gave one of them a fresh breath that soon they will be reading on their own! Maybe I'm giving them too much credit, but I am an optimist and I like to think that these thoughts are the ones that cross their little brains, even if it's really, REALLY deep.