Classroom Charts

I love the story our classroom charts tell at this time of year.  I looked around the room today and loved looking at the evidence of the conversations and learning that have started our year.  We've had a great first month of school and I can already see such growth in the thinking the kids are doing. I thought I'd share some of the charts and things that are hanging around our room right now.

We started this list a few weeks ago as a place to collect ideas for blog posts. It keeps growing. (You can visit our classroom blog at http:iressib.blogspot.com)

We have been reading lots of personal narratives in writing workshop.  We are noticing and naming the things we like on "Wow! I Wish I Could Do That in My Writing" charts. Then they go off and give something a try.

As we begin to learn how to design good experiments in science, we created a chart detailing the differences in the ways we conducted one of our first simple experiments.

The beginning of our Read Aloud log--"Books We've Read Together"

The start of our "Words We Use When We Talk About Words" Chart

Our beginning chart of words you would hear and see in our Math Workshop.  We are working to use math specific words in our talk and writing.

Our first thinking around The One and Only Ivan--we are participating in The Global Read Aloud!

Rereading THE GIVER, Looking Forward to SON

Today, Lois Lowry's book Son will be released--the finale to THE GIVER series. I had no idea Lowry had plans to do this but, was so happy that she did! I am definitely looking forward to reading this book.  When we learned that there would be a 4th book in this incredible series, Mary Lee suggested rereading the series before its release. I am not a big rereader. I don't often like to reread a book I've already read but when I saw that SON will pull together all 3 books in the series, I decided to at least reread THE GIVER.

I read THE GIVER by Lois Lowry when it was published in 1993.  It was a powerful read. An incredibly powerful read.  I remember that I had finished it around the time of our Dublin Literacy Conference and that Mem Fox was our speaker. I remember picking her up at the airport and talking about the ending of the book on the way to her hotel.  I remember that everyone I knew was reading the book and talking about the ending.

I didn't  even remember that I talked about this book until I reread it last week. And once I was back in the story, I was amazed to realize how much that book has lived with me over the last 20 years of my life.   I am so glad to have reread this book. It was as powerful a reread as it was almost 20 years ago. This round, I am reading it on my Kindle, and I find myself highlighting all of those scenes that I remembered so clearly. I am highlighting Lowry's lines that had an impact on me, without me actually realizing it.  I am reminded again and again what an amazing writer Lois Lowry is.

Rereading this book made me realize that you don't really know when a book is life-changing. It doesn't happen overnight. And you can't really pinpoint the changes within yourself. But when a book. a set of characters and a community live with you for 20ish years, you are changed. I am actually a different person than I was before I read THE GIVER. I can see that as I reread--actually revisiting the scenes that moved me. I find myself actually experiencing the same emotions I did during my first read. It is incredible really. Going into the reread, I didn't really remember the plot or what happened. I had forgotten the details of the story. But I remembered the way the story made me feel, the things it made me think about and the unsettled feelings I had when I read certain lines. I remembered caring deeply for the characters and having incredible hope for them all.

After rereading THE GIVER, I have decided to  reread GATHERING BLUE and THE MESSENGER before I read SON. I am trying to hurry a bit because I am so anxious to read this book and to see how Lowry ends the series.  But I want these characters and my understandings of them to be fresh in my mind when I read this new book.

It was really a gift to have reread this book. So glad that the anticipation of SON pushed me to do that. Thanks, Mary Lee--a great idea!

It's CYBILS Time!

Beginning today, you can nominate your ONE favorite book in each of the genres:

Book Apps
Easy Reader/Short Chapter Books
Fantasy and Science Fiction
Fiction Picture Books
Graphic Novels
Middle Grade Fiction
Non-fiction Picture Books
Non-fiction: Middle Grade and YA
Poetry
YA Fiction

GO TO THE CYBILS WEBSITE TO PLACE YOUR NOMINATIONS!

I'm excited to be a round one poetry judge with these folks:


Carol Wilcox
Carol W’s Corner
@carwilc

Jone Rush MacCulloch
Check It Out
@JoneMac53

Anastasia Suen
Booktalking
@asuen1

Tricia Stohr-Hunt
The Miss Rumphius Effect
@missrumphius

Irene Latham
Live Your Poem
@irene_latham

Misti Tidman
Kid Lit Geek

September Mosaic

September always begins with the Upper Arlington Arts Festival. The blown glass tree and the grilled cheese sandwiches from my favorite food truck are from UA Arts. A week later, Clintonville had its first ever Festiville -- SpiderMonkey and SuperMonkey were spotted there.

The cocoonish thing on the brick of the school wall was sighted by an observant Environmental Club member. ID, anyone?

All the rest of the photos, except for the last four, are from Ohio's Casting for Recovery event at Indian Bear Lodge. Pretty spectacular sunrise over the pond, eh?

The last four are teasel critters -- made with the seedhead of a wonderful weed -- thank goodness I left enough or missed enough in the Land Lab so that every Environmental Club member could make a critter with one last week. We had our first indoor meeting of the year, due to the wet weather. The club members and their critters made a glorious, noisy, creative mess.

You can check out a larger view of the photos on Flickr.

An Interview with Katherine at Read, Write, Reflect

Katherine at Read, Write, Reflect asked me to do an interview after reading my new book THE JOY OF PLANNING.  I agreed, of course!  The interview is posted on her amazing blog if you are interested. And if you aren't interested, add the blog to your list of blogs to read regularly--spend some time there.  Amazing learning opportunity--she shares so many great reflections about reading, writing and teaching!

Poetry Friday -- Be the Change You Wish to See

National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry: 200 Poems with Photographs That Squeak, Soar, and Roar!

edited by J. Patrick Lewis, U.S. Children's Poet Laureate

National Geographic, 2012

review copy provided by the publisher

Today begins the three-day 100 Thousand Poets for Change event: "...a demonstration & celebration of poetry, music & art to promote social, environmental & political change...a global celebration of solidarity for peace & sustainability."

I'm aiming a little lower than the grand goal of 100 TPC, under the assumption that every little bit counts.

The change I want is for poetry to be a natural part of every child's life. My corollary wish, the one that's necessary for the first to happen, is that poetry is a natural part of every parent's and teacher's life as well.

How best to make that happen?

Give J. Patrick Lewis' newest book, the National Geographic Book of Animal Poetry to every new parent, and put a copy in every classroom!

This book is a treasure of poetry (and some pretty spectacular photography). It's as if Pat went through my classroom collection of poetry and plucked a favorite from each book -- Kristine O'Connell George is there with her polliwog commas, and there's Douglas Florian, David Elliott, Julie Larios, Jane Yolen, Arnold Adoff, Janet Wong, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Mary Ann Hoberman, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Marilyn Singer, Jack Prelutsky, and Joyce Sidman. PLUS some of my favorite poets who are usually for adults have poems here -- Kay Ryan, Ogden Nash, and Hilaire Belloc. AND there are "classic" poets -- Walter De la Mare, Emily Dickinson, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Louis Stevenson.

In his introduction, Pat writes about the possibility that animals "appreciate most of all the simple joys of exploring their worlds." This book is a poetic exploration of the natural world.

He invites us to wander through the pages: "This book is not for reading straight through. Pick it up anytime. Choose a poem and then read it out loud: You want your ears to have as much fun as your mouth is having...Once you have opened it, you are likely to find words that are not so much a description as a revelation."

If you  haven't gotten your hands on a copy of this book, CHANGE that! If you want a few more peeks and reviews, check these out:

Julie Danielson at Kirkus Reviews and Seven Imp


Marjorie has today's Poetry Friday roundup of posts at Paper Tigers.

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Addendum -- What I Learned About the Quote in the Title of This Post

Be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Ghandi

"Gandhi’s words have been tweaked a little too in recent years. Perhaps you’ve noticed a bumper sticker that purports to quote him: “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” When you first come across it, this does sound like something Gandhi would have said. But when you think about it a little, it starts to sound more like ... a bumper sticker. Displayed brightly on the back of a Prius, it suggests that your responsibilities begin and end with your own behavior. It’s apolitical, and a little smug.

Sure enough, it turns out there is no reliable documentary evidence for the quotation. The closest verifiable remark we have from Gandhi is this: “If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ... We need not wait to see what others do.”

Here, Gandhi is telling us that personal and social transformation go hand in hand, but there is no suggestion in his words that personal transformation is enough. In fact, for Gandhi, the struggle to bring about a better world involved not only stringent self-denial and rigorous adherence to the philosophy of nonviolence; it also involved a steady awareness that one person, alone, can’t change anything, an awareness that unjust authority can be overturned only by great numbers of people working together with discipline and persistence." from Falser Words Were Never Spoken by Brian Morton in the New York Times, August 29, 2011.

BULLY by Patricia Polaco

Bully
by Patricia Polacco
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2012

Bullying is a problem that is not going to take care of itself. We need to prepare students with the tools they need to resist peer pressure, to make good decisions, and to stand up for what is right.

Lyla is a new student, but she makes a friend on the first day of school, begins to distinguish herself for good grades and service to the community, and makes the cheerleading squad. The "cool" cheerleaders include Lyla in their group, taking her away from her friend Jamie. Then, she witnesses her new friends cyberbullying Jamie. She stands up for Jamie and stops hanging around with the "cool" girls, but their revenge for this isolates Lyla from the whole student body and focuses the cyberbullying on her.

Jamie stands up for Lyla in the end, providing the information needed to clear her name with the authorities. But the reader is left with the question, "What would you do?" Should Lyla and Jamie return to their school and hope for the best, or should they switch schools for a fresh start?

This book will provide lots to talk about with students in grades 4-8.

Just as important as talking about bullying and strategies to avoid or resist them, are the conversations about all the good we can do in the world -- ways to fight bullying by being the best and kindest people ever. Amy Ludwig VanDerwater's poem, "Lets", provides this flip side to the bullying conversation.

WHAT CAN A CRANE PICK UP?

I love Rebecca Kai Dotlich so I pick up every book she writes. I fell in love with Bella and Bean the minute I read it and it is still one of my very favorites.  And I got to spend the day with Rebecca when we both worked with teachers at the Princeton Day School.

Rebecca's new book What Can a Crane Pick Up? is great fun! The book is illustrated by Mike Lowery (who also illustrated one of my other favorites--The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School ).

Kids love trucks and cranes and in this book, Dotlich explores the many things that a crane can pick up.  With Dotlich's wonderful rhythm and rhyme, we learn about things that cranes lift. We see cranes lifting things like trees and bricks. But it is also able to pick up some surprising things!  Rebecca shares them all with us!  And Lowery's illustrations make the book a happy learning experience--even the trucks are smiling!  Dotlich and Lowery make a great team! I am hoping they work together on more books since this one is such fun!

The author blurb in the back of the book mentions that "Rebecca spent some time in a crane while it picked up thousands of Christmas lights to string atop tall buildings!"  What a fun fact for kids to know about this writer and the writing of this book!

Kids are going to love this one. We are getting ready for our first visit with our younger buddies this week and I can imagine lots of kids will want to share this one with their buddies!  After they enjoy it a few times themselves, that is! Then I think it will go on our poetry shelf. Since we have Poetry Friday each week, I know kids will love to revisit this one over and over.

Sharing My Life as a Writer

I wrote a post for the Stenhouse blog on the changes in the way I share my life as a writer with students. If you are interested in reading the post, you can find it on the Stenhouse blog:-)

I LOVE the new book, Ralph Tells a Story  by Abby Hanlon. I ordered it when I heard about it because I can always use new books about kids' writing.  I like to have them handy for minilessons ans small group work. There are lots of books that fit this category but this one is definitely my new favorite.

This book is about writing workshop and poor Ralph who can't think of any ideas.  He spends a long time staring at the blank page, getting drinks of water and asking to go to the restroom.  He just can't think of anything to write.   Of course, as expected, his writer's block is cured but it is cured because he is in the midst of an amazing writing workshop. But the magical thing that ends his writer's block happens during the share session of the workshop--that important time where writers grow.

This is the first time I have seen a book that so perfectly captures the Writers' Workshop.  It captures the joy and the authenticity of this time in a classroom.  It captures the teacher's role and it captures the energy. It captures the conversations and the realities. Somehow in the illustrations, the author/illustrator has captured it all. (The back flap says that she was a classroom teacher, so maybe that's how she captures it so well!

In my opinion, this is a must have. Young children will love it and I am sure it will start great conversations with my upper elementary students too!

And don't forget to check out the end papers!