Making Time and Space for Nonfiction: Books for Writers

This year, I am committed to reading and thinking more about nonfiction in the classroom. That means I will make more time to read more nonfiction so that I know more nonfiction. That way, I can book talk it, share in conferences, read aloud and more. So this year, I plan to do a weekly series, "Making Time and Space for Nonfiction". Every (hopefully) Wednesday on the blog, I'll share some nonfiction thinking--a book I've read, something that happened in the classroom, some learning I did, etc. This will help me stick to my goal throughout the year and help me reflect on my learning and thinking about nonfiction
We have a basket of books in the classroom library that is rarely used. This is a basket of books for writers--books to help writers in some way. The books are fantastic and I've never thought about them as nonfiction but I realize most of them do fall under the category of nonfiction. Most of the books in the basket serve to help writers try something different.

I tend to buy lots of these because I find short texts are perfect for minilesson and small group work. I often use excerpts from these books in mini lessons or with small groups. But it is very seldom that a child chooses to go to one of these books on his/her own.

I realize I haven't done enough to teach students how and when to use these books. There are so many ways people enter books like this and I think a few mini lessons book talking these books, sharing ways to dip into the books, reading some parts aloud, etc. may make these more accessible for students. I also hadn't thought about helping kids see how online resources from some authors do similar things and that writing workshop might be the time you read/view this type of text. Creating a multimedia text set for writers seems important for the coming year.

One thing that I am learning already is that there are so many kinds of nonfiction--far more than any one list can cover.  I had never really thought about these as specifically nonfiction but I think the definitely fall into that category (or at least parts of each one do) and my role is to help make them more accessible to writers in the classroom.

At last week's Scholastic Reading Summit in Denver, Stephanie Harvey reminded us to "Look across the curriculum and make sure reading is embedded in every part of the day."  We definitely read during writing workshop but I am not sure we read the kind of nonfiction that would help us as writers during that time.  I am thinking I need a shelf of books for writers-something a little separate--even though all books can serve as mentors to writers, those books written specifically for writers may need their own more accessible space this year as I think about inviting more nonfiction reading.

Books in this basket currently include:

Writing Radar: Using Your Journal to Snoop Out and Craft Great Stories by Jack Gantos

Our Story Begins:  Your Favorite Authors and Illustrators Share Fun, Inspiring and Occasional Ridiculous Things They Wrote as Kids

The Creativity Project: An Awesometastic Story Collection by Colby Sharp

A Writer's Notebook, How Writers Work, Live Writing,  and Poetry Matters by Ralph Fletcher

Spilling Ink: A Young Writer's Handbook by Ellen Potter and Anne Mazer

Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly by Gail Carson Levine

Comics Confidential: Thirteen Graphic Novelists Talk Story, Craft and Life Outside the Box by Leonard S. Marcus

Online Resources to be Included in This Text Set

Melissa Stewart's Site-Revision Timelines as well as her Behind the Books posts on her blog

Write with Jess Keating: Write with Jess Keating Series--10 videos

Lessons From A Bike Ride

I went for a bike ride this morning before it got too hot. I labored up a long, grueling hill with my eyes on the bit of the street just in front of my front tire. In the nick of time, I looked up and avoided a low-hanging tree branch that would certainly have smacked me in the face.

This experience seems to be the perfect cautionary tale for the school year. At some point, the newness wears off and a week can start to feel like a long, grueling hill. With our heads down and our eyes focused on only what is right in front of us, we risk shortsightedness and a reactionary way of dealing with unexpected things that pop up. Let's remember to keep our heads up and our eyes on the long view, enjoying all of the scenery around us and watching for low hanging branches. Let's celebrate the hill rather than cursing it, knowing that we will be stronger when we get to the top.

Making Time and Space for Nonfiction: Otis and Will Discover the Deep

This year, I am committed to reading and thinking more about nonfiction in the classroom. That means I will make more time to read more nonfiction so that I know more nonfiction. That way, I can book talk it, share in conferences, read aloud and more.  So this year, I plan to do a weekly series, "Making Time and Space for Nonfiction". Every (hopefully) Wednesday on the blog, I'll share some nonfiction thinking--a book I've read, something that happened in the classroom, some learning I did, etc.  This will help me stick to my goal throughout the year and help me reflect on my learning and thinking about nonfiction.

As part of my summer reading, I am trying to read more nonfiction. One book I read this week was Otis and Will Discover the Deep by Barb Rosenstock. I was expecting a picture book biography and I guess this book would fit into that category but it is a bit more.  This is the story of Otis Barton and Will Beebe who were the first people to discover the deep of the ocean.  Their Bathysphere was a device that they created to do just that. I loved the story of how these two men collaborated over time.   There is a lot to this story in terms of problem solving, collaboration, and adventure. This is a good example of a book that got me interested in an idea I didn't even know I was interested in before reading. 

The Author's and Illustrator's note at the end of the book give more interesting information and include some authentic photos. There is also a note from Constance Carter, Former Head of Science Reference at the Library of Congress who worked with Will Beebee.

The other interesting thing about this book is that it is illustrated by Katherine Roy. You may know her from her fabulous books How to Be and Elephant and Neighborhood Sharks. I am getting better at knowing authors and illustrators of nonfiction. Roy's illustrations are perfect for this story.

I'm looking forward to sharing this book with kids this fall.

Why I Don't Like Music or The Truth About My Singing

Every child deserves the opportunity to become a lifelong reader.

                                 It’s All About the Books by Tammy Mulligan and Clare Landrigan

I don’t like music. It’s true. Friends are often surprised by this small detail about me. I can’t pinpoint the exact moment I decided that I didn’t like music, but I know there were four experiences that have had a huge impact on my attitude towards music.

For my entire elementary school career, our music teacher kept me after class each week having me practice hitting a note I just couldn’t hit in class. She was very kind, yet always looked so very disappointed when I could not get the note by practicing it over and over again in front of others who were having the same problem. I was always irritated to stay after class but never too worried about hitting that note.

As 5th graders, we took part in a big tradition in my elementary school. 5th and 6th graders put on an elaborate music program. It was a big deal and very fun. It was something you looked forward to from Kindergarten through 4th grade. One day at rehearsal for the show, one of the 6th grade teachers came over to me and told me that I might want to mouth the words. At the time I was a 5th grader so a 6th grade teacher talking to me individually during rehearsal was a big deal. And I was old enough to understand that her singling me out to chat meant that I could not sing well enough to really be part of the show. I wasn’t 100% defeated until the next year, when the music teacher determined that as a 6th grader I would be an “angel” in the play—a silent role with some time on stage. And because I had a role, I would not be needed as part of the choir for singing.

Fast forward 9 years to college. I had to take a music methods course in order to become an elementary teacher. My professor was retiring that spring and one of his requirements had always been for students to teach a song to the class by singing it aloud. He requested a private meeting with me, informing me that in all of his long career, he had never heard anyone sing as badly as I did and he decided I should play the piano and say the words when I taught the song. He insisted that he had never had to ask anyone to do this but for me, it was important. During my lesson, he explained the dilemma to the class and asked me to promise (in front of our entire lecture hall) that I would never sing in front of children--as it would definitely harm them--just by hearing it.

It is truly amazing that I continued to sing but during my first year of teaching, I decided birthdays were too important so I sang “Happy Birthday” with the class when my 1st graders had a birthday. But I forgot that I had shared my singing stories with some teachers and the principal. My principal thought it was funny to “listen in” on the loudspeaker at the end of any day he knew there was a birthday in our classroom. Then he would pop down and make a comment about my singing voice.

You could say I am embarrassed about my horrible singing voice. That would be 100% true. It is really not a big deal, something I almost never think about--until it is time to sing “Happy Birthday." Now when it is time to sing “Happy Birthday” to a family member, friend or colleague, I just don’t participate—I disengage. If you are ever with me and it is a friend’s birthday, you may think it is rude that I mouth the words or I go find something else to do.

Because of this shame, I have just learned to live a very full life without much music or singing.

Imagine if these experiences had been in reading instead of singing? I know many people in the world who lead very full lives without books and reading. They have many hobbies and interests and talents outside of reading, but they may also have learned to avoid reading because of the subtle (and not so subtle) messages they got about reading from well-meaning people throughout their lives.

I am certain that my elementary music teacher meant well. She took her job very seriously and wanted me to learn how to sing. These were quick moment in her teaching life that I am certain she would not even remember or think twice about. But her first messages to me have stuck and I remember the weekly look of disappointment on her face clearly.

In 5th grade I stopped seeing myself as someone who could sing. This was solidified again in college and again as a first year teacher. In Choice Words, Peter Johnston says, “Building an identity means coming to see in ourselves the characteristics of particular categories (and roles) of people and developing a sense of what it feels like to be that sort of person and belong in certain social spaces.” (p. 23)

I think as teachers we all say and do things in the course of the day hoping it is in the best interest of our students. I am confident that all of the music teachers I had wanted what they thought was best for me. But they let me know over and over again that I was just not cut out to be a person who sings. Of course, we want students who can read, but we also want students who become lifelong readers. We want students who see themselves as readers and students who cannot imagine a full life without reading. We need to remember that in every single interaction we have with a child.

Poetry Friday -- Fireflies

If You Catch a Firefly
by Lillian Moore

If you catch a firefly
          and keep it in a jar
You may find that
          you have lost
A tiny star.

If you let it go then,
          back into the night,
You may see it
          once again
Star bright.


Want to learn more about fireflies? Click here.
I've featured fireflies for Poetry Friday two other times!

I didn't grow up with fireflies.
Did you?
Do you have them where you live now?
Do you call them fireflies or lightning bugs?


Karen has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at Karen Edmisten*.

The Stone Girl's Story

The Stone Girl's Story
by Sarah Beth Durst
Clarion Books, 2018

Mayka's father was a stone mason. He brought her to life by carving her story onto her body. She and the other living stone creatures her father created live happily together in seclusion on the mountain. But Mayka's flesh-and-blood father has long been gone, and as the reader sees in the opening scenes of the book with Mayka and her dear friend Turtle, as the marks on their bodies fade, the creatures...stop. So Mayka leaves her mountain in search of a stonemason who will return with her and repair the marks on all of her friends. When she gets to the city, she discovers an evil plot that endangers all stone creatures.

I love fantasy, but only if the author can build a world that is absolutely believable. Sarah Beth Durst has done that in The Stone Girl's Story.

This is fantasy at its best: a hero's journey to save family and friends. An Oz-like journey with fellow travelers who are also looking for help. A story with big themes:

• the quest to be accepted for who you are is a worthy one
• don't judge others based on their appearance or your assumptions
• absolute power is dangerous
• pay attention to who is telling the stories
• know your own story and tell it proudly
• choice is important...necessary...vital to your story
• you have the power to shape your own story
• an obedience mark is dangerous
• the right words can give you freedom
• you can learn to be brave
• together we can rise up against evil and overpower it
• even a monster's story can be rewritten to be AWESOME

Move this book to the top of your TBR pile. I hope you love it as much as I do. It might just be one of my first read alouds of the year next year!

Poetry Friday -- High Plains Wind

Unsplash photo via Matthieu Joannon

High Plains Wind

     (after Wind by James Arthur)

     it's true sometimes I cannot

stop myself from lifting

     the roof shingles

unleashing tumbleweeds snapping

tree branches

muddying the pool I'm nothing

     until I happen

barreling down from the North

     filling eyes with grit

     nostrils too

pelting the streets with dusty sleet

above wheatfields

    surfing the waves of grain

so full of high excitement howling

I borrow the arid topsoil

     and fling it into the ditch

arriving with news of the bindweed

     and the horseflies

at times buffeting you so violently

in ways you register

     as fists

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2018

I am blessed to live in a climate where we have day-long gentle rains that allow the oaks to tower and the corn to grow without irrigation. We are currently several inches over the average rainfall for the year, and yet in the High Dry Plains of Eastern Colorado, even an inch of our rain could save crops and livelihoods. It's desperately dry there, and the wind is unrelenting. When I read Wind by James Arthur, I knew I wanted to tell the story of a more savage and remorseless wind than his rascally wind whose antics include turning umbrellas inside out (I never owned one until I moved to the midwest), stealing hats, and embracing as light as a touch. The wind back home is downright mean-spirited and vengeful.

On a lighter note, we filled the Poetry Friday Roundup Schedule for July-December in under a week! 

Kiesha has this week's roundup at Whispers from the Ridge.

The Luxury of Inefficiency

Yes, I'm enjoying my summer break. Thank you for asking.

I realized this morning that the biggest gift of these few weeks off is the luxury of inefficiency.

I have been busy the last two weeks:

• all day math summit
• all day Casting for Recovery planning team meeting
• Children's Literature Assembly virtual board meeting
• July-Dec Poetry Friday roundup schedule completed in one week
• read nine chapter books and stacks of picture books 
• first bike ride of the summer
• reacquainted with bi-weekly swimming schedule
• doctors' appointments that don't require sub plans
• a wedding
• plans for our trip to Germany and Amsterdam
• weeding and edging the back garden beds
• one swallowtail caterpillar raised to chrysalis indoors and two more on watch in the garden
• playing with new macro lens for my iPhone camera (see above)
• tea at Asterisk
• stay up late
• sleep in

I have been busy, but I haven't felt particularly scheduled. That is the luxury I'm savoring for the next few weeks.

Reading More Nonfiction

I love the extra time I have in the summer to read.  I already have quite a stack of books ready to go for the summer as I use summer to catch up a bit. I love fiction and I tend to read mostly middle grade fiction in the summer. But when talking to colleagues about nonfiction in our classrooms, I realized that I don't read as much middle grade nonfiction as I could.  I tend to read a lot of short nonfiction--lots of picture books and shorter nonfiction- but if I want my students to know and love nonfiction that has more depth I know I need to commit to reading and book talking more titles. So I have been keeping track of books that I hope to read this summer--nonfiction that is a big longer than my usual picture book nonfiction reading that I enjoy (although I have included a few picture books here.). Here they are:

Strongheart: Wonder Dog of the Silver Screen by Candace Fleming and Eric Rohmann

Ski Soldier: A World War II Biography by Louise Borden

Astronaut-Aquanaut: How Space Science and Sea Science Interact by Jennifer Swanson

Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation by Monique Gray Smith

Snowy Owl Invasion! by Sandra Markle

Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing by Kay Haring

Magic Trash by J.h. Shapiro

The People Shall Continue by Simon Ortiz

Pride: The Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag by Rob Sanders

The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson

Otis and Will Discover the Deep by Barb Rosenstock and Katherine Roy

Poetry Friday -- The Final Golden Shovel

Whether you believe you can or believe you can’t, you’re right. ~Henry Ford

Blessing 

You are going to fail, whether

you want to or not, in big and small ways. You

can spend your time worrying about that, or you can believe

that failure is valuable. It’s the way we learn. You

are in charge of how you think about your mistakes. You can

embrace them, trying to fail better every day, or

you can wallow in your catastrophes. What you believe

will determine how well you

live. I can’t

predict your future, but I have a good feeling that you’re

going to be more than all right.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2018

In April, I wrote a golden shovel for each of my students, using a quote chosen by each student as the striking line. Only one poem was missing from the collection: mine. Here it is. Number 31. It is the blessing I bestowed upon the Hahn Squad as I sent them out into the world and off to middle school. 

Buffy has the Poetry Friday Roundup for today at Buffy's Blog.

And it's time to gather Roundup hosts for July - December. That post is here.