August Mosaic

Three big photo ops in August. Last Friday of the Summer, spent hiking in John Bryant State Park (lunch after at The Winds in Yellow Springs--YUMMM). I used the pair of fresh eyes to help me find some numbers and letters for the Alpha-Numeric project that I haven't forgotten about, but which has been back-burnered for a couple of months. Top center is a nice Leaf Lady. Top right is a fabulous A. Second row center is an amazing millipede, then O, and Jewel Weed. Third row features 5, J, and a 3, courtesy of Trillium. X marks the spot in fourth row, first position. Fourth row center is me and Jack Gantos. The next one is a page from his writer's notebook. I'll use that one in a writing workshop minilesson soon! Fourth row fifth picture is Hahn with Giant Hahns at the McConnell Arts Center. All the rest (except the lamp at the end) are from Chagrin Falls, Ohio -- another end of summer outing. Fifth row center, probably my favorite of the month -- Just Grace vs. Jeni's Ice Cream...and Just Grace WINS!! The lamp (last photo) I made for my Sweetie Pie, with a photo from last month and a new app I haven't had time to play much with -- WordFoto.

For a better view, you can visit this set of photos on Flickr.

Poetry Friday -- Crazy

i thank heaven somebody's crazy 

enough to send me a daisy

—E.E. Cummings

Here's a patch of daisies for you (Black-Eyed Susans [Rudbeckia hirta], actually)...so I guess that makes me the crazy one. Yup. Feels like that might be true at the end of the first week of school!

Sylvia has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at Poetry for Children.

AWESOME AUTUMN by Bruce Goldstone

When Beth (at Cover to Cover) walked over to hand me a new book about autumn, my first thought was that I was not interested. But I should know by now that Beth only hands me great books!  The book she handed me was Awesome Autumn by Bruce Goldstone. The Subtitle of this book is "All Kinds of Fall Facts and Fun".   I opened it up and knew I had to buy it.  Immediately.  Bruce Goldstone is the author of Great Estimations,  Greater Estimations and 100 Ways to Celebrate 100 Days. I love every one of his books and I love this new one too!

Each page in this book is pretty much a stand alone. Each page looks at some different aspect of fall-How Does Autumn Feel? In Autumn, Some Birds Leave Town, What Do People Do In Autumn? etc. The photos on each page make you want to spend a lot of time there.  Although some pages are mostly photos and labels, other pages have a great deal of text. Just the perfect amount of text for kids to dig in and read.

This is a gorgeous book that is packed with information.  It can be used as a read aloud and it will tie nicely into science units around seasons or weather.  I can see younger readers spending lots of time with the book and I can see my upper elementary students reading it from cover to cover. It is filled with so much to look at and to learn.

Plan Ahead for Poetry Friday

The Poetry Friday Anthology (Common Core ALL GRADES (K-5) e-book) (The Poetry Friday Anthology E-book Series (Grade-by-Grade)) is now available as an eBook in whole book AND specific grade level Kindle editions.

Why would you want the Kindle edition? Well, if you get the free (FREE) Kindle app for your computer (or iPad), you can project each week's poem for your class to read together and enjoy!

Why else would you want the Kindle edition? You will get it INSTANTLY and be able to start Poetry Friday in your classroom this week!

IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Thanks to Kellee and Jen at TEACH MENTOR TEXTS for hosting. Pop over there to see everyone's lists.

It's not been a huge reading week. Getting ready for the first day of school has pretty much consumed me this week. But I did fit in a little bit of reading here and there.  I've been thinking a lot about nonfiction reading and trying to find books that might make good read alouds or that kids might read that feel a little more like narrative. I find that these books discourage skimming and scanning and kids build stamina with nonfiction with nonfiction narrative.

A book I LOVED this week was Seed by Seed: The Legend and Legacy of John "Appleseed" Chapman by Esme Raji Codell is one of the best books about Johnny Appleseed that I have read. This is a gorgeous picture book that shares the stories and legends about this man.  I liked the writing in this one as well as the messages to readers. And the art is gorgeous.

I am a HUGE fan of the Scientists in the Field Series and one that I dug into this week was Extreme Scientists: Exploring Nature's Mysteries from Perilous Places (Scientists in the Field Series). This book takes a look at several scientists who work in dangerous places to do research needed.  I enjoyed the story about the storm chaser and I think my students will too. It really shows the research happen when it comes to weather.

Citizen Scientists: Be a Part of Scientific Discovery from Your Own Backyard by Lorree Griffin Burns was another that I think will be a great cover-to-cover read.  It tells the story of people who participate in collecting data right in their own areas. The message that everyone is a scientist is a good one.

And a new professional book I just received in the mail that I am anxious to start is Christopher Lehman's Energize Research Reading and Writing: Fresh Strategies to Spark Interest, Develop Independence, and Meet Key Common Core Standards, Grades 4-8. I'm not sure I'll have time to get to it in the next week or two with school starting but I am hoping to dig in soon!

Poetry Friday -- Poetry is the Main Line

"...I always loved English because whatever human beings are, we are storytellers. It is our stories that give a light to the future. When I went to college I became a  history major because history is such a wonderful story of who we think we are; English is much more a story of who we really are. It was, after all, Miss Delaney who introduced the class to My candle burns at both ends; /It will not last the night; /But, ah, my foes, and, oh, my friends— /It gives a lovely light. And I thought YES. Poetry is the main line. English is the train."

This is an excerpt from the prose poem "In Praise of a Teacher" by Nikki Giovvani. The entire poem can be found at The Writer's Almanac. 

Dori has the Poetry Friday roundup today at Dori Reads.

KidLitCon 2012 -- New York City

At A Year of Reading, we are proud members of the Kidlitosphere. We've been blogging since 2006, and can remember when the term Kidlitosphere was invented. Mary Lee's gone to three of the KidLitCons-the original one in Chicago, which started off as kind of a joke, the one in D.C., and the one in Minneapolis. Alas, life and finances will prevent either of us from attending the New York City KidLitCon. Even though the conference is FREE this year. Yes, I said FREE. But don't let that stop YOU! Here are the details (borrowed and modified from the Kidlitosphere Central website):

The sixth annual KidLitCon will be held in the heart of New York City on September 28th and 29th, 2012. It will be held within the main branch of New York Public Library, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.

Your host will be Elizabeth Bird of A Fuse #8 Production) along with Monica Edinger (Educating Alice) and Liz Burns (A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy).

In the same vein as last year’s con, the conference is being expanded into two days with a special “pre-conference” on Friday.  Friday events will include special visits to the publishers of New York City with blogger previews of their upcoming seasons.  Publishers will be assigned on a random basis to all attendees.  The final list of publishers is currently being hammered out.

Registration will max out at 175 attendees.

Cost before September 21st:

• $55 Full Conference, including pre-con, Friday dinner, and Saturday con
• $35 Pre-Conference without dinner
• $0 Saturday Conference 
• $55 Pre-Conference with dinner (special guest speaker: Grace Lin)
• $50 Friday dinner (extra diner or only)

Please note that there will be no Saturday dinner.  However, there is a possibility of a Kidlit Drink Night that evening.  Information to come.

The last day to register is September 21st.

The Pre-con: Includes a dinner.
Conference Day: Lunch.

If space is still available, onsite registration will be possible for $80. Pre-con price remains the same.

My Classroom Takes Shape

Here is Room 228 after summer cleaning, but before I really start to make it my own. On the left, cubbies are filled with picture books, poetry, and nonfiction. All of the chapter books are boxed and stacked, along with the shelves, to the right. My first decision -- where will the IWB go? I decide on the board near the TV, back on the left by the window.

I'm starting to get a sense of where the shelves will be. Picture books on the plank and block shelves left of the window and poetry in the white shelf to the right of the window. Nonfiction in the tall shelf to the left, chapter books left and center in the lower shelves. I have moved all of the chairs into the meeting area and will arrange the desks around that empty space.

The big L shaped shelf arrangement took up too much space and blocked the entry path, so it became a J. Four tables of six are ready for students. If I have more than 24 students, there are places at the "office" table straight ahead under the "pink" bulletin board, and at a table behind the camera view to the left, on the tile between the door and the cubbies. (You can see the end of it in the second picture, still stacked with boxes and tubs of books.)

Pretty much ready to go at this point. That corner where the chapter book shelves make their bend turned out to be the perfect place for the clipboards. The tops of the chapter book shelves are lined with tubs of popular series. Yes, I do have a little nook of a desk area in the bottom right corner. I try to take up as little real estate in the classroom as possible (and especially not the prime real estate of the window, in spite of the fact that Room 228 faces the playground and it might [ha--"might"] be a distraction), but I'm not "evolved" enough to give it up completely. I'm going to take everything off the top of the desk that I don't want to share, and it will be another place for a student to work when my computer is over at the IWB. Plus, I have a fun idea for how I want to use that whiteboard beside my desk, and it will require that students have access. (More on that in another post...)

This is the view from the window, looking towards the door -- the opposite view from those above. You can see just a bit of the poetry shelves to the left, then the office table. The built-in shelves along the left wall hold reference books (dictionaries, encyclopedias of all kinds, thesauruses). Next the chalkboard, my desk and shelf, the sink area and the door. Continuing to the right of the door, you see built-in cupboards in the back corner and the table on the tile and the cubbies are back there, but hidden in this picture. Continue around and you see the fiction, nonfiction, IWB, and picture books!

EDITED TO ADD

Well, the white board for the IWB (on the left) was longer than the space I left between the tall NF shelf and the picture books. So, the NF shelves moved straight ahead beside the poetry (covering half of that bulletin board...oh, well). Just goes to show that it's a work in progress, right up to the last moment!!

All of these panoramas were made with the Pano app on my iPhone.

Already Looking Forward to #NCTE12 !!!

As I mentioned in a previous post, NCTE's Annual Convention marks the end of fall for me.  I love the start of a new school year--August, September, October.  I love getting to know new students and families. I love the weather (not too hot, not too cold), and I am usually fairly organized after summer vacation.  Then when it's time for NCTE's annual convention, I am ready for new learning. I am ready to think hard about instruction with this particular group of children in mind. I am excited to pick up new books that this group of students will love. I am ready to reenergize and focus for the remainder of the school year. Absolute perfect timing for me.

So, I tend to get excited about the convention a little earlier than most. I spent some time this weekend really looking at the newest Council Chronicle with the Annual Convention Preview.  I also spent a little bit of time online looking at the searchable program.  Here are some things I am excited about already:

*There will be an App for the convention program this year. How convenient!  A good reason to purchase the iPad mini or the iPhone5  if they becomes reality before convention, don't you think?

*So many of my newest heroes will be there. I am excited about all of the experts around 21st Century Learning such as Sir Ken Robinson (Friday morning General Session) and Will Richardson. I was able to hear Will Richardson for the first time this summer and learned so much. And I've never had the opportunity to hear Sir Ken Robinson speak in person.

*Presenting with Sara Kajder, Teri Lesesne and Donalyn Miller will definitely be a highlight. These girls are brilliant and I always learn so much from them. And they are fun. What better combination is there?

*I will be doing one IGNITE presentation as part of a panel. I am excited about the challenge it will be to create my first real IGNITE presentation for an audience.  Harder than it looks, I imagine! And I love the IGNITE sessions. I am especially excited to attend the one on
BUILDING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING NETWORKS--to hear so many smart people in one session sounds too good to be true!

*There are so many great authors at convention this year. A few that I am especially excited about are
Jon Szieszka, Lemony Snicket, David Shannon, and Sherman Alexie!

*The exhibit hall is always great fun. There are lots of great new professional books out around convention time.  Kylene Beers' and Bob Probst's new Notice and Note: Strategies for Close Reading is one I can't WAIT to read.  These two are brilliant!  And I've heard Penny Kittle share a bit about her upcoming book, Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers, and can't wait to read it!

*I loved Ralph Fletcher's Guy-Write: What Every Guy Writer Needs to Know and a looking forward to his session (with Chris Crutcher) on the topic.

*The Day on Early Childhood is always a great day for elementary teachers. I was thrilled to see Vivian Vasquez as the Closing Keynote for that day--LITERACY PRACTICES IN VIRTUAL WORLDS. I purchased her book, Technology and Critical Literacy in Early Childhood, the day it came out but haven't had time to dig in yet.  Such an important topic!

*There is a session on THE NERDY BOOK CLUB and a few on NOTABLE CHILDREN'S BOOKS.  COMMON CORE and MATH LITERACY are other topics I saw when flipping through the preview.

*Many friends and colleagues are participating in sessions that will be great learning for me.
*Katherine and I plan to run on the strip in Vegas. A little healthy exercise before the day begins. Maybe we'll all wear our Nerdy Book Club running attire?

*The exhibits already look like such fun. I am thinking that I should definitely have an empty suitcase for new books for the classroom this year!

*And of course, my favorite part of convention, is always learning informally with others attending the conference. Seeing old friends and meeting new ones--around the topic of literacy education--is always so energizing.

I am sure I won't get to see everything I've listed here and I am certain that I missed lots on my first look through the program. It is never easy to fit in every great learning opportunity at convention.  But the possibilities are endless. And this year's conference looks amazing!

By the way, the official hashtag for the NCTE Annual Convention this year is #NCTE12

Let the Tweets begin!

IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?

The last IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING? of the summer for me:-)  Here are a few books that I've enjoyed lately.  (Visit Kellee and Jen at TEACH MENTOR TEXTS for the Round Up of posts.)

Think Bigby Liz Garton Scanlon and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley Newton is a book I've looked at and loved a few times. I finally purchased a copy this weekend and think it will be a great one to use to start discussions about things we love to do, things we make, etc. It is meant for a younger audience but I think it will definitely spark great conversations, writing. I love this author and illustrator team!

If You Find a Rock by Peggy Christian is one that I discovered during 10 for 10 Picture Book Celebration. I purchased a copy right away and love it.  It is a great book of photographs describing the various kinds of rocks you might find. It goes beyond observation and will be a great one to use as a mentor text in Writing Workshop this year.

C. R. Mudgeon by Leslie Muir is one I picked up because the title made me smile. I think this will be a fun story to use during word study and talking about characters--and how characters' names are often chosen by the author for a reason:-)

National Geographic Kids Chapters: Ape Escapes!: and More True Stories of Animals Behaving Badly is the first in a great new National Geographic Kids series that I just discovered. These are chapter books with true stories about animals.  Each story is told in three short chapters.  This is engaging nonfiction for middle grade readers. I can't wait for more in this series to become available!

I ordered Annie Sullivan and the Trials of Helen Keller (Center for Cartoon Studies Presents) when I saw it. I've loved the other graphic novel biographies in this series and I enjoyed this one as well. As with the others, the story goes beyond what we already know from other typical stories about Annie Sullivan. I always have so many students who are interested in Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan. I love that I can add another good biography in graphic novel form to the classroom library.

One other biography I loved this week was Words Set Me Free: The Story of Young Frederick Douglass (Paula Wiseman Books).  It is a great story about Frederick Douglas written by Lesa Cine Ransome and illustrated by James E. Ransome.  The power of reading is a clear theme through the book and the story is one that will engage readers and help them understand some important issues around slavery.