“Can I join the group?”
I look up from my warm up work with three first grade readers and find Mason’s eyes staring down at me.
We have about done with our “Catching blends warm up,” but scoot over, as does Sienna and say “Sure, Mason, join us.”
He sits right down, grabs a dry erase paddle and a marker. He looks for an eraser, sees Sienna’s and silently decides he’ll share.
“Say swim.”
“Swim.” they say in unison.
“Tap out those first two sounds. See if you can catch the blend.”
“/S/ /w/…/sw/” they all slowly say.
I watch and listen.
“Write it. Catch it on your board.”
They all write and read their blend. I see the pride in their eyes. They have caught the blend.
“In the books you are reading now, well, and forever, you are going to see lots of words with blends. You better be ready to catch them.” Mason’s eyes have that “I’m ready look.” “I bet you all are even using blends as writers. I bet the stories you are writing have words with blends. You all are going to be the best blend catchers!”
I pass out the book and we move through the introduction and jump into shared reading. I watch and listen. These readers before me are engaged. I am happy right where I am. Watching and listening as readers grow.
let's observe 
Nothing better or more exciting. The fact that Mason asked to join is huge. He loves his time with you. He sees it helping him. He is growing as a reader. Also, Sienna sharing her board. They’ve come a long way. A tiny snippet full of good stuff!
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Your words hold the spark of students eager to learn and be successful. I love that about first graders. What a community of learners you have there!
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Really appreciate how you capture the dialogue of the learning.
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I can just picture this scene happening so clearly. It shows too how comfortable students are with you and each other. Nice job building that community.
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I can picture the whole thing! We had big drama in my room over the need to share an eraser. It can be so hard for children to share! It’s good your students did share and didn’t disrupt the lesson.
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gorgeous dialogue here! and I loved the “catching the blend” phrase!
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