This is one of a series of blog posts that continue the conversation around Still Learning to Read--Teaching Reading to Students in Grades 3-6. This series will run on the blog on Tuesdays starting in August 2016 and continue through the school year.
I have a HUGE collection of wordless picture books. Over the years, I have realized the impact they can have on readers in grades 3-6. First of all, there are so many gorgeous wordless books and kids can spend hours with them. And many of these books have incredible depth--so much meaning and so many layers embedded in the illustrations. What I love most about wordless picture books are the way they level the playing field for readers--the text is not an issue so for readers who are insecure or reluctant, wordless picture books often allow them to engage in a different way. I use wordless books often and just found a new favorite.
Little Fox in the Forest is my new favorite wordless book! I don't want to say too much about it but it is FABULOUS! I don't know where I first saw it but I ordered it right away. It is happy with a fabulous message and lots to think about as you read the pictures. Last week, I shared the Kindle version with my kids so they could take time with the pictures as they were on the large screen. This is a must-read, must-have, don't-let-out-of-your-sight new book! You'll definitely want a copy or two!
This is one of a series of blog posts that continue the conversation around Still Learning to Read--teaching reading to students in grades 3-6. This series will run on the blog on Tuesdays starting in August 2016 and continue through the school year.
We have been doing lots of reading across several texts--thinking about similarities and differences, adding onto what we understand and more. Last week I shared some work we did with books about Wangari Maathai. This week, we read several versions of the classic tale Rumpelstiltskin. I want kids to understand connections between books in a much deeper way than they have in the past so I am varying the ways kids might connect one book to another in order to build understanding.
For this read aloud, I wanted kids to have access to all of the preview pages and I wanted to be able to look at all of their annotations for the book so we all created read aloud notebooks out of construction paper and blank pages for this book. As we previewed kids added cover, back cover, table of contents and the first page of text into their booklets.
I had stapled the books together beforehand and had included the photo of the Rumpelstiltskin books we'd read on the first page. After looking at the cover and the title (Rump, The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin), I asked kids to think about what they knew from the 4 books we read and what they would EXPECT in this book. They were very thoughtful and very thorough.
This is similar to what I shared in the new edition of Still Learning to Read but every year is different and the goals for this read aloud are a bit different this year as it is a different set of kids, different time of year, etc. This is a perfect example of why I can't plan to hit the same things that I did last year. For example, last year when we talked about traits after reading 4 versions of Rumpelstiltskin, 3rd graders had very different (and not such kind) things to say about the character. But this year, my readers seem to have seen some good deep down in Rumpelstiltskin. When we talked about all that we knew, someone mentioned that he was helpful as he came in to help the queen. One said he was lonely because he sang by himself and wanted that baby to keep him company. They thought he was kind because even though the queen promised her baby, he gave her a second change. Last year, we were able to talk about how our thinking about Rumpelstiltskin changes as we heard his perspective and the traits we saw in him were different. We'll still have that conversation but we are at a different starting point so that will be different learning.
This is a challenging book for this time in 3rd grade but it pulls together so many skills we've been working on. The talk and thinking we are doing around this read aloud builds on all that we've done all year. Reading across text, using what we know, previewing, thinking about the character, and point of view will all be part of our conversation. This group has picked upon the importance of the word "destiny" already so that may be more of our conversation than it has been other years.
I am looking forward to our conversations around this book!
This is one of a series of blog posts that continue the conversation around Still Learning to Read--teaching reading to students in grades 3-6. This series will run on the blog on Tuesdays starting in August 2016 and continue through the school year.
It seems like this time of year, my kids are ready for longer, more in-depth nonfiction than they were early in the school year. They are moving beyond books with isolated facts to picture book biographies, etc. I think 3rd and 4th grades are a little tricky for nonfiction as we want them to grow as nonfiction readers but much nonfiction is a little too easy or too hard for this age. As my students are building stamina as nonfiction readers, I want them to have access with text that are a little longer and go more in-depth. I love the Scientists in the Field series but those are a bit much for most 3rd and 4th graders. So I've been looking for something in between what they have been reading and books like Scientists in the Field.
I just discovered a great new series that seems perfect for this age. I have loved Suzi Eszterhas's books for years and her Eye on the Wild Series is perfect for 3rd graders. I recently discovered a new series she has called "Wildlife Rescue Series". I read Koala Hospital recently and can't wait to hand it off to some kids who are interested in animal rescue. These books seem perfect for kids ready to move to more in-depth nonfiction. They are organized in a way that each 2-page spread gives information on one part of the topic. The language is perfect for this age. There are of course amazing photos that draw readers in. And the books are packed with information around the topic. I am anxious to get the other 2 in this series and I certainly hope she is writing more!
I also discovered that Suzi Eszterhas's website has grown and has many great resources for kids and teachers. Her blog is filled with great posts about animal rescue and more. I also discovered that you can also read samples of the work Suzi Eszterhas does for magazines such as Ranger Rick, National Geographic Kids and more. This is a great resource of informational text.
I continue to be on the lookout for great nonfiction for kids--books, magazines, videos are all important to our readers. Some other great resources for great nonfiction for kids who are ready for more sophisticated nonfiction are listed below:
Nonfiction Picture Book 10 for 10
If you do not know the fabulous annual Picture Book 10 for 10 event created by Cathy Mere and Mandy Robek, visit their Google Plus site now. Each February, Cathy and Mandy ask readers to share 10 nonfiction books they love. Many are organized into categories. This is a great resource for finding great new nonfiction for your students. (And as Cathy reminds us, turn off your One-Click Amazon button before you visit!)
Highlights Magazine
Mary Lee Hahn shared with me the amazing resource that Highlights Magazine is. Each issue has a few nonfiction articles that are the perfect length for intermediate readers.
Wonderopolis
Wonderopolis continues to be one of my favorite sites for nonfiction reading for intermediate readers.
Zooborns
Zooborns is a favorite site in our classroom. I am noticing that about mid-year, kids are spending as much time with the text as they are with the adorable photographs. This site is engaging and has such interesting information on baby animals. I also love that it can be searched in various ways (by zoo or by animal).
Melissa Stewart's Website
Melissa Stewart's website is always one of my go-to sites for nonfiction. The number of nonfiction books Melissa Stewart has written is amazing and her blog is a great additional resource. Information into her writing process as well as videos make this one of my faves. Spend some time on her blog --it is a great resource for teachers and has great posts for students.
Livbits
If you don't know Livbits, her videos. Olivia is a 9 year old who packs a lot of information into a short video.
Friends With Fins
Friends with Fins is another video site that has great informational videos about ocean conservation. I love the variety of formats Jaclyn uses to share information with viewers.
Jess Keating
Jess Keating is another favorite author for this age. Her book Pink is a Blobfish and upcoming book What Makes a Monster are both highly engaging nonfiction titles for readers in grade 3-6! Jess also has a video series Animals for Smart People which are short videos packed with information.
This is one of a series of blog posts that continue the conversation around Still Learning to Read--teaching reading to students in grades 3-6. This series will run on the blog on Tuesdays starting in August 2016 and continue through the school year.
Somehow, even by 3rd grade, students think that writing informational pieces somehow begins with copying facts out of books they read. One of the goals for 3rd graders is to take notes on research topics and when my kids noticed this on the feedback form our district has, they mentioned quickly how hard they thought note-taking was. Even after all that we have done with sketch-noting this year, they had little confidence when we started to talk about "research" and "note taking".
So I decided we'd meet a few books in a weeklong unit of study on notetaking/informational reading/research. I ordered 4 picture books about Wangari Maathai as I figured this was a person very few of them knew much about. I also knew that it tied a bit into our Science curriculum. We read Wangari's Trees of Peace, Wangari Maathai: The Woman Who Planted Millions of Trees, Seeds of Change and Mama Miti over 4 days.
These books worked well to read over days. Each told the story of Wangari and I would consider each a picture book biography but each told different details and focused on different pieces of the stories. So we confirmed much of our thinking when we heard it over and over and we added to what we knew as the different authors included different things. Of course we continued to ask questions, chat informally and connect this with so many other things we've read. But our new learning was in reading across texts to think about the most important things across -synthesizing information from a variety of sources.
This was a very simple study. On the first day, I read the first book--Wangari's Trees of Peace, giving kids 3 sticky notes. After we finished reading the book, each child wrote 3 important things that they thought they'd want to remember from the book. We then sorted the sticky notes realizing that many of us had similar things written. This started a good conversation about important vs interesting. Kids were amazed that after reading the whole book, they could "take notes" in their own words.
The next day we read Wangari Maathai which was a bit longer and more detailed. We did a similar activity with stickies and talked about the information we already knew as well as the information that was new to us from this book.
For Seeds of Change, I had kids jot important ideas in their readers' notebooks--just as they had with the sticky notes.
After reading the 4th book, we went back to all our notes and created a list of the most important things we would include if we were writing about Wangari Maathai.
These were great books to discuss as there was much new information and different lots to talk about after each book. The students gained confidence in their ability to discover important information, write that down in their own words, and add to their learning with each new text. They see the power in reading more than one book about a topic and they have a few strategies for determining importance. Connecting what we learned to the sketch noting they love will be a next step.
This is one of a series of blog posts that continue the conversation around Still Learning to Read--teaching reading to students in grades 3-6. This series will run on the blog on Tuesdays starting in August 2016 and continue through the school year.
I love watching the tastes in the classroom change. I love watching a student read a book and then that student recommends it to another and another and another. I love watching how books are informally passed around the classroom as readers know each other's tastes as readers.
This week, we worked on creating book reviews--we chose books we thought other 3rd graders would love to read. And we collected the book reviews on a Padlet. So this Padlet is a glimpse into our classroom--the books that are currently popular. Take some time to visit the Padlet, share it with your students and let us know if you read anything we recommend. We hope you enjoy some of the books we love!
This is one of a series of blog posts that continue the conversation around Still Learning to Read--teaching reading to students in grades 3-6. This series will run on the blog on Tuesdays starting in August 2016 and continue through the school year.
Having the right books for our readers is one of the most important things we can do. Third grade is a little tricky because kids are at so many different stages as readers. And if we want kids to read independently every day, we need lots of books that are right for them. So I am always looking for good early chapter books that support readers who are just learning to read longer books. This week I received two books in the new Agnes and Clarabella series (Agnes and Clarabelle and Agnes and Clarabella Celebrate!) from the publisher. This is a fun new series about 2 friends and t is perfect for our transitional readers.
This book is perfect for the beginning of the year 3rd grader who is just starting to read chapter books. There is so much that I love about these books:
I feel in love with both characters. They have very distinct traits which is good for our young readers when thinking about what to expect from characters we love.
There are 4 chapters in each book and each chapter is its own little story. That is perfect for readers just learning to read longer books. Holding onto one story over time is often challenging so this is a perfect transition.
There is enough sophisticated humor that kids will love these books no matter what--I laughed aloud a few times.
There are chapter titles. I think that is important for young readers so they can use the titles to think about what's coming up.
The illustrations and font size are perfect. Lots of white space on a page so text is not overwhelming for readers. I also like that many sentences start on one page and finish on the next. This is something new for lots of transitional readers and this book handles it well.
The books are small and they feel like a chapter book but there are lots of visual supports for readers.
So happy to have this new book! Can't wait for more books about these characters!
*These are part of "Read and Bloom" based on the cover. There seem to be 3 other books/series in this collection that I'd like to check out--Stinky Spike, Wallace and Grace and The Adventures of Caveboy. I am hoping they support readers in similar was--if so they will be perfect for 2nd and 3rd graders!
(Our new edition of Still Learning to Read was released in August! You can order it online at Stenhouse! You can follow the conversation using the hashtag #SLTRead.)
This is one of a series of blog posts that continue the conversation around Still Learning to Read--teaching reading to students in grades 3-6. This series will run on the blog on Tuesdays starting in August 2016 and continue through the school year.
We are working on finishing up our narratives this month and I introduced some tools that I hope help students see the power of revision and the difference between revision and editing.
We watched Ruth Ayres video on Revision that is the most helpful resource ever on helping kids understand what it means to revise.
I think introduced a variety of tools that could be used for revision. We discussed how these various sticky notes could be used to help us try the strategies Ruth suggests in her video.
The tools seem to invite a high level of engagement because, let's be honest, who doesn't like a cool, new kind of sticky note?
I also had them reflect on their revisions with this page asking them to share the ways that they revised-why did they make these decisions as a writer?
Then I pulled out a basket of red pens to talk about editing. We talked about the final clean up of a piece of writing once the writing is crafted the way that you'd like it. A final few reads to check for those last editing mistakes and fixing those up.
Last year, I did something similar with students and a few of my students created a video sharing the revisions to their own writing. I think learning to revise is a skill that they will carry with them through their lives as writers and I know these skills and tools will help them grow as writers throughout the year.
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(Our new edition of Still Learning to Read was released in August! You can order it online at Stenhouse! You can follow the conversation using the hashtag #SLTRead or you can join us for a book chat on Facebook that began this week by joining our group here.)
This is one of a series of blog posts that continue the conversation around Still Learning to Read--teaching reading to students in grades 3-6. This series will run on the blog on Tuesdays starting in August 2016 and continue through the school year.
We have been busy setting short-term goals this week. Goal-setting has been part of our year since the first few days but as we get more intentional about personal goal-setting and are able to take steps to meet our own goals (as well as to see progress toward goals) we have changed routines around goal-setting a bit. This week, as we reflected on work and set some short-term goals (goals that might be accomplished or worked toward between now and winter break), students recorded their goals above their cubbies.
I created a template that allows students to add goals on sticky notes for reading, writing, math and wonder workshop. The squares on the template are the perfect size for a sticky note and sticky notes give the message that goals will change. Having the goals in a personal space that they can see each day is important I think. So far, each child has set a reading goal and a math goal. The writing goals we are working on are more connected to our narrative writing that we are finishing up this week so we'll create new goals soon. I also plan to work with the kids on more long-term goals for Wonder Workshop.
The template is a simple one. I believe strongly in simple routines for important thinking. I have seen the power in student goal-setting over and over again. As I think about my bigger goals of agency and identity, student goal-setting is critical.
We are also using Seesaw as a way to track and reflect on our learning. I am amazed by this tool and the kids love it. There are so many ways for kids to reflect on artifacts from the year. Many of the kids used Seesaw this week to record the goals that they had written. Seesaw is a great place to track changes in learning. The share features really helps because as kids are invested in each others' goals. They also get new ideas for learning/future goals from peers through the app.
(Our new edition of Still Learning to Read was released in August! You can order it online at Stenhouse! You can follow the conversation using the hashtag #SLTRead or you can join us for a book chat on Facebook that began this week by joining our group here.)
This is one of a series of blog posts that continue the conversation around Still Learning to Read--teaching reading to students in grades 3-6. This series will run on the blog on Tuesdays starting in August 2016 and continue through the school year.
Another reason I LOVE having a coach--Sometimes they push me to study things that I can't seem to find time to get to on my own. This week, our literacy coach Heather Halli, helped my students and me think about Sketchnoting. She sent an email out a few weeks ago, sharing an article she had read on Two Writing Teachers called Sketchnoting: My First Attempt by Dana Murphy. I had been trying to attend one of Tanny McGregor's sessions on Sketchnoting but my schedule hadn't worked out. So, Heather and I talked about sketchnoting informally after her email and we quickly shared resources over text and email for the last few weeks. I had been meaning to watch Tanny McGregor's and Shawna Coppola's Sketchnoting webinar that was recorded from the Ed Collaborative online PD Day but hadn't had the time. When Heather said she watched Tanny McGregor's EdCollaborative webinar on Sketchnoting, I knew I needed to watch it too. So I made the time. (See what I mean about coaches--after months of trying to make time to learn from Tanny, Heather's thinking helped me to actually move forward!)
Introduction to Sketchnoting
To begin our thinking about sketchnoting, we shared this video with my 3rd graders. We watched it a few times and noticed new things each time. It was a fabulously simple introduction to the idea of Sketchnoting called Sketchnoting for Newbies.
The next day, we shared this image we found that we thought was a good example of Sketchnoting that we found in the post Adventures in Sketchnoting and a Book in Five Days by David Burton. Then we invited kids to create Sketchnotes on a short bird video we discovered. We watched the video 2 times so they could jot notes. The second time we watched it, we paused it every 20-30 seconds so kids had time to jot/sketch.
Sketchnoting: New Learning from Reading
On the third day, I asked kids to Sketchnote while reading several things about maps on the site, Pebble Go. There was lots of information here and I wanted to see what kids did when they could work at their own pace--stopping to sketch and jot when they needed to.
Sketchnoting About Ourselves
Finally on Thursday, we decided to invite the kids to Sketchnote about themselves. We shared the Tips on this blog and then shared some of the other slides from this presentation on Tech and Learning. (We even printed some to keep around the room so kids can play with font, dividers, etc. as they get better at Sketchnoting.) We wanted kids to focus on the techniques of sketch noting so we thought taking away new content would help them think about structure, organization, design, etc. This was also the day we added colored pencils which seemed like perfect timing!
My Reflections on Our Week of Sketchnoting
This was one of the most exciting new things I've tried in a while. In just a few days, kids were excited about the possibilities of Sketchnoting, they saw the power in making their thinking visible in this way, and we have lots to build on throughout the school year. I saw changes in the ways kids read information as they were deciding where to put things on a page. I saw rereading with purpose as kids went back to think about information they missed on the first read. I saw kids who love to draw add more words to their thinking and kids who write lots think differently when added visuals. I am excited to see where this weeklong study will take us. I'll keep you posted!
(Our new edition of Still Learning to Read was released in August! You can order it online at Stenhouse! You can follow the conversation using the hashtag #SLTRead or you can join us for a book chat on Facebook that began this week by joining our group here.) SaveSave
This is one of a series of blog posts that continue the conversation around Still Learning to Read--teaching reading to students in grades 3-6. This series will run on the blog on Tuesdays starting in August 2016 and continue through the school year.
It is always around this time of year when I find that handing a book to a child can make a difference for the rest of the year. This is the time of year when I know readers well enough to chit chat books on the way to lunch or at recess. This is the time of year when I start leaving a book in a child's book bin that I think they might like. There is something about a young reader knowing that you thought about him/her specifically when you saw a book. There is something about handing a child a specific book that strengthens a relationship. This week, I noticed myself informally handing books to children in informal ways. This is one of the most important jobs I do--so I have to know lots of books. Always. It seems that every year my kids have different tastes as readers, so I can't just recommend the books I've always recommended. It is always a personal act--the act of recommending a book. These are some of the books I've handed to kids (or ordered for kids) this week.
So many of my kids have become Raina fans. Raina's name comes up like she is a student in our class! A few of us were chatting informally as they came in the other day about them. They especially love Smile and Sisters. This week, I pulled out the Babysitter's Club Graphix. (I seem to only have #!--my other 2 have disappeared since last year so I had to reorder!) Kids were thrilled to know about more books that Raina illustrated and there is a list of people waiting to dig into this series. (I love this kind of recommendation because it builds on what they love (Raina) but also introduces them to a new author that they might fall in love with (Ann Martin).
One of my students had fallen in love with the Zita books (By Ben Hatke) and was more engaged when reading them than I'd seen her all year. I remembered that I had received a review copy of Mighty Jack by the same author, earlier this month and I mentioned it to her and left it at her table the next day. She loved it and passed it on to another reader in the class who she thought would love it.
The Little Shaq books went around my room early in the year but they seem to be making their rounds again. Last week, I had a conversation with a student who was reading the 2nd book. We checked and were THRILLED to find out that the 3rd book in the Little Shaq series (Star of the Week) was due out THIS WEEK! It should arrive today and was the talk of the room. Not only did I get to hand a book to a child but this also built some awareness for those "hot off the press" books.
The Treehouse Books were popular in my room last year and I realized they were published about a year earlier in Australia than they are here. Lucky for Amazon, I can get copies of the books that are not quite published in the US yet which I think is the case with The 65 Story Treehouse which should arrive this week so one of my readers can read this last book (so far) in the series.
I bought the first two books in the new Super Happy Party Bears series after Ann DiBella recommended them on Facebook. I love having new books, doing a quick share in the morning before we start our day and handing them off to the first readers! Kids always love to be the first readers of new books so this is a fun way to hand books to kids. I need to read this one as soon as I can get it back as it seems like a fun read for 3rd graders.
We visited the Columbus Zoo on a field trip a few weeks ago. My kids aren't reading much nonfiction yet so I picked up two of Jack Hanna's Wild But True books and gave them to a few of the first kids to walk in the room the next morning. I always love to hand books to kids in the morning as they start a buzz in the classroom with lots of kids curious about the books.
My students know me well enough now to know that they don't have to love any of the books I recommend to them. They know that they own their reading and that when I recommend a book, they are not obligated to read it. But, they also know that I think about them and their individual tastes and needs as readers and that matters. Knowing my kids as readers and combining that with what I know about books is one of my most important roles. And one of my favorites:-)
(Our new edition of Still Learning to Read was released in August! You can order it online at Stenhouse! You can follow the conversation using the hashtag #SLTRead or you can join us for a book chat on Facebook that began this week by joining our group here.)
Disclaimer: All blog posts, opinions, grammatical errors, and spelling mistakes are our own.
Franki and Mary Lee are both teachers, and have been for more than 20 years.
Franki is a fifth grade teacher. She is the author of Beyond Leveled Books (Stenhouse), Still Learning to Read (Stenhouse), and Day-to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop (Scholastic).
Mary Lee is a fifth grade teacher. She is the author of Reconsidering Read-Aloud (Stenhouse) and has poems in the Poetry Friday Anthology, the Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School, the Poetry Friday Anthology for Science, the Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations (Pomelo Books), Dear Tomato: An International Crop of Food and Agriculture Poems, National Geographic Books of Nature Poems, The Best of Today's Little Ditty (2014-15 and 2016), Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's Poems are Teachers, National Geographic's The Poetry of US, and IMPERFECT: Poems About Mistakes.
