Pre-K Reading 1/14/2026 – Another Child Gets the Giggles
It’s nice to get back into the swing of reading with the kids following the holiday break.
As we are starting the second half of the school year, there is a tremendous difference as far as the children’s ability to handle basics like letters, some words, and counting… as well as their general comfort level with books and reading. So, most of the children are ready to move on to more complex and variety of books now.
Each week I will bring in new books for the kids to read. Just like adults, once the children get used to reading, their preference for which books they like will vary.
A perfect example of developing preferences happened in class today. I had spent some time at the library in preparation for reading this week. I was looking for Curious George books requested by a new student in the class, Nelson. After choosing a few of those, I spent a little time just browsing through books. I came across two little books by the same author, Chris Raschka: “Doggy Dog” and “Buggy Bug”. I got a kick out of them! They’re short, simple, and very, very silly. They made me smile and I looked forward to reading them with the students.
So today, Cathy and I read Doggy Dog and Buggy Bug. Cathy broke out in a full blown giggle fit. Her giggles made me giggle too, and we just giggled for several minutes, reading the books over and over. I had discovered one of Cathy’s preferences… she loves funny books. There’s always one or two students each year who ‘get’ the funny books. (see The Magic of Funny). Smart kids - always. I have lots more funny books to introduce to the kids over this Spring, which I’m looking forward to.
Not surprisingly, funny books are not everybody’s preferred genre of books, even for children. The previously mentioned Nelson came to read with Cathy and I at recess later that morning. Cathy and I were still reading Doggy Dog and Buggy Bug and having a grand old time. We were excited to read the book with Nelson to see his reaction. So, we read the books and asked him “Nelson, wasn’t that funny?”. Nelson replied, very seriously, “No that wasn’t funny. Look at me, I’m not laughing at all!” For some reason, this made Cathy and I laugh even harder, tears coming to our eyes. But the point is, everyone has their preference for books.
