#pb10for10 -- New Poetry to Add to Your Collection

First, a huge shout-out to Cathy Mere (@CathyMere, Reflect and Refine: Building a Learning Community) and Mandy Robek (@MandyRobek, Enjoy and Embrace Learning) for creating this 10 for 10 event SIX years ago! Their blog names say it all, don't they? These two ladies are a force for good in the world.

On to my ten picture books for this year...

As you are getting your classroom library ready for the new school year, take a close look at your poetry shelves and see if you might need one or more of these 2015 poetry books to fill out your collection.

MOTHER GOOSE

Over the Hills and Far Away
This is a collection of Mother Goose/Nursery rhymes from around the world that will stand the test of time. It is fun to study each spread and think about the way the collector chose and grouped the rhymes. The illustrations are gorgeous.

A Pirate's Mother Goose
A very fun collection of parodies of traditional rhymes, pirate style! Great mentor text for writing your own version of a well-known rhyme.

Monster Goose Nursery Rhymes
While we're doing this Mother Goose thing, let's have another collection of parodies, this time using monsters and beasts as the characters. Another great mentor text.



ANTHOLOGIES

The Death of the Hat: A Brief History of Poetry in 50 Objects
This collection is incredible. Paul Janeczko has chosen 50 poems, from the Early Middle Ages to Contemporary, each featuring an object, and each very accessible to children. Great introduction to famous poets (and some famous poems) throughout the ages.

National Geographic Book of Nature Poetry
J. Patrick Lewis and National Geographic have done it again! Another anthology with spectacular photography that will draw children in and invite them to see the image through new eyes by reading the poems.



CONTENT AREA CONNECTIONS

Presidential Misadventures
Come for the presidential facts, stay for the clerihews (a mentor text if you want to try to write some).

Random Body Parts
Puzzles in verse with factual sidebars and a glossary of science terms and poetry forms in the backmatter.



STORY IN RHYME

There Was an Old Dragon Who Swallowed a Knight
A fresh new take on an old rhyme. I have a whole collection of "I Know an Old ____ Who Swallowed a ____" books, and this will be a fun addition!




SINGLE POEM PICTURE BOOK

Sweep Up the Sun
This is an exceptional example of metaphorical writing. On the surface it is a book about birds. Read it again and again and look for more. This might be your go-to book for graduation gifts this coming spring! I used it for repeated/close reading with my fifth graders. Each time they found more and more levels of meaning.



BILINGUAL 

Flutter and Hum
Gorgeously illustrated book of poems in both Spanish and English. Fascinating afterword that tells about Julie Paschkis' writing process. Word lovers will pore over the illustrations and soak up new words in both English and Spanish.

Poetry Friday -- The Lion

Why Nobody Pets the Lion at the Zoo
by John Ciardi

The morning that the world began
The Lion growled a growl at Man.

And I suspect the Lion might
(If he’d been closer) have tried a bite.

I think that’s as it ought to be
And not as it was taught to me.

I think the Lion has a right
To growl a growl and bite a bite.

(read on at The Poetry Foundation to find out what the lion really wants...)

The lion who lives in our house is having trouble keeping food down this week. It's so hard when they can't tell you what's the matter and you have to guess. We're guessing we'll stay with an all chopped poached chicken breast diet for another day, and then maybe change brands of dry food.

Tabatha has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at The Opposite of Indifference.

July Photo Mosaics -- New Possibilities

For years, I've been making a monthly mosaic of my photos using Flickr albums and FD's Flickr Toys.

Recently, I learned about a new mosaic maker that is fun, intuitive, and free! FotoJet won't be good for showcasing 30 photos at a time, but I can imagine using it to make cards and other smaller projects. Here are some flower photos from this June and July:

While I was home in Colorado in July, it was County Fair time! Ever since I was a kid, the businesses around town have purchased ads to support the fair. These ads are painted on the businesses' doors and windows. Perhaps because I haven't seen them for many years, they really caught my eye. I loved finding the painter's sense of humor in them, like in this one at Dorman Renewable Fuels where the clown is filling up his truck directly from the corn plant, and the one at Safeway that incorporated another sign on the window:

The entire set of Fair Ad photos is on Flicker.

I shot a few short clips of video while I was home, too. One day when I was out running errands, I heard the iconic sound of an ag plane, and looked up to see that it was working fields right at the edge of town. My dad was an ag pilot until after I was born (not a safe job for a man with a family), so I always feel a tug in my heart for him when I watch these amazing pilots.

The rest of my videos (carousel, rodeo, locust tree) are on Flickr.

I used some of my photos to illustrate a few of the Haiku-a-Days I wrote in July. They are here, here, and here.

Here is my traditional July mosaic (see Flickr for notes about each photo):

Books I Am Adding to the Classroom Library Part 2 : New Books in Favorite Series

Yesterday, I shared some new series I discovered this summer that I think will be a good match for 3rd graders.  Today, I wanted to share some other series books I'll be adding to the classroom library--new titles in series that I know 3rd graders love.

I Am Lucille Ball by Brad Meltzer

Ranger in Time:  Danger in Ancient Rome by Kate Messner

Owl Diaries: Eva Sees a Ghost by Rebecca Elliott

I Will Take a Nap by Mo Willems

Ballet Cat: Dance! Dance! Underpants! by Bob Shea

The Three Little Pugs by Noah Jones

Ricky Ricotta: Mighty Robots vs. the Uranium Unicorns from Uranus by Dav Pilkey

Ling and Ting: Twice as Silly by Grace Lin

Merlin: Shelter Pet Squad #2 by Cynthia Lord

Books I Am Adding to My Classroom Library: Part 1 New (to me) Series Books

Last year was my second year in 3rd grade. It took me a while to figure out the kinds of books that would best support 3rd grade readers. It took me a while to learn what kinds of books hooked 3rd graders. It took me a while to catch up on series books that were a good match for third graders. By the end of last year, I felt that my classroom library was solid.  I had lots of great picture books, some lots of great nonfiction, good graphic novels and many series that could hook readers.  But I am always looking for new books.  Books for 3rd graders are not so long so kids tend to read through a book or two a week. And I believe in choice so I need to give kids a menu of options every day as reader.  So keeping the library updates is always important.

Here are some of the new series that I'll add to the classroom library this year. I'll get a few in the series to see how kids like them and then add to the basket if they are a hit.

Phoebe Green

Puppy Pirates

Phoebe and her Unicorn

Race the Wild

Dino-Mike

Wow! Surprising Facts About Animals (Wow! Books)

Poetry Friday -- Glimpses of a Journey

I have spent the month of July with Mom, getting her and her home of 60 years ready for her move to assisted living. Besides taking lots of photos, I saved a bit of time each day to take a snapshot in words. Here is a haiku-mosaic of July:


The move

1
the to-do list grows
fills heaping bowls of sadness
tears overflow

11
a childhood filled
with mother's sacrifices
daughter's turn now

21
shelves and shelves of books
multi-storied richness
wealth measured in words

26
going through dresser drawers
layers of memory
the archaeology of a life

two children
visitors at the museum
of their mother

an inveterate archivist
saver of minutiae
savoring each scrap of life

one more time

30
transplanting is tricky
handle roots with loving care
mix old soil with new




Meditations on the cycle of life and my place in it right now

9
midseason lily
surrounded by bud and wilt
enjoy it now

14
leaf breaks free
flutters away from tree
wind brings it back

Being in Eastern Colorado

4
ripening wheat
indiscriminate thunderheads
farmers remain hopeful

7
unseasonably cool
north breeze, low clouds, drizzle
roofer's gun pops

8
typically blue skies
smudged with a grimy haze --
Canada burns

19
antelope grazing --
uncharacteristically
green and lush prairie

Keri has the Poetry Friday roundup this week at Keri Recommends.

2 Nonfiction Picture Books

I am looking for more informational picture books to read aloud early in the school year. I am looking for books that might spark some notebook writing as we launch writing notebooks. I found 2 that I think will work out great for this early in the year.

A Chicken Followed Me Home! Questions and Answers About a Familiar Fowl by Robin Page
The premise of this book is that if a chicken followed you home, what would you wonder? Each page spread focuses on one of those questions and then gives readers an answer about chickens in general and then about the specific chicken that is following you home. This is a great Q and A format and it will also be good to talk about wonderings and questions you have throughout the day or about specific topics.  I love Robin Page's work and she is an author I want my students to know.

I'm Trying to Love Spiders by Bethany Barton is one that will make kid laugh. The author hates spiders and is trying to love them. But she just wants to squish them (and she does squish a few). But as she learns more about spiders, she starts to realize they aren't so bad. A fun way to learn about spiders and a fun type of writing to try in notebooks early in the year, I think.

#cyberpd

Tomorrow, at 8 PM EST,  there will be a final #cyberpd chat with participants talking about Digital Reading: What's Essential in Grades 3-8.  I coauthored this book with Bill Bass and we were honored when  the  #cyberpd team --Cathy Mere (@cathymere), Laura Komos (@laurakomos) and Michelle Nero ) @litlearningzone-- told us that they had chosen the book for this year's #cyberpd talk.

If you have followed #cyberpd over the years, you know what an amazing and powerful conversation it is. If you haven't heard of it, it is definitely something you'll want to look forward to next summer. This year was the 5th annual #cyberpd event and the group continues to grow! If you want to know more about this year's event as well as about past years, you can read all about it on Cathy Mere's blog.

As the authors of the book that the #cyberpd community was discussing, I must admit, we were VERY nervous. It is one thing to have your book out there in the world. It is another thing to have a group of people who you learn from daily and respect incredibly, read it together and discuss it on a public forum.

As the weeks went on and I followed the conversation on Twitter and on the Google Community,  I found my list of notes and thoughts growing. I jumped onto the Google Community every few days, thinking I'd just pop in for a few minutes-- and then I'd realize I'd spent 2 hours reading posts, jotting ideas, exploring things mentioned, etc. I learned so much and have so much to think about around digital reading as we go into this next school year.  I was amazed at how people took the thinking we had in Digital Reading and expanded it, connected it to their own classrooms and schools and connected with others to make the ideas bigger.  There were visuals created by members of the community that clearly synthesized ideas about digital reading. And the community Pinterest Board continues to grow.  People collaborated to solve problems around the ideas throughout the month. (I love that primary teacher Deb Frazier is asking the community to help her bring resources together for young readers.)

Bringing so many readers together to discuss a book and an idea over a few summer weeks is a hugely powerful PD, that's for sure!  It was a bit surreal to have written a book on digital reading and then to see the power these digital tools were having on the readers responding to the book. (Cathy wrote about the power of the Google Community in a recent blog post.) I've been thinking a great deal about authenticity lately and the whole idea of #cyberpd and the ways the tools help us read more deeply than we ever could before was visible every day in this community.  We know that our thinking grows when we put our heads together and the power of digital tools to expand the possibilities of thinking together and growing ideas was evident every day in the #cyberpd community.

Digital Reading is a hard topic. We are all learning about it as we go, so we know our book has no "right" answers on the topic. Instead, it is our best thinking about it...for now.  Our goal, when we wrote Digital Reading, was to expand the conversation about how these new tools might change our work with children in classrooms. We wanted lots of smart people who were grounded in good literacy practice to find the conversation about the role of technology to be a worthwhile one.  We wanted to think with others about the ways digital tools could expand the ideas about literacy in our classrooms.

We can't thank the #cyberpd community enough for choosing our book and for inviting us into the conversation. I know that we've both learned so much over the past few weeks and have connected with so many people who have pushed our thinking. We look forward to the final chat on Tuesday. We hope to see you there!

A Great Day at the Scholastic Reading Summit!

I was lucky enough to attend the Scholastic Reading Summit in Cincinnati last week. I really didn't know what to expect but I figured that if Donalyn Miller, John Schumacher and Cynthia Lord would be speaking, it would be a great day. And it was!

I pulled into the hotel parking lot the day before the Summit and saw the Scholastic Book Fair trucks! It is always a happy day when those trucks are in the area. Way better than any ice cream truck--that's for sure!

It was an extra treat to have time to go to lunch and to visit a bookstore with these 4. At one point I was looking at books alone and I thought to myself, "You are in a bookstore with John Schu and Colby Sharp. What are you doing by yourself? Go follow their every step and pay attention to every word they say in here!" So I did and I bought a good stack of books. Shopping with this crew is fun... expensive, but fun!

 READING SUMMIT KICK OFF!!

Starbucks and great friends! What could make for a better morning?

The incredible people of Scholastic!  
We heard the mission of getting books into every child's hands, we heard research about reading and we heard book talks from these amazing individuals working to get all kids reading.

KEYNOTE BY DONALYN MILLER

The morning keynote was given by Donalyn Miller. I've been lucky to hear Donalyn speak a few times this year and it is always a treat--she always reminds us of our most important work with children. Incredible opening keynote!

Some of my favorite takeaways from Donalyn's keynote are below:

A SESSION WITH MR. SCHU

For the morning session, Katherine, Colby and I heard John Schu. If you have never heard John Schu, I would make that your new goal.  Even though I follow his blog and I read every tweet, watch every video and listen to every online book recommendations, there is nothing like hearing John talk about books in real life!

John knows the best books and has great stories behind every one. He notices things I never pay attention to.  And his session is great fun!  He is definitely the Oprah of books! A great session!

BOOK FAIR!

The Scholastic Book Fair was open all day.  Yes, that's right..great speakers, great people and great books! I have been looking forward to reading this new book by Jennifer and Matthew Holm for a while  so I was THRILLED to get it at the book fair!

And who knew that this amazing nonfiction series is available in Spanish? My 3rd graders LOVED this series and to find them in Spanish was a real treat!

LEARNING ABOUT CONFERRING WITH DONALYN MILLER

A great session about conferring with Donalyn Miller. Some of the best learning form this session is below:

A MESSAGE FROM COLBY SHARP

Colby Sharp talked to us about his reading life. He shared an important message in a very powerful  few minutes.  He said:

"I hope that this fall your hearts are focused on finding the right book for every child. When we do that, everything is possible." Brilliant.

KEYNOTE BY CYNTHIA LORD

I have loved Cynthia Lord and her books for a very long time.  To hear her speak was another great thing about the day.  She was amazing! My favorite line from her talk was:

"I know that feeling when you open a book expecting to find a story, but instead you find yourself." WOW!

If you weren't able to attend a Scholastic Reading Summit this year, I'd highly recommend one in the future. It was a fabulous day!  In the meantime, visit the Open a World of Possible site. We watched a few videos from the site and I LOVED them. Excited to use a few with students in the fall.  Here's one of my favorites:

You can also revisit the Scholastic book Open a World of Possible that I blogged about this fall--I'm revisiting it to find pieces to share with students this fall.  You can also follow the #ReadingSummit or the #sharepossible hashtags on Twitter.

A great day  that left me inspired and ready to start a new school year!