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Imagine Kindergarten, fun, loud, engaging, full of wonder and excitement. Now imagine kindergarten virtually. New, crazy, full of background noises, multiple windows on your computer, nevertheless still full of wonder and excitement. While in a new setting, the wonder and excitement that books bring are astonishing, we can imagine being artists and scuba divers. We can have deep conversations about how we can express ourselves and how our decisions impact our environments. The love of literacy and books begins through constant read-aloud, unique character changes, and discussions, however, in a virtual world of youtube and online books, it is harder to create that thrilling and imaginative experience. John Green once said, 鈥淕reat books help you understand, and they help you feel understood鈥. In the Primary years, especially in Kindergarten, we have students who throw, hit, and scream to express themselves in a negative situation instead of using their words, through the magic of books, we are able to help students express themselves with words or with nonverbal cues. In this remote setting, I have learned through observations that my students love physical books, and dislike books read by people on YouTube videos and books that are digital. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 like the book where you aren鈥檛 reading Miss Q, when you read it makes me think we are with you at school.鈥 Scholastic mentions that, through hands-on experiences with a physical book we are able to see how to identify titles, authors, and illustrators, how to turn pages using our fine motor skills, and read from left to right. While we are virtual, we can still make the read-aloud experience enjoyable, even with a document camera! Once we return to in-person learning, the students will have the opportunity to hold these books in their own hands!
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