Pre-K Reading 4/1/2026 – What’s in My Bag?

You’ll see from the image above that my book bag is getting very heavy these days. I may need to switch to a rolling book bag! It’s heavy because each child in the class has developed their own favorite books and I want to have everybody’s favorites on hand.

Some kids want the Brown Bear series of books (which has expanded to include Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear and Baby Bear, Baby Bear, What Do You See). Some kids want to read The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Forest Hide and Seek. Other kids prefer the Pete the Cat books, others want the funny books... you get the idea. It all adds up to a very heavy book bag!

But this is a great problem to have because it means that the kids have all developed their own taste and appetite for books. These preferences will inspire them to keep seeking out the books they like and reading them.

One new development that amazed me today happened when I was reading with Josh. Josh is autistic and was nearly non-verbal at the beginning of the year. I wrote about my astonishment in October when he was engrossed in a book and exclaimed “Leap!” with more animation than I had ever seen in him. I read with him today and was completely shocked when he opened a book and proceeded to read the entire book aloud! He wasn’t reciting words from memory. He was pointing to every word and reading it! He is probably the most advanced reader in the entire class. That was a huge eye opener for me. I will never assume that any child, even a non-verbal one, isn’t listening, learning, and growing. They may very well be one of the brightest children in the class.