Things Teachers Do in the Summer: READ!

So as I was writing that quick “I’m sorry” post yesterday, I ended with a statement that seemed like a great idea for a series of posts: things teachers do in the summer. And no, it’s not just a sit-around-on-the-beach-and-drink-Mai-Tais kind of thing, either. I’ve been busy! Let me tell you about it. 🙂

I love to read. My husband might disagree with that statement, as he is one of those people who goes to bed with a book (or his iPad) every night, and always has a new book, magazine, graphic novel or whatnot ready to be devoured. I, on the other hand, am more of a sporadic reader, choosing more carefully what I take time to read. Unfortunately, during the school year, that time is mainly spent on professional reading; I only have so much time and want it to be useful. Unfortunately, my “free” reading is usually saved for the summer. I like to get started on reading the new Mark Twain nominees that I might try for read alouds, as well as any other MG novels I’ve heard about and the other professional titles I didn’t have time for during the school year.

Here’s what I’ve been reading so far:

Pie by Sarah Weeks

This one was the first on my Mark Twain list, mainly because Sarah Weeks was the only author on the list that I recognized. I am excited to share it with my students, and I’m hoping it will be enjoyed by everyone. One of my favorite parts of the book is the recipes that are included at the end of every chapter. PIE is the name of the pie shop started by Alice’s Aunt Polly, and the story revolves around the fate of the shop–and Aunt Polly’s prize-winning pie crust recipe–after she passes away. Besides loving the story, I’m excited to try the pie, too! This book combines two of my loves–reading and baking. 🙂

Missing on Superstition Mountain by Elise Broach

Here’s another one from the Mark Twain list, and another one that I am excited to share with my class. This one is an adventure, and I love that there are both strong boy and girl characters. There were moments when the dialogue was a little unnatural, and it was a little long for my tastes, but I’m glad I made it to the end. This one will be great, too, because there are several others that kiddos could choose to read if they like this one. Reminded me a little bit of Go Big or Go Home by Will Hobbs, which was a Mark Twain nominee several years ago.

Barn Boot Blues by Catherine Friend

This is a city-girl-moves-to-the-country story (also a MT nominee) about Taylor McNamara. She moves to a farm just before school starts and fights to fit into the new world she’s in. I love the way Friend shares Taylor’s thoughts, as well as how the character interacts with her family and friends. She’s sarcastic–and so am I–which is probably why she’s such a likeable character for me. The story is a big predictable, but in some ways, that’s what makes it a good read. Read this one in a few hours because I couldn’t put it down!

Close to Famous by Joan Bauer

This book was similar to PIE, in that it was a girl trying to find her way in the world with food as her guide. This time though, it was cupcakes! This was the first book I’ve read by Joan Bauer (but I’ve since found several that I’ve put on my TBR list!), and it was a good one. The only thing that was a bit annoying to me (just my opinion, obviously) was the Food TV personality that is in the book–the scenes where she pretended to have her own cooking show and idolized celebrity chef Sonny Kroll were a little silly. Overall, I enjoyed it, though, and I could see how many readers might like it, too! Now I can officially vote for my favorite Mark Twain book because I’ve read the required 4 titles. Oh wait…it’s not for teachers?? Bummer.

Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading by Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst

I figured here would be a good place to add in some professional reading (partly because some of the novels I read were recommended here!). I found this book during the spring, on Twitter, namely because my tweep Shannon Clark (@shannonclark7) started a Twitter chat (using the hashtag #nnnchat) and a Facebook group for teachers to discuss it. I have heard its ideas mentioned at more than one workshop this summer, too, so needless to say I was excited when it finally showed up on my doorstep! The main premise of the book is how to teach kids to read closely, by introducing them to “signposts” that are included in many novel texts; once kids know the signposts they start to find evidence of them in books they read independently and these noticings and notes help them better understand what they are reading. I’m definitely going to incorporate these lessons (and this mindset about reading in general) into our Reader’s Workshop work this year. This book made me really excited for school to start!

Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer

Recognize the author’s name? Funny how I’d never heard of her, but then once I did, I find her work everywhere! This text is used as a mentor text in some lessons in Notice & Note, so I figured I should probably read it. 🙂 It’s food-related too, but this time is set in a diner. Again there’s a girl who is fatherless and is trying to figure out who she is and where she fits into the world. Included this time is a secondary plot that involves a mayoral race in the small town in Wisconsin, as well as a budding romance between the main character and the cook in the diner where she works. Hope Was Here was definitely a page-turner, and I enjoyed every word.

The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller

Here’s another one I found on Twitter (thanks to @donalynbooks), and one that I cannot believe I waited this long to read! I’ve always been a proponent of student choice in their reading, and this book helped me be more clear on why it’s a good idea. The stories she shares and the alternatives to help give students more say in their reading were inspirational. I really loved the “ultimate book list” at the end of the book where she shared some key titles to have in your classroom library. It’s become my new shopping list!

Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan

I hate to admit how many books I have in my class library that I know are great titles, but that I have never read. Also, it’s really sad to admit how little historical fiction I share with my students. So, when I saw that this book was on Donalyn Miller’s Ultimate Book List, I knew I had to read it. It was a great story based on the life of Charlotte Parkhurst, who (I learned) was a famous stablehand, stagecoach driver, and probably the first woman to ever vote! Add this to my read aloud list for sure. 🙂

The Mighty Miss Malone by Christopher Paul Curtis

Last summer, I finally (I know–I shouldn’t admit this) read (well listened to) the classics by Christoper Paul Curtis–Bud, Not Buddy and The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963. Like with so many other titles in my library, I have no idea why I’d never read them, but I had not. My husband (who I mentioned before is a very prolific reader, and a teacher, also) had shared these with his classes many times over and couldn’t let another minute go by without enlightening me as to why they were so fabulous. We listened to them in the car on the way to Florida during our vacation, and they were instant hits with our son (who was 5YO at the time) as well. So fast forward to this year’s vacation, and another CPC hit was made with our family. This one is set in Gary, Indiana, but has connections to Flint, Michigan where Bud is from, and if you pay attention (or if you know the story of Bud, Not Buddy) you realize that Deza Malone and Bud cross paths in a camp in Detroit along the way. I love the realism with which Curtis writes, and I love the conversations I was able to have with my son about the themes in the book. I’m excited to share this story with my 5th graders, and begin the conversation with them, too!

Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis

I told you we liked this author, right? Here’s another one that Grant had shared with his students that ~~surprisingly~~ I didn’t know. Ok, not true. I have it in my classroom but I’ve never read it. Again, lame, I know. I have to admit that I liked the overall premise of this book, but then once we started listening I couldn’t get into it. Everyone else was entertained, but I just had a hard time following. And then I heard the end and it made the whole thing worth it. Now I want to go back and reread the whole thing over again, both so I can see the text (remember we listened to it), but also so I can catch all that I missed the first time around. Definitely worth my time, I think.

Sparrow Road by Sheila O’Connor

Just when I thought I was finished with my list of Mark Twains, I uncovered another one that I read that I’d forgotten about! I wonder if the reason it didn’t come to mind right away was that it was another one that took me a while to get into. It’s weird, and I don’t know if it was on purpose, but there seem to be similar themes running through many of the nominees this year–families that are displaced for some reason or another (who all seem to be running away from something), girls who don’t know their fathers (and are therefore searching for him), and food or food service. All of those are present in this one, too, with a little bit of art thrown in for good measure. I enjoyed the style of writing of this book, and though it took me a while to get into the story, I eventually got on a roll and was satisfied with the ending.

So…there are still a few weeks of summer left (although they seem to be fleeting fast!), and so I still have some reading to do. I’m in the middle of two different professional reads (also about reading), have a book on Essential Questions by Wiggins and McTighe on my TBR pile, as well as some new writing resources from Calkins, new math resources from Fosnot and at least 3 or 4 MG novels that I want to finish. Will there be time?? Cross your fingers with me. And maybe try out something from my list that were new to you! Please let me know what you think! I love to talk books with other readers. 🙂

Book Trailers

We watched our first book trailer together when we read The One and Only Ivan earlier this year. We were mesmerized by how it drew us in and made us want to read the book–even more than we already did! Then we went 1:1 with iPads, and I knew that this would be something we’d have to do for ourselves, especially since we had some iMovie experts in our midsts (yes, I’m talking about you, Anna K., Aiden and Jack!).

Then, it was time to start thinking about service learning projects, too, and suddenly it all seemed to fall into place….

I was having a conversation with our librarian, Mrs. Meihaus, about my idea for wanting to learn about book trailers (and at that point I didn’t really have a direction I wanted to go in, or anything more than a desire to do it), and she told me about an idea she’d just learned about from our Scholastic rep–just the day before! Talk about good timing. This idea she’d found out about involved creating cards on the shelves that link QR codes to book talks, to help readers as they make decisions in the library. Seemed like a perfect fit!

So we just dove right in and started making movies the next day, right? Nope.

We had a TON of work to do first. And what was great was that my kids knew what that work was without me even telling them. I just asked the question “What do we need to know before we can start our book trailer project?” and this is what they said:

It’s messy because we used it as our checklist to make sure we had done all of the prep work before we go to our movies. What a great example of kids creating a project–they led us where we needed to go!

We spent many days together reading book reviews, and learning what was supposed to be included in one. We read examples of them, and practiced writing our own on books we’d read together and individually. We watched several examples (both good and bad) of book trailers and kept notes about what made them successful, i.e. which ones made us actually want to read the featured book and why.

About that same time, I came upon a Twitter chat where the topic was book trailers and several teachers were sharing ideas for how they make these productive with their students. I LOVED the idea that Jenn Fountain (@jennann516) was sharing about how she managed student made book trailers. The way she used storyboards to help students thoughtfully plan the pictures and the text they wanted to include was the missing piece of the puzzle, and seemed to be just what we needed!

Devan loved this project!

Remember Jack, the iMovie expert? He’s hard at work on his storyboard and book trailer about the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio–a class favorite this year!

Aiden (another in house expert) decides which pictures from The Kissing Hand to include in his video.

Damonte is hard at work on his book trailer for a text about Lamborghinis. Another place we got ideas for books was from Ms. Dale, one of our kindergarten teachers. We made several for some favorites that we knew some of our newest friends at Robinson would want to read in the fall!

Don’s using his storyboard as he creates each scene of his iMovie.

One of Keelan’s videos was from that kindergarten pile–The Hello, Goodbye Window.

Anna K. (on the left) was a wiz at iMovie! I love how kids taught other kids how to do things and answered questions when we needed to troubleshoot why something wasn’t working. Here she helped Sammy figure out how to fix a problem she was having with a picture.

Owen working on a book trailer for Mouse Counts.

Sophia and Jernandra worked together, too. Jernandra’s book trailer was about Super Fudge.

Sometimes the pictures we added were from the internet, and sometimes they were ones we took ourselves. See?

So, kids chose books (we started with our favorites, but also brainstormed other ways of choosing like book award lists for the upcoming year, book award lists from previous years, books that are frequently checked out from our library, etc.) and began to create our storyboards. Once they had an approved storyboard, they went to work in iMovie, which we worked together to figure out—remember those experts I mentioned in the beginning? They helped lead small groups to coach kids on what to do–and Jack even taught me how to do it! What a great app, by the way, and on the iPad it’s SUPER SIMPLE to use. I highly recommend using it if you aren’t already.

But just because our book trailers were finished, that didn’t mean our project was done. We wanted to then link all of those trailers to QR codes that kiddos in our Robinson library can scan and learn more about the book as they are shopping for books to check out. That meant we had to answer the “where do we put them when we’re finished making them” question from our original chart. Many suggested we put them on our blogs, and we already a class YouTube channel, but we had to make sure it was some place that would be able to get through our internet filters at school (so kids could actually watch the videos we were creating!), that would be able to hold a large amount of data, AND that would be online (otherwise we wouldn’t end up with a QR code!). I decided that SchoolTube was probably our best bet.

It was really great when we finally got to the end of the project and we were working in the library to finally attach all of our QR codes. (Even this part of the project was kid-led, too, as someone suggested it would be a better idea to attach the code to the actual book, rather than the shelf. Genius!) We were super excited to be able to call in Mrs. Sisul, our principal, who supports all of the crazy and fabulous things we want to try with technology, and show her how they work.

Don and Owen showing Mrs. Sisul how to scan our QR codes to get to our videos on School Tube. She was so excited for us!

So at the end of it all, we ended up with over 50 TITLES that now have book trailers, and each copy of each book in our library has a QR code attached to the spine or the cover (depending on where it would fit)!

I wish that I would have had time to do the last reflection piece after this project, to have my kiddos tell you all that they’d learned throughout the process, but alas, we worked right up to the very last minute–and then it was summer! So I ask now, to all of my 5th grade friends who worked on this big service-learning project with me: What did you learn from this experience? What do you know now that you didn’t know when we started? What was your favorite thing?

And now it’s your turn to check out all of our fabulous work! While I’d love to individually post every trailer here for you to watch, it makes more sense to direct you to our Robinson School Tube channel so you can check them out there! Happy watching and thanks for leaving us your comments about what you think! We worked so hard and are so proud of what we accomplished!

Read Around Revisited

I wrote about the Read Around strategy yesterday, and how it was a great way to get new books into the hands of my kiddos.

This week at our staff meeting, our principal (Jennifer Sisul, @grrprincipal, and a FABULOUS leader) took us through the same activity with our library’s professional library. Let me tell ya, the great ideas are always flowing around our school! And what great timing–Spring Break is next week and we’ll all have time to read.

So, just like our kiddos did, we took time to peruse some titles (some new, some old) and I found some great ones. While I didn’t get a chance to get to everything, here are some interesting reads I’ve added to my list:

Neurodiversity in the Classroom (Armstrong); Guy Write (Fletcher); Underresourced Learners (Payne); Rigor is Not a 4-letter-word (Blackburn); 7 Habits of Happy Kids (Covey); Checking for Understanding (Fisher/Frey)

I also have at least a nightstand-full of kid novels I still want to read, too! Hopefully my children will let me have some time for that next week!

Your turn: What’s on your to-be-read list? How do you find time to read when you’re a busy, working parent?

Read Around

A few months ago, our librarian shared a phenomenal strategy with us for exposing readers to new (and sometimes old!) books–a Read Around. The directions were pretty basic:

Mrs. Meihaus’ purpose was to (re)introduce older readers to books they may have missed (or overlooked because they have old covers) and encourage them to try some new things. In the 40 minutes we spent in the activity, we were able to peruse (which was a word she taught us the meaning of and how to do) over 40 new (or old!) titles that we were previously not on our 5th grade radars! What a gift! It was great to hear how many kiddos found some fabulous new try-its–even the ones who only read certain titles or series. Impressive, really.

Well…I liked the strategy so much, that I knew I had to do it in my own classroom library. Just like in Mrs. Meihaus’ library downstairs, I have books that are FABULOUS stories, but may be a few years old, or have a worn cover. Classics, really, that need a second chance.

So we tried it for ourselves.

Tables started out like this, with two books at each seat.

Learning how to peruse is a useful new skill!

One part of perusing that many kiddos tried was reading the first few pages.

I pulled out many unread (old and new) books for readers to try.

I love how serious and diligent my readers are during things like this–they really dig in deep and learn well. 🙂

Have you ever done a Read Around? How did it go? Did you find a new book you didn’t think you’d read? Tell us about it!

World Read Aloud Day!

Last week were AMAZED as Lisa Campbell Ernst came to share her writing life with us. But on Wednesday we were DOUBLE AMAZED when she agreed to Skype with us to celebrate World Read-Aloud Day 2013. We’re kind of spoiled around here. 🙂

As I mentioned in my original post, I was trying not to be a groupie, but was forward enough to ask her to help with us with our WRAD plans. Surprisingly, she said yes, and so I began thinking about what we could do together.

I knew my friends were dying to ask her many more things about her writing life, and specifically to see more of what her writing studio looked like. And because it was read aloud day, we hoped she would read to us, too!

When she was here, she had told us all about the process of writing The Gingerbread Girl. She also told us about how she got the idea for the sequel to it: The Gingerbread Girl Goes Animal Crackers. As I remembered this detail, I knew that was the book I wanted her to read!

So we settled in for our Skype call with her, and has 40 or so kindergarteners join us for the experience! I invited my son, Riley’s, class to come up and hear the story (partly because I knew they’d love the book, but selfishly because I knew HE would love it–we are always talking about books and authors at home!). Then Ms. Weidinger shared it with Ms. Heifner and they came along, too! WOW–what a great bunch of kiddos gathered to share such a great day!

Look at all those kiddos! It’s really cool that little kids and big kids alike can share an experience like this one!

First she read to us. Here’s a little snippet (although now I’m a little sad I didn’t record the whole story!):

Man, it must be crazy cool (and a little bit weird) to be able to read a REAL book that YOU wrote to other people. I’m a little jealous.

After we enjoyed her sharing her story with us (which is a MUST READ in our opinion!), our little friends left and we settled in to chat with our new best author friend! We had some great questions left over from our time with her last week: Will you ever write an autobiography? Do you like writing fiction or nonfiction better? Can we see more of your office?

Then Peter asked how she made up the little rhymes she used in her Gingerbread Girl books. Her answer, which made sense, was that a lot of it was just trial and error. But she also shared with us a handy-dandy tool that we now know no writer should be without:

What an amazing visit with an amazing lady! I, for one, was inspired to get myself published, and I know my students were inspired as well! What a treat! THANK YOU LISA!

How did you celebrate World Read Aloud Day? Who is your favorite author? Have you every Skyped with an author? If so, who? Tell us about it!

Lisa Campbell Ernst Visits Robinson!

Remember how I told you that this last week was CRAZY BUSY and full of great opportunities?! Here’s another: we had an amazing author (who is from MO, which we love!) visit us on Wednesday–Lisa Campbell Ernst!

This was extra exciting for me, because she was the featured author the first year I was at Robinson. As a new teacher, I was unfamiliar with her work, but because of that visit (and since then), I’ve become a big fan! She’s had a special author box in our class library for years now, too. She’s one of my favorites. 🙂

So when I heard she was coming, I was over the moon! My kids hadn’t really heard of her yet, so Mrs. Meihaus (our FABULOUS librarian) helped us get to know her a little better with a short bio lesson, and by finding us piles and piles of her books to read (she’s published over 30!). We particularly enjoyed:

We loved this twist on the original!

This is the first L.C.E. book I ever heard and is now one of my all-time favorite books! 5th graders love it, too!

Another twist on a beloved fairytale: what would happen if Goldilocks came back to the scene of the crime, 50 years later?

This one is nominated for the MO Show-Me Reader Award (which primary students vote for), but big kids love it, too! While they weren’t intentional, we saw many connections to Disney’s Up.

We were ready for her, and February 27th was the big day–the big day that almost didn’t happen because of a blizzard in Kansas City the day before. Luckily she made it here and was ready to present to us!

See that fox? It’s the villain from The Gingerbread Girl and she was showing us how to draw him! She even made one for our school to keep! It’s on display by the library now. 🙂

Some of the best parts were the stories she told about how she decides on the ideas for her books.

Pictures of actual candy to help with drawing the Gingerbread Girl’s candy body

And drawing a Gingerbread Girl is harder than you think!

We really enjoyed listening to hear talk about her process as a writer. She showed pictures of her studio, too, which was also loved (and wanted to actually see the inside of in person!). There was a lot of time left at the end for questions, and many of ours were answered. Most wanted to know where she gets her ideas, how long it takes to write a book and how she got started as an author (and answer is that she used to be a graphic designer, which led her to illustrations, which led her to writing–something she’d loved doing since she was a little girl!).

Once the presentation was over, and everyone else left, we found ourselves the last ones in the library and could not pass up a photo opportunity!

Say cheese!

And I couldn’t either, when we ate lunch together later that day:

Gotta love being in the same room with a mentor author that you love! What great a conversation I got to share! It’s amazing how much you can learn in 20 minutes!

Oh, and one more thing I couldn’t pass up was asking Lisa if she’d be willing to Skype with us for World Read Aloud Day tomorrow–which she was willing to do! We’re excited to continue our conversation tomorrow afternoon. I’ll be sure to share soon!

Literature Circle Reflection

Happy Thursday, friends!

I can’t believe that you’ve made it through your first round of Literature Circles already! You did a FABULOUS job of being responsible with your reading, asking thoughtful questions and engaging in a civil discussion with your classmates!

Now that you’re finished, I want you to reflect on how it went. On your blog, please respond in sentences to these questions:

1. What was your favorite thing about the Literature Circle process? Give reasons for your thinking.

2. What was a question you asked that really got your group talking? Why did it?

3. What is something you wish, if you participated in another Literature Circle?

4. Give some ideas for a book you might like to read with another group. Be sure to captitalize and underline the title, and write the author if you know it. 🙂

I can’t wait to read your reflections! Happy writing!

Mrs. Bearden

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things (To Read To My Students!)

Remember how I told you about EdCampStl? One of the great people I met (or was actually reintroduced to) was Ms. Ferguson, who had done some work in my school several years ago. We found out we both teach 5th grade and are both named Jen, which was a funny coincidence.

Well, since we are both 5th grade teachers, the conversations we shared were mostly around comparing what we do and how. So when she asked about my favorite read-alouds, I figured that both for her and for me (and for you!), I’d write a whole post about it! Here are a few of my favorite things to read to my students!

I have written about read aloud before here and here, and you can probably tell it’s a big deal in our classroom. I am so excited to share a good book with a group of kids who have never heard of it before, and even more excited when they love it as much as me! Let me tell you about some of my go-to reads:

1. There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom by Louis Sachar (When I taught 4th grade, I always started our year together with this one.)

2. Crash by Jerry Spinelli (One of my all-time favorites that I read EVERY YEAR! Well except this one, because they heard it last year. 😦 )

3. Clementine by Sara Pennypacker (Even big kids love the antics of Clementine! It’s a great end-of-the-year fast read, too.)

4. Fig Pudding by Ralph Fletcher (See that note about Crash? DITTO on this one. Read it EVERY YEAR and it’s a classic, for sure!)

5. Who’s Stealing the 12 Days of Christmas? by Marsha Freeman

6. Who’s Stealing Halloween? by Marsha Freeman (These are great, easy mysteries that my kiddos always love.)

7. The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White (As a child, I have fond memories of my 3rd grade teacher reading this one aloud to me, and so I had to return the favor to my students!)

8. The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau (I did this one totally backwards and saw the movie first, but once I read the book, I was really sold!)

9. Pleasing the Ghost by Sharon Creech

10. Granny Torrelli Makes Soup by Sharon Creech

11. Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech (This is another one of my EVERY YEAR reads. Oh, and can you tell I’m a Sharon Creech fan?)

12. Frindle by Andrew Clements (I’m not usually an Andrew Clements fan (I know–gasp!!), but this is a great first book because it’s fun and easy for everyone to dig into.)

13. Go Big or Go Home by Will Hobbs (I found this book because it was nominated for the Mark Twain award a couple of years ago and it’s on my “good” list now.)

14. Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Also a Mark Twain nominee–what a twisty story! We were on the edge of our seats the whole time with this one.)

15. I Am David by Anne Holm (This was another saw-the-movie-first one, but I am now so in love with David’s story that this is an EVERY YEAR book now!)

16. The Boys Start the War by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (Great beginning of the year read aloud–everyone loves it!)

17. Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson (I found this one last year after a recommendation from my husband, who is also a teacher. It’s a little graphic, but is an interesting non-fiction read aloud that kept my students riveted!)

18. Marshfield Dreams by Ralph Fletcher (Also a recommendation from my husband, this is Ralph Fletcher’s memoir and is the PERFECT companion to read with Fig Pudding. Perfect picture of how your writer’s notebook informs your writing!)

19. Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea (This is a brand new one, but will become an EVERY YEAR book next year when I read it again! What a great beginning-of-the-year read to set the tone for the year. We learned a lot about how to treat each other well with this one!)

20. Wonder by R.J. Palacio (WE LOVE AUGGIE! This is one of the most heartfelt, meaningful reads I’ve come across in a long time. Another EVERY YEAR read!)

21. Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham

22. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo (Yet another recommendation from my hubby–man does he know good books!–that will become an EVERY YEAR read for me. Great, moving story with amazing vocabulary.)

23. The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate (Just started this one with my class, but I KNOW they’re going to LOVE it! This one just won the Newbery, which confirms that it’s a great book, but I as already in love. Moving and life changing.)

Whew! That’s a lot longer list than I thought it’d be! There are just so many good ones!

What are your favorite read alouds? Are any the same as mine? Share your favorites here–maybe I’ll have to add them to my list! 🙂

Happy Literature Circle Day!

Aren’t you excited? It’s the first day of your new Literature Circles! I’m excited to see where this journey will take you, and to hear all the FABULOUS conversations that will result from your close reading of your book.

I would love you to share your first thoughts with the world, so today’s response will be on your blog, not on Edmodo. After your group has met, please compose a post that includes these things:

1. What is the book that you are reading and discussing (include the author and UNDERLINE the title!)

2. How would you describe the conversation? Pick only ONE WORD and be sure to tell why you chose it. For example, you might say it was LIVELY because everyone was really excited to share (and no, you can’t use that word. It’s mine. 🙂 ).

3. What was something you did to contribute positively to the group? On the other side of the coin, what is something you could do differently next time to make your conversation even better?

4. What are you looking forward to in your next meeting?

As always, be sure to show what you know about what good writers do (use correct mechanics, choose appropriate words, write in paragraphs, think about the audience, etc.)! I should see proof of what you know in your writing, as well as see the answers to my questions! Oh, and use the tags literature circles, reading and fun for your post (plus any others you want to add!).

Can’t wait to hear how it went! 🙂

Literature Circles–Book Trailers!

Today is an exciting day for you. Today you will get to choose the book you’ll read and then discuss with your new Literature Circle! I hope that this is a great experience for you, both as you make your book choice, and then even more as you learn and grow with your group. So, now you’ll begin your journey as I give you a sneak peek of the books from which you’ll have to choose. Please watch the trailers and read the reviews here, and then give me your first, second and third choice for which book you’d like to read. You’ll write your choices on an INDEX CARD, NOT in the comments here, because I want them to be private. In your note, please include how you know it’s just right for you and why you’d like to read it. I’ll let you know which group you’re in by Monday, January 28. Happy book shopping!

1. The Watsons Go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis LEXILE: 1000

Book Trailer: The Watsons Go To Birmingham – 1963 from Carolyn Martin on Vimeo.

2. A Friendship for Today by Patricia McKissack

3. Ghost Dog Secrets by Peg Kehret LEXILE: 730

4. Captain Nobody by Dean Pitchford LEXILE: 750

5. Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper LEXILE: 700

20somethingkids and 1kookyteacher

Starting a 3rd Grade Journey

Category Archives: Reading