Second Grade Read Around–Part 2

I recently posted about how Mrs. Meihaus made Read Around super for second grade. That wasn’t the whole story….:)

Perhaps one of my favorite parts of the Read Around came after the Read Around, and it looked like this:

Isn’t that great? She saved all of our favorites from our Read Around for us until we could come back and check them out. It felt a little special that this display was right in front of the circulation desk.

Just a few more pictures that show our library fabulousness. It’s one of our favorite places to be, and I LOVE that that’s the case. Readers are made here. 🙂

Ok, one more. These are new this year and can be seen all over the library (no, they’re not all pictures of me–every teacher took one LOL).

And in true Mrs. Bearden form, I was told to choose my favorite and I couldn’t do it! There are just too many great books to choose just one! Thanks Mrs. Meihaus for letting me choose 3. 🙂

Second Grade Read Around

The Read Around is a procedure that our librarian learned about several years ago, and I have used a couple of times with my classes (in all grade levels). This year was no different. 🙂

The big idea for the read around is that readers get a short time to preview (we use the word “peruse!”) a book, so that they can then see what they might be interested in checking out (ha ha, library pun) later. The best part is that as long as you match the books to the readers, you can do this with anyone of any age!

So….Mrs. Meihaus set it all up and helped us get started by reminding us of the directions:

We spent the next 30 minutes or so (this part varies depending on how many “rounds” you do and how long you spend at each spot) perusing new books that might be interesting to us now that we’re 2nd graders.

Check out some of our favorites. Mrs. Meihaus had each table choose their top 3 and place them in the middle of the table. Then, when kiddos traded tables, that was the first place many of them started looking.

I picked out this one as a favorite. Thought we could try it for a read aloud. 🙂

Getting Started with Reading: Second Grade Reading Museum

I hope that like writing, it’s no secret that I love reading and books. And getting great books in the hands (and ears!) of kids so that they can have the feeling of losing themselves in a good book. One way we do that in 2nd grade (ok, in all my classrooms no matter what grade they are!) is read A LOT, and talk A LOT about books. This year, since our kiddos are older and wiser, we also added in a Reading Museum, like I’ve written about with bigger kids.

It started out much the same, with this invitation:

I changed the criteria for choosing books a little from when I taught 4th and 5th grade, but really the goal was the same: bring your favorite books to help us learn something about you as a reader.

When Friday finally came, we got ready by setting up our “exhibits” and discussing the etiquette for visiting museums.

As kiddos circulated through their friends’ exhibits, they were expected to be thinking about these questions:

We turned on some soft music and got busy with our museum:

I was very impressed with how quietly they were focused on checking out all the books on display. It became very clear, though, that most kids were not thinking about making connections with friends. They were instead focusing on just the middle question:
They were reading new books and finding new favorites, and you know what? That’s amazing! The goal of the museum (and in general) is to get kids excited about books and reading and see that it’s for them. When we shared at the end of our museum time, I was reassured that they actually were paying attention to whose books they were looking at, too, as they shared where they’d seen some of their new favorites. YAY!

I should have expected that they’d go about it in a little bit different way, and but I shouldn’t have been surprised that they still accomplished the goal I had set out. These kids are super amazing, after all. So glad we did this!

Chapter Book Previews: First Try in First Grade

The first year I taught 5th grade, I came upon a great idea for previewing chapter books with readers–the idea being that you teach them how to do it together with a whole class read aloud and then they’d hopefully begin to transfer the process to independent reading. Well, I can’t say that that ever happened, and I don’t even teach 5th anymore to try again, but what I do know is that the process worked well enough that I decided to revive it for a try in first grade.

I believe that our newest chapter book is the 21st we’ve shared together this year. Yes, I said 21st! That’s amazing, no? We agree. 🙂 Well, if you’ve been following our read aloud timeline progress and updates, then you know we enjoy short books with funny characters, interesting pictures and exciting adventures, and that we’ve become fans of Kate DiCamillo (we’ve read 7 of her books!). Once along the way, we tried something a little longer and more complex, and started reading The Lemonade War (I have read the series and also heard once of a whole school doing this as a RA and thought I’d try it with my crew), but quickly abandoned it when it seemed like we weren’t ready for something with such little support for readers (well, listeners in this case).

Well, recently it was my turn to choose the title (since they’d had control of the previous 15!) and I introduced them to the amazing world of The One and Only Ivan. They did great with that one, even without pictures and even though it was super long.

Well…it was my turn again, and with the help of my friend Millicent (to whom I should really give the credit for choosing the book with her mom), and the choice was the classic The Wizard of Oz. I was willing to try it with this crew both because I think we’re more ready that earlier in the year, and because I wanted to try it with my own first grader last year (when it was suggested on a list by NPR for their Backseat Book Club).

As we were getting started, though, I wondered if there was something I should do this time around to help support my kiddos, since the story is much more complicated that others we’ve read. That’s when I thought of how I’ve brought so many other things from my 5th grade days to 1st grade and they’ve gone really well. I knew I had just the thing to try, and it was our Read Aloud Preview Packets.

With 5th graders, each kid actually had their own paper copy of the packet, on which they’d write questions, inferences, noticings and whatever else they needed to help them digest the story. I figured that this time, since it was our first time, we’d try it together and then maybe I’d give them a go at it on their own.

Tuesday, then, we sat down together and I opened our class copy in Word on the ActivBoard. Here’s how our conversation went:

Starting with the front cover, we studied and analyzed, pulling up all the schema we had as well as recording wonderings we had based on the picture. This one was different than the actual cover of our book (which is a beautifully bound green leather copy), so I grabbed one that I thought would create a good conversation.

Then we were on to the back cover. Again, our actual cover was just green, so I found one that we could talk about:

Next was the Verso and Dedication. Well, this one didn’t have a dedication, but we talked about what that word meant, and what it might say if there was one. This next part was really also just an explanation of what a verso is and what you can learn from studying it.

Moving on, we looked at a special feature of this book: a map! We had read another book with a map (Who Is Stealing the 12 Days of Christmas?) and so connected to that knowledge as we thought of how this one would help us as we go through the story.

The next (and last) part in the preview is usually just the first page, but this book also had an introduction, so we did that one, too. The goal of this step was to help kiddos get their minds set to dig into the story. Baum wrote his introduction to explain his purpose and intentions with the story, and so it was a great conversation about how he wanted his Wizard to be different than previous fairy tales known to readers.

We didn’t actually read the first page, because kids were done (and I knew that we’d be reading it the first day anyway), but finished our conversation with mention of how many of them were coming into this book with experience seeing TWOO movie (two different versions, actually). We talked briefly about how different books and movies usually are because they’re made by different people, and how we could keep track of these similarities and differences as we read.

Whew! I’m so glad we did that! I wasn’t quite sure how it would go, but Rm. 202 kids seemed really into it, and they had lots to say during our discussion. We’re only about 6 pages in, but it seems like they’re already mesmerized by a great classic story and I am, too–I’ve never read it, either! Here’s to another GREAT read aloud!!

I Know an Old Lady, Do You?

During 2nd quarter, one of our big ideas during Reader’s Workshop was comparing various versions of the same text. An easy one–as well as a favorite–was I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly. We found 3 versions initially and read them (and then found a couple more!), creating a chart to represent all the parts of the story.

I Know an Old Lady retold by G. Brian Karas: Somehow I managed to only have a picture of our “lady” without her labels! We spent much time labeling all of those things in her belly!

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucile Colandro: This one shows our super work at labels using interactive writing. Plus, this old lady is super stylish with a belt, some glasses and a bow in her hair. :)

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro: This one shows our super work at labels using interactive writing. Plus, this old lady is super stylish with a belt, some glasses and a bow in her hair. 🙂

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Pie by Alison Jackson: This may be my favorite lady yet! Check out that 10-layer cake in her stomach!

After we had read our stories, we dug in to start comparing and contrasting the stories. We talked about how to do this in an organized way, and so kiddos were introduced to the Venn Diagram. Well, reintroduced to the idea, but the name and the was new. We had a 1st draft that ended up too messy to use, but it worked for us to understand how the diagram worked.

Once we knew how to put the pieces together, kiddos worked in pairs to write the parts that were the same and different. Again, what we had learned during many interactive writing lessons lately paid off!

Another great example of interactive writing as well as great ideas for how the stories were the same and different! Super smart first grade thinking!

Close up of I Know an Old Lady

Close up of There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves

Close up of I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Pie and the “same” sections of the diagram

Of which stories have you read different versions? Share some suggestions with us! 🙂

Read-to-Someone

We’ve been busy-bee readers in Rm. 202! Remember how I told you about Read-to-Self? Well, after we figured out how to do that pretty well, it was time to add something else to our Reader’s Workshop time and our good readers toolbox.

A few days ago we started talking about how good readers sometimes work at getting better by reading to someone else. Before we jumped in with both feet, we had a conversation about what it would look like/sound like to work well while reading to someone. We decided you should be sitting right next to your reading friend, that you should be using quiet voices, and that there are several ways to read with your friend: both of you in the same book, each reader with a copy of the same book, or one takes a turn and then the other. As we go through the year we’ll learn more about how to get better at helping our partner figure out words, as well as how to have deep conversations about the books we’re reading together. For now, though, we’re getting good at the routine of read-to-someone, and having fun working on reading with our friends!

Evan and Jacob read a Black Lagoon book together.

Landen and Nate get comfy on the rug with their book.

Amelia and Millie read a dinosaur book on the rug together, too!

Sara and Makayla read at the coffee table together. Don’t you just love how great that table works with little learners? Just the right height for kneeling. 🙂

Emily and Ava each have a copy of an old favorite–Strega Nona by Tomie de Paola.

Ella Marie and Briannia share another old favorite–Clifford!

Diego and Thomas found a cozy spot in the corner to have a conversation about their book.

For kiddos–What’s your favorite part about read-to-someone?

For parents–What are your kiddos saying about read-to-someone? What book would you choose to read if you were in Rm. 202?

For teachers–What tips do you have for using read-to-someone with first grade readers?

We want to hear from you! 🙂

Book by Book…

Yesterday we talked about the journeys that readers take. Today we talked about how readers can make little goals along the way to help the goals in their journey seem more attainable.

We talked with our elbow-partners about goals that they’ve made, and when we shared out from our conversations, we realized that we had made goals that fit into 3 basic categories: goals for at school during RW (like reading 30 pages before the end), goals for at home at night (like reading 2 hrs before bedtime or “scheduling” it for after dinner or before bed), and goals that span the whole week (like finishing a certain number of books each week). It was a great conversation that helped us all better envision how to have (and keep) a growth mindset.

Then I was ready to give them a goal of my own. It is a year-long goal, and is definitely a pretty big one: to read at least 40 books, in a variety of different genres.

(Remember how I read The Book Whisperer this summer? This challenge and genre requirements came from there. 🙂 )

I put this slide up on the ActivBoard and waited for the reactions. To my surprise (is it ok to say that?), no one freaked out. No one cried, and no one seemed discouraged! I was really expecting at least one person to say that this was an impossible challenge, deciding already that they were doomed to fail. But beautifully, what happened instead were a variety of responses somewhere along a continuum of “only 40? I thought it would be more like 150!” to “on 40? I know I’ll read more than that this year!”. I loved it, too, when one sweet friend looked at me, slowing nodding and smiling, seemingly saying “I can do that, Mrs. Bearden! I don’t know how yet, but I know you’re going to help me.” 🙂 And YES, my friend, I will help you!

But then my favorite part happened. My friend Brittany (remember her from that big pile of books yesterday?), who had been talking to Grace, looked at me and said, “Mrs. Bearden, you’re going to do this, too, right? You’re going to read 40 books with us?” I was a little surprised, because I was surprised that she asked. But I was SO GLAD that she did. It would have been one thing for me to say that I was going to join them–which I was planning on doing anyway–but it’s a completely different thing when it’s their idea. Now it’s OUR challenge instead of just mine. And we’re going to accomplish it together, book by book. 🙂

Everybody Loves Reading!

Or at least they will when I’m done with ’em! HA!

One of the most important goals of the beginning of 5th grade–or any grade–is to help kids get to the place where they love school. Really love it. This is the case with the beginning days of my Reader’s Workshop as well. Unfortunately, I have students that come to me and can honestly say that they don’t read because they want to. They read because they have to, or they don’t read at all. Boo. 😦

So in addition to conversations about how our Reader’s Workshop will function (like we had as we filled in this chart the other day):

Kids worked in pairs first and then we discussed together our thoughts about what Reader’s Workshop looks and sound like, and how that helps us as readers.

we also have lessons that give kids chances to see themselves as readers, and to see what is possible for them–no matter where they are starting.

Today we started with a conversation about mindset (growth vs. fixed) and tied it to this quote:

We talked about how every reader is on a journey, and those journeys look different for every person. We talked about how having a growth mindset–believing that we are capable of achieving great things if we keep trying, changing and making mistakes–helps us on our journey. Then I described one reader’s journey from short, picture books with few words to reading Harry Potter using this pile of books:

While the scenario was hypothetical (I know…sometimes stories I tell at school are made up. Don’t sue me. 🙂 ), it is very much like what real readers do, and I wanted my readers to see that there are steps that they can plan to help them get from where they are to where they want to be (which in this case was the desire to read a Harry Potter book–a very real goal for many readers!).

After I told the story of how this reader traveled through their journey and after I piled these books high in Brittany’s arms (who so kindly volunteered to play the role of the reader in my story), I had everyone think about whether they saw themselves somewhere in this pile of books. Maybe they were already on a similar journey to this one. Or maybe they were starting in a different place. Regardless of the answer, their next step was to consider their own personal reading journey and write about it.
I want readers in my room to understand and appreciate that we need to think past the book we’re reading and onto the next book and the next book and so on (I’m working through Reading Ladders to help me help them with this right now). Everywhere has somewhere they can go! Here’s to a remarkable reading year in Rm. 202!

I Need Your Help!

The rush to get ready for school is in full swing, and I need your help (you being the parents in my classroom or friends of mine who want to donate something fabulous to my class or whatever other category you might fit into as a generous person) to finish up a couple of things:

I am going to try a new idea with how to engage with vocabulary this year, similar to our Words We Know board from last year…

As we read books together, we investigate words we don’t know, and connect them to what we do know to help make sense of them.

…but is even more visually appealing and organized:

(I feel like I should apologize for the fact that this is not actually the video, but instead a link to Teaching Channel where you can find it. Silly embed code just did not want to work….)

So as I was at Home Depot today, I grabbed 20 or so paint chips, but would LOVE IT if you could help me collect even more! I figure they would notice less if 10 or 20 people grabbed a small stack then if I filled up my cart! Any color will do. 🙂

Secondly, as we are working to more deeply engage readers with nonfiction text this year, I am beefing up that section of my classroom library. I want to put in lots of different kinds of nonfiction text at many different levels. The upper end is really in need of some attention, and following a great suggestion (from somewhere or someone really smart–I just can’t remember who), I’m adding in college textbooks and technical manuals, as well as travel books and whatever else might be of interest to a kid (and believe me, 10 and 11 year olds are interested in TONS of different topics!).

If you happen to have any books you need to clean out at home or if you’re shopping at Goodwill or a garage sale, and you see anything you think our class would benefit from, could you grab it for us? I’d love to be able to do an even better job of surrounding my students with rich, complex, challenging text that they can dig into! (Ok, and that being said, ANY other books you’d want to donate would be TOTALLY welcomed as well….we’re easy here in Rm. 202 🙂 ).

You can feel free to leave me a comment here if you can help us, send me a message on Twitter or Facebook or even just drop it off at school in the office with my name on it! THANK YOU in advance for whatever kind of help you can give! The readers in Rm. 202 GREATLY APPRECIATE you! 🙂

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. 🙂

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