My favorite part of the week is my 1 hour at Ready Readers.

It's so much fun. I spend an hour looking through the kids section at the St. Louis Library. Sometimes I find some really fun books or new books. For example, I always loved reading the book "Harry the Dirty Dog" at Nana and Papa's. Did you know that there are sequels!?! I read it last week. The kids loved it! Anyhow, I check out 2 or 3.

When I get to the classroom, I'm greeted by kids shouting "Our Ready Reader is here! Our Ready Reader is here! Hi, Ms. Joyce!! Hi!!!" A little reception committee awaits with cute little hands. Best reception committee ever (sorry Mr. President, or even the Cardinals). Generally handing out name tags is a big deal because each week I draw a picture on their tags about something that we read about the previous week (e.g. pancake, car). They go nuts. Basically, it ensures that they wear the tags, because I sure need them to say some of the names!! :)

We read some books. My goal is to make it funny, but stimulating. It's so cute. A few weeks ago, I taught them what an opinion is ("It's your very own thoughts on something. Everyone can have a different opinion. There's no right or wrong answer. You can LOVE something or not like it at all. I'd love to hear both") The little bambinos are well trained now. Hands go up when I ask for three opinions at the end of each book. This week one kid said "My opinion is..." *smile* It generally ends with some attempt to persuade me to enroll in Kindergarten.

It's just a fun and meaningful experience with kids who are under-served. I am so passionate about reading, education, and kids, so it's a perfect fit. This week was my evaluation from the organization. I'm a keeper! :)

On a funny note, it's not always all butterflies and roses. My first week, a child said "Excuse me. Why is your foot doin' that?" It was shaking a bit (the chair was high and I was a tid nervous - and yes, I used tid instead of tad. Neologist). I love that kids are that observant, and they tell it like it is. It makes you check yourself to make sure you're being real and honest. They see through anything else in a second.

It's so cool to have fun and do good at the same time! I've been blessed abundantly with this gift!