Book Talks and a Menu Board

This week and last week I passed out a book talk and a menu board.

I am so excited about the book talks. I think it is so important to give the students a chance to share the books they are reading and hopefully loving. These book talks are that chance. The best part about the book talks is the chance they have to hear about books that their peers enjoy. I like to think that the students listen to each and every book recommendation I give and then run to go grab that book. The reality is this is not happening. If the students hear about a book that a friend liked, they will run and get that book.

For this book talk students will have just one minute to share their book. The idea will be to hear a bit about a lot of books. We are even calling these Speed Dating Book Talks. The students will sit in a circle and the timer will buzz. They will listen to the book talk. The buzzer will sound and they will head off to hear about another book. The students will even travel with a sheet of paper to write down books they are interested in reading.

The book talks are going to take place in class on February 20th. I gave the students a small sheet that explains some of the things they should include in these book talks. The rest of the time will be filled up with anything else they want to share. Look for these Speed Dating Checklists in the reading folder.

At the same time we are going to be working on a Menu Board about the Revolutionary War. In this menu board each student will need to complete one side dish, one entree, and have the option to complete a dessert. The dessert projects would be extra credit if they were completed.

The side dishes that the students have to choose from our smaller projects. The students can create a portrait of a Revolutionary hero, create a political cartoon for the time period, or memorize a section of the Declaration of Independence to record in my iTouch. The entree projects are a bit more involved. The students can create a map of the colonies labeled with important events of the period, write a report, or create a PowerPoint about an individual from Revolution.

This menu board can be found in the Social Studies or Reading folder. If you have any questions about these upcoming projects, please feel free to get in touch with me.

I hope you are having a great week.

Award Season

I know the focus is on The Golden Globes, The SAG's and The Academy Awards but it is also officially book award season. Next Monday will bring the big announcements for the Newbery and Caldecott. Today the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) announced the winners of the Charlotte Huck Award for Outstanding Fiction for Children. Here are the winners:


2015 Winning Titles

Winner

Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin (Feiwel and Friends)

Honor Books

Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff (Philomel)
The Crossover by Kwame Alexander (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
El Deafo by Cece Bell (Harry N. Abrams)
The Farmer and the Clown by Marla Frazee (Beach Lane Books)
Revolution by Deborah Wiles (Scholastic)

Recommended Titles

A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd (Scholastic)
Draw by Raul Colon (Simon & Schuster/Paula Wiseman Books)
The Madman of Piney Woods by Christopher Paul Curtis (Scholastic)
The Meaning of Maggie by Megan Jean Sovern (Chronicle Books)
The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires (Kids Can Press)
Otis and the Scarecrow by Loren Long (Penguin Group)
The Secret Hum of a Daisy by Tracy Holczer (Putnam)
The Turtles of Oman by Naomi Shihab Nye (Greenwillow Books)

That is right the winner and one of the honor books are titles that we have read aloud!!

Not only that but the class has been passing around the books El Deafo, The Meaning of Maggie, and A Snicker of Magic. 

I still love The Meaning of Maggie cover it is soooo Wes Anderson. 

I cannot wait for the announcement next week of the Newbery. The last two years I have been reading the Newbery book when the announcement was made. This year we are going to try and follow along with the announcement at school. Hopefully our books that we love will get the attention that they deserve.

Hope you are all having a great start to your week and finding time to read and write.

Catching You Up

Well I have not talked about what we have been up to in the room very much this week. Tonight I just thought I could catch you up. In writing we have spent another week using Ralph Fletcher's amazing book Poetry Matters.

This week we added on to the two ideas that Fletcher had already given us about making image poems. On Tuesday we talked about personification. Many of the students had already been using personification in their writing but now they are able to name it and find it in other poems. On Wednesday Fletcher talked about how authors use symbols in poems. That day we read Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken. It was amazing to see how the students were able to talk in their groups and figure out Frost's poem.

Today we made a quick poster and let the class wrote. I found a picture of lanterns being released into the sky. During our image writing I have found all kinds of different pictures. The students know they do not have to use the image it is just there for those who want to use it.

Today the majority of the class used the picture. I mean that picture is amazing it just makes you want to write. Since we had a very special visitor in the class (Ms. Cavallaro) we made sure to have an extra long share time. Student after student shared their work. I was blown away at the words that the students shared. 

In read aloud a hurricane hit Rose's town in New York. The Hurricane is called Hurricane Susan in the book but many of the students have decided that the storm is really Hurricane Sandy. The storm has passed but Rain (Rose's dog) is missing. 

This book is heartbreaking. It is spectacular but it is heartbreaking. Now we have a lost dog. I am hoping that since the storm has passed maybe the storm(s) in Rose's life can begin to lift. 

In reading/Social Studies we continued to talk about the build-up the Revolutionary War. Today I was blown away when students could name all the southern colonies or middle colonies or New England colonies from memory. After some quick review, we talked about the taxes the British were levying on the colonists. While we reading the texts students used VIP's. If you remember from earlier, VIP's are Very Important Post-its. Of course you put a VIP on a Very Important Part. The text lead us to the Boston Massacre. Many in the class argued that the event in Boston was the most important. Others thought it was the taxes that King George brought back after taking away the original taxes. The arguments were great. I love this moment in history and getting to share it with the class.

Hope you are all having a great week.

Kids and Family Reading Report

Are you looking for a great read? I suggest the Kids and Family Reading Report that Scholastic recently released (here is the link). I know that many of you may not have time to read the whole report (I will be honest I have not made it all the way through yet) so I thought tonight I could hit some of the highlights.

READ ALOUD

More than half of children ages 0–5 (54%) are read aloud to at home 5–7 days a week. This declines to only one in three kids ages 6–8 (34%) and to one in six kids ages 9–11 (17%); four in 10 children ages 6–11 who were read books aloud at home (40%) say they wished their parents had continued reading aloud to them. (pg. 31 and 33)

I think our students love read aloud. They may have me completely snookered, but I see plenty of signs that prove my theory. When I read aloud in class, hands shoot in the air when a student figures something out in the story before we have a chance to talk, when I ask the class to turn and talk, they scramble to begin their conversations, and when I stop reading in class there are groans. Students will plead with me to read just one more chapter. Sometimes the students will not let me get back to the front of the room because they have to stop and tell me a theory they have about the book. Read aloud is the best time of our day.

I think a lot of parents might stop reading aloud to fourth graders because they believe that read aloud is not something that older children might enjoy. As you can see from the research above, this might not be the case. Read aloud is a great opportunity to share the joy of reading with your children. I cannot wait to read some of my favorite books with Emerson and Beckett when they get older from How to Steal a Dog to Because of Winn Dixie to The Invention of Hugo Cabret and the list goes on and on.

So give it a try. Find the perfect new book or share your favorite book from fourth grade (mine was Where the Red Fern Grows) and start to read aloud. If you have any questions or want a list of possible titles, call me or email me or just stop and I will see what we can do.

CHOICE CHOICE CHOICE

Ninety-one percent of children ages 6–17 say “my favorite books are the ones that I have picked out myself.” (Page 56)

The majority of kids ages 6–17 (70%) say they want books that “make me laugh.” Kids also want books that “let me use my imagination” (54%), “tell a made-up story” (48%), “have characters I wish I could be like because they’re smart, strong or brave” (43%), “teach me something new” (43%) and “have a mystery or a problem to solve” (41%). (Page 57)

I believe that choice is one of the most important ways to get our students engaged. In fact if you made me list the top three things I think students need to become better writers and readers I would list time, choice, and direct teaching.

Many of you may not know this but when I was younger I was not a reader. I somehow got through high school without reading a single book. I did not really become a true reader until I was a teacher. In my first year I started to read the books the students were reading. The first year I taught one book was all the rage. I picked it up and I read it cover to cover. I went through the book so fast I could not wait until the author put out another so I started to look for others. From that moment I was hooked.

I know the fear in choice is that our students will not pick the "right book." Believe me when I go to the bookstore or library with Emerson and Beckett I cringe at some of the books they pick. I mean I literally cringe. Inside my head I scream and scream at their book choices. At these moments I have to remind myself of my story. It started with that one book. That one book led to another. Since that one book was a series six books would soon follow. The seed was planted. Eventually I started searching out other kinds of books...better books. I even started to read the classics trying to catch up on all those books I missed in high school.

The truth is we never know what book will be the one book for each individual student, but I believe they have a better chance of finding it than I do assigning it.

Now don't forget you can manipulate choice. I don't think we are all drinking Coke by pure choice. Coke used advertising to get their product into our hands. As adults we need to advertise. Read aloud is a great way to share the kinds of books that you may want them to pick. I don't imagine that many of the students would have picked Rain Reign on their own.

Now it seems the class loves this book. It might lead to another book that is just like it. 

Besides read aloud surround them with books. Leave a copy of a book you love on the coffee table. Fill the kitchen table with some poetry books. Put some magazines (Time for Kids, Sports Illustrated for Kids, or Kids Discover) in their rooms. Eventually they might pick up these texts through their own "choice." 

MODEL

There are several predictors that children ages 6–17 will be frequent readers. Three dynamics among the most powerful predictors are:

• being more likely to rate themselves as “really enjoying reading”

• a strong belief that reading for fun is important and

• having parents who are frequent readers. (Page 23)

Bullet point number three is for you. Let your kids see you read. It could be the sports page or a magazine or a novel or a graphic novel or anything at all. Parents who like to read have kids who like to read. It makes sense. 

I know I have gone on and on tonight but I believe this research is important. Students who enjoy reading devour books. They read and read and read. They experience different worlds, see things from different points of view, revisit historical periods, they laugh, they cry and so much more. I will step down from my soapbox and let you enjoy the rest of your night. 

Hope you are having a great week and are finding more and more moments for reading and writing.

Prose Constructed Responses

If you did not check in two weeks ago, I gave an update on when we will take our Performance Based Assessments (PBA's). We still do not have confirmed dates but as of now we are planning on taking the Language Arts PBA's on February 23rd, 24th, and 25th. The following week the students will take the two Math PBA's.

One of the new elements of the PARCC assessments is Prose Constructed Responses (PCR's). If you are not aware, teachers only communicate in acronyms. Here is a screenshot from PARCC that explains the different types of forms students might be asked to compose during a Prose Constructed Responses:

I don't know how that picture is going to show up but what this documents says is that students are going to be asked to write at the end of each of their Language Arts Performance Based Assessments. If you can see the document, you can see that the students can be asked to write a wide variety of forms.

The interesting thing about the above document is the line, "teachers should not plan to use this list a checklist of forms to be taught."

We have talked about and looked at and even written many of these forms of writing this year. The students have also seen many of these forms in Mrs. Sanford's room. Even with all of this work we still have not hit them all. In the coming weeks I do have a plan to expose more of these forms to the students. 

I know many of you might be looking for things that you could do to help prepare your children for these assessments. A way I might think about attacking these forms as a parent is to read. Our at home reading does not always have to be from a book. You could print articles or reviews or pamphlets or excerpts from diaries or anything you can find. Mix these different types of writing into the at home reading here and there and students will have more exposure to the different types of forms. Of course this is not required work.

Hope you are all having a great start to the week and I hope the Flyers can start holding on the ball.

Image

In writing we are continuing to work on poetry. I love this writing unit. I enjoy reading all the creative poems and the way it changes the way the students use language in other types of writing. The book that I am reading allowed to the class to help us with this unit is Poetry Matters by Ralph Fletcher. 

In the book Fletcher talks about the three pillars of poetry. We have already made our way through the first pillar--emotion. This week we started the second pillar of poetry--image. I keep telling the class that this is my favorite type of poetry. So far Fletcher has given us two pieces of advice about how to make our poems more visual. The first piece of advice was to write using the five senses. That day we read the poem Knoxville, Tennessee by Nikki Giovanni. 

Today Fletcher told us to add similes and metaphors to our poems. When we were done reading the section of the book, we read a poem that contained a simile and a poem that had a metaphor. The poem with the simile was The Park by James S. Tippett. The metaphor poem was called Metaphor by Eve Merriam. One of my favorite parts of this whole unit is sharing poems with the students. Already we have read poems by Georgia Heard, Langston Hughes, Nikki Giovanni, and Carl Sandburg. Hopefully by the end of the unit students will enjoy reading poems as much as they seem to enjoy writing them.

When we were done reading our two new poems, we started to work on similes. We created a quick poster as a class and I shared some similes students of mine had written in the past. Then I asked the students to create some of their own similes. I am always amazed by the similes students create. I think the students have such an amazing way that they see the world and it really shows in their similes. After all this work, it was time for the students to write. I put up a picture (which I love to do when we are talking about image poems) and off they went. The students knew they could write anything they wanted as long as they tried to add a simile. I cannot wait to read the writer's notebooks again this weekend. I know they will be great.

I hope you are all having a great week. I will try and blog this weekend about one of the upcoming PARCC Performance Based Assessments (PBA's) so if you were checking in for that update I will get it here soon.

A Great Day

I had so much fun today. As I talked about yesterday our read aloud book is amazing. We are also getting deeper into our poetry unit. I enjoy reading the students poetry so much. Finally we are learning about the formation of our country. I love the chance to share this history with the class.

Since we have gotten back we have been studying the French and Indian War. We have looked at maps from before and after the war, looked at an advertisement for beaver hats of the time, read from a text book, and read about the war itself.

Today we wrapped up some of our thinking. We talked about the effect the war had on the British, the French, the Native Americans, and the American colonists. After all this work I asked the students to work on a 3-in-3 about everything that we had learned since break. A 3-in-3 is a simple strategy that I learned from the Ohio Writing Project. The rules of a 3-in-3 are to write down as many 3 word phrases as you can in 3 minutes about a topic. In our class we spend 3 minutes writing, then we share some of the ideas, and then write for 3 more minutes.

It is amazing what these 3-in-3's can show you about what students have learned about a topic. Here our some of the 3-in-3's we had today:

• Amherst and Wolfe
• French vs. British
• The Ohio Valley
• The tide changes
• Ft. Necessity Surrounded
• Inexperienced Colonel Washington
• Trading for items
• Drowning in debt
• Surrender to Amherst

The lists went on and on. When the students would share their three word phrases, they would explain their connection to our learning. It was these explanations that showed just how much the students had learned about the war. 

Now we are ready to dive into the years following the French and Indian War that will lead to the American Revolution. I cannot wait to look at more maps, speeches, paintings, political cartoons and so much more that make up this part of our history.

I hope you are having a great week.

Ohio

The room was filled with scarlet and gray today. It was fun to watch how excited some of the students were for tonights game. It was a little scary that Mr. Franz and Mr. Boeke were more excited than the kids. I found the picture above on a desk during indoor recess. 

In read aloud our book is amazing. 

The Newbery Medal will be announced at the end of January. I think this book has an amazing chance to medal. The story is heartbreaking. Today we saw how our main character Rose is treated by her fellow classmates. I am not sure how the class feels about the book but it is quickly becoming my favorite read aloud of the year.

In the book our main character Rose collects homophones. Rose is consumed by her homophone list and finding new homophone pairs and trios to add. In the book which is written in Rose's voice you can see the homophones written directly on the page. Here is an example of what I mean:

"From our porch you can see our front yard and our driveway and our road, which is called Hud Road. Road has two homonyms--rowed and rode. On the other side (sighed) is a little forrest"

We have started to collect homophones like Rose. Students are writing down homophone pairs and trios on notecards. Then we take the notecards and start to play games. The game we have been playing the most is homophone memory. It is fun to watch the class search for homophones and then only get to keep their homophones if they can explain what the words mean. 

I hope your week is off to a great start and if you are enjoying the game that you are managing to stay calm.

A Testing Update

We have some updates on testing dates. These are not official dates. As of right now, we are being told that we will take the English Language Arts PARCC Performance Based Assessments (PBA's) February 23rd, 24th, and 25th. The following week the Math PBA's will take place over two days. As soon as these dates are written in stone we will let you know.

I imagine that many of you have questions about these new assessments. Remember you are always able to get in touch with me to discuss your questions or concerns. I would guess that one of your biggest questions might be: what can we do to prepare for these assessments?

My answer to this question would be to just have your students read and write. I believe nothing can prepare someone for taking a test that will, "focus on writing effectively when analyzing text" than actually reading and writing.

Now I realize that for many of you that answer will not be sufficient. I believe one thing that would help greatly would be to work on supplying evidence to support any answer. The PARCC assessments place a great deal of weight on supplying evidence. Here is an example of a type of question that might show up on the test:

Part A Question: What is the meaning of the word avenge as it is used in the story?

a. believe
b. get even*
c. make friends with
d. scare

Part B Question: Which detail from the story best supports the answer to Part A?

a. "’In this forest, I am the chief of the animals!’"
b. “’I don't believe you, little insect,’ snarled Cougar.”
c. "’Ahrr! Ahrr!’" cried the cougar in pain, "’Get out of my ear!’"*
d. "’Cricket, come out! Let me meet 

All the multiple choice questions on the released PARCC materials show this two part type of question. These are not two separate questions but instead two parts of the same questions. Students will time and again be asked on these PBA's to support their answer using the text. This has been a focus of our year. This is not just because of these upcoming assessments but because it is important for students to understand that the text contains answers to many questions.

Today with Mrs. Sanford's class we got a chance to look back at the poem "A Nation's Strength" by Ralph Waldo Emerson. In each stanza I would ask the class if the stanza contained Emerson's answer to what makes a nation strong.

Here is one of the stanzas that we read:

Is it the sword? Ask the red dust 

Of empires passed away; 

The blood has turned their stones to rust, 

Their glory to decay.

The students were able to tell me that this stanza did not contain Emerson's answer. Then I asked the class which line best proves this is not Emerson's answer. This forced the students to look back in the text to give me an answer. 

A simple question like this when someone is reading or watching a movie will reinforce that idea of always supporting your thinking with evidence from the text. I will continue to try and give you more and more of an idea of what these assessment will contain in the coming weeks. Over the next three weeks I will take one night to explain what the three different PBA's will actually cover. If you want to learn more, here is the link to PARCC's website http://www.parcconline.org/

I hope you are having a great week.

Poetry

We have started our poetry unit. This is by far my favorite writing unit of the year. I am always amazed at the ability our students have to adapt their writing into this form. During our poetry unit I will be reading the class a book called Poetry Matters by Ralph Fletcher.

I cannot believe this book. It is filled with these little nuggets of brilliant advice to help poets. I do not know if any of you feel like writing some poetry but if you do I would pick up this book. So far we have just read the introduction. In the introduction Fletcher talks about the power of poetry. How it is this type of writing that is always there at the important moments in our life. Poetry finds it way into retirement parties, a wedding reception, a funeral, or inauguration day. 

Each day we will read a bit from Poetry Matters, read a poem that fits with the section we read, have time to write, and then time to share our writing. I love sharing poetry with the class. So far both the poems that I have picked came from the book This Place I Know: Poems of Comfort.

The first poem we read was called "Lullaby" and today's poems was "To You." These poems that we read not only introduce the class to some amazing poets, but they give the class ideas of what they can create with their poems. "Lullaby" was a poem that contained nothing but questions. When the class had time to write on Monday, many of them wrote poems that were filled with questions. Today's poem was filled with alliteration, so of course some students fit alliteration into their pieces.

I cannot wait to get further into this unit. The poetry the students write blows me away each year. We are hoping to have a poetry night in February when you will get a chance to come see the work. If you cannot wait that long, just grab their Writer's Notebook and enjoy.

Hope you are all having a great week and staying warm. 

We Are Back

I was so excited to get back to work today. I loved the time off but enough is enough it is time to get learning. I am not one to ease back into things so we just put the pedal to the floor.

First of all we got to start our new read aloud. I love this book. The book is called Rain Reign and is written by Ann M. Martin. I usually only read a bit of a book that I am going to read aloud to a class. I like the class to see my reaction as I read the book. I think it leads to a more authentic read aloud experience. When I read the first two chapters of this book, I was hooked. I quickly read half the book and then forced myself to stop so I would not have read the whole book before we got started.

I am not the only one singing the praises of this book here are a few blurbs:

"There's an old-fashioned quality to the story, especially the family elements, that makes the book sturdily accessible." - BCCB

 

*"Rose is a character we root for every step of the way. She is resilient, honest, and, in her own odd way, very perceptive; a most reliable narrator." - The Horn Book, STARRED REVIEW

 

*"Though Rose's story is often heartbreaking, her matter-of-face narration provides moments of humor. Readers will empathize with Rose, who finds strength and empowerment through her unique way of looking at the world." - School Library Journal, STARRED REVIEW

 

*"Simplicity, clarity, and emotional resonance are hallmarks of Rose's first-person narrative, which offers an unflinching view of her world from her perspective . . . A strong story told in a nuanced, highly accessible way." - Booklist, STARRED REVIEW

 

*"Martin has penned a riveting, seamless narrative in which each word sings and each scene counts." - Kirkus Reviews, STARRED REVIEW

 

*"Newbery Honor author Martin (A Corner of the Universe) is extremely successful in capturing Rose’s perspective and personality..."- Publishers Weekley,STARRED REVIEW

I cannot wait to get going in this book and see what the class thinks of my pick.

For the next few weeks in reading and social studies we will be studying the build up to and the beginning of the Revolutionary War. I think this period in our history is so interesting and important for our students to understand. To get us started thinking about this period in history we did an 11 minute essay. We have done a few other 11 minute essays this year. I think they make a very complex idea (the essay) seem so simple. During the 11 minute essay the class has different prompts/idea starters that lead to writing. These prompts are divided into paragraphs and in the end the students have an essay. 

In the essay today we thought about what might make a nation strong. In another section we looked at a quote from George Washington and wrote about what we thought he might have meant. It is amazing to see how much the students can write in 11 minutes. Some students filled up to three pages of organized writing!!

After we wrote the essay we read Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem "A Nation's Strength" I have a personal connection to Emerson and have grown to enjoy his work. This poem fit perfectly with parts of our essay and allowed the class to see what Emerson thought made a nation strong.

We also started our poetry unit which is my favorite writing unit of the year but I will catch you up on that tomorrow. 

I hope you all had a great start to your week.