Home Math Learning Boxes

I love this idea and wanted to share it. My good friend who is also a brilliant teacher, Patty Carpenter, shared this idea with me. Since she does not have a blog, I figured I should share it with the world so that others could see how smart it is.  Patty is a first grade teacher and each year, her students get a Math Learning Box for home. She includes all the things kids will need to play math games, etc. at home. She starts the box with a few tools and sends new additional tools home as they need them during the year.   We took the idea and changed it a bit for 3rd grade.  Last week, we sent home these boxes with students.  This is the beginning of it and we will add things as the year progresses.  Along with this box, we are sending home a folder of the 4 math games we have played so far.  We'll also add to the folder.

I've always struggled with math homework as I tend to think playing a math game gives kids more practice, is more fun, and starts great family conversations. But kids don't always have the supplies needed at all times. This box guarantees that the things kids need to play the math games and teach them to their families are always handy. And it seems like it will be a great piece of family communication as parents learn some of the games we play at school.

The kids are as excited about these boxes as I am. They helped put them together and couldn't wait to take them home. Parents have also been very positive about the idea of this type of homework.  And knowing that kids have these things at home, I imagine they'll do more math than they've done in the past.

It is a brilliant idea and the cost of putting it together was pretty minimal.  (I kept my eye out for things like dice and decks of cards at the dollar store and on amazon over the summer.)  As we learn new things, we'll add necessary supplies to the box--it will grow as the year goes on.

One side is a Hundred Chart. The other side is a Multiplication Chart.

3 regular dice and 2 ten-sided dice (0-9)

These go home with these items as well as a few sets of game cards that students have made and stored in Ziploc bags.

Poetry Friday -- Seeds

The tomato squirts in my mouth.

"You can't have seeds 

without a flower."

The clock ticks incessantly.

Time happens 

because the earth spins.

The students arrive in a burst of chatter.

I feel the earth move

as I watch them bloom.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

I am trying desperately to hold onto my writing habits and not let school work take over my every waking minute. This is a draft. It doesn't feel quite complete, but I'm just happy at this point that I wrote at least one morning this week.

Things are starting to settle down a bit...maybe. Okay, who'm I kidding? I'm going to PRETEND like things are settling down a bit, and reclaim my morning habits of walking and writing!

Happy Poetry Friday! Let's meet Jen over at Teach Mentor Texts for the roundup this week!

Moving Beyond "Interesting Facts"

I have noticed over the past few years that one of the most popular books in our nonfiction library is Weird but True! 5: 300 Outrageous Facts by National Geographic kids.  It is a book filled with 300 weird facts and kids become totally immersed, wanting to share lots of things they discover. I can see the fascination with these books and I love that they get kids reading nonfiction, but I have noticed that more and more nonfiction books for kids are merely lists of disconnected facts with accompanying photos.  Kids who are drawn to books like this are also drawn to books like Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Books which invite skimming and scanning for interesting facts.  After spending 4 years as an elementary librarian, I saw the impact of being stuck in this kind of reading as students skimmed and scanned and often had misinterpretations because they were merely looking for "cool facts". These books might be a great starting point but if our kids stick with reading only these kinds of nonfiction books, they probably won't grow as nonfiction readers.

I know that the jump from WEIRD BUT TRUE to The Snake Scientist (Scientists in the Field Series) isn't going to happen without some transition. I also know that our young readers don't have as much experience with nonfiction as they do with fiction. So, it's our job to put quality nonfiction--booksbthat move them as readers--in our classrooms.   I have a great collection of nonfiction but as I watched my students over the last few weeks, I realized I don't have much that will help my WEIRD BUT TRUE readers transition to more complex books. The jump from WEIRD BUT TRUE to other nonfiction books in the classroom seems to be a bit too big.

See, this always happens. My husband doesn't quite understand. But, no matter how many books I begin the year with, there are gaps. There are kids who need different books than those I have. So again, I am on the lookout to fill those gaps. Right now, I am on the lookout for books that might be an easy transition to get these readers reading a bit more than isolated facts.  I know they are not going to go for a book with too much text so I have to be purposeful in the books I suggest. This week I found two at Cover to Cover that I am hopeful will engage a few of these fact readers.

101 Animal Babies by Melvin and Gilda is not a book I'd normally pick up because it looks similar to WEIRD BUT TRUE. It is a Scholastic book that looks like lots that are out there. But when I opened this one, it looked perfect for a few reasons.  Each page features a baby animal with 2 photos of the animal.  Accompanying each set of photos is a 9-10 line paragraph about the animal. The font is big and fun enough so as not to be alarming and the text is not so long that it will intimidate readers.  Kids will find very cool facts within the text but the facts are embedded in a paragraph. And the paragraphs are all related in that they are all about animal babies. So lots of natural comparing/contrasting of facts will happen.  This book does not need to be read cover to cover which is another plus for kids transitioning to longer, more complex nonfiction.  I also thought this would be a great intro to the ZOOBORNS blog and might invite some online reading as well.

The other book I picked up (thanks to Beth at Cover to Cover) was Bone Collection: Animals by Rob Colson. The cover of this book will invite readers in as lots of cool skeletons sit on an old journal-type cover.  Each  two-page spread in this book focuses on an animal but the pages work together in that one page focuses on a skeleton and the next page shows a similar animal (not in skeleton form) and how other similar species compare to the featured skeleton.  Each page is filled with short paragraphs of text. Some pages also include photos, notes, labels, etc.  A table of contents and index allow kids to jump in where they want so they don't need to read this book cover to cover. However, the introduction lets the reader know that the book is set up to see similarities and differences between animals and then moves us to the human skeleton where we can see how much we have in common with other animals.  So this book has lots of ways for readers to enter--they can look for cool facts by reading the short pieces on a page or they can put info together by reading a few consecutive pages. Lots of opportunities to push a little further as nonfiction readers.

I'll continue to share more of these transitional nonfiction books as I find them! I'd love to hear about titles that I can add to my collection so let me know if you know of any.

Something Big

Something Big
by Sylivie Neeman
illustrated by Ingrid Godon
Enchanted Lion Books, 2013
Review copy provided by the publisher

Little One wants to do something big. But he's not sure what that big thing might be, and Big One is having a hard time helping him figure it out. They go for a walk by the ocean for inspiration. It's hard to do something big when you're still small. But at the end of the walk, Little One does something small that actually turns out to be a big thing.

I used this book to start our conversations about what we could do to promote peace for the International Day of Peace on September 21. We watched the video of the international music group, Playing for Change, singing together from all around the world. (It's on the public blog on my class' website. You can watch it here.) We talked about how small things can often be big. Each musician is doing a small thing, but together, what they are doing is big. Huge, even. We brainstormed topics like helping others, caring for the environment, anti-bullying. And we talked about our own personal experience with peace -- when and where we feel it and how it feels.

Today, as we continue our work, we will talk about the situation in Syria, about the president's speech, and about the Russians' peaceful proposal. We'll talk a bit about 9/11 and think about those who responded to that crisis with no other thoughts in their hearts but to help. I'll read aloud Gandhi: A March to the Sea, which I mentioned in my 10-for-10 post.

Between now and Friday, September 20, my students will be composing short narratives on the theme of peace. These narratives might eventually become poetry, fables, narrative nonfiction, songs, comics, digital presentations, posters, and more. The assignment is a narrative with peace at its heart. We'll decide the container for the narrative after the writing is well on its way. And we'll find a way to share them with the world.

What will you do for the International Day of Peace?

And the Winners of MR. TIGER GOES WILD Are....

We have the winners of the copies of MR. TIGER GOES WILD that was released last week!

I used random.org to choose 3 comments at random. I decided that I would go by comment number as long as that commenter shared their "going wild" story.  

Congratulations Evie, Lisa, and Gail !!

Please email me with your mailing address so we can get you your prizes!

Books that Invite Conversations About Growth Mindset

Two professional books that have impacted my teaching in the last several years are Choice Words by Peter Johnston and Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck.  A recent post by Clare and Tammy at Assessment in Perspective reminded me how important this thinking has become in my day-to-day work with kids.   These books have been huge influences on the ways in which I talk to children and the awareness I have of their mindset about their learning.  I am amazed that even by age 8, many of our students seem to have a fixed mindset about learning and sometimes it takes lots of time to change that.  Some also have a narrow view of what it means to be a learner.   I think that no matter what our children's school and learning experiences, the messages they get from TV shows, books, etc. play on a very archaic idea of what it means to be a learner and what it means to be in school.

This year, I began our year by showing the kids Caine's Arcade.

I showed this at 9:30 a.m. on the first day of school to set the stage for the year.  Kids were glued to the clip and fascinated by Caine and his arcade.   I followed up the clip with a conversation about the reason I chose this clip. I told the kids that I thought Caine was an amazing learner and it was so evident in this piece.  Then we talked about all of the ways he was a learner and what it means to be a learner.  Since that first day of school, kids have asked to watch the Caine's Arcade clip again and many have watched it at home with families.  It was my favorite way ever to kick off a school year as I can already tell it will be an anchor for so much of our talk about what it means to be a learner.

Interestingly, this first conversation was amazing, but when we talked later in the week about classroom learning, their thoughts fell back to "It needs to be quiet," "We need to listen to the teacher," and "We shouldn't copy from other people."

So, I am in the process of collecting books that will continue the conversation about being a learner and growth mindset.  I am on the lookout for books that will help us to have conversations around this idea, not only during these first few weeks of school, but throughout the year. Often, I think that the books we share early in the year share our thoughts with students.  They come to know us through the books we share. But the community isn't strong enough early in the year for all students to bring their own thinking to the group yet.  So, it is important that this isn't only a beginning of the year conversation. I'm gathering those books I have and I'm looking for new books to add to my collection so that this conversation is ongoing.

Here are a few of the books I've collected so far:

I've always read The OK Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal early in the year to talk about goals and the things we are still learning.

Someday by Eileen Spinelli is another favorite for this conversation.  In this story, a little girl sets out her long-term goals and then tells us what she is doing today to help her get there.

Today I Will: A Year of Quotes, Notes, and Promises to Myself is a great collection of quotes and notes by Eileen Spinelli. Many of these will be great conversation starters about agency, identity and learning.

Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg is a great little book that celebrates mistakes and reminds us that often, a mistake leads to something wonderful!

Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco is a book I've always loved but have never really thought about the message it gives kids about learning and growth mindset.

Walk On!: A Guide for Babies of All Ages by Marla Frazee is a book I've loved for years and one that I've often used when teaching kids how to discover themes in books. But it also has huge invitations for talking about learning and growing.

Everyone Can Learn to Ride a Bicycle by Chris Raschka is a new one that I am excited about. It is a simple story of learning to ride a bike. But the messages that everyone can learn and grow is a big one.

Fairy Tale Comics

Fairy Tale Comics: Classic Tales Told by Extraordinary Cartoonists
Edited by Chris Duffy
First Second, on shelves September 24, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher

From the same editor who brought us Nursery Rhyme Comics: 50 Timeless Rhymes from 50 Celebrated Cartoonists, we now have this fabulous collection of Fairy Tale Comics!

17 different artists, 17 different stories from the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault, Bre'r Rabbit, 1001 Nights, and Japanese, English and Russian Folktales.

Readers in my classroom will recognize the work of Raina Telgemeier (Drama and Smile) and Charise Mericle Harper (Fashion Kitty versus the Fashion Queen). Probably 6 of the 17 stories will be familiar.

So, it's safe to say that this book will introduce readers (in a fun way) to many new graphic artists and many new fairy tales! Win-Win!

A New Puppy!

Last night, we got a new puppy.  He is a 12 week old Havanese.  He is VERY cute and VERY energetic.  Our almost-14-year-old daughter is taking much of the responsibility and she chose the name. (This is the part where you understand how a new puppy fits into a blog about reading...)  He is named Arnie, after her very favorite book Arnie, the Doughnut (Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut) .  When Ana was in elementary school, she checked out ARNIE THE DONUT every week for years.  We bought her a copy, but she still liked to check out the book.  And she continues to read it a few times a year. She was thrilled to see a new ARNIE book out-even though she is 14, this character continues to bring her joy! Lots of it. And since Arnie becomes a doughnut dog, it seemed even more perfect! So, what better name for a puppy that will also bring lots of joy.

Our older dog, Chloe, is not quite sure about him yet...

Poetry Friday: If, for some reason...

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/

If, for some reason, you missed the debut of this article at The Poetry Foundation, it's not to late to check it out:

All Good Slides are Slippery by Lemony Snicket, illustrated by Chris Raschka

You read that right -- Lemony Snicket. He created a collection of poems that children "might like," and Chris Raschka illustrated the collection with happy, splashy paintings. Fun, fun, fun!

From the introduction:

"The poems contained in this children’s poetry portfolio are not made for children. Poetry is like a curvy slide in a playground — an odd object, available to the public — and, as I keep explaining to my local police force, everyone should be able to use it, not just those of a certain age."
"If you are a child, you might like these poems. Of course, you might not. Poems, like children, are individuals, and will not be liked by every single person who happens to come across them. So you may consider this portfolio a gathering of people in a room. It does not matter how old they are, or how old you are yourself. What matters is that there are a bunch of   people standing around in a room, and you might want to look at them."

We're gathering in the "room" (aka blog) of Laura at Author Amok for the Poetry Friday roundup this week. See you there!

The 14 Fibs of Gregory K.

The 14 Fibs of Gregory K.
by Greg Pincus
Arthur A. Levine Books (on shelves September 24, 2013)

review ARC compliments of the publisher

There is so much to love about this book! 

First of all, the main character's favorite thing to do in his free time is...WRITE! Gregory K. and his friend Kelly get together after school to write, they trade notebooks and read each other's work, then write some more.

The second great thing about this book is Gregory's math teacher, Mr. Davis, a teacher worthy of a spot on our 100 Cool Teachers in Children's Literature list! When Gregory is in danger of failing math, Mr. Davis doesn't make him do more math, he plays to Gregory's strength and has him keep a math journal. Brilliant!

The third great thing is that there's lots of PIE in this book...along with the pi.

Here's the deal with Gregory and math -- he's the only person in his family who doesn't eat, sleep, breathe and live for math. And here's the deal with author Greg Pincus -- he tangles his character up in so many problems, the reader just about can't believe things will ever work out for him.

This is a fabulous debut novel!! More, Mr. Pincus, MORE!!