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This quote comes from one of my favorite books, Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. Though it is a book about writing, it is compelling. Lamott is a great storyteller who has written both fiction and non-fiction. She is a writer who speaks freely about just how challenging writing can be.
Learning to write is one of the most difficult things we do. We first have to learn the physical act of writing and then move on to the craft of writing. As readers, we learn what we like to read and, as children, often do not connect the fact that the books we enjoy are indeed products of writing. Connecting the two disciplines can be challenging.
As September has come to a close, so have our daily read alouds in the WMS Learning Commons. As you may know, the past month featured many WMS friends reading to the children each day. Our special guests included Board members, grandparents, parents, staff members and, yes, even dogs. The children enjoyed the great pleasure of singing a song to get started and hearing about favorite characters in literature. Each day was a little different – though the routine remained the same.
Reading aloud is one of the most important things we can do for children. Read alouds offer the opportunity for children to experience books they may not be quite ready to take on by themselves. The characters come alive through the different voices, expressions and mannerisms that the reader brings to them. Children learn how a book “sounds.” Most of us can’t recall how we learned to read. What we know through research is that reading is multi-faceted. Children move from learning letter sounds to forming words by grouping letters together to eventually reading fluently rather than plodding along word by word.
This week has been spent culling the collection of books in our school’s library. It is a challenging job, especially for people who love books. Each book has its merits – one harder to part with than the next. You can tell so much about our library by the books in the collection. Some draw us in more than others. One of the sections I loved looking at was the books that have word play as the theme. Among the dictionaries, thesauruses and other reference materials, one can also find idioms and books about alternate uses of language or words. 
When I was a child, Tuesday was my favorite day of the week. The Bookmobile came to our local shopping center.
