Video.

As part of our literacy program using The Three Habits of Highly Successful Reading Teachers (I don’t get a cut of the sales, I promise…), Mrs. D. and I have been preparing a packet of materials to send home to parents. A few weeks ago, I had the brilliant idea (Mrs. D. was reluctant, but much as I usually do, I plowed ahead) of videotaping parts of our instruction to help parents transfer the specific skills we’re teaching at home.

Last week I videotaped some lessons and posted them on our class website. Today we finally were able to gather and package the materials to send home. As part of presenting the materials to the class, we wanted to share the videos. If you’ve never watched a class of five-year-olds watching videos of themselves, let me tell you, it’s an experience.

There were smiles, laughter, giggling, covering of eyes, and plenty of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ – I was having more fun watching them than the videos. It reminded me of a recent news story I saw about dolphins responding to their reflections in a mirror – magical.

When we told the class they were taking home materials to help them become better readers and writers, they literally screamed with glee. Come ‘on – it doesn’t get much better than that. You would think we had just told them they were having an ice-cream pajama-pizza movie party, not sending home alphabet charts and sight word lists. Kindergarteners love learning and I love them for it.