It was my first day of kindergarten. I was going to Pensacola Christian Academy which was a huge school and was very scary to someone as small as I was. I walked in not having any idea of what to expect. I entered my classroom while being latched onto my dad’s leg, and to my surprise, it looked like tons of fun. The room was colorful and filled with everything you could think of. There were toys, books, puzzles, and so much more. Giant posters covered the walls with the alphabet and numbers all over them. The only thing I remember is being so excited to learn to read stories and write.
My kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Kelley, was one of my role models as a child. She taught me to read and write and she made it the most exciting part of my day. I remember her having short, curly brown hair and bright blue eyes. She was the sweetest and most caring person I had ever met. I looked up to her and I wanted to be able to read just like her one day. Each day she set aside some time for something she called a reading circle. This was my favorite part of the day. We gathered around as a class in a circle and we even got to sit on brightly colored blankets, pillows, and we were surrounded my stuffed animals. Mrs. Kelley would read stories and taught us to follow along and read with her.
There were fluffy bean bag chairs lined beside her and the top three readers in the class got the opportunity to sit in them. I worked hard to make it in one of the top spots and the whole class thought I was so cool. Another fun activity that we did was the reading tree. On the wall in the back of the room was a huge tree that had bright red apples all over it. Inside the apples were the names of everybody in the class. For every book we read successfully, we could place a sticker in our apple. Whoever placed ten stickers in their apple got to choose a prize out of the toy chest. The made reading fun and definitely encouraged me to stay up all night and read as many book as I could.
127 our experts are availableright now
The next week was our first trip down the hall to the library. As we walked in a single file line into the big double doors, my eyes lit up. I never in my life saw so many books in one place. There were wooden bookshelves lining the room with what seemed like millions of books on them. Our class would have a trip to the library once a week, even though our class begged Mrs. Kelley to take us more. The second I got home, I ran as fast as I could to my parents to tell them all about my experience in the library and how much fun it was. We loaded up in the car and my parents drove me to the closest store. They surprised me and bought me my own pink bookshelf to put in my room and also let me pick out as many books as I wanted. I had my own “little library” is what I liked to call it. This inspired me to write my own made up books. I used markers and crayons and drew pictures to go along with the story. I was proud to show my parents and read them my stories.
Once I fully learned how to read, I wanted to read anything I could get my hands on. I searched the house from top to bottom for anything to read from cereal boxes in the bottom of the cabinet to my mom’s grocery list I snagged of the kitchen counter. The first book I remember how to read and also my favorite book at the time was “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr. Seuss. I begged my parents to read me this book every night before bed. My mom told me that we read this book so many times, that she could remember almost every line without looking. My mom knew how important this book was to me that she went to the extent of cooking me eggs and ham for breakfast and putting green food coloring in the eggs. To this day, it is still by far my favorite childhood memory.
Mrs. Kelley, my kindergarten teacher, and both of my parents taught me not only to read, but to love reading and appreciate it. Reading helped me experience my favorite memory from my childhood. The book, “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr. Seuss will always hold a special place in my heart because it was the first book I ever learned how to read. My journey with learning to read as a young child, helped me as an adult. It inspires me to be creative and make reading fun and enjoyable.
