Still Learning to Read: Filling Book Bins on the First Day of School

This is one of a series of blog posts that continue the conversation around Still Learning to Read--teaching reading to students in grades 3-6.  This series will run on the blog on Tuesdays starting in August 2016.

Reading Workshop is one of the first things I want to have up and going by the end of the first week of school.  We get started with Reading Workshop on the first day of school and I want every child to have books for independent reading time. I want them to know right away that they own their reading.  

Our Reading Workshop is in the afternoon, so sometime before that time, we'll build our book bins.  I have empty 24 book bins set up in a few places around the room. (I purposely do not put them all in the same area to help with traffic.)  These bins are waiting to be filled!

I make sure that the first day of school is fun, slow and happy.  I want kids to have time to know the room, know each other and play a bit to transition into the routine. So for the first few days of school we have about an hour to explore various things in the classroom--Legos, Math Games, Straws and Connectors, Apps on iPads, Pixie on Laptops, etc.  During this exploration time, I meet with 3-5 kids at a time at a table to build book bins.  Each child finds a book bin in the room that they'd like to claim for their own.  We label it with a sticky note--knowing that our photo will be printed to label it later in the week.

Then we do a quick tour of the library--just to get the basics--picture books, series books, nonfiction, graphic novels, author baskets, etc  Kids often see a familiar book to add into their bins, others seem to have a specific book in mind that they'd like to read. Still others have no idea where to begin when it comes to choosing a book to read.

I take time with each group of children, pointing out books, asking about old favorites and what they read in the summer, suggesting titles. I suggest that kids have a variety of books in their bins--short books, long books, fiction, nonfiction, familiar books, new authors, etc.  My hope is that each child has 3-4 books in their book bin before our first Reading Workshop.  I'll take a picture of the child and their books to keep as our first piece of assessment.

This is a great time for me to listen in. It is my first conversation with individual readers and their first time talking to me about books. It is an important time. I know that every child will not have the right books in their bins--that is all part of the process.  My big goal is for them to know that they choose the books--that they are in charge of their own reading and that I will support them along the way.

As the week goes on, we'll have lots of reflection about our book choices. Many of our share sessions during those first few weeks of school will be about the books they are choosing. We'll reflect on questions like:

Did you have enough books to keep you reading the whole time?

Which book had you hooked?

Which book didn't seem right for your right now?

What kind of book did you wish you had in your bin today?

Did you find yourself sticking with one book or moving between books?

Is there a new book or author you discovered today that you are excited about?

Did anyone read a new book by a familiar author?

My rule for the independent reading portion of the Reading Workshop those first few days is that everyone Stays Quiet and Stays Put. It sounds a bit harsh but it starts as only a 10-15 minute time period. I want kids to feel what it is like to find a spot with books. I want them to determine how many books they might need. I want them to get used to not getting up and down for drinks or restroom breaks or even new books during this time. (Later I loosen up but these first few days are important to establish a routine that we can build on.

This means that kids can trade out books when they arrive in the morning. I'll also have many mini lessons around book choice and they'll be able to switch out books between the mini lesson and independent reading time. I'll confer with kids during this time to help them refill their book bins.  

I'll also be keeping an eye on kids who are comfortable with the books they chose.  I'll watch their engagement and behaviors with the books they have.  I'll ask them how it is going? I'll do a lot of observations during this time.

Throughout the year, the student book bins remain critical. Kids have their daily reading in these bins but they also have books they hope to read next. The book bin becomes a visual reminder of each child's current life as a reader.  After the first few weeks, readers change out their book bins whenever needed. After the first few weeks of learning what a 30 minute independent reading period feels like, reflecting on which books keep us engaged, meeting with me about the books in their bins and mini lessons around book choice, kids choose books very naturally. The lessons on book choice are critical and the book bin helps so much with this learning.

(You can follow the conversation using the hashtag #SLTRead or you can join us for a book chat on Facebook starting September 1 by joining our group here.)

Our new edition of Still Learning to Read will be released on August 15 but you can preview the entire book online at Stenhouse!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Go to Teach Mentor Texts or Unleashing Readers

for the It's Monday! What Are You Reading? Round-Up!

Much of the reading I did was catching up on the amazing #PB10for10 booklists.  WOW! Cathy and Mandy have created quite an amazing event. Even though I did not create a list this year, I have been reading so many lists. I have been amazed at the ideas some people had for organizing. And of course, I've discovered new books!  No matter how much I try to keep up with children's books, there are always so many that I don't know.  A good problem to have for sure!  If you have not followed the #PB10for10 hashtag or visited their Google Community, you might want to block off a day or two to check it out!

I haven't done a ton of reading this week. I've done a lot of getting-ready-for-school stuff!  But I found 2 books that I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE! It is not often that I find a book that is perfect for a transitional reader AND might make a good read aloud. Well, this year I found 2 amazing books for 3rd graders and I am so excited about adding them to our classroom library. These book might work for primary grades and I think because of what the visuals have to offer, they would be popular in 4th and 5th grade classrooms too.

Lucy by Randy Cecil is a sweet story about a dog, a girl and her father. Lucy is a small, homeless dog who the little girl feeds every day. This is a sweet story with lots going on and one that would make a good read aloud with a document camera.  Each page has a bit of text and a black and white illustration.  There is lots to see in the illustrations. There is also a lot to think about as to how the storylines work together.  I loved falling in love with this book and can't wait to share it with my students.

Juana and Lucas by Juana Medina is another book that will be released in September.  Another perfect book for 3rd graders! And I read somewhere that it is the first in a series. WOOOHOOO!  Juana lives in Columbia and speaks Spanish.  Lucas, her dog is her best friend.  When Juana has to learn English in school, she is not happy. But she works hard to be successful. Juana is a great new character. The pages are filled with colorful illustrations, some fun changes in font and some amusing diagrams like the one below. 

This is a fantastic new series that is PERFECT for 3rd graders!!

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Poetry Friday -- Beginning...again

Photo by Mary Lee Hahn

A Teacher Turns the Calendar Page From July to August

It's the same feeling you get

just after you've nudged the sled 

over the shoulder 

of the hill.

Movement becomes momentum

and quickly shifts 

to catapulting and careening.

You relinquish control

and hold on 

for the ride.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013

Next week is the official start of school in our district -- teachers on Monday, students on Wednesday.

And so we begin...again.

Julianne has the roundup at To Read To Write To Be.

The Power of a Reading Community

Years ago, Mary Lee and I started to meet at Panera once a year to chat books. I was always amazed that she was able to read so many books a year. One year, I thought I remembered her saying that she tried to read 26 books a year. I decided that  I would try the same thing. That year, I read 26 books and told Mary Lee what a great goal that had been for me and I thanked her for sharing.  Mary Lee gently told me that I must have misunderstood—that she read 52 books a year that averaged out to one a week.  She had specific goals for the kinds of books she read making sure to fit in a certain amount of adult fiction and professional reads.

These were the years that I started to track my reading life.  I started to jot down books that I’d finished and reflect on my year. I liked to look at the books I read, when I read more/less in the year? Were the patters to my reading?  Was my reading balanced?  I loved the end-of-the year informal tallying I did to celebrate and reflect on my reading year.

Last week when I was cleaning/moving my office I found this scrap of paper. I knew immediately what it was. My first “formal” reading logs. These were the days before Goodreads so I jotted the titles I read in a notebook and then tallied to reflect on my reading life.  I loved the end of the year when I could look back and see what I’d read and set goals for the new year.  My coding tell me books I read each year,  a tally of the kinds of books I read (Children's, Adult Fiction, Nonfiction, Professional, etc.). Another page in the notebook broke the totals down by month.

There is so much to be said for being part of a community.   It pushes you to be better. Just talking to Mary Lee over time and hearing the number of books she read pushed me to set goals for myself and to read more.   And there is so much power in this expanded community that we can now be part of because of social media. Now we are all part of an online community of readers and we follow other readers on Goodreads and Twitter.  Following people like John Schumacher and Donlyn Miller has helped me read more than I ever thought possible. Following people like Teri Lesesne has helped me read more young adult fiction.  Following people like Colby Sharp has helped me stretch the authors I know and read.   My daily reading of the Nerdy Book Club post has helped me start each day thinking about reading and books.  I feel so lucky to have the reading community that I do.

Our reading communities make a difference for us and for our students. I think specifically about our students who don’t see themselves as readers yet.  If they are in a classroom with a teacher who reads and they see classates reading on a daily basis and getting excited about books, chances are they’ll join the community eventually.   They will want to be part of the fun. And they'll build new behaviors, habits and skills because of the community that supports them.

Picture Book 10-for-10 -- Incidental Diversity

I first encountered the term "Incidental Diversity" in the HornBook article "2015 in Review: The Year in Pictures" by Julie Danielson. Incidental Diversity is "the appearance of characters of color whose ethnicities are incidental to the story."

Now I'm actively on the lookout for such books. Here are 9 books that Julie featured in her article, plus 1 more too good not to share:

Bright Sky, Starry City

Narrative nonfiction about space/planets and light pollution.

Leo: A Ghost Story

Leo is a ghost who has a hard time making friends.

When Green Becomes Tomatoes: Poems for All Seasons

A beautifully illustrated collection of "poems for all seasons."
(truth in advertising!)

One Word from Sophia

Sophia wants a pet giraffe, and with every ask,
is required to be less verbose. 

Great mentor text for writing persuasion.

The Snowy Day

A Classic. Peter goes out and plays in the snow.

Water is Water

"A Book About the Water Cycle" (more truth in advertising!)

Sonya's Chickens

The joys and sorrows of raising and keeping chickens.

What James Said

What James really said and what came back to the main character via the mouths of several friends are two different things.

Lizard in the Park

The trials and tribulations of raising a dinosaur in the city.

Little Robot

Okay, I'm cheating a little on this one. It's a nearly wordless graphic novel, not a picture book per se. But it's so fun, and it goes together with Peter Brown's WILD ROBOT in such interesting ways...robot washes ashore, learns how to be himself, is hunted down by the Robot Corporation to be taken back and made to be
what is expected from a robot.

Still Learning to Read: Setting Up the Digital Classroom Library

This is one of a series of blog posts that continue the conversation around Still Learning to Read--teaching reading to students in grades 3-6.  This series will run on the blog on Tuesdays starting in August 2016.

School starts in a little over a week. My classroom set up is coming along (of course there is always something to do when it comes to setting up a room!)  This weekend, I worked on revising and updating the digital classroom library that will start our school year.  For kids to make intentional decisions, they must have choice.  I used to introduce a few sites for reading at a time and built over the first few months of school but last year I created a page on our Weebly with all of the sites kids could read. This year I revised it a bit by adding new sites and getting rid of those that were outdated or no longer active.

The Reading page of our Classroom Weebly is here.  I've found that Weebly is an easy website for young children to navigate because of the design and the visuals.  I am certain it will grow and change as the year goes on and I have no idea which of these sites kids will be most interested in this year (every class is different). But this is where we'll begin so kids know that digital reading is an option during Reading Workshop. They'll also have access to these sites at home by accessing our website. 

These are the sites that my 3rd graders can access from our website:

A few years ago, our class created a Symbaloo of Authors We Love.  We created this one day when we were playing with Symabaloo and it's become a great resource.  This Symbaloo links to many authors that kids love. It DEFINITELY needs updated and it seems like a good project for us once the year is started.  

Kidsreads is one of the best sites I know for kids to learn about books, authors, and series.  The website is packed with book reviews, announcements for new books and author interviews and it is perfect for middle grade readers.

Wonderopolis is a favorite source for shared reading and independent reading.  If you don't know this site, you should spend lots of time exploring!  There is a new wonder posted each day along with an article sharing the answer and more.   The site is searchable so kids can find past wonders that match their current interests. 

LivBits is a new addition to the Weebly this year.  Olivia has videos, Instagram post and more sharing her thinking about books, authors and reading. These are great videos by a reader close to my students' ages.  Love this site!

SI Kids, the Sports Illustrated site for kids has a variety of great reading material for kids.  The site is full of articles, videos, interviews and more and is easy for kids to navigate.

DOGONews is a kids's news sites. Articles are accessible to kids and most are about topics they are most interested in.  There site also includes book reviews "for kids, by kids".

Pebble Go is a membership site that is one of the best nonfiction sites I've seen for primary readers. There are several categories of nonfiction and kids learn to navigate for information in an authentic way.

Toon Book Reader shares early graphic novels with kids. We have many of the hard copies of the books in our classrooms.  Readers can choose to read on his/her own or to have the books read aloud. There are options to change the language from English to Spanish, French, Russian and Chinese also.

Friends with Fins is one of our favorite video sites for informational videos.   I know that learning from videos is important to digital reading so sites like this are critical for my students.  Watching videos to learn (as opposed to for entertainment) is new to many of them. The focus of this is on Ocean Conservation and the videos are the perfect length for middle grade readers.

I could spend all day on ZooBorns. The site focuses on baby animals in zoos around the world.  Each day there is an update about some baby animal somewhere in the world. So it is fun site to check in with on a daily basis. Or, readers can search by animal or zoo which adds to what is possible.  The photos on this site are fabulous!

Big Universe is another site that our school subscribes to for nonfiction reading. Students have an account and can read ebooks on a variety of topics.  They can log their reading, add books to their to-be-read shelf and more.

NewsELA is a site filled with news articles, text sets on current issues and more. There is so much to explore here! 

Animals for Smart People is another site of informational videos by author, Jess Keating.  These are a perfect length and the visuals she includes are supportive to understanding the topic.

Smithsonian TT Junior has daily news, photos audio and video. This has a good variety of interesting information for readers.

We discovered Emily Arrow last year and created a Padlet of her videos. This became one of our most popular sites as Emily Arrow is the best and the way she interprets books through song is fabulous!

I feel like this part of my "classroom library" set-up is as important as the bookshelves in my room. Knowing sites that are accessible to my middle grade readers and expanding what they "count" as reading is an important early-in-the-year message. I feel like we'll be off to a good start.

Are there any other sites you include in your digital classroom library?

(You can follow the conversation using the hashtag #SLTRead or you can join us for a book chat on Facebook starting September 1 by joining our group here.)

Our new edition of Still Learning to Read will be released on August 15 but you can preview the entire book online at Stenhouse!

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(Almost) In Time for the Olympics

One of the sections of my classroom library that is perpetually lacking is the sports books -- both nonfiction and fiction. I struggle with nonfiction because there are so many sports students are interested in and the famous players change with every season, it seems. I struggle with fiction because for every 10 readers who are sporty, 5 like to do sports AND read stories about sports, but 5 like to do sports AND NOT read stories about sports.

So, when students are interested in sports I either send them to the school library or bring them a stack of books from the public library. Another great option is found in the Epic app. Epic is free for educators.

Since the Olympics are on, there's bound to be an upswing in requests for sports books. In addition to the offerings on the Epic app, these two newer National Geographic titles are sure to be popular:

Weird but True! Sports

Kids love to browse the National Geographic Weird but True! books. Where else can you learn tidbits of information about the Pig Olympics, Skijoring, and Bo-Taoshi?

Everything Sports

This thin volume is packed with sports information and nonfiction minilessons (table of contents, diagram, pictures and captions, compare/contrast, main ideas and details, headings, and an interactive glossary (multiple choice quiz with the answers at the bottom of the page).

Poetry Friday -- Gratitude List

Gratitude List

Praise be this morning for waking early,
tree crickets buzzing, the humid air,
the puffy clouds lined with pink first light.
Praise be my morning tea, steaming hot,
the cat underneath my feet,
the caterpillar on the sprig of dill
in a juice glass on the kitchen table.
Praise be these blueberries from Michigan,
this yogurt, thick and creamy,
from a local farm co-op. Praise be the basil,
sturdy and fragrant in the morning light,
and for the tall purple ironweed and the
goldenrod, both on the verge of blooming.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016




When the poem Gratitude List by Laura Foley showed up in my inbox via The Writer's Almanac, I knew I wanted to use it as a mentor text and paint a picture of a midwestern morning to mirror her ocean beach morning. It was a fun exercise and a good reminder that borrowing from another writer sometimes makes my own writing not just better, but possible on a day when I'm not sure I have anything to write about! Yes, this will for sure be a writing workshop minilesson in my 5th grade classroom!


Gratitude List

Praise be this morning for sleeping late,
the sandy sheets, the ocean air,
the midnight storm that blew its waters in.
Praise be the morning swim, mid-tide,
the clear sands underneath our feet,
the dogs who leap into the waves,
their fur, sticky with salt,
the ball we throw again and again.
Praise be the green tea with honey,
the bread we dip in finest olive oil,
the eggs we fry. Praise be the reeds,
gold and pink in the summer light,
the sand between our toes,
our swimsuits, flapping in the breeze.


by Laura Foley (used with permission of the author)



Tara has today's Poetry Friday roundup at A Teaching Life.

Be Careful What You Scorn

Wikimedia

I’ve learned to be careful what I scorn.

I may or may not have written these text messages:
“…(Pokémon Go) is so against all I believe about interacting with the real world.”
and
“…why use augmented reality to capture a fake thingie when you could learn to ID birds and trees or spot a REAL preying mantis?”

And then I may or may not have downloaded the Pokémon Go app as a matter of “professional curiosity” and walked out into a side street in the dark of night (accompanied by a sensible husband with a flashlight who insisted I wear shoes) to capture my first “fake thingie.”

Perhaps I did do a little research one morning before my bike ride to find out what exactly those blue towers are for (you swipe the picture of the place and charge up on Poké Balls) and perhaps I did stop a couple of times on my ride to capture Pokémon and gather ammo.

Okay, I admit it. I did all those things. And I will also admit that I am having fun fumbling around with a game...an app...a facet of popular culture that I previously either ignored or outright scorned.

I’ve made it to a whopping level 3, and I’m not going to do any (more) research online to figure out what exactly the point of all of this really is, or what else there is to do in this game besides open the app every time I’m in a new place to see what invisible towers and creatures might be lurking. I don’t even want to think about the battles that apparently happen at the Pokémon gyms after I’ve gotten to level 5.

The research I can’t wait to do will come from conversations with my students about this phenomenon. I’m as sure that they’ll be eager to teach me as I am that they will have been playing this game since it’s release.

It’s been a very long time since I’ve had an authentic “in” when it comes to popular culture. I know the books, but not the movies, music, celebrities, TV shows, or (usually) video games that make up the world of my students (or my young colleagues, for that matter). I’m looking forward to being able to being a bit of an insider, and it’s definitely worth remembering that scorn slams door shut, while dipping one’s toes in the strange waters of a differently augmented reality can open doors.



(UPDATE: Since writing this post a week ago, I am now on Level 5 (how do I join a team??), I know where to find my Pokédex, and I have hatched an egg by walking for 2km.)

Still Learning to Read: Thinking About Books and the Classroom Library

This is one of a series of blog posts that continue the conversation around Still Learning to Read--teaching reading to students in grades 3-6.  This series will run on the blog on Tuesdays starting in August 2016.

It is August 1st so  many of us are busy getting our classrooms ready for our new students!  We start school in 2 weeks and there is lots to think about.  I have been in twice and thought I'd share a piece of the process I've been through so far. 

My room after being cleaned this summer--my view from the door!

Reorganizing books always takes the most time for  me. I love the room design thinking --especially after reading The Third Teacher and the Language of Room Design a few years ago. I love thinking about spaces in the room and the ways they might support student learning and I will post about those spaces in the next week or two.  Today I'll focus on some of the thinking that I've done as I've thought about revising the classroom library from how we left it in the spring to how it will support students early in the year. I know students will love different books as beginning-of-the-year third graders than my end-of-the-year third graders enjoyed by springtime last year.  So taking a look at the series baskets and the organization is important. I always begin by asking myself lots of questions:

• Which books were popular last year?
• Which books did kids not read--are there any books or series that are maybe outdated?
• What kinds of books support readers early in the year?
• Which books should I highlight during the first few weeks of school to support independent reading?
• Which books did not get enough use because they weren't accessible to kids?
• Which new books/series might I add to the classroom library?
• Are there any authors that I want to highlight early in the school year?

Our meeting area is an area that I have used recently to highlight books we have read or learned from recently.  A few years ago I added this bench from IKEA that would house those books, knowing they would rotate so kids would have easy access to books that we had read recently.  Last year, I started #classroombookaday, a classroom practice that Jillian Heise and Donalyn Miller created. It is a daily that is one of our favorite times of the day. We end each day with a picture book and log these on a wall above our cubbies. Kids loved this time and revisited the books often throughout the year.  I had a basket for these books thinking I'd rotate them in and out as they became less popular but kids used all the books all year.  So this year, I wanted to have a space dedicated to #classroombookaday--a space that I knew would be big enough to hold all of the books we read and one that will grow as the year goes on. I found this to be extremely important to 3rd grade because this routine valued picture books and most kids read a few picture books every day because of it. So I bought several large white baskets to house these books during the year.  There is also space for other baskets that will rotate based on our current units of study, readings, etc.

Another area that I changed was my poetry area.  Last year, I had two full three-shelf units of poetry books. The kids almost never read them. They were spine out on the shelf and weren't engaging enough for kids.  I weeded my poetry collection down by about half and decided to display them differently. I purchased more of the baskets that I used in the meeting area because they hold lots of books that kids can browse by puling the basket to the floor next to them.  At first I used the white baskets but then realized I had 5 gray baskets -the perfect number for the poetry collection I had.  I know that visual clues are important to young children so having all of the poetry in gray baskets will be another way for them to think of them as one area of the classroom library.  I housed them on the bottom shelf of another 8 cubby shelf from IKEA. On the top shelf, some students will house their individual book bins. (Still to do: Label the baskets as poetry.)

My next job was to go through the chapter books in the classroom that were no longer front and center. Our classroom library changes throughout the year as we discover new series, change as readers, grow out of some books and into others.  Because of that I have to go through the books and pull those books that I know will be important to have out early in the year.  I am thinking about what kids might read but also about how to make sure to value books at various levels so that students do not get the message that long difficult books are what is valued in the classroom. I want to introduce them to books that they fall in love with--books that help them develop behaviors as readers early in the year.  This is the stack I pulled today, knowing I have to create new baskets to replace baskets most readers won't get to until the end of the year. All books will still be part of the classroom library because readers need access to lots of books but the books I highlight in baskets and in displays will focus on lots of books like those I pulled today.

Finally, I take a look at books we've discovered recently. I feel lucky as a third grade teacher that so many authors and publishers see the need for quality transitional chapter books. It seems there are new ones coming out more regularly lately.  When a new series begins, it is usually only a book or two but as time goes on, series grow and they are in need of their own basket/space in the classroom library. These are some of the new series we discovered last year and that will be great supports to readers early this year.  Just when you think you have more baskets than you need, you find that you need just a few more. So a new order of baskets is on its way to me from amazon and they will house these new series as well as a few others.

I think I have about 4-5 more hours of work thinking about and revising the classroom library for the fall.  I plan to go in one more day to just focus on that job--pulling the books that I want to highlight to independent reading, weeding through picture books and nonfiction to reflect on what changes are needed there, and creating new author baskets in both fiction and nonfiction areas of the library. Lots to do but some of the most important work to get ready for a new group of readers!

How are you rethinking your classroom library to be ready for the first weeks of the school year?

(You can follow the conversation using the hashtag #SLTRead or you can join us for a book chat on Facebook starting September 1 by joining our group here.)

Our new edition of Still Learning to Read will be released on August 15 but you can preview the entire book online at Stenhouse!