Dream House

For a creative lesson about being yourself and living your dreams, I love the book, The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Manus Pinkwater.  I've had this little book since the days when I taught first grade, which was more than 17 years ago.   I wasn't sure if it was still in print, but I found it here on Amazon, if you are interested.

Mr. Plumbean lives in a nice neat neighborhood until a bird drops orange paint on his house.  Instead of repainting his house to look like his neighbor's house, he creates the house of his dream.  As Mr. Plumbean says,

This book provides a great opportunity to discuss theme, and what the author wants us to learn.

We designed the houses of our dreams. Here are a few.

We had a lot of fun with this.

The World of Harry Potter

All month I have been participating in the 20 Day Blogging Challenge created by Kelly Hines.  My 20 days aren't going to be within the same month, but it has been great to have these prompts to write from, as well as being able to read how others are responding to the challenge.  Kelly has created another month of challenges.  You can read about phase 2 on her blog, In the Trenches.  Also, if you are on Twitter, you can read what others are doing by following the hashtag #BC20.   It's been a busy week, so I am still on phase one.

20 Day Blogging Challenge, Day Eighteen:  Tell about a favorite book to share and teach. Tell about at least one example of an extension or a cross curricular lesson.

I love the Harry Potter books!  I always have.  Years ago a friend gave me a copy of Sorcerers Stone not long after it first came out.  I was a little lukewarm about it, and then I started reading.  Then I couldn't stop reading.  I will always remember the first year I read it aloud to kids.  All I had to do was reach for the book, and kids would hush each other with, "Shhh!  She's going to read!"  It had that kind of effect, and it still does.  Now I have Sorcerer's Stone on tape, and it is our current read aloud.  I have a classroom set of the books, so students can follow along.

This book accomplishes exactly what I want to accomplish with a read aloud.  It gets kids hooked!  If you come into our classroom right now, you will see lots of Harry Potter books sitting on desks.  Many of my students are now reading Chamber of Secrets, Goblet of Fire, or other books in the series.  Last week one of my reading groups asked if we could read Prisoner of Azkaban as our reading group book.  I had four copies and between the library and copies students brought from home, we managed to acquire enough copies for everyone.

This is my group of strongest readers, and I always have difficulty with this group because some of the group are such prolific readers that they shoot through whatever book we are reading, while others plod along slowly, and never seem to finish.  This time I am trying a new approach to address this issue and keep everyone focused and on track.  I am not going to tell kids not to read ahead when they are loving a book, but I also want to hold discussions to build skills and increase comprehension.

One of the dilemmas I run into is that my school district uses Houghton Mifflin Journeys for reading. I am supposed to teach the Common Core Standards through the use of the small readers that are part of this reading system.  By the time we spend one or two of our reading group days each week on the readers, it is very difficult to move a group through a chapter book in a timely manner while students still have enthusiasm for the book.  Not to mention the fact that these little readers are BORING  and definitely not quality literature.  This has also been complicated by time lost to district testing and because of weather.  I have mostly abandoned the readers for my on grade level students and am teaching the standards using real chapter books.  That makes it all the more important to keep everyone on track, so everyone benefits from those lessons.

One way I am trying to accomplish that is with a Blended Classroom approach, using Edmodo.  We have conducted some of our reading group discussion using Edmodo in the past, but I am trying to do it more consistently.  There are some great resources out there to add to student understanding and to build interest, including Scholastic's Prisoner of Azkaban page, and  J. K. Rowlings website.

Edmodo is a great way to provide links to resources, as well as encourage student discussion and sharing.  For the first time I am using Edmodo to create and conduct a quiz.  It was easy to use, and very similar to creating a Google Form.  It also connects with the Edmodo grade book.

Along with the group reading Prisoner of Azkaban, I am using Edmodo with two other groups.  For each group we set a weekly reading goal.  When students finish their reading for the week, they will log onto Edmodo to add to the discussion and take quizzes.  Hopefully this will keep kids interacting with the text when they are ready, and not hold anyone back.  Of course this will only work if I can stay on top of things, respond to the conversation and add resources for my speedy readers.  With 29 students and 5 reading groups that will be a challenge.

Help!!!

How do you handle reading discussion when students read at different rates?  I can use any advice that you can offer.

Andrew Clements Author Study

20 Day Blogging Challenge, Day 13:  Tell about a favorite book to share or teach.

Andrew Clements is one of my favorite authors, so I like to get my students hooked on his books.  His books are mostly realistic fiction, and he is a master of character development.  I like the way his characters grow and change.   The way I get my students hooked is to start with a read aloud.  We did that earlier with A Week in the Woods.  Then we use several of his other books in reading groups.  Currently I have a group reading The Report Card, another reading The Landry News, and a third reading Frindle, which was his first book.

Of all his books, A Week in the Woods is my favorite.  In this book, Mr. Maxwell has a long tradition of taking students for a week long camping trip.  It is a trip that all students look forward to, except the new student, Mark.   Our fifth graders spend two days at Y Camp each year, and it is something fourth graders are excited about, so my students can really connect with this book.

This book provides a great opportunity to talk about character traits.  The two main characters, Mark and Mr. Maxwell, go through a lot of changes throughout the book, so periodically I like to have my students examine the ways they have changed.  It is an excellent opportunity to work on compare/contrast, because our perception of characters is very different at various points in the story.

There is a lot of action in this book and Mark makes a risky and unexpected choice to set off on his own in the New Hampshire mountains.  We have lots of discussion about the decisions made by the characters and predict the possible outcomes.  I like to use Edmodo to carry on some of these discussions.  I used to live in New Hampshire, so I like to share information about that part of the country with my students.

Andrew Clements has a great website with downloadable study guide ideas.  Check it out at  http://www.andrewclements.com/

Also, here is a lesson plan from Scholastic for an Andrew Clements authors study.

At some point, I always line up the books and have the kids compare and contrast the art on the cover.  The kids love seeing the way that all the covers are alike.

Reading Homework for Tonight: Read!

20 Day Blogging Challenge, Day 9:  Share a topic or idea from class this week. Will you do it again?

Our homework for tonight is to read.  That's it!  Just read.  There are lots of nights that I ask students to read for homework, but usually there is some type of written response that they have to do as well.  The thing is, if they know they have to do a written assignment that will take ten to fifteen minutes more, how much actual time will they spend reading?

I've been thinking a lot about the ideas from The Book Whisperer and Reading In the Wild by Donalyn Miller.  She makes a good point that so often, kids don't get much time to read.  We are always teaching reading strategies and skills.  We have them responding to literature, so we can be sure they are reading, and understanding what they are reading.  I've done book logs to keep them accountable, but how much actual time do we let them choose what they want to read and just read?

So tonight they are supposed to read, and tomorrow morning I will ask them to record their progress on the Status of the Class form that we added to their reading notebooks today.  We practiced today.  Along with the student form, which I took from the Reading In the Wild, I created a record sheet for me.  I will record just their book title and page number.  I am also interviewing them about the genre.  Rather than going through the entire class each day, I will interview about 1/3 of the class. I did that today, and will touch base with a different group tomorrow.  This is a great time for students to hear about books their friends are reading.  I have 29 students, and trying to get through everyone every time will be too time consuming.  I think kids will lose interest if it takes too long.

The only thing that students have to do besides read, is to have their parents sign the assignment note.  This way parents know what the homework assignment is.  It's a school policy to do homework on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday night.  I plan to make this same assignment once a week for the next few weeks.  Then I will have a better idea whether it's working, and the kids are really reading.

As far as the Status of the Class is concerned, I don't plan to do it every day, but we will give it a try at least two or three times each week, sometimes in whole group, sometimes in small group.

Do you use reading logs or some sort of written response for reading?  What works for you?

Helping Students Become Lifelong Readers

20 Day Blogging Challenge, Day 8:  Tell about a professional book that has had an impact on you.

Thanks to a Christmas gift from one of my students, I was able to pick up Donalyn Miller's new book, Reading in the Wild.  I am just fifty pages into it, but already I am finding inspiration.  I wrote in an earlier post about her first book, The Book Whisperer.  I have been trying to provide my students with lots of real reading time, but in dealing with school district mandates, I frequently lose focus and stray from what I know kids really need.

I know that I can teach all common core standards using quality literature, but I'm required to use Houghton Mifflin, Journeys, and I am expected to teach the small readers that go with each story in the anthology.  These readers are not quality literature, and they are BORING!  So I keep trying to balance meeting district requirements, and having my students read real books.  Most of the time, I feel like I'm not doing either very well.

Donalyn reminds us that

Research indicates that time spent reading correlates positively with students' performance on standardized reading tests (Cunningham & Stanovich, 1998)

When I was a kid, I read all the time.  The literature I read has been an important foundation for the person I have become.  As an adult, I rarely read just for fun.  I want to renew that love of reading, and I want to develop it in my students.  Already I'm feeling inspired to recommit to the reading workshop model, and make sure my kids are reading engaging literature that they want to read.  Donalyn articulates many of the things I am feeling.

"Our zealous national focus on standardized test performance, often at the expense of meaningful reading instruction and support, has caused us to lose sight of our true obligations regarding children's literacy:  fostering their capacity to lead literate lives."

. . . . . "Clearly, developing life-long reading habits matters not only to the individual but to society in general.  We all benefit when more people read."

Even though I am only fifty pages into this book, I've already found a few ideas that I plan to implement right away.  We have written reading response letters in our reading notebooks, but I love the idea of posting these entries to Edmodo.  My kids already have Edmodo accounts.  We have used them to discuss books, as well as do research.  They are enthusiastic about using Edmodo, so I know they would be eager to post their reading response there.   It's easier for me to access than 29 reading notebooks, and they have a much wider audience.

She also has a form that I'm going to use.  Instead of a reading log, she starts each class with a Status of the Class roll call.  This idea comes from Nancie Atwell's, The Reading Zone.  Students record the title of the book they are reading, the page number they are on, and a one-sentence summary of what is happening in the book.  I really like this idea.

I will write more about Donalyn Miller's Reading in the Wild as I get farther into it.  January is a month that we do lots of testing.  This book is just the shot in the arm that I need.

Talking About Books

20 Day Blogging Challenge, Day #4:  What's one thing you did with your students that you will or will not do again?

We started back to school on Thursday and Friday, but we are home again today.  It is freezing out there!  It is -12F this morning with a feels like temperature of -37F.  Brrrr!  We are all safer and better off at home.  During the two days we did have back at school, we did some "Book Shopping" in our classroom library, and I held reading conferences with students during small group reading time.  I wanted to find out what reading, students were doing over vacation.  I had students give impromptu book talks to tell others about the books they were reading.  It's a good way for me to assess what kids are doing, and as an added benefit, it lets kids hear about new books they may wish to read in the future.

During the month of December I had students present a more formal book talk to the whole class.  I have been trying to offer my students more choices when possible, so they could choose between three options for presenting their book talk.  They could write a blog post on their Kidblog, and present that to the class.  They could use Keynote on the iPads to create a presentation, or they could make a poster and present that to the class.  I just started using Keynote myself recently, so I modeled it's use by creating slides for math as well as reading activities.  I did that as part of the instruction, and talked about how it worked as I went.

I was very curious to see how many students would choose technology over pencil and paper, or in this case, crayons, markers, and poster board.  As it turned out, the largest group chose the poster, but the second largest group were those who chose Keynote.

Whichever presentation method they chose, they all were required to talk about the basic story elements of characters, plot, conflict, resolution, and theme.  Our first step was to use this form, to organize our thinking. Over the course of the month, 2-3 students presented their book talks each day.  Let me just say, they were awesome!  I was particularly impressed with their use of Keynote.  Students used the iPad camera to add photos of the book cover, photos from the book, and in some cases, drawings they had created from the book.  I had a couple kids, who are often reluctant to share during class discussions, that really took off with this.  It was a great way to hear more about the books the kids are reading.  Since that time I have seen other students reading some of the books that were shared through those book talks. This is a project I will definitely try again.

How do you get kids to talk about the books they are reading?

Book Talks and Reading Conferences

We have been in school for three weeks now, and I feel like we are making progress with our reading.  I am working to implement ideas from The Book Whisperer into my instruction, so this week I started meeting with students for reading conferences.   I am required by my school district to teach the little readers that go with the Houghton Mifflin Journeys, so it is difficult to get these in.  I am trying to find a balance between district curriculum and keeping our focus on reading good books that will really engage my students as readers. Since I have thirty students divided into four reading groups, this is not an easy task.

Each day, I had one reading group use their small group time to give an impromptu book talk about one of the books they were reading.  I had also planned to meet with two students at the end of each day for book conferences, but most days I ran out of time.  Instead, I used all of my small group time on Friday to catch up on conferences.

For the reading conferences, I had students bring their reading notebooks and the books they were currently reading.  Instead of sitting in my usual spot at the end of the table, I sat with the students along the side.  I called two students at a time.

Each time I met with a group, I observed the same thing.  The kids started out cautiously, expecting me to quiz or grill them about the books they were reading.  When they realized that our goal was to just talk about the books.  I saw them begin to visibly relax and participate in a discussion about the books they are reading and have read.  This was true during the book talk time and during the conferences.

It made me aware of how much of the time, I am not listening to what kids think and have to say.  It is an eye opener as to how we block kids from being fully engaged in the learning and how rarely they are actually invited into a conversation about the things they are learning.  I know that I am a good teacher, but much of the time I am so intent on helping my students achieve learning goals, that I don't permit them to help shape the path that we are traveling to get there.

I am so thankful that I read The Book Whisperer this summer, and I am enjoying the way it is transforming my teaching.  It's important to stop and smell the roses along the way.  Not only do my students benefit, but I am benefiting as well.

Setting Up Our Reading Notebooks

We've been in school for just a week and a half now, and the class has had an opportunity to become familiar with our classroom library.  Our next step was to set up our Reading Notebooks.  I always use a reading notebook, but this year I am following Donalynn Miller's suggestions in The Book Whisperer.  I like to use composition notebooks instead of spirals, because you don't have the problem with the wire in the spiral notebooks unraveling and getting tangled up.  In the front pages of our notebooks we set up 

• A tally List for the genres.  Students tally the books they have read as they go, and keep track of the genre requirements.
• They keep a reading list, and record books they have read, attempted and abandoned.  Each entry includes the title, author, date the book was finished and the students assessment of how difficult the book was to read.
• A Books-to-read list:  Students plan for future reading.  They record sequels that are yet to be published, recommendations, or books they have previewed and want to read later.

For the genre tally list, I found this one on-line.  I had to reduce it to fit into our notebooks. Each student will be required to read at least forty books during the school year.

Our 40 book requirement will include:

• 5 - Realistic fiction
• 2 - Historical Fiction
• 3 - Mystery
• 3 - Adventure
• 1 - Poetry
• 4 - Books recommended by friends, which could be almost anything
• 4 - Fantasy and science fiction
• 1 - Graphic Novel
• 2 - Biography, autobiography or memoir
• 5 - Informational
• 2 - Books by the same author
• 8 - Chapter books of their own choice

Any book over 350 pages can be counted as two books.

I am allowing them to record the books we read together, so they already have Fourth Grade Rats recorded.  We completed our first read aloud on Thursday.

That is followed by two pages that we will use as we learn about the characteristics of the various reading genres.

I used the reading list and books to read list from the Fountus and Pinnell's, Guiding Readers and Writers, Grades 3 to 6.  Students will use these pages to plan for future reading, and to keep track of books they are interested in reading.  

  

The rest of the notebook will be used for reading response.  This may be in the form of letters, character sketches, or other tools that I will come up with as we go along.

As suggested in The Book Whisperer, I set up a reading notebook for myself.  Instead of writing reading responses, I will set up a page or pages for each of my students.  Then I will use this space to keep notes from our reading conferences.  If I have space, I think I will write a brief summary of the books I am reading.  That will help me with book discussions.

I have already discovered that having my own reading notebook is a great way to model the tasks I want them to complete.  

I informed the class that I am also setting that goal of reading 40 books for myself.  When the class was doing some silent reading on Thursday, I took some time to choose a book for myself, that I had not read before.  I chose Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.  I didn't realize it before, but one of my advanced readers had also chosen this book.  She was absolutely thrilled when she saw that I was reading it too.  She has checked with me several times since to see how far I am, and to talk about the book.  Experiencing her excitement to connect about a book, was eye opening, and showed me just how beneficial this is going to be for my students.

One of my goals this year is to be open to trying and reading new books myself and in genres I don't usually read.  I've taught fourth grade for fifteen years, and I have lots of favorite books that I enjoy sharing with the class, but I realized that I've been a little stuck, and haven't ventured into some of the newer books.  I'm going to make more of an effort to read books the kids are reading.  It will also enables me to discuss the books with them.

I noticed that one of my struggling readers had checked out Bunnicula to read.  Bunnicula is one of my favorite books, so I decided to use that as our next read aloud.  She was excited that we were going to all read a book that she had selected.  

I am finding myself taking more time to notice the books my students are reading and to engage them in conversation about their books and interests.  I showed them some of the non-fiction books I am reading on subjects I am interested in; knitting, gardening, canning, and Argentina (because my son is going to school there).  Then I asked them to make lists of the non-fiction topics they would be interested in reading about.  I used Tagxedo to make a word cloud of those topics, and I took the list to our school library, where I checked out 23 books on as many topics as I could find.  In this way I can supplement the non-fiction section of my classroom library.

I feel like I am doing a much better job sharing my enthusiasm for reading.  Already the class is doing well at choosing books to read during those transitional times in the classroom.  I already do Daily 5.  I think it's going to be much easier to get that going now that we already have such a great start with our independent reading.  

The Book Whisperer

Over the summer I read The Book Whisperer, by Donalyn Miller.  Many people in my PLN (Personal Learning Network) have talked about this book, and it has been on my list of books to read for a while. When I saw it on the shelf at the public library, that clinched it.  It is just the inspiration I needed.  I am now reading it a second time, and making notes.  Donalyn Miller writes

"Providing students with the opportunity to choose their own books to read empowers and encourages them.  It strengthens their self-confidence, rewards their interests, and promotes a positive attitude toward reading by valuing the reader and giving him or her a level of control. Readers without power to make their own choices are unmotivated." 

This is certainly not a new concept.  In fact I used to teach this way, though maybe not as well.  We used to read all the time.  I did readers workshop.  We were always engaged in lots of great books.   But over the last couple years, and especially last year, I felt that I lost my way.  Last year my school district adopted Houghton Mifflin, Journeys.  There was more and more pressure to limit reading instruction to the reading series, and to narrow the instructional focus to tested common core standards.  The pretesting and post testing schedule was relentless, and I saw my students shut down more and more.

Last year was not a good year for me.  Missing more than five weeks of school, because of an accident and broken bones, certainly did not help, but it was more than that.  I feel strongly that in our desire to increase "rigor" which is a word I hate, by the way, and make students and teachers accountable, we have taken the joy and excitement out of learning.

My goal is to put it back.  So this year I am working to balance the requirements of my school district with what I know kids really need.  I have to teach my conscience.  The whole reason I got into teaching was to share my love of learning.  I think The Book Whisperer is the road map I need to get back on track.  I will be writing other posts about this book, as I learn from it and try new things in my classroom.

We just started school on Thursday.  Our homework that first night was to complete a reading survey that Ms. Miller includes in her book on pages 202-203.  It is the Reading Interest-A-Lyzer, based on the Interest-A-Lyzer by Joseph S. Renzulli.  I started trying to make a copy of the survey from the book, and then I had the good sense to Google it.  I found a downloadable copy here.  This is going to give me a starting place for learning about my students as readers.

Here are some of my other goals for the year:

• Immersion:  Students need to be surrounded with books of all kinds and given time and opportunity to read them every day.  

• Conversations about reading, what is being read and what students are getting from their books need to be an on-going event.

• Demonstrations:  Teach daily reading lessons using authentic texts like books, articles, and textbooks, designing every lesson around the skills that readers really need to develop reading proficiency. 

• Expectations:  expect students to read every day and to read a large volume of books. The goal for the year is 40 books.  I will allow them to count the books we read together as part of that number.  

• Responsibility:  Students need to make some of their own choices when pursuing learning goals.  Set reading requirements at a certain number of books per genre, but students have the freedom to choose which books.

• Employment:  give students time to practice and apply the skills taught.

• Responses: provide immediate non-threatening response on student progress.

At this point in time, I'm not sure how all of that will look, but I am excited about this journey.

Each Monday I participate in #4thChat on Twitter.  I was a little concerned about setting the reading goal at 40 books.  It seemed high for a fourth grader, so I was asking some of the other 4th grade teachers what they required.  Donalyn Miller responded in a tweet that I should set the goal at 40 books.  We live in a pretty spectacular world, when you can get advice directly from the author of the book you are reading. You gotta love technology!

Have you read The Book Whisperer?  If so, how have you used it in your classroom?