Little Iguana by Carmie Ruiz

            I read a book titled Little Iguana written by Carmie Ruiz and illustrated by Sheila Bailey. I was actually told by the teacher in the classroom to read this book to the students. The book corresponds with vocabulary words they are learning and it includes words beginning with the letters that they are studying.

            The children sat in a tight circle around me while I read the book to them. The children listened to the story as I read it and often said words that they knew as I was reading. I asked them questions about the book as I was reading. Some of the questions I asked included: Why did they put an igloo in the glass cage with the iguana? What does the iguana do in the igloo? Why does the family have an iguana? The children’s answers to the questions were very impressive. They all had different, interesting responses.

              I applied my class readings to the experience by remembering the different components that are critical to reading aloud. I read slowly, clearly and remembered to ask meaningful questions about what they thought about things in the story. Also, I made sure they could all see what was in each picture and knew what it was. All of these factors I learned in class are very important when reading aloud.

            I felt very good about the experience of reading to the students. They were interested in the book and even were able to read most of the words on their own. They were very excited about the story being about an iguana and several of them had comments to make about iguana’s characteristics.

            The experience benefitted the children because it helped them see several words they already knew in review. They remembered several words that were in the story and were able to read them and got them even better by the end of the book. Some of those words they had been studying and were able to review and grasp better after I read them the story were: like, is, the, have, and little. 

            I didn’t have any problems when reading the story to the children. They were all very focused, attentive, and responsive to my questions. Having a small group to read to made the task quite simple. Also, having them very close to me on the rug made their behavior easier to monitor.