Our Childhood Selves

My parents were visiting last weekend.  My dad was talking to my 12-year old and started reciting a crazy fish poem he says all of the time. But this time, it triggered a memory of another fish poem he used to recite to me when I was little. A favorite.  We kept reciting the first lines over and over until we couldn't remember anymore. I googled it and found a finger play version that reminded us of the parts we couldn't remember. LOVE this poem/song.  I have to say, hearing my dad recite it took me back to being three. Actually to the apartment we lived in.  I was so happy listening to his voice recite the fishy poem that I hadn't heard in years:

My darling little goldfish
Hasn't any toes
He swims around without a sound
And bumps his funny nose (the site says hungry nose but my family says funny:-)
He can't come out to play with me
Nor I get in to him.
Although I say, "Come out and play."
He says, "Come in and swim."

My 21 year daughter loved the book LUNCH by Denise Fleming.  She loved when I read it because of the way I did the mouse's sniffing noise.  (I must say, I am pretty good at it:-)  Anyway, even now, when that book or something related comes up, Alexa looks at me with that 4 year-old face and says, "Do the sniffing noise."  She reverts back to her 4 year-old self, just like I reverted back to my 3 year-old self with my dad last week.

When I talked to my 12 year old about this, she immediately said she remembered when she was little, Alexa used to sing The Eensy-Weensy Spider to her, but messed up on purpose.  She giggled like her 4 year-old self as she was telling me and suggested we Skype Alexa so she could do it for her again--it was not the same if I did it.

I love the ways these memories bring us back to our childhood selves.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Not a big reading week for me.  I had something every night after school. It was a good week, but VERY busy!  I did read a bit every night before bed so I got a little bit of reading in, but not much.

I am about halfway through with Haruki Murakami's book WHAT I TALK ABOUT WHEN I TALK ABOUT RUNNING. My friend, Samantha Bennett recommended it to me and I'm so glad I'm reading it. It is a great essay/memoir-type book focusing on running and writing. I love hearing about people talk about the things they are passionate about.  And I love his insights about running. It is a good read.

I also read a graphic novel from the Sports Illustrated Kids series-SPOTLIGHT STRIKER. I am so glad to have discovered these.  I was pleasantly surprised reading this and plan to order several more from the series for the library. They are short, sports-based graphic novels that will be perfect for lots of kids. I thought the characters and story lines were pretty well-developed too. A great new find!

I am also about halfway through THE HUMMING ROOM by Ellen Potter and am enjoying it. I am a huge Secret Garden fan so this is a fun read. I will write about this one after I finish it.

My favorite read of the week was MARTY MCGUIRE DIGS WORMS by Kate Messner. I love everything Kate Messner writes and have been waiting for this second book about Marty McGuire since I read the first arc last year. I knew I had to read this one fast because there will be many teachers and students fighting for it once I share it at school. It was a great read! I loved the character of Marty right away when I read the first book and I love her even more now.  Years ago, when I read the second Clementine book, I knew I was hooked for life.  I felt the same way when reading this second Marty McGuire book.  Marty tells the stories in this series and I LOVE her voice.   Here are some of my favorite lines from the book:

Plus, Monday is veggie goulash day in the cafeteria, which would be awful except that they serve ice cream cups for dessert because who would buy goulash if you weren't getting ice cream with it?


Mrs. Grimes goes up on stage with clickety-clackety shoes. If those were my shoes up there, I'd jump around and make some more noise on that nice wood floor, but I guess Mrs. Grimes has very good self-control and that's why she gets to be principal.


I  don't do paper dolls, especially not ones dressed in scratchy-looking dresses.


I am not patient. My mom says "patient" and I are not even distant relatives.


I write three observation journal entries without even peeking, which is pretty clever if you ask me.


Seriously, how could anyone not love Marty? Not only is she a great character but this book is all about how she does a project to help the environment. There are so many great connections that this would make a great read aloud for any grade level.  It is a great school story about a great character. I am already anxiously awaiting the next Marty McGuire book!

I have several books on my stack and I am hoping I have more time to read this week:

I received Michael Scotto's upcoming book, POSTCARDS FROM PISMO which looks great. I am huge fan of LATASHA so I am looking forward to this read. Others on my stack are THE FALSE PRINCE, CROW by Barbara Wright and BEFORE YOU GO, an upcoming YA novel by James Preller

I'm also looking forward to checking out FORGIVE ME, I MEANT TO DO IT: FALSE APOLOGY POEMS by Gail Carson Levine which is due out this week and TRAIN LIKE A MOTHER which is due out later this month.

Visit TEACH MENTOR TEXTS for the round up!

Poetry Friday: MADNESS!

The game is ON!

Ed DeCaria, at Think, Kid, Think, is hosting a March Madness Tournament of Children's Poetry.

There are 64 poets signed up to play...including ME!

There are brackets and seeds and all kinds of other things about tournaments that I don't really understand.

But there is also fun, creativity, spontaneity, voting, and...did I mention already? FUN!

I need some fun.

I woke up this morning thinking about the Poetry Friday post I hadn't yet written, and this is the poem that immediately came to mind. "I am overtired / Of the great harvest I myself desired." ...And I'm not talking about apple picking here, either.

AFTER APPLE PICKING

My long two-pointed ladder's sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there's a barrel that I didn't fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn't pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.
And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it's like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

Myra has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at Gathering Books.

2012 Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts

The Notable Books in the Language Arts Committee, sponsored by the Children’s Literature Assembly of the National Council of Teachers of English, selects thirty titles each year that best exemplify the criteria established for the Notables Award. Books considered for this annual list are works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry written for children, grades K-8. The books must meet one or more of the following criteria:

• deal explicitly with language, such as plays on words, word origins, or the history of language;
•demonstrate uniqueness in the use of language or style;
•invite child response or participation.

         In addition, books are to:

•have an appealing format;
•be of enduring quality;
•meet generally accepted criteria of quality for the genre in which they are written.

2012 Notable Children’s Books in the Language Arts 

A Butterfly Is Patient, by Diana Hutts Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long, published by Chronicle Books.

A Monster Calls, by Patrick Ness, published by Candlewick.

Addie on the Inside, by James Howe, published by Atheneum.

Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart, by Candace Fleming, published by Schwartz & Wade.

Balloons over Broadway, by Melissa Sweet, published by Houghton Mifflin.

Bluefish, by Pat Schmatz, published by Candlewick.

BookSpeak: Poems about Books, by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Josee Bisaillon, published by Clarion.

Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, published by Walden Pond.

Dead End in Norvelt, by Jack Gantos, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Heart and Soul, by Kadir Nelson, published by Balzer + Bray.

Hound Dog True, by Linda Urban, published by Harcourt.

Inside Out & Back Again, by Thanhha Lai, published by Harper.

Lemonade: And Other Poems Squeezed from a Single Word, by Bob Raczka, published by Roaring Brook Press.

Me...Jane, by Patrick McDonnell, published by Little, Brown.

Okay for Now, by Gary Schmidt, published by Clarion.

Over and Under the Snow, by Kate Messner, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal, published by Chronicle Books.

Pablo Neruda: Poet of the People, by Monica Brown, illustrated by Julie Paschkis, published by Henry Holt.

Passing the Music Down, by Sarah Sullivan, illustrated by Barry Root, published by Candlewick.

Requieum: Poems of the Terezin Ghetto, by Paul Janezko, published by Candlewick.

Shout! Shout it Out!, by Denise Fleming, published by Henry Holt.

Stars, by Mary Lynn Ray, illustrated by Marla Frazee, published by Beach Lane.

The Cazuela That the Farm Maiden Stirred, by Samantha R. Vamos, illustrated by Rafael Lopez, published by Charlesbridge.

The Cheshire Cheese Cat, by Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright, illustrated by Barry Moser, published by Peachtree.

The Friendship Doll, by Kirby Larson, published by Delacorte.

The Great Wall of Lucy Wu, by Wendy Wan-long Shang, published by Scholastic.

The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater, published by Scholastic.

These Hands, by Margaret H. Mason, illustrated by Floyd Cooper, published by Houghton Mifflin.

True…Sort of, by Katherine Hannigan, published by Greenwillow.

Underground, by Shane W. Evans, published by Roaring Brook Press.

Won Ton: A Cat Tale Told in Haiku, by Lee Wardlaw, illustrated by Eugene Yelchin, published by Henry Holt.



NCBLA 2012 Committee: April Bedford—Chair
Donalyn Miller, Nancy Roser, Tracy Smiles, Yoo Kyung Sung, Barbara Ward, Trish Bandre
Mary Lee Hahn—Past Chair

World Read Aloud Day

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Ben Bunch

Today is World Read Aloud Day. I have been considering and reconsidering read aloud in print for 10 years and in classroom practice for almost 30 years. When I attempt to distill the power of read aloud, it always comes down to COMMUNITY.

Read aloud builds a community of readers.

Read aloud is the common thread that ties together all the listeners in the classroom. It gives them books in common, authors in common, stories in common, and characters in common. Read aloud is when we think together, laugh together, and sometimes cry together.

Read aloud is the dock where we tie up all of our reading canoes, the airport where we land our reading airplanes, the parking lot where we park our reading cars.

Read aloud is a movie theater, where everyone in the audience gets the same soundtrack, even though the screen and the pictures are inside each head.

Read aloud is what solitary readers can do together. It’s a book club, only better, because the conversations don’t just happen after everyone has read the book in isolation. You talk about the book all the way through. Sometimes there’s no time left over to read the book because you’ve spent so much time talking about it. And that’s okay, because read aloud has a permanent spot on the classroom’s daily schedule. The book will be there, waiting for us tomorrow. We can plan on read aloud. We can depend on read aloud.

Read aloud builds readers.

Read aloud is the constant in the changing swirl of classroom content. It’s the learning time that demands both the most and the least of a learner. It’s a time, I was told by a student once, to “learn without trying.” The listener takes from the read aloud what he or she can or will on a day-to-day basis.

Read aloud might be the book that none of the listeners would ever read independently. Read aloud provides a life vest, a climbing harness, a parachute, a safety net to support readers through topics or ideas or genres or events in history that they could never or would never attempt on their own. Read aloud stretches minds. Read aloud opens doors. Read aloud breaks down barriers.

Read aloud cannot be measured or programized or standardized or equalized or regimented. It is organic. Everything depends on the teacher, the book, and the listeners. Read aloud can never be the same thing twice. Read aloud is an art, not a science. The reader paints meaning with book choice, inflection, intonation, sound effects, pauses, and discussion. The listener begins by viewing the reader’s paintings, but often ends up inhabiting the paintings – becoming the characters, experiencing the settings, living the story.

Build can mean construct, establish, or increase. Read aloud builds community, and read aloud builds readers.

(cross-posted on LitWorld, the World Read Aloud Day Blog)

Pinterest for Professional Learning and Other Stuff

I am slowly becoming addicted to Pinterest. Again, I have to thank the young teachers at my school for getting me to pay attention to this tool.  I started playing around on Pinterest early and just got back to it. I love the visualness of it. I love the ways that I can pay attention to professional and personal links all at the same time. I love how easy it is to find great things and how easy it is to keep them organized. I like that I can save/pin great recipes to try. I love that I can follow companies Cheesecake Boutique and Team Sparkle. I've recently discovered that Pinterest is also good for professional thinking.  I love the ways different teachers I follow are using Pinterest to collect ideas, things to try, books for unit planning, etc. I have several boards and mine currently include Library Thinking, Literacy, Things I Want to Buy, In Case I Ever Get Crafty, Books, Fitness, Things That Make Me Laugh, Ideas I Like, Teaching, Technology Learning and more.  I am starting to pay attention to the ideas others have for boards and I am learning so much.  So many possibilities!  I thought I'd share some of my favorite boards that connect to teaching:

CHOICE LITERACY Off the Walls 

JILL FISCH Pattern Book Genre Study

KATIE KEIER Classroom Spaces to Live & Learn In

ANN MARIE CORGILL Books and Display Ideas

JULIE RAMSEY'S Learning Spaces and Ideas to Try in the Classroom

STELLA VILLALBA Book Magic

MR SCHU READS Food

CRITICAL LITERACY/VIVIAN VASQUEZ Websites

And, guess what? Kelly at The Book Butcher has started a new Friday tradition--sharing your favorite pins. Check it out and join in!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

I feel like I am back into reading a bit more these days! I loved Teri Lesesne's post on the Stenhouse blog on Reigniting the Passion.  I especially appreciated her point about taking a break from reading.  Sometimes I have so much to do that I can't give myself time to read and I feel guilty either way. Giving myself permission to take a break sometimes helps!  I had a great reading week. This week I finished

SEE YOU AT HARRY'S by Jo Knowles. This is an amazing book but a devastating read.  It is one of the hardest books I've ever read and I have not stopped thinking about it. I won't say much but the story is one of family, love and loss.  And it is told so well. The book is being marketed to ages 10+ but I am thinking it is more 12+. Not sure though so I'd love to hear what others think. Really, an amazing book and one I would highly recommend--a must read. But just be ready for a hard read.

I read lots of picture books. My favorite of the week was Z IS FOR MOOSE by Kelly Bingham.  What a fun alphabet book! I am so happy to add this to my ABC book collection. This is such fun. Mary Lee talked me into this one with her review!

I picked up CRAFTY CHLOE by Kelly DiPucchio at Cover to Cover this weekend.  I love Kelly DiPucchio so was happy to see a new one from her.  This book is about Chloe, who loves to make things. I love it for lots of reasons--I loved the character. I loved the value the story places on making things and creativity. I am going to be working with 1st graders on how-to writing so this book will be a perfect conversation starter. There is a website that goes along with this book that will hopefully build to include lots of crafts for readers to try!

I am so excited that Kevin Henkes added a new mouse to his characters. I loved PENNY AND HER SONG and will be reading it to classes this week or next.  I love the quiet story, the short chapters and this addition to the Henkes books.

I had not had time to read THESE HANDS by Margaret Mason and kept meaning to. So glad I read it this week. A very powerful book.

Right now, I am reading a few things.  I am reading THE HUMMING ROOM by Ellen Potter. I love Potter's writing and since this book is closely related to THE SECRET GARDEN, I am excited about it. I am about 1/3 of the way through and I love the character.  Looking forward to finishing this.

I am also reading PROJECT BASED LEARNING IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES. I registered for a workshop on the topic in June and thought I'd read a bit first.

And, I did finally finish HEALTH AT EVERY SIZE by Linda Bacon. I am glad I read it. It made sense to me--the philosophy of health over weight loss goals seems like a smart way to live.

There are several books on my To-Be-Read Stack:

We have an ARC of THE FALSE PRINCE by Jennifer Nielsen and one of my 5th graders read it.  When I found it back on my table, there was a post it on top of the book that said, "One of the best books I've read in a long time." So, it has made its way to the top end of my stack!

Beth at Cover to Cover shared CITIZEN SCIENTISTS by Loree Griffin Burns with me and it looks like a great nonfiction read.  I think it will be a great one to share with upper elementary students to connect with their science work.

I keep hearing about CROW by Barbara Wright and want to read that one soon.  And I want to read NERD CAMP since I'd heard about it from CYBILS.

Finally, I have a copy of Ellin Keene's newest book called TALK ABOUT UNDERSTANDING:  RETHINKING CLASSROOM TALK TO ENHANCE COMPREHENSION and it looks amazing. I think talk is the key to great learning and I can't wait to hear what Ellin has to say about this topic.

See what others are reading today at TEACH MENTOR TEXTS:-)

God Bless the Experimental Writers

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by J. Paxon Reyes

God Bless the Experimental Writers

by Corey Mesler


for David Markson

"One beginning and one ending for a book was a
thing I did not agree with."

          --Flann O'Brien from At Swim-Two-Birds


God bless the experimental writers.
The ones whose work is a little
difficult, built of tinkertoys
and dada, or portmanteau and
Reich. God help them as they
type away, knowing their readers
are few, only those who love to toil
over an intricate boil of language,
who think books are secret codes.
These writers will never see their names
in Publisher's Weekly. They will
never be on the talk shows. Yet,
every day they disappear into their
rooms atop their mother's houses,
or their guest houses behind some
lawyer's estate. Every day they
tack improbable word onto im-
probable word, out of love, children,
out of a desire to emend the world.


This poem has been used in its entirety with the permission of the author. His website is here. Next time you're in Memphis, visit his bookstore and buy a few books!

I chose this poem for everyone who is starting a blog and/or starting the Two Writing Teachers' Slice of Life Challenge for March. Yours isn't exactly the same kind of experimental writing as in this poem, but it IS a grand experiment, isn't it?!?! Have fun! Good luck! Cheer ME on next month when I'm writing a poem a day!!

Dori has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at Dori Reads.

February Mosaic

I am continuing my Numbers and Letters Project for my version of Project 365 this year.

1st Row: 2 (2 hands, child reading 2 versions of CORALINE), 7 (Food for Thought at the Old Worthington Library), Food for Thought

2nd Row: 1/2 (Food for Thought--Macaroon), 11 (Tweet Peeps before the Reading Recovery Conference), G

3rd Row: 11,13, 57

4th Row: I, Hand of Buddha, 9

5th Row: 5, 4, B

6th Row: P, H, X

7th Row: S, M, J

8th Row: Snowdrops, 1 (first dandelion!), Pete the Cat

9th Row: Bottles, Plate and Cup, Playing for Change

Z is For Moose

Z is For Moose
by Kelly Bingham
illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
Greenwillow Books, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

Zebra is putting on a production of the alphabet. Everything is going just fine ("A is for Apple/B is for Ball/C is for Cat") when suddenly Moose breaks in -- "D is for Moose." Moose keeps asking if it's his turn through E, F, G, H, I, J, and K. Anticipation builds on L, and then...

"M is for Mouse."

Moose goes ballistic, completely wrecking the set for N, O, P, and Q. Just like Melanie Watt's Chester, Moose takes his red crayon to R and S, and then Zebra protects T-Y with his life.

Good ol' Zebra finds a way to include Moose in the end!

I loved this book immediately and shared it with my students when the F&Gs came a few months ago. When I got my Horn Book Magazine this week, I was pleased to receive a confirmation of my opinion. The book received a starred review from Horn Book!