One more read aloud for the beginning of the school

I usually begin my read alouds with picture books and then move to a short easy novel before I start reading books that might be at or above my students' reading levels. Lots of my students haven't read all summer long, and I am modeling what they need to do to rebuild their fluency and stamina: start with lots of quick, easy reads to build confidence and refresh skills.

I just finished a great book for a first-week or early-in-the-year read aloud:
Monday with a Mad Genius (Magic Tree House #38)
by Mary Pope Osborne

It's the first day of school for Jack and Annie, and Jack is his typical worry-wart self. Luckily, time freezes in Frog Creek, PA when Jack and Annie travel with the magic tree house, because 10 minutes before the first day of school, they travel to Florence, Italy to meet Leonardo da Vinci and try to learn another secret of happiness to help Merlin.

At first, da Vinci tells Jack and Annie that the secret of happiness is fame. But by the end of the book, he has changed his thinking. He realizes that the secret to his happiness is curiosity.

Jack and Annie get back to Frog Creek at the moment they left, and they run to school filled with eager questions rather than nervous questions about the beginning of the school year.

Books About Books and Reading -- Revisited

In early August, a post at Creative Literacy caught my eye -- Picture Books About Books.

Our list of Books About Books and Reading has been sitting over there in the sidebar along with 100 Cool Teachers in Children's Literature just waiting for some new additions.

So, here's the list! Let's look again. Do any new books come to mind? What kinds of conversations do these books spark in your classroom or library?

Picture Books

How a Book is Made by Aliki
Read Anything Good Lately? by Susan Allen and Jane Lindaman
Souper Chicken by Mary Jane and Herm Auch
The Best Place to Read by Debbie Bertram and Susan Bloom
The Best Time to Read by Debbie Bertram and Susan Bloom
Wolf by Becky Bloom
The Day Eddie Met the Author by Louise Borden
Across a Dark and Wild Sea by Don Brown
Arthur and the Race to Read by Marc Brown
But Excuse Me That is my Book by Lauren Child
Petunia by Robert Duvoisin
Book! by Kristine O'Connell George
Check it Out! The Book About Libraries by Gail Gibbons
The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers
Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen
Jake's 100th Day of School by Lester Laminack
Book by George Ella Lyon
Santa's Book of Names by David McPhail
Edward and the Pirates by David McPhail
Edward in the Jungle by David McPhail
Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora
Amelia Hits the Road by Marissa Moss
Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne
Reading Makes You Feel Good by Todd Parr
The Girl Who Hated Books by Manjusha Pawagi
Aunt Chip and the Great Triple Creek Dam Affair by Patricia Polacco
Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
Reading Grows by Ellen Senisi
Wild About Books by Judy Sierra
The Hard Times Jar by Ethel Footman Smothers
From Pictures to Words: A Book About Making a Book by Janet Stevens
The Library by Sarah Stewart
Library Lil by Suzanne Williams
The Old Woman Who Loved to Read by John Winch
The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter
Baby Bear's Books by Jane Yolen

Chapter Books

Magic by the Book by Nina Berenstein
The Sisters Grimm series by Michael Buckley
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Seven Day Magic by Edward Eager
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
The Big Green Book by Robert Graves
Fly By Night by Francis Hardinge
The Book of Story Beginnings by Kristin Kladstrup
Looking Back: A Book of Memories by Lois Lowry
Summer Reading is Killing Me by Jon Scieszka
At the Sign of the Star by Katherine Sturtevant
The Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley

Poetry

Good Books, Good Times by Lee Bennett Hopkins
The Bookworm's Feast by J. Patrick Lewis
Please Bury Me in the Library by J. Patrick Lewis

Quotations

Quotations for Kids by J.A. Senns

Books For Adults That Could Be Used For Exerpts

Life is So Good by George Dawson
Grand Conversations by Ralph Peterson and Maryann Eeds
The Polysyllabic Spree and Housekeeping vs. the Dirt by Nick Hornby
Better Than Life by Daniel Pennac
How Reading Changed My Life by Anna Quindlen


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Check this out, too: A Notes from the Windowsill annotated bibliography of book-books by Wendy E. Betts.

Poetry Friday--First Week of School

Whose idea was it to have five days of school the first week? Three or four would have been plenty!

Here are the schedules I/we have worked to coordinate and finalize this week:

Special Education
Reading Intervention
Spanish
Speech
Guidance
Bubble activities (sounded great this summer, but a nightmare now)
Title One Math
Reading Assessments
Math Assessments
Spelling Assessments
Fire Drill
Mentor/Mentee

We have had various meetings before school every day, after school most days, and at our grade level planning period several of the days.

The poem for today and for this crazy first week:

Psalm
by Stuart Kestenbaum

The only psalm I had memorized was the 23rd
and now I find myself searching for the order
of the phrases knowing it ends with surely
goodness and mercy will follow me
all the days of my life and I will dwell
in the house of the Lord forever only I remember
seeing a new translation from the original Hebrew
and forever wasn't forever but a long time
which is different from forever although
even a long time today would be
good enough for me...

(the rest of the poem is here)
(Roundup is at MentorTexts)

Edward's Eyes by Patricia MacLachlan

I had to make one last run to Cover to Cover today to set myself up for the first few days of school--new books always help me get my head around where I hope to go with our talk. I picked up some great new picture books that I'll share later in the week. But, I also picked up Patricia MacLachlan's new book, EDWARD'S EYES.

EDWARD'S EYES is an amazing story about a family told by Jake--a child in the family. Edward is Jake's younger brother and Jake adores him. Edward is amazing and so are his eyes--something Jake noticed the first time he saw him.

This is a hard story. One I really wasn't ready for today--but since I didn't know it would be a hard story, it was too late. But, I am so glad I read it. The cover drew me in and I didn't put it down at all once I'd started it. Friendship, family, love, loss. All of life in a short, simple book.

Patricia MacLachlan is one of my very favorites. Ever since BABY, one of my very favorite books of all time. And this book was no disappointment. It was all that I love about MacLachlan. A great family. Great characters. Life told as life happens. And a message that is told through all of it together.

Patricia MacLachlan is somehow able to help us celebrate life in all of her books. And she doesn't do it by pretending that life is not difficult. Somehow she gives us characters to fall in love with and allows us to experience hardships alongside them. Her sincere nature and her sensitivity make her books what they are.

This is definitely a book that will stay with me. In terms of use in school, I will definitely put it in my classroom library. I may read it aloud to my 3rd and 4th graders--I'll have to see. Another family that will stay with me for a long while.

Ask The Right Questions

On the way back to our classrooms after dismissal yesterday, my colleague asked me, "Is it really quiet on your morning walks?"

At lunch, a whole table of us had been talking about how hard it is to preserve time for ourselves once school starts. There had been the usual surface level amazement that I continue to get up at 5:00 a.m. and walk for a half an hour at 5:30, even though there is no longer a dog to make such an activity mandatory.

My colleague's after school follow-up question was far from a surface level question. She came at my morning walk from an unexpected and thoughtful direction. And she got more of an answer than perhaps she expected, because when you walk in the dark, you pay closer attention to the sounds around you. My walks right now are loud with insect sounds -- crickets and tree crickets, buzzing, chirping and whirring. As winter comes, my walks will be more and more silent, until I have the chance to listen to the different sounds of snow underfoot. Late in February or early in March, I will hear the first robin singing in the dark, and my spring and summer walks will be loud with birds singing territory-marking songs.

Her question felt like the metaphorical unplugging of a dam of talk in me. I felt myself light up when I knew I had a great answer to her question. After I shared, her affirmation of my day-to-day scientific way of living in the world made me feel really really good.

And now I'm wondering, how can I do this for my students? How can I find the right questions to ask each one of them?

• I know the lists of possible writing topics we are making and sharing in early writers' workshop will help me. I need to model listing in a way that gets beyond, "I love pizza. I play soccer."
• I need to listen carefully. Then I will hear two boys singing songs from "baby TV shows" on the way to the buses, I can ask about this, and learn that when they go home, they have to watch Barney and Teletubbies with their young cousins.
• I need to watch. I need to notice how my fourth grade siblings interact in such kind and thoughtful ways with their kindergarten brothers and sisters when they see them in the hallway.
• And I need to learn to ask questions that go beyond the obvious or the surface, questions that dig into a topic, or approach it at a slant, or come in the back door so that my students can have the feeling I had of the dam breaking and the light coming on when they answer me.

Mind Your Manners B.B. Wolf

MIND YOUR MANNERS, B.B. WOLF is a fun new book by Judy Sierra. I am always looking for books that can start classroom conversations about reading and also books that extend what we know about well-known fairy tale characters.

In this story, B.B. Wolf is invited to a tea. But his friend reminds him that he'll have to behave so they learn good manner from an etiquette book. When B.B. A few of our favorite fairy tale characters make an appearance, some lines from well-known fairy tales show up throughout the story, and the ending is a happy one. Did I mention that the tea takes place in a library?

This is a fun book--appropriate for children of all ages. My third and fourth graders loved it when I read it aloud on the first day of school--lots to see in the illustrations that connect to favorite stories.

Happy New Year!

In homes all around our school community, parents are asking students, "How was your first day of school? Do you like your teacher?"

In fewer homes scattered throughout the school community and beyond, spouses are asking the teachers, "How was your first day of school? Did you get a good class this year?"

It's good to be back. It's good to quit trying to pretend I can really be ready for a group of strangers and just go for it. Just jump in the water, no matter how shocking the temperature or the current, and start stroking hard and sure for the island in the middle.

2 New Picture Books

I found two great new picture books this week. I think both will be great additions to classroom libraries--especially K-2 classrooms. Both will also make GREAT baby gifts. I had no idea that Mem Fox had a new book coming out. WHERE THE GIANT SLEEPS is a great bedtime book for young children. Older readers will find lots to love about the book too. Just like in TIME FOR BED, Mem Fox gets readers ready to sleep but this time, she tells us where giants and fairies and other fairy tale creatures sleep. The pictures are peaceful and colorful at the same time. And Mem Fox's rhyme and rhythm is unmistakable--she is brilliant at this. (Mem Fox is a favorite at our house. Each of us has our own favorite--my youngest daughter's favorite today is THE MAGIC HAT but WHERE IS THE GREEN SHEEP is a very close second for her. I bought this new one for myself and one for a gift! THAT SPECIAL LITTLE BABY is a new book by Jane Ann Peddicord. It will make a beautiful baby gift for a new baby girl. It is a story of a baby and all of the things she does and learns. Through the book, we see her as a baby and as she grows. The repeated text will be fun for young children ("That special little baby, always up to something new..."). And the illustrations are colorful-set on white. It is a great book about a baby who is loved very much!

The First Day of School

A great piece in The Columbus Dispatch today about the first day of school--as a child, parent, and grandparent. It was written by Lisa Pettit. A perfect piece for this weekend! Enjoy!

Welcome Back to School

If you have never visited Bruce Lansky's poetry site, it is a great one to bookmark in the classroom. So many fun poems for both kids and adults. There are lots of great things to read and to try. A favorite poetry site!

I thought this one by Kenn Nesbitt worked for this week.

Welcome Back to School by Kenn Nesbitt

“Dear students, the summer has ended.
The school year at last has begun.
But this year is totally different.
I promise we’ll only have fun.

“We won’t study any mathematics,
and recess will last all day long.
Instead of the Pledge of Allegiance,
we’ll belt out a rock ’n’ roll song.

Read the rest of the poem here.