A Snapshot of Reading

If you take a snapshot of my partner children during reading you will see one child reading the book herself, one child listening carefully, and one rolling away. But this is a far from accurate depiction of my group.

When I first started Jumpstart I was horrified, I mean, how was I supposed to get three children to sit quietly while I read to them for any extended amount of time? And to tell you the truth, sometimes it is a struggle. There are days when my children are more interested in what is going on across the room rather than within the story and other days when they would rather sit on the cubbies or run around than sit quietly. But it’s on those days when you have to remember that they’re children.

And, with that, you have to remember that all children are different. Each child faces his or her own struggles and has his or her own interests. Some days, those differences are extremely evident and it is difficult to attend to the specific needs of each child. 

But, on the other hand, there are the days when their differences bring them together. For example, when the child rolling across the floor is engaged in a story, nothing can stop her from connecting with the characters and find out the solutions. When she and the child reading the book are engaged, the child sitting quietly starts to become engaged and gains more confidence as he speaks up.

This leaves the question, how do I harness these differences to bring my group together? It isn’t always easy but a lot of it comes with keeping my partner children in mind when I prep my materials. Knowing what interests what child helps to keep my children engaged and active in the story. The other part is knowing that I can’t control everything and accepting that fact, I constantly have to be adaptable and willing to take any challenge I face head-on. My reading time isn’t always perfect but it is always wonderful to see how the children interact with one another and having the opportunity to learn more about them.

~Jennie Maibor

Corps member

Team Joy 2