August Mosaic

Row 1:
The Dewdroppers at one of Worthington's concerts on the green. The clarinetist, Joe, sold me my bike!
From my garden: Indigo Rose cherry tomatoes, and a crop of small beets with yummy beet greens (sautéed in bacon grease, of course).

Row 2:
Our crazy cat drove us nuts for about a week not being able to keep food down. When we switched up his food, he was so happy he started sleeping with his head in his bowl!
Columbus food truck festival -- yum.
The huge piles of weeds and branches from the...

Row 3:
...Land Lab reclamation. I was gone all of July and the constant rains were quite encouraging to the weeds!
MONARCHS! The mother of one of the parapros in my school gathered lots of monarch caterpillars, raised them, carefully placed the chrysalises in Solo Cup viewers, and donated them to my classroom, along with a caterpillar to watch through the entire process. What a gift.

Row 4:
New glasses. No one has noticed, so that must mean they look perfect on my face. (Plus, they are still purple, so no big change there, but I can SEE! Yay!) The first butterfly emerged on Sunday. I found the clear chrysalis when I went in to feed the fish, and I brought it home. We missed the moment of emergence, but not by much.

Row 5:
I took it outside to the snapdragons, and we communed with the bees as it prepared to fly free.

Row 6:
This is a DIFFERENT monarch that came to the zinnias about the time our fledgeling crawled onto the snapdragons. Welcoming committee?
Yesterday I found one ready for release when I got to school (and another emerged for the AM Latch Key kids to watch). I released both in the Land Lab, and when examining our milkweed there, saw that we have at least one monarch doing its thing in the wild. YAY!

The Horn Book Magazine

I read lots of blogs, I tweet, I follow #titletalk every month and I have lots of friends who tell me about new books. But I still LOVE my 6 issues of The Horn Book every year. I have been subscribing to it for years and years. It is one of the very few paper magazines I still get in the mail and it is the ONLY one I actually read every time it arrives. An hour or two with every issue and I get a ton of great reading and a lot of info on new books that I want to check out.

This week, I got the September/October issue of The Horn Book magazine.  Not only did I get to read fabulous pieces by Jack Gantos and Kwame Alexander, I also discovered lots of new books:

--I discovered a new series that looks promising for 3rd graders--Lola Levine, due out in November.

--I learned that a new book in the Ling and Ting series is coming in November!

--I am interested in reading the new Graphic novel by Ben Hatke, Little Robot.

-- I had NO IDEA that on September 1, The Full Moon at the Napping House would be released!  Can't wait to see what they did with this one!

--I was reminded that One Day the End by Rebecca Kai Dotlich is due out soon, a book I have on my TBR list

--And a sequel to Where's Walrus? What could be better. Can't wait to see Where's Walrus? And Penguin? (and from what I can tell, this book already has several starred reviews!)

--I loved My Heart is Laughing so am looking forward to When I am Happiest.

--I loved Ship of Dolls and had no idea that here was a companion book/sequel.  Interested in checking out Dolls of Hope.

--Some of my favorite reads of the year (Waiting, Crenshaw, and Sunny Side Up) got starred reviews from Horn Book this month!! Such great books!

--Two Mice looks like a great fun story told in two-word phrases. I always like the creativity in books like that!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Horn Book and highly recommend it to everyone who loves children's books. One of the best resources out there for sure!  And I'd also subscribe to the blog Read Roger for even more fun. The Horn Book is the best.

Scaffolding Reading Notebooks

This is my third year in 3rd grade.  I taught 3rd a while ago but most of my experience is in grades 4 and 5. I have some experience in primary and last year I realized that my 3rd grade Reading Workshop was a bit too intermediate for my early third graders. They seemed to need a more primary workshop. I thought long and hard about a lot of my practices and how to better support some of my younger readers who needed more time for oral language and more support in comprehension.  Last year, we visited Emily Collins' amazing 2nd grade classroom in our district.  We were lucky to see the entire reading workshop and see the amazing work her students did.  Our visit and the conversations I've had with Emily and others since that time helped me think about the best ways to support these transitional readers in grades 2 and 3--readers who aren't quite primary, but aren't quite intermediate, either.

For years I've seen the power in kids keeping a Readers' Notebook but I really struggle with what that looks like in 3rd grade.  Sometimes we jump in and the first part of the year is chaos as kids need more time to notice their thinking and talk through their thinking before they are ready to write much.

So, this year, I am using a mini-notebook for the first several weeks of school. This is a notebook that we'll use during read aloud and reading mini lessons to keep track of our thinking in writing and sketches. It seems to be a good size and not overwhelming for kids--the page size makes it very inviting for all readers.  We are taking time to stop and jot as well as time to stop and talk. We are learning and charting different ways we think during our reading.

Next week, we'll add cards or sticky notes for kids to begin to track their thinking during independent reading time also (another idea from Emily).  And we'll do lot of talking during share time about the places they marked and the thinking they did.

After a few weeks of playing with writing about reading in these ways, when everyone has had time to play and learn in a notebook that is fun and accessible, we'll move into reading notebooks with an understanding of what is possible.  In the meantime, we'll use these pages to see what is possible.

This is a little thing but it already seems like a little change that is going to make a big difference for my early 3rd graders.

Poetry Friday -- as the hummingbird sips the nectar

Flickr Creative Commons photo by Bill Gracey

Jan Burkins, Steve Peterson and I have collaborated on another renga. Our first renga (and notes about the form) are here. Here's our second renga:

as the hummingbird sips the nectar

I.

round moon not yet full

finds my cracker--full ‘til bitten

life full with roundness

sharp as a wheel of cheddar

smooth and creamy as brie

under the gnarled oak

an old couple tosses

dry crusts to the pigeons

we become what we take in

fresh foods, sour moods, vast ideas

II.

mountain peaks tower

above the endless plains

full -- sharp -- old -- vast -- inspiring

toward evening, golden sunlight

settled on her wrinkled face

inside she’s a girl

surprised by her reflection

in her dreams she runs

river carries silt downstream

building up the new island

III.

sweet alchemy --

orchard apples filled

by the light of a star

loose tooth lost with first bite

red orb of bittersweet

cold front passes through

scrubs away humidity

wren sings from the fence

once, he learned to see rainbows

in the oil on a street puddle

a skill important

for grownups who are often

too busy measuring

too concerned with to-do to

barter duty for beauty



When we chatted via conference call about the finished poem (on the afternoon before Steve's first day back), I loved what Jan said about the process, how it's like laying one stone out at a time, building a path as we walk forward.

As we talked about our inspirations for each of our stanzas, or the stories behind our words, it was amazing (again) to learn from where in our lives these words had come.

I was the one who divided the poem into sections this time. I was working (probably too left-brainedly) to find a flow of meaning throughout the whole poem. While I couldn't find it throughout the whole, I did find it in these sets. 

Steve gave us our title, and I think it's quite brilliant. 

This is what I'm learning from Steve and Jan as we write together -- how to string pearls.

Sylvia has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at Poetry For Children.

If You Plant a Seed

If You Plant a Seed 
by Kadir Nelson
Balzar + Bray, 2015
review copy from the public library

Just yesterday, I talked to my students about not judging or making assumptions, and yet, count me guilty as charged! I saw this gorgeous cover over and over again during #pb10for10, but it wasn't until my reserve came in at the library and I held it in my hands did I notice who the author/illustrator was. Kadir Nelson...does BUNNIES???

Well, come to find out and do a little research, this isn't the first time Kadir Nelson has done a book featuring animals, instead of people, but not surprisingly, the animals are every bit as expressive as his humans. LOVE the two double-page wordless spreads just before all selfishness breaks loose -- first with the rabbit and mouse (just about to enjoy their harvest) looking at the birds looking at them, and then a full-on view of the expectant and hopeful looks the birds are giving rabbit and mouse. A great place to turn-and-talk.

This is a story about what happens when we plant selfishness vs. what happens when we plant kindness. A good reminder for gardeners of all ages in the garden of Life.

Failure

11 Experiments That Failed
by Jenny Offill & Nancy Carpenter

I can't wait to start celebrating failure with a new group of fifth graders.

I can't wait to ask them these questions as they work:

Did you have to change your plans?
Did you fail?
Did you struggle?
Did you get a new idea?
Did you cooperate?
Did you listen?
Did you share?
Did you think?
Did you solve a problem?
Did someone help your thinking along?

I can't wait to share this book with them, and talk about a character who designs and conducts completely original experiments that mostly seem sure to fail right from the outset.

Connecting to the character in this book, I can't wait to share about the 15 year-old Iowa boy who is running for president, and who is the most successful independent candidate since Ross Perot. Last time I checked, there's no way a 15 year-old can be elected president.

So, why bother performing experiments that are sure to fail?

Learn.
Make a point.
Get one step closer to an experiment that won't fail.
Have fun.
Discover something new.
Tell a story.

Happy Failure!

The Yarn

If you have not had a chance to check out Colby Sharp's and Travis Jonker's new podcast series, The Yarn, you must check it out!!!

I am not a good listener so I have never paid a whole lot of attention to podcasts.  I have tried a few but never got that interested in anything. I liked to SEE things while I listened. I have several friends who have recommended podcast series but I just didn't get it. They all seemed a little long and boring to me.

But then last week, Colby Sharp and Travis Jonker released their first season of their new podcast series THE YARN.  If you go to their Twitter page (@theyarnpodcast), this is described as: "A narrative of adventures. Travis and Colby go behind the scenes of children's literature in this narrative style audio show." The podcasts are produced by BkPk.Media, a site that shares narrative style podcasts centered around education.

I have to admit, I only listened to the podcast because Colby is my friend.  I knew it would be good, but remember,  I didn't like podcasts. And I had to learn how to subscribe to and play podcasts on my phone. It was big work.  But SOOO worth it.  I was expecting to like it because Colby and Travis are incredible,  but I wasn't expecting to LOVE LOVE LOVE it! The podcasts are GENIUS. I had no idea what was possible in a podcast until I listened to the first episode. Not only are they packed with fascinating information--the story behind the book told in such a distinct and brilliant way--but these podcasts are entertaining and powerful all at once.

The first season of The Yarn focuses on the new graphic novel, Sunny Side Up by Jennifer Holm and Matt Holm. I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of this at the Scholastic Reading Summit and it is an incredible read. The podcasts add more to the story, give the reader more to think about and are just really fun to listen to.  It's like you are hanging out with Travis and Colby and all the cool people they talk to.

I had to listen to the first podcast twice because I was blown away by the way that it was crafted. I kept thinking it was a genre or something that was totally new to me--a type of story I have never experienced and one that I am totally hooked on now.  After I listened to it twice, I made my husband listen to it. He loved it. Then we went to dinner with friends (Tony Keefer, Julie Keefer and Katie DiCesare) and we spent the first 15 minutes of dinner talking about how amazing the podcast was! 

Not only did I enjoy the podcasts as a listener, but as a literacy teacher, the whole digital creation piece was fascinating to me. I couldn't help but think about what an amazing mentor this would be for young writers.  And I can imagine the power of sharing these episodes after reading Sunny Side Up. 

So, you've heard enough from me! Now, if you haven't already started listening, you'll want to do that right away! You can access/subscribe to the podcasts on iTunes, Stitcher and Travis's Blog.

Travis is also blogging about each episode at 100 Scope Notes. Each post adds a bit of extra info too. You can access them below.

Episode 1
Episode 2: Raina Telgemeier
Episode 3: David Leviathan
Episode 4: Phil Falco (Plus How the Yarn Logo Was Made)
Episode 5: David Saylor (Plus Behind-the-Scenes Sketches of Sunny Side Up)
Episode 6: Lark Pien
Episode 7:  Matthew Holm (Plus Thumbnails from Sunny Side Up)
Episode 8: Jennifer Holm (Plus Our Secret Sponsor Revealed)

And if you get totally obsessed with these podcasts like I did, you can read a bit about the launch of the series and learn about the episodes in this season at School Library Journal's blog.  You can also get lots more information about the series by listening to the podcast on Let's Get Busy where Colby and Travis talk about the origins of The Yarn (another amazing site filled with brilliant podcasts by Matthew Winner at The Busy Librarian blog that you'll also want to check out.)

And I just found out that we, as listeners,  have the chance to support more seasons of The Yarn by donating at their Kickstarter site. Check out what Colby has to say about the podcasts and the Kickstarter and think about giving a bit for them to continue this great venture! 

It's Monday! What are you Reading? and Summer #Bookaday

(Visit Teach Mentor Texts for the It's Monday! What Are You Reading? round up.)

I love Donalyn Miller's idea of #Bookaday Challenge. Each summer, she puts out a challenge to herself and to others to read an average of a book-a-day over the summer.  I know I read a lot, but I also know that many of my teacher friends read far more than I do.  And summer is a good time for me to catch up. This summer was a busy one so I knew lots of my books would be short reads. I counted the days of summer and set my goal for 82 books.  I met that goal easily once I got started.  Last week, I was at 99 books. (For the most recent list, you can check out my goodreads account.) Here is how my numbers ended up last time I checked:

57 Picture Books
2 Wordless Picture Books
1 Poetry Books
16 Middle Grade Novels
2 Young Adult Novels
2 Adult Novels
16 Nonfiction Children's Books
3 Graphic Novels

Since Donalyn started this challenge years ago, I have realized how important summer and vacation reading are to me as a teacher and a reader. That extra time to read is critical and it takes far less time every day than I imagine it will.  Setting a goal of a book each day was overwhelming at first but I've discovered that it is very doable.  I have used the library lots and I spent many mornings reading a stack of new picture books.  It doesn't take long to get through a stack of picture books and discover a few gems. At the end of this summer #bookaday, I am reminded again of how important it is for me to read and keep up with new books, I believe strongly in the power of Teacher as Reader and always have.  I need to be a reader myself in order to teach reading, but I also need to read lots of children's books so that I have a menu of books to share with students each year.  (Lucky for me, I LOVE reading children's books as I believe they are the best books out there!) As I choose books and share books with students, I know that knowing 99 more books will help me be a better teacher. It is probably the most important work I do each summer.

Even with all of this summer reading, I still have a huge TBR stack. Seems like the more I read, the more I want to read! But I have so many more possibilities when I make choices about books to share with students in read aloud, mini lessons, conferences and small groups. I can't imagine going into the year without all these new titles in my head.

Some highlights from my summer #bookaday that I haven't blogged much about already:

Picture Books

Dad's First Day

Little Elliot, Big Family (coming October 6!)

To the Sea

Early Chapter Book

Francine Poulet Meets the Ghost Raccoon

Nonfiction

Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova

Untamed: The Wild Life of Jane Goodall

Middle Grade Novels

All the Answers

Echo

Paper Things

Crenshaw

The Truth About Twinkie Pie

The Thing About Jellyfish

Graphic Novel

Sunny Side Up

Wordless Picture Book

Sidewalk Flowers

Poetry Friday -- Unharvested

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by Gilly Walker

In this last weekend before school starts back up, I will be spending lots of time planning. I think I'm finally to the point in my career where I won't worry about accounting for every single moment of every day. I have learned to appreciate what Robert Frost describes here:

Unharvested
by Robert Frost

A scent of ripeness from over a wall.
And come to leave the routine road
And look for what had made me stall,
There sure enough was an apple tree
That had eased itself of its summer load,
And of all but its trivial foliage free,
Now breathed as light as a lady's fan.
For there had been an apple fall
As complete as the apple had given man.
The ground was one circle of solid red.

May something go always unharvested!
May much stay out of our stated plan,
Apples or something forgotten and left,
So smelling their sweetness would be no theft.

Catherine has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at Reading to the Core.

World Building

These weeks before school actually starts are some of my favorites. This is the time when we can live entirely in our imagination. We create inviting spaces we hope the students we haven't yet met will love as much as we do. We choose first books and first activities envisioning the response we hope to elicit. In our minds, a caring, connected community works joyfully and collaboratively.  I have to believe that this dreaming, imagining and visualizing are part of what helps to make all that come true as the school year begins, unfolds, develops, changes, and gels. (And, to be truthful, the beginning, unfolding, developing, changing, and gelling are ALSO my favorite weeks -- sometimes months -- of school!!)

I can't show you all the little teaching movies that are playing in my mind these days, but I can give you a peek at my new classroom. I'm really excited (to say the least) to be trying out some really new (for me) ways of thinking about seating and spaces.

Here's a pano from the doorway:

On the left, you see our office space. OUR. I try to keep my pile to a minimum, and students learn to respectfully move my stuff aside if they want to work on the big computer that sits at that desk. On the right is some common work space. My classroom library is mostly around the perimeter of the room. Fiction to the left, nonfiction on the tall shelf by the smartboard, picture books by the window, poetry and nonfiction overflow to the right. There are three shelves anchoring tables/desks: wordless picture books, word study books, and (in the "new" shelf my neighbors generously left at their curb as "trash" -- minor damage on the bottom shelf that was fixed with wood putty) folk tales and mythology.

Here are some snapshots around the room from left to right:

In front of our office space, you can see a shelf for shared supplies, and a little reading/work/meeting space around a low round table.

These two standing desks are new. Eight spots in my classroom without chairs. The idea for including standing spaces was inspired by several tweets from my principal, and by discussions with my brother, who works at a standing desk. I can't wait to see what my students think of this! As I've set the classroom up, I've found myself working at them all the time. Lots of professionals work standing up at least part of the time -- artists, chefs, scientists, conductors, singers, teachers...so why not students?!?

This table of six has stools instead of chairs. Good for building core muscles!

In the back, on the tile, we have building/making/Genius Hour materials.

This pano makes my room seem as big as an auditorium! I took it standing at the smart board and looking out into the room. I started over my left shoulder at the picture books. They are actually parallel to me, not perpendicular as they seem! Same with the nonfiction on the right -- they are beside the smartboard and are looking out into the room like I am. If you focus on the center of the room, you can see the five primary work spaces, and in front of the smartboard, our meeting space for minilessons, sharing, and such.

It's going to be a great year! I can't wait to meet my students and get started!