Saturday, December 21, 2013
It's been awhile....
My hectic and busy teacher-mom schedule has been on overload. Time flies and we are now in December. I can't believe half the school year is over! This week, I reviewed some of my student data, I peruse through what seems to be a mile-high of paperwork and carefully analyze they're growth. To be honest, I don't know how accurate this program that measures reading growth is, but this is all I have for now. Aside from anecdotals that I refer to when conferencing (which is very important data, too). So I can see that most of my students have grown in the area of reading comprehension, some more than others, and I always have a few that demonstrate very little growth. Regardless, I am worried about whether or not each one of those students has a good book to read over the break. Most have access to public libraries, however, some of my most reluctant readers seem to coincidentally not have a way to the public library. Coincidence or not, I tried hard this week while conferencing with "My Most Reluctants" to choose a book that they would love to read during our Christmas break, if they didn't already have one that they were reading. And they created a reading goal for themselves. We shall see how much progress they make in reading their books when we return to school. Either way, my teacher conscience is clean. I feel like I did my reading teacher deed by getting a book that they enjoy into their hands. And as I write, I'm thinking about the stack of books next to my bed, wondering about what book I will finish reading, or reread or begin.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Celebrating More Books
As another part of our book celebration I had students reflect on a book that made them the reader they are today. I showed them this video:
Scholastic Reader I am Today
I then had students think about a book that made them the reader they are today and we decorated our "banquet table" with their books.
After this I announced the books that were voted as the TOP books for our 4th graders during the 2012-2013 school year. Several students in my homeroom class designed book award stickers for the winners and we all voted on our favorite. The winning student enjoyed designing the stickers for the winners and they will be marked with these stickers in my classroom library next school year.
The winners were...
Picture Book: A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
Poetry Book: Love that Dog by Sharon Creech
Nonfiction Book: Salt in His Shoes by Deloris Jordan
Chapter Book: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Graphic Novel: Sidekicks by Dan Santat
A few reflections...
A few of the winners were books I read out loud through out the year. These books won by a LANDSLIDE! Throughout this school year I made it a point to read aloud daily to each class. I knew it was important and I wanted to make it a priority. The more I read aloud, the more I continued to learn how truly important this is. It creates a community of readers, gives us shared texts to use in all sorts of lessons (and social situations), builds excitement for reading, improves vocabulary, and SO much more. The landslide votes proved once again that this time reading aloud was well spent.
To further confirm my love of reading aloud, I also received this note as the year closed up...
You can't argue with that.
Scholastic Reader I am Today
I then had students think about a book that made them the reader they are today and we decorated our "banquet table" with their books.
After this I announced the books that were voted as the TOP books for our 4th graders during the 2012-2013 school year. Several students in my homeroom class designed book award stickers for the winners and we all voted on our favorite. The winning student enjoyed designing the stickers for the winners and they will be marked with these stickers in my classroom library next school year.
The winners were...
Picture Book: A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon
Poetry Book: Love that Dog by Sharon Creech
Nonfiction Book: Salt in His Shoes by Deloris Jordan
Chapter Book: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate
Graphic Novel: Sidekicks by Dan Santat
A few reflections...
A few of the winners were books I read out loud through out the year. These books won by a LANDSLIDE! Throughout this school year I made it a point to read aloud daily to each class. I knew it was important and I wanted to make it a priority. The more I read aloud, the more I continued to learn how truly important this is. It creates a community of readers, gives us shared texts to use in all sorts of lessons (and social situations), builds excitement for reading, improves vocabulary, and SO much more. The landslide votes proved once again that this time reading aloud was well spent.
To further confirm my love of reading aloud, I also received this note as the year closed up...
You can't argue with that.
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
Closing Out the School Year and Reflecting On it All
I don't know about you, but this school year did NOT slow down. In fact, it seemed that at the time it is usually allowing us to take a deep breath and do some REAL teaching things just became hectic and someone put the pedal to the metal! However, the last week or so with my students was a sweet time in our reading community! The next several posts are a collection of things that we did together as readers during the last week of school and the thoughts I came away with as a reading teacher...
1) Book Award Banquet!!!
In an earlier post I explained a bit about how we set up our book award nominations. Well it ended up being a close race in several of the categories. We even had to have a run off in a few instances! On the day of our book banquet I used Booksource's classroom organizer (which I used all year to have students check out books, but more on that later) and found which books were checked out the MOST all year long. I created a powerpoint and revealed the TOP TEN to each class! They loved cheering for each book (because these were their favorites after all...) and I loved watching their faces as each book was revealed! Here were a few of our MOST checked out books:
#5
#4
#3/2 It was a TIE!!!
Amulet 1 - This was by FAR the most read book in my classroom this year. However, I believe it didn't reach #1 status because it was passed hand to hand so often.
Darth Paper Strikes Back
#1 Origami Yoda - A true favorite!
After looking at my top 10 most checked out books I realized a few things... Last year I barely had any graphic novels in my classroom. These were obviously the MOST popular books by far this year! What did my students read last year? I noticed throughout the year that many of my students found it difficult to stick with chapter books. They are lacking in stamina and book experiences - BIG TIME! However, the graphic novels provided stepping stones for many of them to be successful in longer chapter books. Some of the graphic novels look long like a chapter book, so kids figure - well if I can read a long book like Amulet, then I can read a long book like Superfudge. Books like the Magic Pickle series and Captain Underpants are great bridges from graphic novels to chapter books. Also, kids tend to comprehend deeply when reading the graphic novels. They are fully engaged. There is nothing better as a reading teacher than having a kid fully engaged in a text. They were clamoring for these books all year. Hoarding them in some cases. I need to come up with a new way to keep them circulating quickly through my 4 classes for next year. I can imagine there are teachers and parents out there who think that this is not real reading. I can assure you that it is... My teaching will forever be changed after seeing the effects of graphic novels on my readers this year!
1) Book Award Banquet!!!
In an earlier post I explained a bit about how we set up our book award nominations. Well it ended up being a close race in several of the categories. We even had to have a run off in a few instances! On the day of our book banquet I used Booksource's classroom organizer (which I used all year to have students check out books, but more on that later) and found which books were checked out the MOST all year long. I created a powerpoint and revealed the TOP TEN to each class! They loved cheering for each book (because these were their favorites after all...) and I loved watching their faces as each book was revealed! Here were a few of our MOST checked out books:
#5
#4
#3/2 It was a TIE!!!
Amulet 1 - This was by FAR the most read book in my classroom this year. However, I believe it didn't reach #1 status because it was passed hand to hand so often.
Darth Paper Strikes Back
#1 Origami Yoda - A true favorite!
After looking at my top 10 most checked out books I realized a few things... Last year I barely had any graphic novels in my classroom. These were obviously the MOST popular books by far this year! What did my students read last year? I noticed throughout the year that many of my students found it difficult to stick with chapter books. They are lacking in stamina and book experiences - BIG TIME! However, the graphic novels provided stepping stones for many of them to be successful in longer chapter books. Some of the graphic novels look long like a chapter book, so kids figure - well if I can read a long book like Amulet, then I can read a long book like Superfudge. Books like the Magic Pickle series and Captain Underpants are great bridges from graphic novels to chapter books. Also, kids tend to comprehend deeply when reading the graphic novels. They are fully engaged. There is nothing better as a reading teacher than having a kid fully engaged in a text. They were clamoring for these books all year. Hoarding them in some cases. I need to come up with a new way to keep them circulating quickly through my 4 classes for next year. I can imagine there are teachers and parents out there who think that this is not real reading. I can assure you that it is... My teaching will forever be changed after seeing the effects of graphic novels on my readers this year!
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Book Gifts for our Students
One of my teacher friends and co-worker, Andrea Lucas, discovered a website where a variety of books are practically free. (http://www.firstbook.org). From picture books to graphic novels to juvenile fiction - this was great! This was unbelievable! So before we knew it, there were about six hundred books being delivered to our school. The boxes arrived and students were caught peering with curiosity to see what were in those boxes. Although, it was kept a surprise until the last days of school, it was amazing to see the looks on their faces as if they were opening Christmas presents, when they were able to choose their books. Books that THEY could CHOOSE from. These books were provided to all of our third and fourth graders in an attempt to prevent the summer reading slide. Students were unbelievably excited about receiving books to read for the summer! Thank you, Andrea Lucas, for taking the time and effort to make this huge book request that ultimately, the students were very grateful for!
Monday, June 17, 2013
5th Annual Bookaday Challenge
I'm super excited about the 5th Annual Bookaday Challenge for readers! Let's do this! Here's the link!
http://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/the-fifth-annual-bookaday-challenge/
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Building Up Your Book Muscle
Building Up Your Book Muscle
What are you going to read this summer? Where's your book list? I'm sitting here thinking about what my students are going to read, but I guess I also need to add some more books to my list too! Here are some ideas for building up your book muscle! Click on the link above.
What are you going to read this summer? Where's your book list? I'm sitting here thinking about what my students are going to read, but I guess I also need to add some more books to my list too! Here are some ideas for building up your book muscle! Click on the link above.
Launching Summer Reading
Launching Summer Reading
We need to get rid of the summer reading slump and find ways to get our students to read. Click on the link above and Donalyn Miller provides some wonderful ideas to get students to read over the summer by having students make book recommendations, creating a reading list, and holding a book swap. Our school is planning on holding a book swap or two this summer. I'm really excited about that!
I'm also planning to provide students with a summer reading list created by students (book recommendations) and showing students book trailers to get them hyped up about books. See the following link for book trailers provided by Scholastic Kids on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC1B08FBB22B50642. I will also use Edmodo to promote summer reading as much as I can. http://www.edmodo.com
We need to get rid of the summer reading slump and find ways to get our students to read. Click on the link above and Donalyn Miller provides some wonderful ideas to get students to read over the summer by having students make book recommendations, creating a reading list, and holding a book swap. Our school is planning on holding a book swap or two this summer. I'm really excited about that!
I'm also planning to provide students with a summer reading list created by students (book recommendations) and showing students book trailers to get them hyped up about books. See the following link for book trailers provided by Scholastic Kids on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC1B08FBB22B50642. I will also use Edmodo to promote summer reading as much as I can. http://www.edmodo.com
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