Ryan Wright ENG 1101 30 October 2017 Early Reading Days The freedom of fun, summer days goes so fast. Kindergarten ended months ago, but now I was a first grader. All I needed was to wait for summer to end. In first grade, I was going to be at school all day. I would eat lunch and see my brother at recess and learn to read bigger books. The excitement of meeting new friends and teachers looms in the air when you realize that THE LIST has been posted. For me, those posted pieces of paper with a homeroom teacher name and students, was the start of school. I found out which of my friends would be in my class. I got to see if I had the teacher that had a thundering voice and never smiled, or if I was lucky enough to have the youngest adult at my school. Lucky for me, my wish came true. Mrs. Bartolotta was the nicest teacher I ever met, and I had met many educators since my mom was also a teacher. Mrs. Bartolotta wore dresses and high heels, she painted her nails for each season, and she always smiled. I was so thrilled to have the opportunity to be one of her students. She had a whole bookshelf full of books that she let all of her students read. The books were in colorful baskets with decorative letters taped to them. Since I came in early to school with my mom, she let me be her morning helper. I got to put out the morning papers, erase the board, stamp papers, and pick any book I wanted to read every day. Anytime we read books, we added them to our Reading Log. I was reading so many books that I filled up my Reading Logs a lot. My mom would take me to the library so I could find more books in a series, such as The Magic Tree House and A to Z Mysteries, that I could read and add to my log. Mrs. Bartolotta let us visit the Treasure Chest every time we filled it up! There were amazing treasures in that box like gel pens, old happy meal toys, pencils, toy cars, snacks and candy. I couldn’t wait to go to school on days that I got to visit the treasure chest. Mrs. Bartolotta made learning to read a lot of fun, even though she started making us write a lot. With an enthusiastic voice, she always said, “Good writers make good readers!” I can remember writing about how to carve a pumpkin, how to make PB&J sandwiches, and even writing a letter to Santa. With Mrs. Bartolotta’s help, writing still wasn’t effortless, but she made it enjoyable. Before I knew it, the school year was moving along. Somehow, it was suddenly May and I began to realize that Mrs. Bartolotta was no longer going to be my teacher when I became a second grade student. I was sad, but I knew I would see her again because she promised us one last visit to the Treasure Chest if we participated in the Public Library’s Summer Reading Club. I can recall begging my mom to take me to the library on the first day that we were allowed to pick up our Summer Reading Club folder. I had plenty of pages to get stamps for every 10 minutes I spent reading. I read and read and read that summer. I read so much that I had to get additional pages to add on the the folder. I was going to make sure I got a few more prizes from the Treasure Chest. As fast summer vacation started, I suddenly realized THE LIST that would end summer would soon be posted. I took a long, slow walk toward the school building list that school year. I knew that both second grade teachers could never be as smart or nice as Mrs. Bartolotta. I didn’t want anyone else to be my teacher. As I was almost at THE LIST, I saw Mrs. Bartolotta’s car pull into the parking lot. I immediately ran past the list to greet her. Imagine my bewilderment when she gave me a hug and said, “I’m so excited to have you in my class again this year.” My young brain was confused. I thought I was a good reader. What happened to make me be in first grade again? Mrs. Bartolotta just smiled and laughed. She explained that a teacher retired and she moved up a grade and was going to teach second grade this year. My heart was so happy, but I needed to see THE LIST to make sure this wasn’t a joke. I ran back to verify that this was really happening. So my second grade school year started, and my teacher’s enthusiasm for reading continued. That year I began listening to her make various character voices for the chapter books she read to us every day after recess. Then I started reading books without pictures, on my own, with the ability to make the books come to life like a movie in my mind. About this time, my school started a new technology system called Accelerated Reader. It was a basic program to log into after reading a book in order to take a comprehension quiz. Before the school year was over, I had read the most books in my class, and according to the program, reached one million words read by the spring. My family, my teacher, and my principal all made a big deal. I got my name announced over the school speaker but more importantly I got a Happy Meal in place of a school lunch one day and a big candy bar. I thought I fully understood the benefits of reading. I will remain indebted to Mrs. Bartolotta for the time she consumed helping me grasp how to read. It really is a foundational skill that has been necessary for my entire education. Although I have not continued to have my former primary school kid excitement for reading, I plan to pass along her enthusiasm for reading in the future.