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My parents took my siblings and me to the library so frequently that some of the librarians knew us by name. We would attend the weekly children's storytimes, and afterwards, we would pick out as many books as we wanted. When I was 7 years old, my family moved into a new house that is now only a 5-minute walk away from the community library.

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Both of my parents constantly read to my siblings and me as children, especially at bedtime. However, my mom read to us the most since she was at home with us all day. Additionally, my older sister would read to me to practice her reading. Being read to made me feel loved and cared for. I felt loved knowing my parents were making sure to spend quality time with me each day. I also felt cared for because they would read a book to each of my siblings individually, so it was our special time.

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Now that I am older, I think of writing as something that is solely academic in purpose. I only engage in writing when it's a paper or an assignment for a class. I have tried multiple times to get into journaling, but it never stuck for me. However, this class has made me realize that texting is also a form of writing, which I engage in daily.

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Each week in elementary school, my class would go to the library for "special". There, the librarian would read us a story, and then we would pick out books to take home. I loved going to the library because it was designed to look like a castle since our school mascot was the dragons.

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I remember always sitting in my parents' bed with my siblings as my mom or dad would read this book to us. Since I have a twin brother and an older sister, we used to picture ourselves as each of the different bears and would ask who was the favorite child. Even to this day, we tease our parents by asking them who the favorite child is.

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I first read this book when I was 7 or 8, and I was obsessed with it for years because I saw myself in Lily. Just like her, I loved school and my teacher. I also knew I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up, just like her.

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I remember being really drawn to the Biscuit books in Kindergarten. The author's name is also Alyssa, and the little girl in the story has brown hair like mine, so I used to pretend that it was me in the stories.

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As my reading skills developed and I could read longer texts, the Magic Tree House books were my all-time favorite ones to read. I read every single book in order, and I remember feeling so accomplished when I finished them.

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Now that I am older, reading is my favorite hobby. Whenever I have free time, I am reading a book rather than watching TV or going on my phone. I especially love the summer because I can just read all day. Each year, I set a Goodreads goal to read more books than the previous year.

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I was exposed to print from a young age because my family members were always engaged in print. My brother and I are twins, so we were learning to read at the same time, and my parents would always read to both of us. Similarly, reading is also my sister's and my mom's favorite hobby, so I often saw them with a book growing up.

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My first memory of reading is when I would play school and pretend to be the teacher. I would have story time and read books out loud or make up stories for my dolls and stuffed animals.

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Most of the time, I would play school by myself because if I played with my sister, then she would never let me be the teacher.

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I would play alone in my bedroom and line up my toys so that they were facing me.

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Ever since I was little, I knew I wanted to be a teacher because I loved playing school. My favorite part of preschool was always the read-alouds, so I enjoyed having the chance to practice my storytelling with my toys, even if I was making up stories.

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Since I was only 3 or 4 years old and still learning to read, I would make up my own stories or make up a story based on the pictures in a book. I was a very imaginative and talkative child, which meant I could make up my own stories for hours and never get bored. As I got older and my reading skills developed, I began to read the words in the books, but I still liked making up my own stories.

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Playing teacher and reading to my toys always filled me with so much joy because I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a teacher. I loved being able to tell my own stories and be the one in charge for once.

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I was probably around 3 or 4 years old when I first started doing this.

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How Do I Perceive Reading and Writing Now?

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How Do I Perceive Reading and Writing Now?

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I learned to write with the help of my Preschool teachers.

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My first memory of learning to write was in Preschool when we learned how to write our names and the letters of the alphabet.

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When I was 3 years old.

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At my Preschool, which I attended daily for 2 years.

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My Preschool taught us the alphabet and how to write so that we could come to Kindergarten ready to improve our skills.

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My Preschool teachers would teach us about the letter, its sound, and its shape. We would then practice tracing the letter and writing it ourselves. Each day, we would also practice tracing and writing our names.

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Going to school and learning how to write made me feel excited because my older sister would always talk about what she was learning in school, and I wanted to be able to do everything she did. Also, learning the letters of my name and how to spell/write it out made me feel proud of my name.