From the mouths of babes

Sometimes teachers have those magical moments we witness in the classroom.  Words of wisdom spill out of the mouths of our students articulating an idea in a golden way.  Yesterday was one of those video-worthy moments.  I even had a college student present in the room.  After modeling some thinking during an interactive read aloud, I invited the kids into the idea that we might come back to the text the next day and get more meaning, read more closely.  "But we already read the book!"  Then, Alena, with all her 8 year old wisdom said, "Like getting the juice out of it?" in reference to the text. "Yes, Alena!" I encouraged her further.  "Say more about that."  She explained how thinking was the juice you get out of a text while reading it." Next, I gave more shape to her idea to make it more accessible to the other students, "You're suggesting that a book can be like an orange.  We can read and squeeze out the thinking, like juice.  When you come back to the book another time, there can still be more juice there to squeeze out if you think more deeply, squeeze harder."  The lightbulbs went off over many of the kids' heads.  A collective, "Ooohhh!" escaped their lips.  Smiles spread across faces as the understanding sunk in.  These are the moments we treasure.