Coming Soon: Stenhouse Blogstitute!

We are excited that the Stenhouse Summer Blogstitute begins this week. Starting on June 17, several Stenhouse authors will be sharing their latest thinking in the form of a blogstitute. Check in with Stenhouse each week for a new post.  The line up looks amazing and I am excited to hear from each of these amazing authors!

I love the Blogstitute for several reasons.  I try to keep up on all Stenhouse books because I love the philosophy of the company and know that any book I pick up from them will match my beliefs. But as hard as I try, I just can't keep up. So the Blogstitute introduces me to some books and authors I don't know.

I also love the way Stenhouse lets me preview books online.  There is so much I can see about a book right on the site. Many of the new books can be read completely online.  I also love the variety of resources (like podcasts and videos) that go along with the books.  The blogstitute helps me keep up with all that is new on the site, as well as keeping up with new professional books and authors.

The blogstitute also lets me learn from people I've learned from over the years and regrounds me a bit. This year, Stenhouse has an amazing line up.  There is a diverse group of authors--the list includes various grade levels, various content areas, various topics. It looks to be a great year!

These are the people you'll learn from this year at the Stenhouse Blogstitute:

Jeff Zwiers, Robert Pritchard, and Susan O'Hara, authors of Common Core Standards in Diverse Classrooms

Sue Kemptom, author of Let's Find Out (You can also see a video from Sue Kempton's classroom on the Stenhouse site.)

Elham Kazemi and Allison Hinz, authors of Intentional Talk

Shirley McPhillips, author of Poem Central

Dorothy Barnhouse, author of Readers Front and Center

Aimee Buckner Nonfiction Notebooks (You can also listen to a podcast with Aimee Buckner on the site.)

Kassia Omohundro Wedekind, author of Math Exchanges  (Also, listen to a Podcast with Kassia on the Stenhouse site.)

Laurie Rubin, author of  To Look Closely

Jeff Zwiers, Robert Pritchard, and Susan O’Hara, authors of Common Core Standards in Diverse Classrooms Sue Kempton, author of Let’s Find Out! Elham Kazemi and Allison Hintz, authors of Intentional Talk Shirley McPhillips, author of Poem Central Dorothy Barnhouse, author of Readers Front and Center Aimee Buckner, author of Nonfiction Notebooks Kassia Omohundro Wedekind, author of Math Exchanges Laurie Rubin, author of To Look Closely - See more at: http://blog.stenhouse.com/archives/2014/05/30/blogstitute-2014-coming-soon/#sthash.hbfWeJnE.dpufJe

Jeff Zwiers, Robert Pritchard, and Susan O’Hara, authors of Common Core Standards in Diverse Classrooms Sue Kempton, author of Let’s Find Out! Elham Kazemi and Allison Hintz, authors of Intentional Talk Shirley McPhillips, author of Poem Central Dorothy Barnhouse, author of Readers Front and Center Aimee Buckner, author of Nonfiction Notebooks Kassia Omohundro Wedekind, author of Math Exchanges Laurie Rubin, author of To Look Closely - See more at: http://blog.stenhouse.com/archives/2014/05/30/blogstitute-2014-coming-soon/#sthash.hbfWeJnE.dpuf

Jeff Zwiers, Robert Pritchard, and Susan O’Hara, authors of Common Core Standards in Diverse Classrooms Sue Kempton, author of Let’s Find Out! Elham Kazemi and Allison Hintz, authors of Intentional Talk Shirley McPhillips, author of Poem Central Dorothy Barnhouse, author of Readers Front and Center Aimee Buckner, author of Nonfiction Notebooks Kassia Omohundro Wedekind, author of Math Exchanges Laurie Rubin, author of To Look Closely - See more at: http://blog.stenhouse.com/archives/2014/05/30/blogstitute-2014-coming-soon/#sthash.hbfWeJnE.dpuf

Poetry Friday: Perpetual Impasse

Flickr Creative Commons photo by Vincent van der Pas

Perpetual Impasse

Outstretched arms reach,

hail,

implore,

shrug.

Open hands caress

tenderly,

fleetingly, 

forgivingly.

Blank face stares.

Unresponsive,

emotionless,

frozen.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2014

When I sat down to write this morning, I thought I would do a bit of "line lifting." My physical therapy exercise sheets are sitting right there on the kitchen table and I jotted down "Active range of motion."

As I sipped my tea, the clocks ticked and chimed. And my poem went off in a direction I never expected.

That's what I love most about writing: the surprises.

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While we're on the subject of time, it's TIME to sign up for the Poetry Friday roundups for July-December. You can do that here.

And it's TIME for you to head over to today's roundup at Catherine Johnson's blog.

Happy Friday!

Poetry Friday Call for Roundup Hosts

It's that time again. Six months have passed since last we queued up to host the Poetry Friday roundups.

If you'd like to host a roundup between July and December 2014, leave your choice(s) of date(s) in the comments. I'll update regularly to make it easier to see which dates have been claimed.

What is the Poetry Friday roundup? A gathering of links to posts featuring original or shared poems, or reviews of poetry books. A carnival of poetry posts. Here's a fabulous article at Savvy Verse and Wit about Poetry Friday by regular contributor Tabatha Yeatts (The Opposite of Indifference).

Who can do the Poetry Friday roundup? Anyone who is willing to gather the links in some way, shape or form (Mr. Linky, "old school" in the comments-->annotated in the post, Jog the Web, or ???) on the Friday of your choice. If you are new to the Poetry Friday community, jump right in! If you've never participated, but you'd like to get started, choose a date later on so that we can spend some time getting to know each other.

How do you do a Poetry Friday roundup? If you're not sure, stick around for a couple of weeks and watch...and learn! One thing we're finding out is that folks who schedule their posts, or who live in a different time zone than you, appreciate it when the roundup post goes live sometime on Thursday.

How do I get the code for the PF Roundup Schedule for the sidebar of my blog? I'll post it in the files on the Kidlitosphere Yahoo group, and I'd be happy to send it to you if you leave me your email address. Speaking of the Kidlitosphere Yahoo group, I'll set up reminders on the calendar there. Plus, I'll put the schedule on the Kidlitosphere Central webpage.

Why would I do a Poetry Friday Roundup? Community, community, community. It's like hosting a poetry party on your blog!

And now for the where and when:

July

4   Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe
11  Linda at Write Time
18 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference
25 Sylvia and Janet at Poetry For Children

August

1   Margaret at Reflections on the Teche
8  Mary Lee at A Year of Reading
15 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe
22 Robyn at Life on the Deckle Edge
29 Jone at Check it Out

September

5   Laura at Author Amok
12 Renee at No Water River
19 Amy at The Poem Farm
26 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

October

3   Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup
10 Monica at The Poem Trail
17 Michelle at Today's Little Ditty
24 Cathy at Merely Day by Day
31 Linda at TeacherDance

November

7   Diane at Random Noodling
14 Keri at Keri Recommends
21 Becky at Tapestry of Words
28 Carol at Carol's Corner

December 

5   Anastasia at Booktalking #kidlit
12 Paul at These 4 Corners
19 Buffy at Buffy's Blog
26 Holly at Reading, Teaching, Learning

Connecting Comprehension and Technology

I've been very behind on my professional reading and am so glad I have summer to catch up. I picked up a copy of Connecting Comprehension and Technology: Adapt and Extend Toolkit Practices right when it came out. But with my concussion last summer and my ban on reading, I never had a chance to read the book. I love the authors of this book and I love the ideas around it. I have been fans of Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis for a very long time and loved the idea that they partnered with classroom teachers for this new book/toolkit supplement.  I love that this was a book about technology by people who are so committed to literacy learning.

I was bummed that I missed the session focused on these ideas at NCTE this fall but I had a conflict so I couldn't attend. But, in March, I went to MRA and had the opportunity to hear Kristin Ziemke. I was also able to participate in her online workshop through Heinemann this spring.  And in late May, Kristin did a Skype PD with teachers from our building. I loved the thinking and it was so in line with my own thinking--the natural use of technology as a tool and the way that she talked about focusing on the thinking, not the technology. (Maria was part of the Skype visit and shared some of her learning on her blog.)  Kristin and Stephanie are both speaking at All Write so I am hoping to learn more from them there!

So, a few weeks ago, with end of the year things slowing down, I had time to really dig into  Connecting Comprehension and Technology. I  read bits and pieces last year when I got the book but couldn't dig in, mark it up, read it cover to cover. With the added bonus of having heard Kristin speak and seeing photos and conversations from her classroom, I knew I  wanted to spend lots of time with the book. I'm so glad I did. My copy is now sticky noted and marked up and I know I will continue to dig into it over and over again all summer as I think ahead to next fall.

Here are some things I love about the book:

*Even though the book is filled with lessons, it is also about possibilities. The authors share lessons that go along with the Comprehension Toolkit and they can be used as is. They are great lessons and there are many I will try in the fall. But it is the combination of lessons and the stance the teachers in the book share that really set the stage for technology as a tool for thinking.

*There are QR codes that lead to video clips of both Kristin and Katie's classrooms in action. I love that there are examples from a first grade and a fifth grade classroom. The threads of learning are the same and it is so helpful to see what kids are doing at different stages.  The video clips are great and I used a few with my students during the last few weeks of school as we played with back channeling during read aloud, etc. It was a great way to introduce something and let them see how other kids were using it to learn.

*I love the classrooms in the book. The is not a book that focuses on technology. It is a book that focuses on thinking. It is clear from the pictures, lessons, videos, etc. that the classrooms are filled with books and paper and notebooks and conversations...and iPads.

*A few of the lessons really helped me think through ways to support some struggles my kids have had. A favorite is one on distractions on a website--how to navigate a website when there are so many distractions. I had talked to my kids about this but the way these lessons are set up really helped me see that I was talking more about the website than the thinking.  The layout of the lessons helped me think about how to add depth to the learning.

*The book is full of classroom charts, screenshots of webpages, screenshots of student work. It really gives you a vision for what a classroom could be that focuses on thinking, not technology.

This book is a great add on to the Comprehension Toolkit if you have it.  But the book definitely stands alone if you do not own the toolkit.  It's the brilliant thinking about reading and comprehension that Harvey and Goudvis have taught us, with the addition of technology.  This book shows readers what is possible when technology is used as a tool and what can happen if we hold onto best practice and naturally embed digital tools. If you are thinking about technology and literacy, it is definitely one I'd recommend. I have seen lots of books that focus on ways to use technology to support reading but this book really talks about thinking and how to use technology to support that.  That might seem like a minor detail, but for teachers who understand literacy learning it is not minor at all!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Visit the It's Monday! What Are You Reading link up at Teach Mentor Texts!

We kicked off Mother Reader's 48 Hour Read with a Central Ohio Blogger Breakfast and shopping trip to Cover to Cover.  It is a fun tradition we have in Central Ohio.  We do a lot of visiting, laughing and talking books.  Even though the traditional Granola was not up to our usual expectations, the morning was great fun!

Here are some of my favorite photos from this year's 48 Hour Read Kick-Off.

Bill gives his opinion on a book.

Mary Lee and Maria determine who is best suited to drive  to an upcoming event.

Katie gets confused and thinks she is a Cover to Cover employee:-)

The fabulous books I purchased at our get-together!

Now onto my reading! I didn't get in 48 hours of reading. That never really seems possible. But Mother Reader's Event invited me to spend more time than usual reading over the weekend. Here are some of the highlights!

Middle Grade Novels

Both of the middle grade novels I read came highly recommended. They are incredible reads and definitely books for our classrooms.   These are two of the best middle grade novels I've read in a long time. Great characters, lots to talk about, and perfect for 3-5th graders.

Absolutely Almost

Circa Now 

Picture Books

Hooray for Hat! Hooray for Hat!

Gaston

Tuesday Tucks Me In: The Loyal Bond between a Soldier and His Service Dog

Tea with Grandpa

Plant a Pocket of Prairie

48 Hour Book Challenge

Thank you, Mandy, for the picture!

Yesterday started with a blogger breakfast/bookstore fest and ended on the couch, burning through the last chapters of Shannon Hale's Dangerous

Without setting out to read a book for the WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign, I realized that this book is a perfect fit. Hale's main character was born without her right forearm, but this is not a book about a girl with a disability. It's about a girl who saves the world from an alien invasion.

The last time I checked in with Shannon Hale, she was writing about princesses (who were also all strong girl characters, regardless of their royalty), so this switch to seriously science fiction was quite a shift. But a good storyteller is a good storyteller, and strong characters are strong, whether or not they are missing limbs.

There's too much teen romance for this to be a book I would put in my 5th grade classroom library, but I would definitely recommend it to all of my students (especially the girls) who have read The Hunger Games.

One of my favorite things about this book was the literary references. In the acknowledgements, Hale credits her high school English teachers, and notes that she has quoted Poe, Shakespeare, Keats, Yeats, and Frost.

On page 56, Maisie goes to space for the first time and tries to describe  what it's like to look back at the Earth.

"I wish I could explain better. NASA's next urgent mission should be to send good poets into space so they can describe what it's really like." 

Poetry Friday

Sonnet I

by Phillip Britts

How often do we miss the fainter note
Or fail to see the more exquisite hue,
Blind to the tiny streamlet at our feet,
Eyes fixed upon some other, further view

What chimes of harmonies escape our ears,
How many rainbows must elude our sight,
We see a field but do not see the grass,
Each blade a miracle of shade and light.

How then to keep the greater end in eye
And watch the sunlight on the distant peak,
And yet not tread on any leaf of love,
Nor miss a word the eager children speak?

Ah, what demand upon the narrow heart,
To seek the whole, yet not ignore the part.

1947

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No commentary. Just read it one more time. 

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Carol and Catherine switched roundup weeks. Go to Carol's Corner this week and Catherine's blog next week.

Einstein the Class Hamster

Third graders love to laugh. I have learned that over and over again in the classroom.  One of my favorite times to hear laughter is during Reading Workshop. In all the quiet of the workshop, I often hear a chuckle, a laugh or a giggle--someone is reading something hysterical.  This doesn't seem to happen as much in 4th or 5th grade but it happened almost daily this year in 3rd.  These kids who love to laugh also love books that make them laugh. I've noticed recently that some of the "funny" books in the classroom make it around the whole classroom somehow. I notice someone laughing over a funny book and the next thing I know, a child is reading it even if it does not fit their usual taste in books. And then they are passing it along to someone else.  I'm not usually a fan of funny books and I don't often "get" 3rd grade humor.  But I am trying. Last week I purchased Einstein the Class Hamster because it looked like the kind of book 3rd graders would love. I hadn't planned on reading it but I had students in mind who I knew would like it.

Well, the book arrived and I had some time so I sat down and read it. The book is about Einstein, a class hamster, who knows more than the teacher and is desperate to teach others what he knows. He runs a game show from his cage (even though no one really notices).  Within pages, I was laughing out loud. Really, I was laughing out loud at a hamster that runs his own game show. Of course--that's funny, right?  Well, I finished the book and am so glad that I did.  I laughed out loud in many places and couldn't wait to share it with my students. It was a fun read. I all of a sudden understood why these funny books make their rounds in the classroom. A light laugh-out-loud book about something goofy just makes you happy.  And I decided I'd try to read more funny books over the summer--it seems to be my reading gap-one I hadn't realized until I read this book. And since I realized how important funny books are to 3rd graders, I want to have more that I can recommend and talk to kids about. So I've added My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish (and maybe its SEAquel --hah!) and the The 13-Story Treehouse to my "funny books" TBR list.   I am hopeful that there will be a sequel to Einstein, The Class Hamster sometime soon too.....

May Mosaic

May was a beautiful month, don't you agree?!? (And a pretty yummy one, too!)

You can see the pictures on Flickr here.

Celebrating Mother Reader With a Donation to First Book!

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Will Clayton

Even though our blog birthday was on January 1, we are celebrating it all year! On our 8th Birthday, we decided to celebrate 2014 by celebrating others who inspire us every day. Each month, on the 1st (or so) of the month, we will celebrate a fellow blogger whose work has inspired us. We feel so lucky to be part of the blog world that we want to celebrate all that everyone gives us each day.

Our year-long blog birthday celebration continues as we honor blogger Pam Coughlan, aka Mother Reader, with a donation to First Book.

Pam also started blogging in 2006 and has been active in the Kidlitosphere over the last 8 years through the CYBILS, KidLitCon, and Kidlitosphere Central. She has written some hilarious posts throughout the years, and heads up BACA (Bloggers Against Celebrity Authors).

But what we'd like to recognize MotherReader for most of all is her 48 Hour Reading Challenge. In its ninth year this year, this read-a-thon has become an end-of-the-school-year ritual for us. We usually gather with local bloggers for breakfast and a trip to our local independent children's bookstore, Cover To Cover, and launch our summer #bookaday with a weekend filled with as many hours of reading as possible.

This year, Pam has taken the 48HRC to a whole new level by focusing on the #WeNeedDiverseBooks campaign. She writes,

"I'm hoping with lots of participants over the weekend, that we can saturate the blogosphere with dozens - nay, HUNDREDS - of titles that show the beautiful range of the human experience. That's our challenge."

In honor of all of the reading Pam has inspired over the years with her blog and with 48HBC, and especially because of the #WeNeedDiverseBooks focus this year, we are making a donation in her honor to First Book, a non-profit organization that provides access to new books for children in need. In their video "Empty Shelves," First Book states their mission poetically. Because of access to books: 

"Heads fill with thoughts,
Homes fill with works,
Schools fill with learning,
Communities fill with leaders."

Thank you Pam! Thank you, MotherReader, for all you have done for books and literacy and the Kidlitosphere!