October Mosaic

Fall colors, Fairfield County Fair. Other than that, October was a blur of schoolwork.

Photos can be seen full size on Flickr.

Poetry Friday -- Writer's Notebooks

What's in My Journal 

by William Stafford

Odd things, like a button drawer. Mean
Things, fishhooks, barbs in your hand.
But marbles too. A genius for being agreeable.
Junkyard crucifixes, voluptuous
discards. Space for knickknacks, and for
Alaska. Evidence to hang me, or to beatify.

(the whole poem is at The Writer's Almanac)

There's even room in my journal/writer's notebook for a bizarre gigantic "Siamese-Triplet" heirloom tomato.

Here's to all the bits of this and that which go into a notebook, and all of the brilliance which (sometimes) comes out!

The Poetry Friday Roundup is in Maine this week, hosted by Donna at Mainely Write.

Finicky

Finicky (The Aldo Zelnick Comic Novel Series)
by Karla Oceanak
illustrated by Kendra Spanjer
Bailiwick Press, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

It's hard to believe we're already to the sixth book in the Aldo Zelnick series! I have a student who is waging a one-man boycott of our school cafeteria over the very same issue that moves Aldo and his friends to protest -- no more pizza day on Tuesdays!

This volume is sure to please food lovers and finicky eaters alike, and the feast of words that begin with F fairly overflows!  Aldo and his fellow endomorph of a dad get a little more serious about their health and weight, and Aldo serves up a steaming banquet of remorse when his protests get a little out of hand.

Another must-read for Aldo Zelnick fans, and also for the Nate the Great and Wimpy Kid crowd.

WHY SCHOOL by Will Richardson

I just finished Will Richardson's new ebook, Why School?: How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere (Kindle Single) .  Will Richardson is someone I have been learning from for years. I've read his books, I read his blog regularly, I follow him on Twitter, I've watched his Ted Talks and I was able to hear him speak in person this summer.  I have learned so much from his groundedness about teaching and learning combined with his knowledge of technology and connected learning.

Why School is a must read for educators and parents, I think.  I love this book for a lot of reasons. First of all, it is not about school bashing or teacher bashing but pushing us to think about where we are going with school. Richardson believes in public education and the institution of school but knows things have to change.

I also like that Richardson ends the book with some very concrete things we, as individual teachers can do to move things forward and to give our students the school experiences they deserve.

Here are some of my favorite quotes from WHY SCHOOL. I have 59 things highlighted according to my Kindle notes page but thought these would help you get a sense of the message Richardson conveys in this book. 

"I’m suggesting that this moment requires us to think deeply about why we need school. Or to ask, more specifically, what’s the value of school now that opportunities for learning without it are exploding all around us?" 

"Right now, we are at the precipice of two very different visions of what modern education should look like — two very different answers to the “why school” question. One bodes well for our children, and one bodes not so well, as I’ll explain."

"I contend that our focus on passing the test is not nearly enough any longer. I insist that the “test” doesn’t come close to capturing what our kids need to know and to be able to do at this moment of rapid and radical change, and that the longer we wait to start a conversation around doing school “differently,” instead of simply “better,” the more we’re putting our kids at risk."

"Just imagine the learners they could become if we made these skills the focus of our work; if, instead of passing the test, we made those ever-more important skills of networking, inquiry, creation, sharing, unlearning, and relearning the answer to the “why school” question. Imagine what our kids could become if we helped them take full advantage of all they have available to them for learning."

It is a great read.  And if you are going to NCTE's Annual Convention next month, Will Richardson will be speaking there.   (Did I mention that this book is only available in a Kindle Edition with a great price of $2.99?)

And my friend sent me a connected article that is worth a read too!

National Geographic Kids EVERYTHING DOGS

I picked up the newest book in the National Geographic Kids Everything series this week. The newest published in October is National Geographic Kids Everything Dogs: All the Canine Facts, Photos, and Fun You Can Get Your Paws On! . My kids gravitate toward books that have a magazine type set up when it comes to nonfiction. They love the visuals and the ability to read the pages that interest them without reading the entire book. However, so many of these books are not reader-friendly and kids often merely browse the pictures.

When I saw this book, I was excited about the possibilities. I don't think I have any others in the series but I will be purchasing some soon. This is a great series for middle grade readers. It has the set up they love and an organization that makes sense. There is also a great deal of text and organizational features so kids will dig in, read and learn.

The Table of Contents is extensive letting readers know what they are in for.  Each two-page spread focuses on a different topic about dogs.  There are dog diagrams and tables explaining dog behaviors. And the photographs are absolutely adorable.  I like the combination of things kids have probably already read about (breeds of dogs) and new information (dogs with jobs).  This book is packed with information that is accessible to kids. There is not only a great deal packed on each page, but I also see this as a book that will invite further reading.

It looks like National Geographic Kids has about 10 of these titles. I will have to pick up a few more as the format and topics will be perfect to encourage more nonfiction reading.

Declaration of Interdependence

Declaration of Interdependence: Poems for an Election Year
by Janet Wong
cover illustration by Julie Paschkis
PoetrySuitcase.com, 2012

With just a little over a week to go until election day 2012 (Tuesday, November 6, in case you missed the memo), we might be starting to feel a bit like the speaker in Robert Frost's poem, "After Apple Picking:"

My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
And I keep hearing from the cellar-bin
That rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking; I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.

As annoying and pervasive as the campaigning might seem, let's never forget that voting is one of the most important acts of American citizenship. Running for office is the other. This is OUR country. Let's do our best to get it right, whether we're the ones in charge, or the ones in charge of "hiring" the leaders.

Let's take the pledge that is the lead poem in Janet Wong's DECLARATION OF INTERDEPENDENCE:

LIBERTY 

I pledge acceptance
of the views
so different,
that make us America

To listen, to look,
to think, and to learn

One people
sharing the earth
responsible
for liberty
and justice
for all.


There are twenty poems in Janet's gem of a book. Twenty kid-friendly ways to think about and talk about democracy, elections, voting and citizenship. Rather than tuning out the divisiveness of the elections in this last week before the big day, why not engage students in conversations about the ways we need to work together for our country, and ultimately for our world?

Visit The Declaration of Interdependence blog for more poems and thought-provoking writing prompts.

And for today's Poetry Friday roundup, visit Linda, at TeacherDance.

Format, Not Genre

We are working hard in fifth grade to be more specific in our identification of genre. Knowing that a book or story is fiction or nonfiction just isn't good enough anymore! We have identified the qualities of fantasy and science fiction, historical fiction and realistic fiction, and more. 

One of the first hurdles we had to cross was that "graphic novel" is NOT a genre. We have seen graphic novels that are fantasy, science fiction, biography, memoir, and mythology. So a graphic novel is a FORMAT for presenting a story, rather than a single GENRE.

The same is true for wordless books. It might be a fun informal assessment to give a group of students a stack of wordless books and ask them to sort the books by genre!

Here are two you could include in your stack -- one fantasy, and the other historical fiction.

The Night Riders
by Matt Furie
McSweeney's McMullens, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

In this fantasy, Frog and Mouse go on a journey together. They meet a scary dragon who turns out to be friendly. Dragon and his underground video-game-playing friend join Frog and Mouse and their journey takes them all the way to the ocean.


One of the best things about this book is the dust jacket -- it unfolds into a big poster with the characters on one side, and parts of the setting on the other!

Unspoken: A Story From the Underground Railroad
by Henry Cole
Scholastic Press, 2012

The silence of a wordless book is perfect for UNSPOKEN. When the girl discovers a runaway slave hiding in the outbuilding, she keeps his secret.

Henry Cole uses well-chosen details to evoke the setting (both time and place), to build suspense, and to give the story a satisfying ending. For those with background knowledge about the Underground Railroad, such images as the lantern, the Big Dipper, and the quilts will resonate. This gorgeous wordless book belongs in classrooms at all levels. It will prompt great discussions, and perhaps some will want to try to write the story with words.

Parody

Frankenstein: A Monstrous Parody
by Ludworst Bemonster (Rick Walton, illus. by Nathan Hale)
Feiwel and Friends Fiends, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

Yesterday, I read aloud Mo Willems' Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs: As Retold by Mo Willemsand we talked about parody -- taking a well-known book or music video and redoing it in a new (and usually funny) way. One canny student asked, "Is that legal?" Knowing how we drill the evils of plagiarism, I can understand why she asked.

I think it will be easier for all of the students to understand just how parody works when I share The original Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans, followed by Frankenstein by Ludworst Bemonster.

(In fact, I had to buy Madeline so that I could fully appreciate the humor in Frankenstein. Somehow, I missed this childhood classic, either as a child or up until this point in my adulthood. Shameful!)

Reading both books in the same sitting will allow my students to see that the author of Frankenstein does not copy any of the exact words of Madeline. What makes the book so funny is the way the illustrator imitates the style of the illustrations (right down to the fake Caledecott Honor/CaldeNOT Horror medal on the cover), and the way the author imitates the rhythm, rhyme and basic plot line of the story. It is parody rather than plagiarism because the author made something entirely new -- he did not copy the work of the original. The author of Frankenstein depends on the reader knowing Madeline in order to really "get" the humor in his book.

In Frankenstein, "In a creepy old castle/all covered with spines,/lived twelve ugly monsters in two crooked lines" who are wrangled through the town at midnight, scaring folks, by Miss Devel. Miss Devel is awakened one night, whispering, "Something is not right," and when she checks in on the little monsters, she finds that Frankenstein has lost his head. Off he goes to the hospital, and when he wakes up, he finds he has a new head and two new screws in his neck. (Now you know where those screws came from!)

Madeline and Frankenstein -- a pair of books not to be missed this Halloween season!

Teaching "What's Important?" in Nonfiction

One thing I have noticed that I need to focus on in my teaching is helping kids understand strategies for finding what's important. As I look over assessments, chat with students and listen in on conversations, I've noticed a few things. First of all, students aren't quite sure what "important" means.  It is hard for them to understand the difference between important and interesting but some of that seems to come from the idea of not understanding author purpose. The other thing I notice is that although my students can name text features and understand what they say in isolation, they rarely use them in the context of a text to make meaning.

So, this week I started the conversation around what is important in nonfiction text.  You never know if your first lesson/book choice is the right pick.  I try my hardest to make sure the first lesson is scaffolded just right to begin important conversations but usually I have to revise after that first lesson. This round though, I seem to have found the perfect book to start this conversation with my students. So, I thought I shared.

I used TIMELESS THOMAS by Gene Barretta this week to introduce the idea of what is important. I hoped that between the title and subtitle (Timeless Thomas:  How Thomas Edison Changed Our Lives) and the organization/headings, it would get the kids thinking about this idea. And it did.

I read the book aloud to students. What I like about this book for this purpose is that the organization repeats throughout the book. Each two page spreads focuses on one of Edison's invention starting with the ways in which we use it now and going back to Edison's lab. The organization and headings on each spread are repeated throughout the book.

When I finished reading the book aloud, I had kids turn and talk about the part of the book that they thought was the most interesting. I told them that for me, it was the page at the end that listed the people who worked in Edison's lab because I have always been fascinated by the way they all problem solved together and the collaboration that happened there. Others shared their most interesting points (most were interested in the ipod connection, of course:-)

After our conversation, I did a kind of think aloud about even though the fact that I thought the collaboration part was interesting, it might not be the thing the author wanted me to get from the book-- that the author's purpose might have been different and that authors leave clues about what they hope we/readers learn from their writing. I talked about how I try to read for what's interesting AND what's important, depending on why I am reading.  I shared that often the organization of the book and the headings were one way authors told us about what was important. I also shared that the title in nonfiction often gave a clue as to what was important.

We had a great conversation following. The first part focused on the word Timeless from the title that one student noticed. The next part of the conversation focused around the subtitle. Then we opened the book and revisited the headings/organization and added to our thinking.  We talked about how these 3 pieces come together and we can use those to determine importance. It was a great conversation and a great start to a long conversation about determining important information. The kids actually seemed excited to think about this. It was like they were in on some big secret. And for the rest of the week, kids were noticing things about books, chatting about how they never really paid much attention to headings before, etc.

A very simple lesson but the perfect book to make it accessible and interesting for kids.  I'm thinking next, we'll spend some time with a few of Steve Jenkins' books because the organization of his books are so unique and tell so much about the topic.  Then we'll move to a page from a book like THE LEGO BOOK to determine the important information on the page based on layout, organization, heading.  In the meantime, we'll have an informal conversation around this week's issue of Time for Kids related to headings, organization and importance. I didn't actually think this would be a fun thing to teach but it is turning out to be interesting and fun to watch the kids approach nonfiction a bit differently.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Thanks, as always to Jen and Kellee at Teach Mentor Texts for hosting one of my favorite weekly blog events! Make sure to visit their blog today for lots of great lists!

This last week, I finally feel like I can breathe again. I feel like I can read a bit again. The piles of unread books is growing and I had about 1000+ unread items in my Google Reader. It is good to have  a little bit of time to read again this week.

Debbie Miller recommended How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Touch. I have just started the book and I imagine I will take my time reading it so that I can really slow down and think about all that the author is saying. If you enjoyed Peter Johnston's work, this is a great piece for additional thinking.

I finished Lois Lowry's new book Son . What an amazing read. As expected. This book was definitely not a disappointment and I am so glad I reread the entire Giver series before I read this last one. Not that it couldn't stand alone but I was blown away by The Giver again. Not sure I would have ever made time to revisit it without this reason.

I've also been reading a fun adult fiction book, What Alice Forgot that was recommended on Twitter--from someone who I talk to a lot, but not sure who...I hate when that happens. So, to whoever recommended this book, thanks! I actually heard about it first from Twitter but then from other friends. It seems to be getting a good buzz now.   It has been a good, fun read over the last few weeks.  If you are looking for a grown up read that is good, but not too intense, I would recommend this one. The premise is a fun one--Alice, who is getting ready to celebrate her 40th birthday and going through a bitter divorce, hits her head and forgets the last decade of her life.  So much has changed--she is trying to figure out how she got from there to here.

And I got a copy of A Poem as Big as New York City: Little Kids Write About the Big Apple this week. What a great book. So many possibilities.  Just a gorgeous book in general. I am about maxed out on children's poetry books so I am trying to be very picky about what I add to my collection. This is a good addition for sure!

And here are some of my favorite blog posts this week:

Bud the Teacher always seems to say the right thing and he seems to be able to read the world with clarity.  I loved this post about innovation.

I love E Tells Tales--she is a teacher but lots of her blog is about life in general.   First of all, just so you know, there will never be a feature on our blog on "What We Wore to School this Week". Unless I win a new wardrobe and can dress as fun as Elle from this blog, it will never happen. But I Love this feature of her blog.  Such a fun girl!  For some serious thinking, look closely at #3 where she talks to her teenage students about an article (linked) and when it was that they lost their love of learning. So sad.

And I loved Alyson Beecher's Nerdy Book Club post on her Top Ten Nonfiction Picture Books. I have been looking to add more nonfiction read aloud to our classroom so this list was a great one for me.

And finally, I was happy to see that one of my favorite organizing blogs, I HEART ORGANIZING,  had a post on organizing books. I thought that this was exactly what I needed. But then I peeked at the post and this post is meant for people who have a normal amount of books. Not for those of us who are readaholics, who have books lining every wall of our life. (I am not actually sure when reading this post if the books that are organized are ever meant to be read but they do look nice:-)  I think the blog should do a special edition of book organization for Nerdy Book Club Members, don't you?