It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is a community of bloggers who link up to share what they are reading.  For more information check out the host blogs: Teach Mentor Texts and Unleashing Readers.

What I Read This Week:

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to School by Davide Cali

The boy in this story explains why he was late for school, recounting all the adventures he had along the way.  Children will love the fantastical tale the boy tells and be amused by the ending of the story.  Both the story and the illustrations are entertaining and imaginative.

Maple & Willow Together by Lori Nichols

This is a very sweet picture book that tells what happens when two sisters, who love to spend time together, disagree and are separated from each other. The story shows the relationship between siblings and the necessity of forgiveness.  Although a short, simple text, the story is heartwarming and the pictures are beautiful.  The two characters are featured in two other books by the author, Maple and Maple & Willow Apart. 

Miss Hazeltine’s Home for Shy and Fearful Cats by Alicia Potter

Miss Hazeltine has a home full of shy and fearful cats.  When she leaves to get milk and does not return Crumb leads the other cats in order to rescue her.  Students will applaud the cats for their bravery.  This is a great story to open up discussions about courage and overcoming one’s fears.

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant

I am a big fan of picture book biographies and this is definitely one worth sharing with students.  The book tells the story of Peter Mark Roget who invented the thesaurus.  It tells about his early love of books and words and how his passion led to the creation of a useful and popular tool.  Many of my students love nonfiction and I think they would find this to be an interesting story. 

Owl Diaries: Eva’s Treetop Festival by Rebecca Elliott

This book is part of an early chapter books series that would be perfect for transitional readers.  Students who like books written in diary format will enjoy this one.  There is some play on words and clever use of owl-related words to make the text interesting.  The story also shows the importance of teamwork. 

Cody and the Fountain of Happiness by Tricia Springstubb

Cody, the main character in this chapter book for middle grade readers, has just started summer vacation.  The story tells about her relationship with her brother, how she makes a new friend, and a dilemma with a cat she has tried to hypnotize.  This is a great book for those students who like stories about friendship. 

Celebrate This Week: A Focus on Social and Emotional Well-Being

Ruth Ayres hosts a link-up every week in order to celebrate all the great happenings.  You can find other celebrations at Discover. Play. Build.  

This week I am celebrating a renewed focus on the social and emotional well being of students and teachers in my district.  During the first day orientation, both district administrators and school administrators spoke about the importance of fostering the social and emotional development of our students. At the first staff meeting, the principal and assistant principal spoke about ways to provide breaks for students in the classroom and to relieve stress for students.  There was also mention of teachers’ well being and reminders from my assistant principal to take care of ourselves and to find time to give ourselves a break when it’s needed. An academic push, the need to improve literacy and math test scores, has overshadowed the social and emotional needs of students for quite a while. The principal at my school explained that school superintendents throughout the state have been discussing this and are finding a need to reduce stress for students. For the past few years, there has been an intense focus on accountability, assessment data, and the state test in my district.  This has been evident in the amount of testing students are exposed to in the first week of school and throughout the remainder of the school year.  Teachers in my district must follow an assessment calendar.  For the first time in a few years, there were not any tests scheduled for the first few days of school.  I believe we are taking steps to be more conscious of students’ well being and responsive to the academic pressures placed on students.  On the first day of school I asked a student about the first day.  His response was, “It was awesome!  Double awesome!”  This enthusiasm and love of school is as important to foster as academics. The hope is that students will continue to have this enthusiasm and love for the remainder of the school days. 

Slice of Life: Professional Development for the First Day

One of my favorite picture books by Lester Laminack

The first day of school in my district, which was yesterday, is a professional development day for teachers.  We were very fortunate to have Lester Laminack as the keynote speaker for the day.  Lester has written professional text for teachers, as well as children’s books.  One of the many brilliant things he said was, “reading is an act of living through a text.”  When students live through a text they are thinking deeply.  They may stop at a scene to wonder or question.  They may go back to reread a chapter to clarify their new ideas about what’s happening.  When students live through a text the story remains with them even after they’ve closed the book.  Too often students don’t live through a text. They read to simply answer the teacher’s questions or to earn points on a computerized test.  This can happen with students if teachers are always asking the questions.  When teachers ask all the questions students start to think that they need to read to find the answers the teacher wants, a game Lester called, “What’s in my head?”  A few of Lester’s suggestions to help make reading a journey in which students are engaged and creating meaning from the text are:

• Encourage students to ask questions about their reading
• Model how readers reread to clarify what they are thinking
• Ask an open-ended question at the end of a read-aloud to foster thinking, such as, “What did you think?” or “What does this book make you wonder?”
• Revisit books that you have previously read aloud in order to think more deeply about the text or look at it through a different lens
• Provide time for independent reading in which students are choosing what they read and reading for pleasure 

In his presentation, Lester also discussed the many reasons we read and stated, “We’re reading to make ourselves powerful, we’re not reading to raise a score.”  In today’s educational climate in which data and test scores seem to be at the forefront of learning, this was an important take-away.  I appreciated that all of the district administrators, including the superintendent were sitting in the audience, hearing this message.  If students are going to be motivated to read, it’s not going to be because they want to pass the test.  Students will be motivated when they find joy and pleasure in reading.  Finding ways to foster the joy and pleasure of reading, while also meeting the demands of the curriculum amongst pressure to prepare students to pass the state test is a challenge for many teachers.  Lester Laminack reminded us that our job is to create readers, not students who answer questions or take tests.  This is an important message to remember at the start of a new school year. 

Lester Laminack's soon-to-be released professional text

Celebrate This Week: A Generous Donation

Ruth Ayres hosts a link-up every week in order to celebrate all the great happenings.  You can find other celebrations at Discover. Play. Build.

This week I am celebrating the fact that my Donors Choose project was funded.  I created a project in which I requested funds for chapter books so that I can encourage my readers to engage in more independent reading.  I chose one or two titles in a number of chapter books series that I think will be of high interest to my readers.  I am very grateful to have received a generous donation that allowed my projected to be funded.  The books are already on their way.  Once I have them I plan on doing some book talks to get students interested in reading the books.  I am looking forward to sharing these books with my students and hearing what they think about them.  These are some of the books I requested:

This is the second Donors Choose project that I have had funded in order to get reading materials for my students.  I am very appreciative for the donors who check out these projects and donate.  The organization provides a great option for teachers in need of resources and materials for their classrooms.  For more information check out the website.