Tag Archives: #classroombookaday

#classroombookaday 2017 UPDATE: Week 13–WE HIT 200 BOOKS!!

What an exciting week in first grade reading!!  We hit 200 books!!  We’re in that super fun time of year, too, where the topics we’re reading about are so much fun and we’re in a smooth routine that allows us to read even more than usual.  Win-win!!

Check out our wall! Our updated total is 203! (yeah…I just noticed I put on book up there twice.  Ignore that part. 🙂 ).

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I was talking to my friend the other day about our wall and how happy we are that it’s in a place where EVERYONE in our school walks every day.   We did so much with this challenge last year and no one got to see it or share it with us because our room was tucked up in a quiet corner where no one but us ever walked.  This way all the readers in our school (adult and student alike!) get to check out what we’re doing.  And besides showing all of our hard work, it’s just so PRETTY!!  Sometimes I really do just stand there and look at it.  Books can inspire you in so many ways!

This week we read lots of great ones by many authors and used them in many ways.

We came back to a few old favorite authors–and illustrators–this week (talking to you, Ryan T. Higgins, Marla Frazee, Mo Willems, Todd Parr, Steve Antony and Mem Fox!).  We have worked through SO MANY of those friends’ titles, but still had some floating around that we had to finish up.  Mem Fox has SO MANY and we were still working through hers from the Global Read Aloud (which, by the way, I am remembering I have forgotten to tell you about.  More on that later, I hope!).  We used many of them to help with some word work we have been doing, and some I picked to help revisit a friend/kindness theme (it’s that time of year when you need to remind kiddos that the things we talked about at the beginning of the year are still a thing!).  Little i  came in SUPER handy as we were working on the editing phase in our writing unit, and Pumpkin Jack is always a nice ending to our Literary Lanterns project and the “pumpkin” focus we had around Halloween.

Kiddos were our readers this week, too, as Celia shared Thank You, Mr. Panda and Campbell read The Thank You Book to us. 🙂

Funny kid reference from the week comes when I was sharing that we were going to read Knuffle Bunny Too and Knuffle Bunny Free.  I was happily sharing how we’d read these and Louie says, “Oh, like Knuffle Bunny 2 and 3!”  We all had a laugh and I TOTALLY didn’t even hear the titles like that.  Good detail, Mo Willems, and good listening, Louie!!

#classroombookaday 2017 UPDATE: Week 12

We’re still rolling along, adding books and book and books to our display in the first grade hallway.  Check out the latest and greatest:

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I know you can tell that we’re almost ready to add another arrow (for 200!), and as of this last week we have logged 186 books!  This week was busy and the schedule was a little wonky because of Halloween, a 1/2 day and other events around school, so we only added 10, but they were all good ones!

We had lots of Halloween-themed books, as well as another Lola Schaefer and another book illustrated by our friend Peter H. Reynolds because–why not??  One of the texts was a kid-written story, and then the last one of the week was from my rotation on our 1/2 day, where I taught about the Navy (each teacher shared about a different branch of the military).

What did you read this week?  PLEASE recommend something that YOU love to us and we’ll read it, too! 🙂  Until next week–happy reading!

#classroombookaday 2017 UPDATE: Week 11

Oh my goodness!  Week 11 already??  We’re moving and grooving and totally rocked the book-reading this week!  Seemed like they came in pairs this time around; one of our authors has written lots of books that are related to each other so we read them together!

Here’s the current display:

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We’re all the way up to 176 now!!  Yep, we read 21 books this week!  Told you we rocked it! 🙂

Here are the new ones. 🙂

See what I mean about pairs of books?  We had 4 sets of books from Sandra Boynton and Lola Schaefer (she seemed to do it so many times it HAD to be on purpose!  Ms. Schaefer, if you read this, please tell us if it is!!).  There were a couple of kid-readers this week, too, as Celia read a book SHE WROTE to us called Donut, and Natalie read us Doggies and Blue Hat, Green Hat after working on them for a while to get them ready to share with her classmates!  Also, we read Mystery Vine, by the same author as our old favorite David’s Drawings, Cathryn Falwell.  Man, I love it when we can revisit old friends. 🙂

Now, you know that RM. 111 and 112 love reading no matter what, and that we love all books and all readers, but I also know you know that there is not much better than when MRS. SISUL READS TO US!!  Again, you’re probably not surprised at all that she came back this week to read.  And that she was on ROLLER SKATES!!  Man, Robinson is a super amazing place to learn and read! 🙂

What did you read this week?  What pairs of books have you tried? Share with us!! 🙂

#classroombookaday 2017 UPDATE: Week 10

Somehow, even though we only had 3 days of school this week, we read more books than all of last week.  Maybe because I wasn’t happy with the fact that we only read 10 and we had to catch up a little?  Who knows, but we were busy readers and added some great titles over the last few days.  Here’s our wall as of October 20.  We’re up to 155 now!!

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This week’s books were varied and fun.  Check them out!

See those Mem Fox books?  Yep–Global Read Aloud is still rocking and rolling!  We are beginning a pumpkin project in reading so had to read those two books about pumpkins, and some were just for fun!

Mrs. Sisul came by on Friday to share Monster Trouble with us, and you know Principal Read Alouds are always a big hit!

This one was so great and we were all surprised with how the little girl tricked the monsters with KISSES!!

What would you like to see us read?  What recommendations do you have for us that you have read lately or that you just really love?  We’d love to hear about books we don’t know about yet. 🙂

Global Read Aloud Week 1: Koala Lou Continued

I shared already about how we finally started this year’s Global Read Aloud, and about many things we had already done with our first book–Koala Lou. 

Well, those predictions and pictures weren’t the only things we did!  As in the story, we created our own version of the Olympics, but made the Robinson Olympics and created animals that we would see in our own “bush” that could cheer on Koala Lou.  We worked with our “pincher” fingers to create our animals, rather than scissors.  Ms. Turken created a fabulous tree for our Koala Lou to climb, and two friends also created a sign.   We were pretty proud, and hung our Olympics in our hall for all to see.

As we went through the week, however, I kept looking at our FABULOUS display thinking something was missing.  Those animals down there, who were supposed to be cheering on their friend Koala Lou, weren’t saying anything!  Also, we didn’t have a sign and so really only we knew what the mural was for but no one else who walked by and saw it knew what our creation was about.

So…we worked another morning to add speech bubbles to our animal friends.  We worked in partners to make sure our work was first grade perfect and that others could read what we were saying.  Our friends helped us make sure we used the word wall, put in all the sounds and had the correct punctuation before we “published” our final bubbles for the wall.

And so now when you walk down our hallway–which is a pretty great location for sharing what’s going on, by the way!–you can tell exactly what’s going on and what the mural is for. And so that way you can more greatly appreciate all the hard work that these first graders have done!  Way to go, Rm. 111 and 112 friends!

What a great way to respond to a great book!! 🙂

#classroombookaday 2017 UPDATE: Week 9

We ended our first quarter this week, and also our first chunk of fun in our #classroombookaday challenge.  We ended up with 142 books in our first 9 weeks together and WOW were there some good ones!  Here’s our wall as of October 13:

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We must have been busy doing lots of other things (including end-of-unit assessments I guess), and only read 10 books this week.  Here are the highlights:

We were in Week 2 of the Global Read Aloud this week, and so Possum Magic was on the top of our list. 🙂  We also added in This and That and also Particular Cow by Mem Fox.  As we like to do, we added in more books by authors we already know, and so we read My Teacher is a Monster by Peter Brown and The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers.

As we were studying light and sound in science, we read The Energy We See.   This week was disABILITIES awareness week in our school, so we read Aneil Has a Food Allergy, as we talked about physical disabilities on Thursday.  The Amazing Autumn book was just for some fall fun, as was the book When I Was Five.  Lastly, we added another Show-Me Award nominee to our list, and read Fur, Fins and Feathers: Abraham Dee Bartlett and the Invention of the Modern Zoo.

Whew!  That list makes me a little tired and a lot happy!  Here’s to adding even more to the wall this week as we start a new quarter of reading and learning together!

And just because I’m always thinking about numbers (and reading, too) I figured out 142 X 4 quarters means we’ll be at 568 (or so) and that beats last year’s number!!  Here’s to continuing to share amazing books with amazing kids!

 

#classroombookaday 2017 UPDATE: Week 8

What a SUPER week for reading in first grade!  Ok, well it’s always great, but when we’re doing #classroombookaday AND the Global Read Aloud at the same time, it’s extra magical. 🙂

Our count is up to 132 and here’s what our wall looks like:

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Isn’t it beautiful?  I mean, really?! I could stand there and study it all day long–and I’m sure many Robinson kids could (and would!), too, if we’d let them. 🙂

This week we read these books:

As I have written briefly about (and even mentioned here!), we started the Global Read Aloud this week, and have loved beginning our study of Australian culture and Mem Fox’s books.  Along with the “assigned” GRA books, we have also added in a nonfiction book about koalas (to help us understand Koala Lou), as well as two other Mem Fox stories.  We ended our week on a sweet note as we read about how Wilfred Gordon McDonald Partridge shared memories with Ms. Nancy and helped her remember. 🙂

As is usual in my classroom, we added in some beloved authors’ books to add to the collection.  This week it was another Todd Parr book (yep–there are still some we haven’t read yet!) and another Ame Dyckman, because well, she’s awesome and why not?  I also shared King Baby by Kate Beaton this week because we had also read The Princess and the Pony earlier this year.  That one got lots of laughs. 🙂

Ok…and now let me tell you a story about some books we didn’t love.  In some ways I feel bad about writing this.  Feel like we’re supposed to just read “good” books, so to speak, and/or find something that I like in every text we read.  But then again, reading is personal and everyone likes different things, right?  It might have just been that the timing of when we read them was not ideal.  One afternoon this week I had a “we-just-need-to-sit-down-and-enjoy-a-book-together” moment, after a really rough morning.  I explained how reading with people I love, experiencing a good book together makes me feel better.  And then….we read Pig the Pug.  And Pig the Winner.  And, oh my goodness…no one felt any better!  The looks on the faces of some of my friends was priceless as we read about how greedy and mean and inappropriate Pig’s choices were.  He would NOT make a very good Roadrunner and his books were FULL of unexpected behaviors.  Ok, so at least we learned some things we should NOT do.  There–I found something positive to say. 🙂  Oh, and we didn’t add it to the wall yet (because Ms. Turken hasn’t read it), but we then had to read The Grandma Book (by Todd Parr) and How to Find a Fox (both very funny) to make up for those first two.  Then we could move on. 🙂

We read Jabari Jumps this week and enjoyed finding parts that we could relate to, as well as encouraging him on as he tried something that he was scared to do.  I was so happy as my friends were telling him, “No, don’t stop now!” and how we could discuss positive self-talk that we can use when we’re nervous about something new.

Only One You and Animalogies were both used as prompts for learning activities–one with Mrs. Berger and another for an art project that we’re doing for a school celebration in a couple of weeks.  We read Even Superheros Have Bad Days.  We were a little worried–after those yucky books the day before–and because the title seemed to signal bad news.  BUT, we read this one and LOVED it!  It was a perfect connection to another book we have read,  We Can Get Along.  It had some SUPER examples about how superheroes COULD do some pretty terrible things when they’re upset, but then INSTEAD they could also choose to respond in more appropriate, expected ways.  This book ended up being EXACTLY what Roadrunners do–use breathing strategies and Peace Places and other things to help them get back to center.   Whew!

And then there’s One Day in the Eucalyptus, Eucalyptus Tree…  I read this one last year, and I know it’s great, but this year it was perhaps an even greater read, because Mrs. Sisul came to share it with us as her principal read aloud.  She was very excited about it, and her love of both the book and reading to kids showed.  And this made us love it even more!

I didn’t get a recording of the whole thing, but I had to get at least a little so you could hear what it sounded like. 🙂

See?  Told you it was good. 🙂  Oh, I forgot to tell you, but first graders made some predictions about what kind of book she’d bring with her to share with us, and we predicted something by Todd Parr or Mem Fox because that’s who we’re studying.  Good guesses, first grade. 🙂

 

#classroombookaday 2017 UPDATE: Week 7

Hello, #classroombookaday friends!  Another super week and we’ve read loads of great ones!  Here’s our wall as of Friday:

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We added 15 this week and are up to 115 books so far! Many of them are the same as last year (as kids have asked me), but so many of them are brand new ones I’ve never heard of before now.  I love how we are finding new authors and then reading ALL of their books, as well as reuniting with old author friends from before. 🙂

Here are the highlights from this week:

You probably already know (if you read last week’s post) why there are so many Todd Parr books on this list!  We have been HUGE fans of Todd Parr and are set to read all of his books.  Perhaps the most fun part of this week was when Ms. Turken (and my kiddos) and I got to MEET HIM!! He was at our local bookstore to share and sign his newest book Love the World and we were there.  🙂  Super excited for this pic with our new friend. 🙂

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I think I mentioned before, but it is worth repeating that I love how easy it is to share big messages with little kids by reading Todd Parr’s books.  Everyone of them is accessible by all levels of readers and are about BIG IDEAS.  We have had SO many deep conversations as we read and I’m so thankful for those lessons.

This week also added several stories that are related to things we’re learning:

Night of the Veggie Monster is a mentor text for our Small Moments unit in Writing, we’re using Ollie the Stomper as we’re learning about building good reading habits in Reader’s Workshop and the other two accompany our study on Light and Sound in Science. LOVE that literature is involved in these subjects.

The last ones were just for fun.  Hug Machine has a fabulous Emily Arrow song (see below), the Sam book was a new one from our pal Mo Willems that we hadn’t read, Betty Goes Bananas is from the same author as the Mr. Panda books we’ve read (Steve Antony), and we’ve read several of the other “if you want to….DON’T” books along the way this year, too.  Oh, and I wish I had a video of this, too, but I feel that I should mention that a puppet named Mr. Giggles read that Betty book to us and it was super fun.

Whew!  What a great reading week.  I’m excited for this week to come, as well, because we start the Global Read Aloud!! Stay tuned to see lots of Mem Fox added to the list!!

 

#classroombookaday UPDATE: Do You See What I See?

So before I even say anything, let me show you a picture. 🙂

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Do you see the BIG GIANT thing that happened this week in our #classroombookaday challenge??  WE HIT OUR 100TH BOOK!!  WOOHOO!!

I went back to look and it seems like we hit that mark about week 5 last year (not that it matters, but somehow I’m competitive even with myself!), so we’re a week or so off (this was our 6th week of school).  Regardless of when it happens, though, it seems like such a GREAT accomplishment to have been able to share so many amazing books with these first grade kiddos (and SO MANY words and SO MANY great conversations, too!).  Let me show you what we added this week. 🙂

Wow, right?  15 books is pretty good, I’d say, but didn’t have time for all the ones Ms. Turken and I really want to read (and actually we read more than this but the rule is that we can only hang it up if BOTH of our classes get to hear it).  We had several things happen this week that impacted these choices:

  1. Our class focus was on the Robinson Expected Behavior of being kind and caring.  We also talked about being considerate and responsible for our choices.  I love the line in that book We Can Get Along that says “I can choose to walk away, my choices BELONG TO ME.”  It’s so important that kiddos know and understand that they need to OWN their behavior, that THEY are in control of their choices and also that their choices have consequences (both good and bad ones!).  Do Unto Otters was so great, too, as there are so many practical examples of what it looks like when we think of others before ourselves.  And not to leave the other one out, What Does it Mean to Be Kind? was a great one for littles because it’s just so simple: this is kindness and this is not.  Nerdy Birdy was shared with us by Ms. Cohen (our counselor) when she came to talk to us this week.
  2. We are also SUPER EXCITED for a visit that Todd Parr is making to a local bookstore near us next week and we are getting ready by reading as many books of his as we can!  We have enjoyed them and even had Mrs. Sisul share one of them with us for her Principal Read Aloud this week.  LOVE that she’s involved in this journey of ours!! IMG_1368
  3.  Many first graders have gotten into the read-aloud game and sharing books with us!  This week three of Ms. Turken’s friends and our own Maddie read to us and it was so great!  What amazing readers they already are, with such expressive voices (oh and sorry, Sutton, somehow I didn’t get a picture of you 😦 )!

    4. We started new investigation in counting and organizing and so we read the funny story of the disorganized Masloppy family to set the context for our math work.

Whew!  What a busy reading week!  We’re having so much fun and enjoying so many new stories and authors.  Can’t wait to see what’s on tap for next week!  What have you been reading?  Please leave us a comment and share a great story you have enjoyed lately, or one you recommend that we read! 🙂

 

#classroombookaday UPDATE: First of the year!

Somehow we’ve gotten to the 22nd day of school and I have only posted ONE TIME about our book-a-day challenge.  Because that’s the reality, I will NOT tell you about every book we’ve read (we’re up to 85 as of today!!), but I will give some words about this week’s additions.  Hope you enjoy, and maybe even find a book you might want to read!

First, here’s what our wall looks like right now (the pic on the left):

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(At this point last year we were at 89.  Funny–I thought for sure we were reading faster this year!)

This display is so different than how I displayed it last year, and in some ways I think it’s hard to see how quickly it’s growing…

…but FOR SURE it’s an improvement because of all of the kids and teachers who get to look at it now!  I LOVE to see last year’s kiddos walk past and marvel, as well as other kids point out the books on our list that they’ve read, and the way so many people say “Man–they read ALOT of books!”  I’ve even heard from teachers who have now begun to keep their own book lists as they read with their classes.  LOVE the inspiration that can come from such a project just because it’s shared in a different way!

Ok…here’s what we read this week:

You can probably tell by the titles that our focus this week was on our community (getting to know each other and celebrate how each of one us is special and unique) as well as the celebration of Dot Day–we ended up reading 6 of Peter Reynold’s books!!  The Hooray for Kids book was really cool and led us to a scavenger hunt where we found out what kind of kids we are:

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As we shared out after we were finished we made lots of connections to who is like us and who we might want to know better.  I’m excited to build on the things we learned!

What did you read this week? 🙂