Osanna Bolger
Literacy is when you are able to clearly read and write. Literacy is applied in our daily lives, and you have to be literate to make it in this world. There’s words and letters around you no matter where you are. We use literacy to get around, reading street signs, maps...anything to get us to our destination. But, most importantly, kids like myself use literacy the most at school. The roots and literacy were planted into my head at just the mere age of five years old during my first day of kindergarten.
I’ve always been fond of words and books. My mom used to tell me I tried so hard to read when I was a little girl. I was really first influenced to start reading by my next door neighbor that I call my Aunt Paulette. When my mother was overseas in Japan, I had to come back to America and stay with my grandmother, and during that time I’d be over my aunt’s house constantly, an she’d sit me or her lap, and just read book, after book, after book. My first real experiences with actually sitting down and reading a book was when I was in kindergarten. I was ecstatic of how advanced I was, and being able to read big words like “miserable” and “monkey” without having my aunt have to help me sound it out, was just terrific! During kindergarten we learned to recite “Jack and His Fiddle” , which will always be my favorite nursery rhyme. The poetic piece will always stay my favorite because it was the first nursery rhyme I read, and it pushed me to want to read more.
2002 was the year I started first grade, and I attended Blackwood Elementary. In first grade, I was already being introduced to chapter books for young kids. The Junie B. Jones series really had me wanting to read more. I had a strong love for Junie B. Jones and felt like could connect with the character in the story. So, I would take the Junie books with me everywhere. Even when my family and myself went to dinner, I would bring the book right along because it really sparked my interest in getting to know all types of characters. There was one teacher that really helped me develop a habit for reading books, and that was my first grade teacher, Mrs. Hara. She was the one teacher that I was really interested in learning from. Mrs. Hara told me to read twenty minutes every night, and it would improve my comprehension, and it did! Without Mrs. Hara, I would not love reading as much as I do now.
In 2007, I attended Charles W. Lewis Middle School. During my school years I really enjoyed reading books by Avi, Judy Blume, and Meg Cabot. But, I really liked the book Fahrenheit 451, so Ray Bradbury became one of my favorite authors. I always used to like reading fictional books, but now I love to read realistic fiction and science fiction. After reading Fahrenheit 451, I love to read sci-fi. So, I’m very happy that I’ve opened my eyes to different genres of books.
Last, but not least, I’m now in high school. I hope to read more classic books. I’ve already read Pride and Prejudice, A Time to Kill, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Oliver Twist. But, I would like to read more books by Charles Dickens. I don’t know the titles off hand, but when I read Oliver Twist I could tell that he’s an amazing writer. On a daily basis, along with reading books, I read magazines, and also blogs on the computer that have to do with my interests. I normally read magazines like Teen Vogue and Seventeen, and I love to read blogs about people’s lifestyles and how they live(the blogs are usually peoples’ I know). I consider myself a very literate person. I love to read and write. I read almost everyday for a few hours, and write short stories in my spare time. So, I do consider myself very literate.
Reading gives us the chance to use our imaginations, and that’s how I feel. I feel that it gives us the chance to use the part of our brains we normally don’t use. It helps us comprehend and learn more, and be more advanced in our level of speech. Right now, I’m reading The Giver, by Lois Lowry. It’s a very good books, and books like The Giver really push me to read more. Literacy is important because we need it to interact now and days. Even though we do not use pens and paper anymore, and everything is on the computer, we still have to type which uses literacy and good comprehension. Literacy has helped me in my life in so many ways. It is easy for me to comprehend and write without needing help. I’m am more advanced in my learning and in the way I talk and write. Literacy has helped to connect with different books and to help me to use my imagination in all different ways. Literacy is kind of like a tree. As it grows bigger and more healthy it matures into something beautiful. As it grows older, it adapts to the lifestyle. To me, being literate goes along with having a certain type of lifestyle. Like liking to write and read everyday. Literacy grows along with us, and with literacy comes alot of special abilities.
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