# data[].attributes.body
Hi, my name is Kerrie and I’m from Ipswich Massachusetts. My major is early childhood education. For as long as I can remember I have wanted to become a teacher. Growing up I remember my mom and dad reading to me most nights before I went to bed. I did not enjoy reading books on my own, reading was a vary hard task for me.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Allison Mulvey and I'm from West Springfield, MA. When I was younger my mom always read books to my brother and I. As I got older and entered elementary school, I began to read books on my own and became more interested in reading. I remember in elementary school my teachers were very encouraging about reading and also read with us a lot. My favorite book when I was younger was "When You Give a Mouse a Cookie".

# data[].attributes.body
Hi!! My name is Anna Makris and I am from Concord NH. When I was little I always read with my mom before bed. When I was younger she would read to me, and as I got older I would read to her or we would alternate. I always looked forward to reading time because I loved to read about new things. Mostly all the way through elementary school I only focused on realistic fiction. I loved to read about other kids and their families and friends adventures. My all time favorite book series from elementary school would be Junie B. Jones.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! I'm Julie Champigny, I'm a sophomore elementary education major from Acton Ma. I've always loved to read, but did not read for pleasure much in high school but now I'm getting back into it!! Learning to read is something I unfortunately do not remember much but I do remember having to fold my paper intricately for phonics in first grade and that it was not something that I enjoyed! Right now my favorite types of books are realistic fictions, I love reading Nicholas Sparks. However, I'm currently on the second Harry Potter book because my students in my internship inspired me to read it!

# data[].attributes.body
Hi, my name is Jillian, but you can call me Jill

# data[].attributes.body
Hi, my name is Nicole O’Rourke, but you can call me Nikki. I am from Groveland, Ma. Since I was little, I have always wanted to become a teacher in my future. I am an early childhood education major. In Elementry school I loved to read. My best friend and I were put in the same class and we always read the same chapter books in class. We were so excited to start a new book and also so excited to share our thoughts about the story. Every grade level I found a new favorite book so It is hard to have ONE favorite book. However, I enjoyed Judy Moody books, Junie B. Jones books, and many other realistic fiction books.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi, my name is Maddie Doble and I'm from a small town in Maine. I mainly learned how to read from my mom reading picture books with me over and over again when I was little, and then once I got into school reading simple books in Kindergarten. I remember having teachers who truly cared about me during my elementary years, which is something that I want my future students to feel. I never wanted to be a teacher until my Junior year of high school, and now it's my biggest passion. My favorite book in elementary school was called "I was so mad".

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Erica Dalberto and I'm from Falmouth Maine. I am a sophomore elementary education major. I remember mostly my daycare teacher reading me books everyday just to me and I built that bond with her and would go home and read some more or even the same books with my mom. After reading the same books multiple times I started memorizing the words and could say what was on every page. This helped me to then be able to read what was on the pages because I already knew the story very well. When I was in elementary school I remember my second grade teacher pushing me a lot to read more challenging books and even though I struggled I pushed through and was able to read the books and understand what was happening. Looking back he helped me a lot by showing me that I am capable of learning new information and working hard to succeed. My favorite books when I was younger were the 101 Dalmatians and Where do Balloons go?

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Lauren Gorse and I'm from Stoneham MA. I am a sophomore Elementary Education Major. I dont remember too much about learning to read, but i do remember that my mom and I read every single night from the time i started kindergarten and continued through 5th grade. I loved reading on my own, but I hated reading out loud in class.I remember reading the Junie B Jones and Judy Moody series in elementary school. My elementary school experience was very positive and i had great teachers who were very encouraging! In sixth grade i fell in love with the Harry Potter series! My favorite book when i was in elementary school was Fritz and the Beautiful Horses. Its hard for me to pick a favorite book because i really like every book I read!

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Megan Whitten and I am from North Hampton, NH. I begin reading with my parents at a very young age, as my brother got older he also read to me. I always loved reading with my parents especially with interactive books. In elementary school I was never a strong reader because I had trouble finding books that kept my attention. I do remember most of my elementary classrooms had a class library deigned to grab the students attention. When I was younger my favorite book was the "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" this book was something I read before bed with my parents. I liked this book because it was interactive and the pictures were made up of collages.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi, my name is Elizabeth, but you can call me Lizzi! I am a sophomore elementary education major and I am from Norwell, MA. I do not remember exactly how I learned to read but it definitely started with my parents reading to me when I was younger. I learned how to read by reading along with my parents and then in kindergarten we did a lot of reading in the classroom so that reinforced what I learned previously. During my elementary experience, I remember how much
I loved my teachers. All of them cared a lot about each of us and always incorporated fun things into the classroom. I also remember a lot of independent reading and occasionally being pulled into the hall and read with my teacher. Two of my favorite books when I was younger were
Goodnight Moon and the Lorax. I would always make my parents read those before I went to bed every night.

# data[].attributes.headline
Hello everyone! My name is Cayce Wiggins and I'm from Syracuse NY. I am an early childhood education major. I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. Both my parents are educators and they have been my inspiration. I had a really hard time learning to read. I don't really remember but I was always working with the reading specialist at my school. My favorite book of all time is Band of Brothers by Stephan E. Ambrose

# data[].attributes.subject
Hello everyone! My name is Cayce Wiggins and I'm from Syracuse NY. I am an early childhood education major. I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. Both my parents are educators and they have been my inspiration. I had a really hard time learning to read. I don't really remember but I was always working with the reading specialist at my school. My favorite book of all time is Band of Brothers by Stephan E. Ambrose

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Rob Ackerman, I am from Bedford MA. I am sophomore Elementary Education Major. I do not specifically remember the processes I went through when I was learning to read. I remember in first or second grade we had weekly reading logs that had to be signed by our parents to make sure we were doing the assigned reading at home. During first grade I believe, I was pulled from the classroom occasionally to read out loud to an older gentleman, I thought it was very fun because he always brought books that I found very interesting. Him and I always had fun conversations and he would also just give me general life advice. I never found reading to be very enjoyable and would struggle to motivate myself read whenever it was not required. This has carried through my whole life. One of my favorite books growing up was No David, it was especially fun for me because my dad would read it and his name is David.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi, my name is Olivia Moores, but you can call me Liv. I am from Medway, Mass but Montauk, New York is where I call home. I am a sophomore Elementary Education Major, and teaching has been a goal of mine ever since I was little. What I remember most about my elementary experience were the teachers that got to know me as more than just their student. The kinds of teachers that tried to learn about my interests and who I am as a person and not just a student. Those are the kinds of teachers that I would like to be. My favorite book that I read when I was in elementary school was Esperanza Rising.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi, my name is Emily Dellisola, I am from Derry, and am an Elementary Education Major. I remember silent reading in elementary school and book reports throughout school. When I was younger I never really read for fun, only when I had to for school projects. My favorite book currently is Love Lucas by Chantele Sedgwick!

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Francesca DeCaro and I am a sophomore elementary education major from North Andover, MA. I have wanted to be a teacher ever since I started teaching dance at my hometown dance studio in 8th grade! My mom used to read to me when I was infant and all throughout preschool- third grade. I learned how to read by reading along with my mom and learning the alphabet extremely early! Apparently, I knew the whole alphabet when I was 2 years old. I remember in elementary school, my teachers used to use the plastic letter magnets to teach us how to read. They also use to read aloud to us at the end of the day, and during morning meeting. My elementary teachers would also have a classroom library that we could use and my elementary school had a library that we would go to once a week and check out a book! My favorite books as a child were Goodnight Moon, and  Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, my favorite book as an adult is The Glass Castle!

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Alison Renaud and I am an early childhood education major. I am from Agawam, MA. Becoming a teacher has always been something I have known I wanted to do, ever since I used to play school at my house! I do not remember how I learned to read, or if I was a good reader as a child, but I do know I have always enjoyed reading. When I was little, I always liked to read a few books at bed time, and that is what sparked my interest in reading which I carried with me throughout my years of schooling. In elementary and middle school, I remember that I loved reading The Series of Unfortunate Events series, as well as many other series, including Junie B. Jones and The Magic Treehouse.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Sofia Devlin and I am from Medfield, MA. I am an early childhood major and have always known from since I was little that I wanted to work with kids. I remember reading with my mom before bed every night in first through second grade but when I got to 5th grade/middle school I didn't really enjoy reading. It wasn't until my sophomore year of high school that I got introduced to the Summer I Turned Pretty series by Jenny Han and I started reading again. When I was little I really liked the Junie B. Jones series.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Maggie Oram! I am from Lexington,MA and am on the softball team here at Endicott. My reading experience was very positive. I don’t really remember much besides the large selection of books that my school had in their reading closet. I was filled with so much excitement when I finished a book and was taken in there to pick another one. My favorite book growing up was the Blue Heron by Avi.  (Sorry my computer isn’t letting me select a picture to put in here)

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! I'm Rosalie Antolini and I am an early childhood education major. I am from Braintree, MA. I had a very positive experience learning to read. I do not remember too much about actually learning how but the first book I ever read was the The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat. After I read the book for the first time with no help my parents took me out for ice cream to celebrate. From then on I would read with my parents every night and we would switch whose turn it was to read, mine or theirs. I loved reading the Laura Ingles Wilder series with my Dad and we finished the entire collection. It is very hard to pick a favorite book but my two favorite authors are John Green and Sarah Dessen. An Abundance of Katherine was probably my favorite book out of those authors.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Ingrid Hjerpe, and I am an elementary education major at Endicott College. I am originally from Sudbury Massachusetts. I have always wanted to be a teacher, ever since I was in kindergarten! I was a late reader, and did not master reading until I was in first or second grade. I love reading, and now try to read as much as I can for fun. My favorite place to read is always the beach! Growing up I adored the Geronimo Stilton books, as they were interactive, and had pictures. My favorite books now are generally science fiction books, and I love the Hunger Games and the Maze Runner Series. I am so excited for this upcoming semester

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! I'm Mary Pfeifle and I'm an elementary education major from Franklin, MA! I don't really remember learning how to read in elementary school, but my teachers obviously did a good job because I'm an advanced reader now! I also have a love for reading since I was young, so I'm glad my teachers were able to help me grow a passion and love for reading. I sort of remember in second grade we were all assigned a Magic Treehouse book and we each presented about the book. That was when the Magic Treehouse series became my favorite series as a kid.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Emily Pace. I am from North Reading, MA and I'm an early childhood education major. I don't remember exactly how I learned to read, but I remember always reading before bed with my mom and older brother. I also remember doing reading logs in elementary school. Growing up my mom always loved to read, but I did not actually enjoy to read until 7th grade. One of my teachers introduced me to The Clique series and I've been hooked on reading ever since. I try to read whenever I have free time and I am constantly looking for new books! One of my favorite books that I've read was actually for summer reading during high school. The book was A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I loved the book so much that I finished it in a few hours!

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Katie Harrison and I am an elementary education major. I’m from Lynnfield, MA. I don’t remember much about learning to read in elementary school, but I am so glad that my teachers made the process enjoyable and helped foster my love of reading. I have a distinct memory of my teacher reading aloud a book called Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher in second grade and loving the story so much that my parents bought me my own copy of the book.

# data[].attributes.body
Hello!! My name is Jenny Lacroix and I am from Wrentham, MA. My older brother was one of those kids who could read an entire Harry Potter book in 3 hours in the fourth grade. He had a really prominent influence on me reading when I was younger. He always read with me and encouraged me to keep reading. He would read with me when I was young and help me with words I did not know. My mom and dad also had a very strong impact on my reading as a child. I remember getting my basis of reading during bedtime stories before bed. My parents would read Goodnight Moon and Butterfly Kisses to me before bed every night and taught me how to read those books with them. The first book I remember reading all by myself and my favorite childhood book was Goodnight Moon. As I grew older, I really loved reading the Magic Treehouse series. I fell in love with the characters and the different adventures they took in each book. I also loved the Geronimo Stilton books. I loved the different fonts and was just always hooked by these books. My favorite book as an adult reader is Safe Haven.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Carolyn Mabardy and I am an elementary education major from Lexington, MA. I remember learning how to read at a young age, but eventually reading on my own in kindergarten. My teacher would split us into groups and we would take turns reading aloud from a short story in a small group setting. I definitely benefitted from this as I was able to read alongside my peers while engaging together as a group. I also remember spending a lot of time reading books with my mother before bed when I was at home. One of my favorite books to read with her was Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. Currently, my favorite book that I have read is the Namesake.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! I am Liza Hall and I'm from Hopkington, RI. I am an Sophomore Elementary Education major. I learned to read from both my parents and teachers. When I was younger my favorite books were Magic Tree House and Junie B. Jones. A book I recently read and highly recommend is Come Back to me. I remember reading groups and my teachers reading a loud to the class when growing up. Throughout my literacy placement I have been able to teach literacy rotations.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My nam is Morgan Whelan. I'm from Westport, CT and am an elementary education major. My mom is a reading support teacher in a middle school, so I have grown up around books. I remember reading short books to my teachers starting in first grade when they would complete running records as a form of testing. I don't explicitly remember learning to read, bur I remember reading the Junie B. Jones books around second grade. The first book series I read all the way through was Harry Potter.

# data[].attributes.body
Hello there! My name is Kylie Orszulak. I am an elementary education major with an ABA minor. I am from a small rural town in central called Barre. My grandmother and mom are both teachers and constantly read to me. Unfortunately, I do not distinctly remember the process of learning to read. However, I remember running downstairs to tell my whole family after I read a book for the first time on my own. I absolutely loved when my elementary school teachers would read aloud. It was my favorite part of the day! My favorite book was read to me in 2nd grade. It is called Where the Red Fern Grows and it still one of my all time favorite books.

# data[].attributes.body
Hello there! I'm Kylie Orszulak. I am an elementary education major with an ABA minor. I am from a small rural town in Central Massachusetts called Barre. My mom and grandmother are both teachers and constantly read to me. Unfortunately, I do not distinctly remember the process of learning to read. However,I remember running downstairs to tell my whole family after I read a book on my own for the very first time. I absolutely loved when my elementary school teachers would read aloud. It was my favorite part of the day! My favorite book was read to me in 2nd grade. It is called Where the Red Fern Grows and it is still one of my all-time favorite books.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! I'm Cassie Maynard and I'm from Colchester, CT. I am an elementary ed major. I remember reading with my parents before bed, but also randomly during the day we would read together as well. I learned to read in school and practicing at home with my parents. I remember reading in groups at school. Learning to read was fun for me, I'm sure at some points I would get frustrated, but overall, I don't remember every being frustrated when learning to read. I always wanted to read more books and continue on. One of my favorite books as a child was Corduroy Bear but I also loved to read Junie B. Jones when I was able to read on my own.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi there! My name is Kelsey McPhee and I am from Franklin, Massachusetts. Learning how to read started with my parents and grandparents and then transferred over to learning how to read in school as well. From the start, I remember reading every night before bed with my mom in our big comfy rocking chair. My favorite book to read at the time was Goodnight Moon. I loved the repetition and tone in the story and it always soothed me to hear my mother's voice, almost singing the simple sentences. I also read a lot with my grandmother. We loved to read the Junie B. Jones series together. When we first started reading the books, I was not at the level to be able to read chapter books. With her guidance,  I became more comfortable and was able to soon read them on my own, or even out loud to her. I also was part of a book club with my friends for many years. This enhanced my reading because we all fell at different reading levels so the discussion was rich and intriguing every time! My current favorite book has been and will always be the Hunger Games series!

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! My name is Rachel. I am a sophomore Elementary Education major. I am from North Hampton, NH. My first experiences reading were with my parents before bed. We always read together each night and it was always one of my favorite parts of my days. The first memory I have from learning to read in school was when my teachers would pull me to do a running record with me. I do not remember the specifics of being taught how to read. However, I know that I was always told to practice and log my reading throughout my elementary school experience. The first books that made me excited to read were The Magic Tree House books by Mary Osborne. Although, my all time favorite children's book is The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle. Now my favorite by is The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak.

# data[].attributes.body
Im Michaela and I'm a sophomore Elementary major. I'm from Lynn, MA. I was introduced to reading when my father would read to me as a little girl every night before bed. This is what got me into reading and spiked my interest. If children are exposed to reading at an early age, this helps them in the future to become better readers. Just hearing different words and being able to recognize that print has meaning gives children a boost ahead of others who were never read to at a young age. I vagualy remember learning to read in kindergarten and first grade. Books I remember loving to read were Goodnight Moon, Make Way for Ducklings, The Giving Tree. In elementary school we would do book reports and read stories aloud as a class with an activity to go along with it.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi, I’m Laura! I'm a sophomore Elementary Education major and I'm from Simsbury, Connecticut. I have a twin brother and an older sister. I don’t remember the specifics of learning to, but I do know I was in kindergarten. I specifically remember sitting down and reading “Hop on Pop” with my mom and brother. This is the first book I remember being able to read independently. I continued to love Dr. Suess books and always wanted to read them. As my reading abilities progressed, I remember liking the series Junie B. Jones and Magic Treehouse. I remember giving book reports and being actively involved in book clubs. I also remember being exposed to various genres, such as historical fiction, social issues and realistic fiction, which was my favorite. Reading was always fun for me in elementary school. My favorite book now is The Kite Runner.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! I am Madison Ventresca and I'm from Newtown, CT. I am an Elementary Education major. I learned to read from both my parents and teachers. I remember reading at least one book every night with my parents and throughout the day I would "read" books on my own. During school we did a lot of reading groups and had story time. My teachers in elementary school would always pick a story and read it to us when there was free time during the day. I struggled with reading when I was younger and I went for extra help. I still enjoyed reading even though I struggled. As I got older I didn't read as much and found it hard to really get into a lot of books. In my past internship experiences I have read stories to the students and I have a baby cousin who I constantly read to. When I was younger my favorite book was Goodnight Moon and Junie B. Jones.

# data[].attributes.body
I'm Lauren Ingoldsby and I am from Medfield, MA. I am an Elementary Ed major. I remember my parents reading books to me before I could even read. I also remember learning to read using B.O.B Books and easy readers. I had a very positive beginning reading experience and I was a big reader in elementary school but as I got older I gradually stopped reading for pleasure. In elementary school I loved reading Junie B. Jones as well as the Tales of the Frog Princess series by E.D Baker. Now, I love any book by Sarah Dessen, she is definitely my favorite author. I recently started pleasure reading again and over break I read two series' by Jenny Han which I also loved! I am definitely a big fan of YA novels.

# data[].attributes.body
HI! My name is Brittany Corson and I'm from Trenton, ME. I am a sophomore elementary education major. I don't remember much about learning how to read, but I do remember that my expose to literature began with my family when I was young. I remember always being read to when I went to visit my grandparents and when I got older I read to my younger cousins. In school, I don't remember doing much with phonological and phonemic awareness which leads me to believe that I was taught more by sight and sounding out words then by using certain strategies. In elementary school I loved the Junie B. Jones series and in middle school my favorite series was the Dear America series. Now I really enjoy books written by Sarah Dessen.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! I am from Topsfield, MA and I am an Early Childhood Education major. I don't remember a lot about learning to read when I was younger, but I do remember that I read books with my parents and little brother every night before bed. I also remember doing a lot of reading groups in school, as well as doing a lot of projects and book reports based on the books I read. I loved reading when I was younger, and I still do. I used to love to read the Magic Tree House series, and the Junie B. Jones series when I was in elementary school. My favorite book now is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and I also really enjoy reading books by Sarah Dessen.

# data[].attributes.body
My name is Gabi Aleksa and I am from Windham, New Hampshire. I am a sophomore and my major is elementary education. I can remember being little and reading to my parents every night. My favorite book to read to them was “Go Dogs Go” by Doctor Sues. I also remember getting super frustrated when I am couldn’t decide a word and my dad had to help me. Once I started elementary school I remember reading groups and being pulled out of the room for reading help but eventually not needing it and even moving into a high level group. My favorite book now is “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” by J.K. Rowling

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! I am from Bolton, CT and I am an Elementary Education major. I have three older brothers and an older sister. I have a dog named Callie! I don’t remember much from how I learned to read, but I do remember sitting with my mom a lot as a child and practicing reading to her. I do recall that throughout elementary school we were assigned readings levels from A-Z. In later grades I remember having class discussions about the books we were readings. As a child my favorite books were Little Miss Spider and Wonder.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi, I am from Stratham NH and I am an Elementary Education major. I love to skydive and I have a sister, a dalmatian and a fish named Dirt. I room with my best friend of 14 years. I remember learing to read in kindergarten and tricking my family into thinking I could read very well by memorizing stories. I remember my elementary experience to be very happy. I loved to learn and to go home and teach my family what I learned. As a kid, my favorite book was the Skulldugery Pleasent Series. I read all the books talked about them all day. Now my favorite book is Sybil by Flora Rheta Schreibe.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi, I am from Methuen, MA and I am majoring in Elementary Education. I have an older sister named Kellie who goes to Mass College of Art. My elementary education experience has been very positive. I never got too frustrated with reading, I was not a fan of writing however. As a young kid, I loved Hooray for Differdoofer Day by Dr. Seuss. I would make my mom read that book to me all the time. When I was in the fourth grade, I read almost all of the Nancy Drew books. I remember being in reading groups and not being in the highest level group always. I did not like how I could tell which groups were high, medium, and low.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! I am from Simsbury, CT and I am an Elementary Education major. I have an older brother and sister, as well as a twin brother. I also have a one year old puppy named Finn! I do not remember exactly how I learned to read  but I do remember being assigned to different reading levels throughout elementary school and sorting through books that aligned with my level to find one that interested me. I also remember working in book clubs and having discussions each week about what we read. In addition, I remember having to read for a specific amount of time for homework each night as well as reading, when I was younger, with my parents. My favorite books are Wonder by R.J. Palacio and The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! I am Bella Sears from East Longmeadow, MA. I am majoring in Elementary Education. I have a younger brother Josh and two dogs, Tobey and Sophie. I remember my elementary experience in reading as positive. I was able to choose books I was interested in reading and then take a test on them to show my comprehension. My school used the Accelerated Reader program when I was younger. As far as learning to read, I went to a public school kindergarten where literacy was important right from the start. I remember being very excited that I could read a book to my parents and my brother. I used to want to write stories just to practice my letters. I also always wanted to play school with my friends at home. My favorite book is Love you Forever by Robert Munsch.

# data[].attributes.body
Hi! I am from Milford, MA. I am majoring in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Elementary Education. I have one older sister who recently graduated from Boston University. I do not remember much of my elementary experiences, however I work at the same daycare that I attended when I was a child. With that being said, I am able to grasp an understanding of how I was taught when I attended pre-school. Most of what I learned included book handling skills and the idea that print carries meaning. I am also assuming that I learned how to write my name as well. These are all concepts that we teach the children now. My favorite book when I was a child was A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon.

# data[].attributes.body
I am from Lake Placid, New York and I am an Early Childhood Education major. I have one younger sister named Taylor and a dog named Hazel. Although I do not remember exactly how I learned how to read, my mother used to read with my sister and I every night before bed, so I believe that had an influence. I also attended preschool and kindergarten, so I assume my teachers also taught me techniques and strategies for reading. I only have vague memories of my years in elementary school- but I remember my favorite teachers, the games my classmates and I played outside, and some of the projects I completed. My favorite book is City of Bones by Cassandra Clare.