Children's Experiences and Reading

The boy and I have had about ten days together. (We have been interrupted by spring break, his suspension and my own two days of 'couldn't do it.')
Our hours would start out with me reading to him while he drew with crayons or played with geometric blocks or built with legos. I have tried several books but I could see that he was not enjoying them. I asked him why he didn't like my reading to him (because my experience has shown me that if you let children do something else while listening, they love to be read to). He replied that he felt like I was teasing him.

The first three days of our time, he wrote three stories. He would dictate and then we would make copies, at his request, for the principal, the nurse, and other teachers. These adults responded appropriately with enthusiasm while reading the stories out loud, which had to make him proud and see the point of reading. But, after three days, he announced no more stories. And, he has stuck to it.

I am trying to figure out how to get him into reading so I began writing him letters to read in the morning and that has been successful.

Meanwhile, one of the times earlier when I was reading aloud to him, he built a tower with glow-in-the blocks. He was very excited about it and showed it to the principal. Well, the principal bought him some glow-in-the-dark rubber snakes just as a thoughtful gift and it broke open the wall I could not get through!!!

It turns out that this boy has a pet garter snake at home. Wow! He talked about it and then we went to the library to search out books on snakes. He was very excited and he began reading the titles on the books set upon the shelves. The titles had pictures but still it was a breakthrough. He also picked out two books by Shel Silverstein, whom he apparently remembers liking. He was practically skipping he was so happy. We both agreed it was a very good day!