I have books a first grader can read in my room; Imagine That!

I introduced the idea of just right books this week. Before this week we had been gathering books that interested us for our book boxes. The students could then read the words, retell the story or tell a story using the pictures.

I have asked them to have at least 3 or 4 "just right" books in their box now. (they can still have a few hard or easy books)

So, as I was conferecing this week, I have been checking book boxes and helping my friends make better choices in reading material. I noticed that my friend J had a box full of thick higher level books.
"Are these your just right books, J?" Me
"I can't read any books in this room." J
"Really? Come over here and we can look at some books together." I gathered 6 or 7 for him to look through
" Do any of these look interesting?" He chooses one and opens it and....reads the words! He chooses another, and low and behold, he can read the words again.

He looked at me with an astonished face and says, "These are Mrs. Harshberger (his Reading Recovery teacher) kind of books. I didn't know you had Mrs. Harshberger books in here!"

I did not add these books to my library recently. These lower levels have been here all year and some have even been in his box before. Had J internalized the idea that he can't read and therefore, stopped looking at the print? When else does he do this?

J has reminded me how important it is to convince each child that he or she is a reader.