The main distraction in our classroom?

Story books.

Yep, a story will stop 95% of our children in their tracks. You can always tell when a teacher is reading a book because the group gathered around grows bigger and bigger, yet doesn't get any louder. They are drawn so strongly to them that we need to make sure that when we read to a small group that we don't position ourselves near a child working on something else because they will not be able to focus.

Stories are what help us to refocus children who may be wandering around without a purpose. I've used stories to break up a working duo that may be getting too silly. Stories help to get 11 children though the bathroom and ready for nap in under 15 minutes. Oral stories can quiet the lunch table or stop a child from crying. They can even draw the attention of a group who is just minutes away from going home (the second highlight of the day for many children after snack!).

My favorite use for them this year though? Convincing reluctant children in the morning that right after they say goodbye to mom or dad I'll read a story-just for them! It works like a charm and even though it can take up to 20 minutes for them to get to the point when we can actually read they're the ones reminding me about it!

Today I brought in some new stories from the public library for out children to read. Other than one boy complaining that I forgot to get "the little old lady who swallowed a fly" they were pretty excited. I know I personally read at least three of them to small groups, and another teacher did the same. It's amazing how enthralled the children can get.

At the same time reading a story is always slightly sad to me because of what I learned in my Montessori training. The training center is attached to a free public charter school and is located in a low income area. This means that they see a lot of children who are not read to and I was shocked to hear that some of them come in having no idea what a book is. They don't know how to hold the books right side up, or how to turn the pages. In contrast I have a young niece who at about a year old already knew how to use book because she'd been read to so often.

I feel so lucky that the children where I teach already know what wonderful things books are. They're full of questions about them, sometimes so many I need to stop answering so we can actually finish the book!