LING AND TING: NOT EXACTLY THE SAME! By Grace Lin

I have been working to find new early chapter books for the transitional readers. As I have always noticed about transitional readers, they jump into complex chapter books too quickly and often get used to reading with minimal understanding. So building a collection of great books that are perfect for these readers is important.  We also have primary teachers who are always looking for great "chapter book" read alouds for their young students. Longer, more complex chapter books are often too long and difficult for students to hold onto over the time they take to read. Also, when we read aloud too many books that are well beyond students' independent reading levels, these become the books valued in the classroom and students are often hesitant to choose more appropriate books.

A new book that I just discovered (thanks to #titletalk hosted by @PaulWHankins and @donalybooks once a month on Twitter), is LING AND TING: NOT EXACTLY THE SAME by Grace Lin. I am a HUGE Grace Lin fan. I love her work--all of it.  and she spoke at our Dublin Literacy Conference a few years ago. So I was thrilled to see this early chapter book by Grace.

Ling and Ting are twins, but they are not exactly the same. This book is a collection of stories or "chapters" about these twins.  The chapters each stand alone, which I like. Each tells a different story.  But they also work together and connect in very clever ways.  This is perfect for young children who are new to chapter books.

Grace Lin understand the humor of students who are transitional readers so well. Each story in this book has a little punch of humor at the end--humor that 7 and 8 year olds will love!

I fell in love with Ling and Ting and hope that Grace Lin has already written several more books about these sisters. Not only are the text and chapter design supportive but the characters and storylines make for a great read for kids. This is the perfect kind of book for transitional readers and I hope to see many, many more.

QR CODE Book Previews in the Library

I have been working with students in the library on choosing good books. Many students who quit books before they finish, don't always spend much time previewing before they decide on a book.  They get excited about one thing they read or see and then jump in, only to find that the book isn't what they had expected. I am working with them to take more time to preview. There are so many great new ways to preview with the tools available today. Kids can listen to podcasts, can learn about the writing of a book from the author, watch book trailers, and more.  I want my students to know all that is out there around a great book.

As you may know if you read my blog, I am newly obsessed with QR Codes. After reading Jeff Utecht's blogs post that explained the codes, I carry my iPhone around hoping to find one everywhere.  SLJ also ran an article on the uses of QR Codes in the library.  I love the student written QR code review on the sidebar of the article.  I think if kids know what is possible, they can begin to create these.

I created the above sheet of QR Codes to go along with Barbara O'Connor's new book The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester.  Each QR Code takes readers to a different place--the video book trailer, Barbara O'Connor's website, the publisher page for the book, and a blog review.  I think the sheet of QR Codes will allow students to have quick access to sites around books that I may share or book talk. Rather than searching for reviews or typing in URL codes, students can get right to the sites with QR codes. This will give them experience finding lots of information on a book, visiting sites they might want to go back to.  In time, they can begin to create QR codes of their own book reviews as well as sites around books.

QR Codes are a little trickier at the elementary level because most of our students do not carry smart phones with them. But we do have access to a few iPods with cameras and I am looking for a desktop QR Reader that works well with Mac. I want my students to have their eyes open to these QR Codes in the world.

Day by Day: An Interview with Ruth Ayers and Stacey Shubitz

Last month we reviewed the great new professional book by Ruth Ayers and Stacey Shubitz called DAY BY DAY:  REFINING WRITING WORKSHOP THROUGH 180 DAYS OF REFLECTIVE PRACTICE. We love the book and hope you've had a chance to pick up a copy. (They seemed to be flying off the shelf at the Stenhouse booth at NCTE!)  If you haven't at a chance to look at it, you can browse the entire book online at Stenhouse.  Today, we are the first stop on Ruth and Stacey's blog tour! If you want to follow them around for the week, they will be visiting several blogs to talk about their new book throughout the week.



December 7-Raising Readers and Writers
December 8-Write Brained Teacher
December 9-Once Upon a Teacher





Franki interviewed Stacey about the new book, their blog and writing.

Franki:  Tell us a little bit about how you got your idea for Day by Day.


Stacey:  Day by Day is an outgrowth of our blog.  When Ruth and I were approached about writing a book for Stenhouse we envisioned a book that focused on reflective practice, within the context of the writing workshop.  We thought a text like this would be useful to teachers who were trying to get in the habit of being more intentional about their teaching. 

Franki:  What do you hope teachers get out of the book?


Stacey:  There are a few things I hope teachers get out of this book.  First, I hope teachers who’ve been teaching writing workshop without reflecting on their practice daily will begin to make time for reflective practice.  As someone who initially scoffed at the idea of reflecting on my teaching (when I was obtaining my first master’s degree), I’ve come to realize that setting aside time for reflection is what can make one’s teaching much more responsive.  Each of the 180 discussions in the book include a challenge for teachers, as well as two or more reflective practice questions.  Therefore, we’ve made it easy for teachers to get started with their reflective practice journey.


Additionally, we share our triumphs and our shortcomings throughout the text.  I hope our candidness will help teachers develop an awareness that not every minilesson or conference will be perfect, but that they can learn and grow from their successes and challenges by reflecting on them daily. 


Finally, for those teachers who teach writing workshop in isolation, I hope they find this book to be like a compassionate colleague they can turn to at the end of a day.  No one should ever feel as though they’re teaching alone. 

Franki:  Your blog Two Writing Teachers follows your belief about the importance of daily reflection in teaching. Can you talk about how your blog has changed your teaching?


Stacey:  Ruth and I started Two Writing Teachers when I was transitioning to teaching a new grade (from fifth to fourth) in a new state (from New York to Rhode Island).  Blogging about my teaching -- the good, the bad, and the ugly – on a daily basis helped me to become more thoughtful about how I approached the teaching of writing.  Additionally, receiving comments from other bloggers pushed my thinking and allowed me to consider new perspectives and approaches to use with my students.

Franki:  What are the things that you love most about writing workshop?

Stacey:  I love watching the way writing workshop helps children find and develop their voice.  Writing workshop shows students that they have poignant stories to tell and important messages to share with others.  In addition, I enjoy witnessing the transformation of non-writers into confident communicators within the context of a writing workshop. 

Franki:  What are your biggest challenges in writing workshop?


Stacey:  The greatest challenge I’ve had teaching writing, in a workshop setting, has been around conferring.  I never felt as though I was getting to enough kids.  Even when I’d make it to five students during independent writing time, I always questioned if it was enough… if I met with the right kids on a given day… if I met with someone too frequently…  Reflecting on my teaching helped me to work through those internal struggles; I became more confident about my decisions (i.e., who I conferred with on a given day or in a given week) once I thought about them, after-hours, more deeply.

Franki:  Which resources do you go to as you reflect on your practice in writing workshop?

Stacey: There are a few books I turn to again and again when I need to be inspired about the teaching of writing.  I find myself turning back to Assessing Writers and How’s It Going, both by Carl Anderson, when I want to think more deeply about my conferring.  When I taught full-time, I always found myself paging through Georgia Heard’s The Revision Toolbox, when I wanted to present my students with new revision techniques.  Finally, Choice Words by Peter H. Johnston always reminds me to be mindful of the language I use when I work with 

Poetry Friday Roundups Jan-June 2011

Stick a fork in in -- the schedule is DONE!  Stay tuned for the HTML code for your sidebar.  Thanks, Everyone!!  Looking forward to a great year of Poetry Fridays!!

December 2010
31 Carol (Carol's Corner)

January

7 Irene (Irene Latham)

14 Laura (Writing the World for Kids)

21 Tara (A Teaching Life)

28 Elaine (Wild Rose Reader)

February 

4 Dori (Dori Reads)

11 Carol (Rasco From Rif)

18 Mary Ann (Great Kid Books)

25 Sara (Read Write Believe)

March

4 Ben (The Small Nouns)

11 Liz (Liz in Ink)

18 Andromeda (a wrung sponge)

25 Mary Lee (A Year of Reading)

April

1 Amy LV (The Poem Farm)

8 Madigan (Madigan Reads)

15 Diane (Random Noodling)

22 Kate (Book Aunt)

29 Tabatha (The Opposite of Indifference)

May

6 Terry (Scrub-a-Dub-Tub)

13 Jama (Alphabet Soup)

20 Julie (The Drift Record)

27 Heidi (My Juicy Little Universe)

June

3 Toby (The Writer's Armchair)

10 Anastasia (Picture Book of the Day)

17 Jone (Check It Out)

24 Carol (Carol's Corner) 

November Mosaic

There are lots of doubles in this month's mosaic. There are two Epcot balls, two friends riding into a possible Jetson-like future, two big stuffed Disney characters, two tropical flowers, two shots of a rainbow, and two kinds of popcorn. Two flowers were blooming in our house at the same time: the hibiscus had one last fling while the Christmas cactus was ramping up. There are two yummy dishes -- grilled cheese and red beans and rice -- from Skillet, our new favorite restaurant (thank you, Meredith!), and there were two crab cakes and two spears of asparagus on my plate at a dinner "Off Property" (ie: NOT Disney) at NCTE. The two people are Julie Johnson, who received the Donald Graves Excellence in Teaching of Writing Award and Steph Harvey, who was thrilled with her flight of Margaritas at Maya Grill. (There was an advertisement for the Maya Grill in the elevator of Coronado Springs Casita 2 proclaiming that if you ate there, you would be "besieged by enchantment." If that isn't a Disney mission statement, I don't know what is.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARY LEE!

Mary Lee is celebrating a "landmark" birthday (in her words) this weekend. Sing along and wish her a happy day!   Happy Birthday, Mary Lee!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

On The Eve of a Landmark Birthday

The Woodcutter Changes His Mind
by David Budbill


When I was young, I cut the bigger, older trees for firewood, the ones
with heart rot, dead and broken branches, the crippled and deformed

ones, because, I reasoned, they were going to fall soon anyway, and
therefore, I should give the younger trees more light and room to grow.

Now I'm older and I cut the younger, strong and sturdy, solid
and beautiful trees, and I let the older ones have a few more years

of light and water and leaf in the forest they have known so long.
Soon enough they will be prostrate on the ground.

"The Woodcutter Changes His Mind" by David Budbill, from While We've Still Got Feet: New Poems. © Copper Canyon Press, 2005. Found on The Writer's Almanac. Reprinted with permission of the author.  Thanks, David! This is the perfect poem for how I'm feeling today.

Today's Poetry Friday roundup is at The Miss Rumphius Effect. Thank you, Tricia, for rounding up our PF posts!

Clever Jack Takes the Cake

Clever Jack Takes The Cake
by Candace Fleming
illustrated by G. Brian Karas
Random House (Schwartz & Wade), 2010
Review copy provided by the publisher

I'm guilty and I'll freely admit it: I judged this book by the cover when it arrived. "Another folk tale. Meh." And I set it aside for later.

Then, at NCTE, as I browsed the books in the Random House booth, I noticed all the stars adorning it. Hmm. Maybe I better take another look.

Was I ever wrong about this book! It does lean on all the other "clever Jack" tales for the basic "succeed by using your wits, even if everything possible goes wrong" story line, but it is fresh and original and...I'm sorry...clever! There's no way around it, it DOES...take the cake!

Jack is invited to the princess's 10th birthday, but he has nothing to take for a present. Read to find out how he manages to bake her a cake and how he manages to show up at the throne with nothing but the story of making and losing the cake. Read to find out what the princess thinks of her gift. (Study the end papers to see what happens before and after the story in the text.) Read to be delighted. Reread to take a closer look at the illustrations. Clever Jack, Clever Candace, Clever Brian. Lucky us.


Other Reviews:
100 Scope Notes
7 Imp
Heavy Medal

Books I Could Read A Million Times--Chalk

A funny thing happened at school this week. One of my kids saw me in the hallway and yelled  "Mrs. Sibberson, when I come to library today, will you have any of those empty books?"  Empty books? What could she have possibly meant?  "You know, the books with no words?" So I decided to read CHALK by Bill Thomson aloud this week, since she had asked so cleverly for wordless books.

CHALK is a great new wordless book--one that I would love to see win the Caldecott Award.  Mary Lee reviewed it a few months ago but it wasn't a book that I took the time to fall in love with right away. You see, I am a text girl and I have very little patience for taking the time to enjoy a wordless book on my own.  I do not always take the time to really take in the visuals. But this week, I discovered what a treat sharing CHALK with children is!  I love watching the kids' faces each time I turned the page.  The amazement, excitement, surprise, fear, and discovery were all so clear on their faces.  Their conversations around the book have been amazing and this is definitely a book I could read a million times.

So, today, I am adding CHALK  to my list of BOOKS I COULD READ A MILLION TIMES.  I think this is the first wordless picture book to make the list but it is definitely one that deserves to be there.

Foodspotting

I love taking pictures.

I love eating out.

I love taking pictures of my food when I eat out.

Foodspotting was made for me: social networking around the pictures you take of food. What could be better? Meredith shared this iPhone app with me on the way home from NCTE. She also told me about a new (to me) restaurant. The day after I got home, I was eating at that restaurant and taking pictures of my food for Foodspotting.

Nom!