It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Thanks to Jen and Kellee for hosting this great weekly event at TEACH MENTOR TEXTS!

I haven't done a It's Monday post for a while so I'll catch you up on the last few weeks of my reading. I spent  the end of June reading some series books that Tony Keefer and others recommended. I am trying to mostly catch up on books I will need to know as I go back into a 4th grade classroom this fall.  Fun books that lots of kids might be reading in early 4th grade. Although I had these in the library, I hadn't gotten a chance to read them so I spent some time doing that.

DRAGONBREATH by Ursula Vernon was a fun read. I can see why lots of my 3rd graders were hooked last year. The character is a likable one and the plot was fun.  I can see readers of graphic novels such a Babymouse enjoying this series as well. Mary Lee reviewed the first in this series 3 YEARS AGO. So I am definitely a little late in reading it. Glad I finally did.

I enjoyed SNARF ATTACK (RIOT BROTHERS) far more than I expected to.  I am not big on goofy humor but I liked these two characters and found myself laughing out loud often throughout the book. I will definitely get more of this series for the classroom. The book was definitely goofy, but in a good way. There are big supports for readers and the plot and characters are engaging.

I also enjoyed the book from Jake Maddox's SOCCER SHOOTOUT.  This is a book that is part of a collection of sports books by this same author. The books seem great for readers who are not yet ready for longer books. Maddox also seems like an author that can stretch readers beyond the sports they are reading. This story had a good plat about two boys who play the same position in soccer. The real-life sports issue was a good one and the plot was definitely engaging. Looking forward to getting more of these for the classroom. I discovered the Sports Illustrated Graphic Novels earlier this year and think Maddox's books will support readers who love to read sports stories about kids their age.

I read my first book in the BINDI series called A WHALE OF A TIME. Bindi's Wildlife Adventures is a nice series that focuses on topics different from most series books. Author Bindi Irwin is the daughter of the Crocodile Hunter and has a passion for animals and the environment. In this particular story, Bindi and her friends are out on a boat when they notice an oil spill from a nearby boat. The work together to do what they can to get the spill taken care of and to protect the whales that live in this part of the ocean. These books are short so very accessible to kids. But I haven't seen other series books for this age that focus on kids and the environment. Readers of animal books will love this series.

I also read GUY-WRITE by Ralph Fletcher which I LOVED and reviewed last week.

This week, I spent time reading books on my ever-growing TBR stack. I was thrilled to pick up an ARC Of Sharon Creech's upcoming novel THE GREAT UNEXPECTED. This was a great story about two girls who meet a boy who falls out of a tree. Lots happens from there and the girls get caught up in quite an adventure--one that brings them closer to those people who love them. This is another great story by Creech about belonging and finding out who you really are. This book is due out in early September.

My favorite read of the week was HORTEN's MIRACULOUS MECHANISMS by Lissa Evans. This is the story of Horten who moves to a new city with his parents. While he is there, he discovers that he had a great uncle who was a magician and that his workshop is hidden somewhere in the city. Horten goes on a quest to find the workshop and makes some friends along the way.  This story is just plain fun and it looks to be the first in a series.

I have been meaning to read EMILY'S FORTUNE by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for a while and I finally go to it this week. I can see why Mary Lee raves about it. This is a fun story of a girl who has lost her family and is on a trip to live with her aunt across the county.  But the trip is not an easy one as she escapes many close calls with people who don't have her best interests in mind. A fun fast-paced story. (Mary Lee reviewed this one a while back.)

Finally, I read ON THE ROAD TO MR. MINEO'S--Barbara O'Connor's upcoming novel. I LOVE LOVED LOVED this book and will write more about it soon. I was so happy to have been lucky enough to read it early and I can't wait to get a copy of the book when it is released on October 2. More to come on this book soon, I promise!

Kindred Souls

Kindred Souls
by Patricia MacLachlan
Katherine Tegen Books (HarperCollins), 2012

My eyes welled up on page two of this book, and when I put it down I gulped back a sob.

Patricia MacLachlan dedicated this book to the memory of her father. "...born in a sod house on the prairie he loved."

My father would have been 85 this year. He was born in a sod house.

How I wish he were here, watching the birds -- no hummingbirds, but definitely redtailed hawks. How I wish a good dog -- a farm dog -- an angel dog -- named Lucy could find him. How I wish I could build him a sod house.


This book is a poem that you read with your heart. It refuses to be condensed into a plot summary. Go read it. Keep a hankie close by.

Organizing the Classroom Library

I've spent some time in my new classroom over the past few weeks. I love being there and thinking about the space. I know it is early, but I need to start the year off organized and I wanted to get things moved and unpacked. I wanted to spend time thinking about the best way to use the space. (My husband is always a huge help during these first few days in the classroom--moving things over and over until it feels like it will work for student learning:-) One of the biggest jobs is always organizing the classroom library. I want the library to teach students about being a reader. I want the books to be accessible but I also want the organization to help students learn ways of choosing books, finding favorite authors, trying new things, etc. I want the library to meet the needs of every reader in the classroom from the very first day. I feel like I finally have a good start on the library and thought I'd share some of the process.

One wall of the classroom (the one that you see as you walk in the door) is a wall of shelves. The shelves are built in and are pretty much from floor to ceiling. I knew I wanted kids to see books when they walked in and I also knew the students could not reach the top shelf easily. (It was tempting to use that top shelf for my own storage but a good friend taught me the importance of eliminating messes that you can see from the doorway and I always create messes in storage areas.)  So I lowered a few of the shelves, making space on top for oversized books to display. I know these books will be gone most of the time but there seem to be so many books that are a little too big for a regular shelf and I don't want those to get lost --I want them to be visible. So I used this shelf area for mostly fiction--baskets are sorted by series and authors that I am thinking will be popular in the early part of 4th grade. I have a variety of easier and more difficult series/authors. I know these will change but I want everyone to walk in seeing old favorites as well as new possibilities. The last shelf in this area is designated to the fiction novels that don't fit into an author/series category but may as the year goes on. I want 4th graders to begin to know themselves and their tastes. Finding authors and series you love will help them think ahead as readers and begin conversations around who they are as readers.

The Smartboard is front/center in the room and I want it to be accessible during read aloud, minilessons etc. So I created the meeting space around the board but not so that it is the center. I built out the shelves a bit so that the "front" is at the easel but it is a flexible space for using whatever tools available. I plan to put nonfiction on these shelves next to the easel and behind.

Behind the easel/meeting area will be the nonfiction books. I am thinking hard about ways to organize these so that they are more accessible for student reading. I want students to choose these for independent reading, to find topics and authors they love, find series that hook them--just as they do with fiction. I also wanted to create a comfy space for sitting with books and friends. This area of the library is next-up on my list but the space is set.

I have 4 small shelves in the back of the room at the edge of the meeting area. I plan to put picture books on these--those we'll use for independent reading, writing mentors, etc. Many picture books are also in the NF section.  I always hesitate putting picture books in a different area from fiction novels but it seemed to make sense with the space this year. I'll use the two shelves on the right for picture books.  I plan to use the shelf closest to the Smartboard to highlight new books. I am hoping to get some low display shelves for directly in front of the Smartboard to highlight books that are currently being read/discussed in classroom. 

This is my favorite shelf! It is right next to the picture books and it houses graphic novels. I was happy to see that I've really added to my GN collection in the past few years and I had enough to justify an entire shelf. I think this will be a good message for kids--to see that graphic novels are as important as any other kind of book in the classroom. There are a variety of authors and genres represented with Babymouse playing a key role, as she should! This shelf makes me happy!

I have built quite a collection of poetry for the classroom. Years ago, as I realized poetry was not a favorite for me, personally, I decided to deliberately build my poetry collection. As I was sorting books, I was shocked to see just how much that collection has grown. Our district gives each classroom a library of books an many are great poetry. So between my books and the ones in the district collection, I had to find a good space.

This is what you see when you walk straight into the classroom.  I decided to dedicate this whole area to poetry as I needed the space and it seems to fit well.  This space is off to the side a bit so a small rug and low table in front will make the poetry inviting. And I have top shelf space to change out books on display.  I may also add the word play books that I have to the top of this shelf. (You see the Bananagrams are already there.) Seems a fitting place.

These pictures might give the impression that the classroom only has books. But I believe strongly that kids needs lots of tools for learning.  And I want it all to be visible so students know right away that all tools are valued in the classroom.  Years ago, I had books visible with math and science materials in cabinets, out of view. I realized the message was not one I wanted to give so I now work hard to put as many tools as possible out there in the view of students. I want them to have visual reminders of all of the tools available for them and I want them to be able to access the tools readily.  Students' cubbies are on one wall of the classroom with storage underneath. I plan to use the bottom areas for board games (I have lots of math and learning games), building toys, science tools,  math manipulatives, etc.  The drawers near the sink are already filled with magnets, velcro, etc that kids can access. And I have a shelf near the doorway that will house supplies such as pencils, staplers, paper clips, sticky notes, etc.

Lots to do, but happy about the basics of the room so far.

Poetry Friday -- Storm Chasing

TORNADO WEATHER

by Vincent Wixon

1.
Clouds build all day,
hold west of the section.
Plowing east he feels them
piling darker, deeper.

(read the whole poem at The Writer's Almanac)

TORNADO WEATHER describes the lead-up to the storm -- the sudden change of temperature. The first stinging raindrops. The greenish sky.  Violet Nesdoly's amazing extended haiku LIGHTNING (from Poetry Friday last week) describes what it feels like to be in the middle of the lashing, flashing storm.

Last Friday morning, we had no inkling of the storm that would barrel down on us later that afternoon, ripping mature trees out of the ground and breaking smaller trees off like matchsticks.

Our house was only without power for 72 hours. I got an email from a friend whose service was restored last night at 11:00, after 7 DAYS without power. I'm sure there are still folks without power, or who, like our neighbor who lost his home when a tree fell on it, felt their lives veer suddenly in a new direction last Friday.

Here's the weirdest thing about this Poetry Friday post. I started this post last Thursday, intending to use a picture of an Eastern Colorado storm and the story of chasing it. Then I got distracted by the Wordle revision fun and set this post aside for later use. So was there really no inkling of the storm, or???

Tabatha has today's Poetry Friday roundup at The Opposite of Indifference.

June Mosaic

So many stories this month. Family quilt stories, carousel memories, All Write inspirations, heat and drought, storm damage, two animal rescues (Coopers Hawk chick and a little dog named Troy).

I have five years of photos in my iPhoto (6,988 shots), and three more years archived from my old computer. There are four years worth of mosaics on Flickr. I realized at All Write, that what started as a modified version of Project 365 on Flickr has become a really powerful digital writer's notebook. Sometimes I sketch before I write, sometimes I web out my ideas, sometimes I pick from a list of brainstormed topics...and sometimes my prewriting is just look at a photo and either tell the story that's there, or imagine a new one.

You can see larger versions the pictures (and bits of stories in the captions) on Flickr.

GUY-WRITE by Ralph Fletcher

As many of you know, I received a copy of Ralph Fletchers book, GUY-WRITE:  WHAT EVERY GUY WRITER NEEDS TO KNOW a little bit early. If you must know, he actually handed it to me at the All Write dinner.  I felt terribly guilty about getting a copy when my good friends did not. (I am sure you can see the guilt and worry on my face in the photo above.) Anyway,  I was thrilled to get a copy before its release date and started reading right away. (The book is available this week-I would not be so mean as to review it before you could actually get your hands on a copy:-)

Ralph Fletcher has a knack for writing books about writing for kids. I have always loved his books and my students have learned so much from his wisdom.  One of my favorites to use with kids has always been A WRITER'S NOTEBOOK: UNLOCKING THE WRITER WITHIN YOU.  But I think after finishing GUY-WRITE, it might now be a tie.

GUY-WRITE is directed at middle grade/middle school boys. It is chapter book length with chapter titles like:  "Riding the Vomit Comet: Writing About Disgusting Stuff", "Sports Writing", and "Draw First and Write Later".  The book will definitely appeal to boy writers, and it has lots of wisdom for teachers as well.

Ralph Fletcher talks directly to boys in this book. He talks with honesty and purpose.  Readers will sense this right away. Not only does he talk with honesty but he includes a lot of humor.  Ralph talks to boys about writing "disgusting stuff",  when and how to include bloody scenes, the importance of drawing for some writers, and how to improve your sports writing. The booked is packed with tips on how to improve your writing--how to get better as a writer--focusing specifically on things like this.

The thing I maybe like best about this book is the balance Ralph finds between understanding the needs of boys as writers and understanding the limitations teachers/schools often put on them.  He knows that many schools don't allow any writing about weapons and he talks honestly to readers about this. He gives them advice on ways to talk to teachers about the importance of some of these things to their stories and he also talks to them about how to know what works for school writing.  In the process, he also teaches kids the when and how of writing "gross" or "battles". He pushes the point that there needs to be a point to including these and shows readers lots of examples of ways in which the writing is done well and in context of a good piece. And he is very honest when talking to readers about stories he's read by boys that are just episodes of grossness or violence without a plot or purpose.  He makes strong points throughout the book about the place of these things.

Another thing I love about this book is the set of Author Interviews sprinkled throughout the book.
 Ralph interviews some great authors who are pros at the kinds of writing Ralph writes about. Jon Scieszka's interview focuses on writing about disgusting stuff.  Greg Trine talks about superhero writing.  Five author interviews are included and each will be interesting to writers.

There are some good lessons here for teachers too. I feel like Ralph is writing to boy writers, but he is also writing to the adults in these writers' lives.  Ralph reminds us how important it is for some boys to draw before they write. He reminds us that there is good writing that includes bloodshed and that sometimes gross stuff does belong in a story. And since most of us (teachers) don't include this kind of thing in our own writing, he gives us ways to support kids who do include it.  His work helped me see that there is a craft to all of this writing and learning to do it well will help writers grow in all areas of their writing. He is an advocate for boy writers and is sometimes working to help adults better understand the ways in which we can support them.

The first book I read written by Ralph Fletchers was WHAT A WRITER NEEDS. It is still one of my favorite books on the teaching of writing. It was this book that defined for me what was meant by mentor text and how to use great text to teach students the craft of good writing within a good Writing Workshop. I thought of this book again when I was reading GUY-WRITE.  Ralph embeds mentor pieces throughout the book--letting young writers and teachers see all that is possible.  He focuses on boy writers and issues that seem to be more common with this gender, but as always, Ralph is speaking to all writers--reminding them about the qualities of good writing and helping them to grow.

My book has about 30 sticky notes stuck throughout. I tabbed so many pages that would make for a good minilesson. This book has huge possibilities. It provides me with a great resource to use not only for minilesson work, but in writing conferences. It will certainly be read cover to cover by many writers this year, I'm sure. And it will be a book I go back to for my own understanding.  I am pretty sure I'll need several copies of this one in the classroom this year and one that is just for me!

(Patrick Allen has another review of this book up on his blog. All-en-A-Day's Work.

Amelia Lost

Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart

by Candace Fleming 

Schwartz & Wade, 2011

Last night I finished reading Amelia Lost. This morning I read this on The Writer's Almanac:

It was 75 years ago today, in 1937, that Amelia Earhart was last heard from, somewhere over the Pacific. She and her navigator, Fred Noonan, had set off in May from Miami to fly around the world in a Lockheed Electra. She said, "I have a feeling that there is just about one more good flight left in my system, and I hope this trip is it." 

They had completed all but about 7,000 miles of the trip when they landed in New Guinea. Maps of this part of the Pacific were inaccurate, and U.S. Coast Guard ships were in place to help guide them to their next stop, the tiny Howland Island. The weather was cloudy and rainy when they left New Guinea. At 7:42 a.m., Earhart communicated to the Coast Guard Cutter Itasca: "We must be on you, but we cannot see you. Fuel is running low. Been unable to reach you by radio. We are flying at 1,000 feet." Her last transmission, about an hour later, was "We are running north and south." 

Franklin Roosevelt sent nine ships and 66 aircraft to search for the downed plane, to no avail. 

This month, 75 years after Earhart's disappearance, a new search team will use robotic submarines to comb the area where they think the Electra went down.

Cosmic, eh?

This is the kind of longer nonfiction I can imagine reading aloud to fourth grade and up. Fleming does an excellent job maintaining tension, even though we pretty much know the story. She does this by alternating between chapters about Earhart's disappearance and the search that was conducted for her, and chapters that tell her life story.

My next #bookaday/#paredownthetbrpile book will be The Good, The Bad, and the Barbie. At first glance, it might seem to be a ironic choice. But I'm interested to see what kind of overlap there is between Amelia, the legendary/mythic/iconic role model for women/girls, and the much-maligned toy role model/monster/psychological destroyer know as Barbie.

Poetry Friday -- Wordle Poetry Quick-Write

Yesterday's quick-write prompt at Kate Messner's Teachers Write! Summer Camp invited us to use Wordle to discover the theme of our writing and to learn more about our characters.

I made two versions of a Wordle out of six poems I recently submitted. (It's a little disturbing to see the extremely pedestrian word LIKE as the biggest word in the cloud, but when I looked back at the poems, I found that just one poem was the culprit, and those "likes" were quite necessary in the context of that poem. Whew!)

Then, because I do love to twist the writing prompts into my own braid of ideas, I used the Wordles as if (I almost said like...) they were Magnetic Poetry. I created a poem using just the words I could find in my Wordles. It was quite a fun exercise that I would recommend!


AWE

Hope spirals,
cloud-weary
at midday.

Girl turning.
Wish travels
through sunbeams.

Spin wonder:
soar, flutter...
keep dreaming.

© Mary Lee Hahn, 2012



Marjorie has the Poetry Friday roundup at PaperTigers. The schedule for July-December is filled, and I'll get the html code into files at the Kidlitosphere Yahoo Group and to Pam for the calendar at the Kidlitosphere Central website this weekend. If you don't belong to the Yahoo group but would like the code for your sidebar, just send me a request: mlhahn at earthlink dot net.

Happy Friday!

Your Character's Playlist

Flickr Creative Commons Photo by rifqi dahlgren

OUTA MY WAY

I'm an ant.

My eyes are big,

my joints are orange,

my bite means business.

I have work to do.

You're in my way. 

I'm warning you --

my bite means business.

You better move.
I'm just one.
A hundred-hundred more
are following.

And we mean business.

Music this ant hums as he marches along (with his hundred-hundred comrades): March of the Defenders of Moscow, sung by the Red Army Choir.

And yet, after a day of marching, there's nothing this ant likes better than to kick back, relax, and tap into his creative side. He invites his friends to pose for portraits in his photo studio. Then he composes his own music and he posts his photo/music montages on YouTube, in the hopes that he will increase appreciation for the Formicidae family.

All business by day, all arts by night, this is one multi-faceted ant (and we're not just talking about his eyes, folks!!).

* * * * * * *

What on earth is this crazy post doing here? It's my response to the Tuesday Quick-Write for Teachers Write! Summer Writing Camp. I didn't really follow the rules very well. (What did you expect?!?) But I had fun getting into the head of this ant.

Teachers Write! Summer Camp with Kate Messner

I've been dipping in and out of Teachers Write! for the past few weeks, using the prompts and taking the challenges as my schedule would allow.

Now that I've got a clear stretch of time to dig back into my own reading and writing life, I'm looking forward to getting more involved with the community of writers that have gathered at Kate's virtual summer camp.

And how lucky was I, that the day I got back to being more scheduled with my writing and more dedicated to my participation in Teachers Write!, the mini-lesson was given by Ruth McNally Barshaw, author/illustrator of the Ellie McDoodle books! I LOVE Ellie McDoodle!

Ruth's mini-lesson? Sketch before writing. Sketch during writing. Sketch to understand your writing (character, setting, plot -- with storyboarding).

Down to the basement I went, and look what I found waiting for me in one of the tubs stacked on the bonus desk down there:

I knew my colored pencils were there, but I forgot about the virtually unused sketch book (it's been almost 10 years since I sketched and wrote in it!!), the water colors, and the water color colored pencils that can be brushed and blended with water.

I used my camera as my digital "sketch book" when I took my walk this morning, then sat on the front porch in the shade of the oak tree,

writing and sketching from the shots I took...and from the meanderings of my brain.

There are bits and pieces of a poem-to-be about our big front yard oak tree on this page of doodling in words and images.

It made me unbelievably happy to reconnect to my artistic self in my writing process. Thank you, Kate. And thank you, Ruth!

All Write Summer Institute

Mindy Hoffar and her peeps run an incredible Summer Institute every year in Indiana.  Last week was the annual event. It was a two day institute. Last year, a group of Twitter friends decided to attend. We had such a great time that we all returned this year.  I did a few sessions on Thursday and stayed for the 2nd day of the conference.  It was such a great few days. Not only was it a great institute, but it was so fun to see good friends.  There was a group of about 10 of us from Central Ohio (several from Dublin) and lots of other friends from around the country that we got to spend time with. Such fun learning with friends.

Not only were the sessions great but being there with friends made the institute even better. Not only did we have meals together, runs together and late night snacks together, but we had carloads of us drive in from various places around the area.  The car ride alone, talking to Karen and Tony for uninterrupted hours, was some great professional learning in itself.

We started the conference with a fun dinner at the Boathouse restaurant in Warsaw. Ruth took care of making the plans and we all had a great time catching up.

I couldn't possibly share all that I learned or all that I left thinking about. But I thought I'd share some highlights.

One of the things I left with was the overall theme of the two days. It was an unplanned theme, I think. But every speaker seem to be giving similar messages about bringing joy back to the classrooms--remaining grounded in our work with children.  It was great to hear this in so many ways, from so many brilliant people.

The Twitter friends getting ready for Ruth's opening keynote. (You'll notice that Tony is following Paul's Rider by leaving an empty chair next to Paul.)

Ruth Ayres gave one of the most brilliant keynote I've heard.  She was genuine and graceful and smart about all that she said. Her keynote title alone was brilliant. The keynote was titled, "Mandates, Standards and Evaluation: Can Teachers Still Change the World?"  She reminded us about being joyful in the classroom. She reminded us that we control our attitudes. She reminded us that, yes, we can change the world.  Here are some of Ruth's most brilliant quotes from her keynote:

Our mission should be one of story. Story allows us to change the world.


Living your story may be the most important thing you do in your classroom.


The decisions you make are based on knowledge and research and wisdom.


It's time to trust ourselves again and do the things needed for students' well being.


And a quote Ruth shared from Hal Bowman, "It's really not that complicated.  All you have to do is send them home a little bit better than they came to you in the morning."


Ruth reflected on her keynote on her blog, Two Writing Teachers.

I was able to hear Jim Burke talk about the 4 Cs of writing.  He talked about the importance of commitment, content, competency, and capacity. He reminded us of the importance of time and the unique work of academic writing. He also talked about the recent emphasis on reading in schools that has really impacted writing instruction. Jim gave me lots to think about. I want to think about what his thinking means for elementary students. I loved his ideas about digital essays and the ways he used Google searches to help students build background knowledge. My favorite quote from Jim was:

Writing is probably the largest orchestra your brain will ever conduct.

The dinner event was held next door to the hotel and Ralph Fletcher was the speaker. He talked about writing notebooks.  I could talk about his session, but instead I want to share some info on his upcoming book, Guy-Write.  It is a book for boys about writing.  I love the boy audience and Ralph is the perfect person to write this book. Ralph brought me a copy of the book (due to be released in early July) and some of my tablemates were a little jealous. Granted, I was a little bit excited about getting the book and I may have shown it. (I believe Paul called me "smug.")  And I didn't have the empathy I should have for others at the table who did not get a copy of the book. Even after I saw their shocked and sad faces. But, I understand there was a plot to steal the book....

If you have heard the rumor that I did not share the book, let me assure you that it was merely a rumor. Of course I shared the book. Here is proof:

Paul looking at Franki's copy of Guy-Write

Not only did we get to hear Ralph at dinner, but I also went to his morning session on Mentor Texts. He had us write a bit--you can read a poem that Mary Lee wrote in this session on last week's Poetry Friday post.  A few of my favorite quotes from this session include:

Those of us who teach writing need to take advantage of short texts.


Don't squeeze all the juice out of a mentor text.

Patrick Allen and Ruth Ayres did a session together on the impact our own reading and writing have on our teaching. I got to this session a bit late so I missed the first 20ish minutes.  Ruth talked about the importance of "nudging joy" and asked us to ask ourselves, "Are the kids in my classroom feeling this kind of joy?"  She talked about the importance of teaching that nourishes, nudges and strengthens.  Two quotes that I loved from this session were:

The best professional development is to build our own reading and writing lives. (Ruth)


I want kids to leave with a little text in their hearts and minds. (Patrick)


In the afternoon I went to a session by Patrick Allen on Synthesis.  Patrick so understands reading instruction and strategy instruction.  I have heard him talk about conferring with students but had never heard him talk about synthesis.  An important thing he said that I am thinking about was the way he talks to his studnets about what "wise" readers do instead of what "good" readers do.  


What matters most to student learning? Thinking, Understanding, Decision-Making, Purpose

Thinking strategies are intentional plans readers use to help themselves make sense of their reading.


I got to hear Donalyn Miller talk about the ideas behind her new book about authentic reading.  She asked us to think about whether we were creating independent or dependent readers in our classrooms. There was a ton to think about. During Donalyn's session, I took this photo of our friend Stella who was busy taking notes (while also tweeting on the iPad!) and doing lots of thinking, as we all were! Love this picture of Stella!

Two favorite quotes from Donalyn were:

We need to spend some time explicitly teaching reading habits to kids.


We are not expecting kids to read nearly as much as they are capable of reading.


Katie Wood Ray ended the conferences with her keynote titled,  "Holding on Tight to What is Common to Our Core."  As always, Katie's talk was amazing. I have read everything she's ever written, heard her speak more times than I can count, and I am inspired by her every single time.  She talked about the impact of Common Core and the power of writing workshop and reminded us that we know the growth our students make because we have writing workshops in place.  Some favorite quotes from Katie:

Ways of being with children in classrooms will not change.


You will always own how you teach.


Nationalization of curriculum will not negate the beautiful truth of individual children.

She ended by saying, "We teach children. That is my stance."


You can go back and see all the tweets from the conference by searching the Twitter hashtag #allwrite12.  So many great things shared through Twitter during the two days.

I am already looking forward to next year's All Write Summer Institute!

Slides from All Write

I will be writing more about all that I learned at All Write this week--what an amazing few days of learning with friends! Such a great conference. I promised to post my slides on my Slide Share account. I did that this morning so here is the link to those. They sometimes miss things or cut things off when loaded to Slideshare but the links to every site and video are included so they should include the info people wanted. Hope it is helpful.  I have posted all 3 sessions--Digital Reading, Digital Writing and Planning Minilessons.

http://www.slideshare.net/Franki22

And for those who asked, my upcoming book on Planning Minilessons should be available from Choice Literacy in early fall.

Poetry Friday -- Mentor Texts

I'm at the All Write conference in Warsaw, Indiana.
I sort of lost track of time and forgot it was Friday.
Oops.
But Ralph Fletcher saved me.
At Ralph's session on mentor texts, he invited us to use the first two lines and the last two lines of his poem, "The Good Old Days" to write our own poem.

Here's my quick-write:

THE GOOD OLD DAYS

Sometimes I remember
The good old days

Getting my bike out of the little building
In the cool of the early morning

Snatching the ripest cherry tomateos from the vines
Before I headed to swim practice

Biking on the gravelly streets
Squinting into the sun

Throwing my towel on the still-wet grass by the pool
And diving into the shockingly cold water

Windmilling my arms to the end of the pool and back
Again and again until I was exhausted

I can't imagine
Anything better than that.


Amy at The Poem Farm has the Poetry Friday roundup this week, but I can't seem to link to her yet. Use the schedule in the sidebar to find her.

Oh, and speaking of the schedule, there are three spots open on the July-December PF Roundup schedule. If you want one of those three spots, leave a comment here.

Summer Solstice

Today is the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere). Today, the reason for the season has nothing to do with any kind of human construct. It's all about our planet, it's 23.5 degree tilt, and its yearly trip around our amazing star, the sun.

Solstice seems like the perfect day to spotlight three books by Molly Bang about the sun.

In 2004, Molly Bang wrote My Light, a celebration of the sun and a description of how we can transform sunlight into electricity.

In 2009 (with Penny Chisholm), Bang gave us Living Sunlight, one of the clearest explanations of photosynthesis (down to the molecular level) that you'll ever read. Again, a celebration of our sun.

This year (again with Penny Chisholm), in Ocean Sunlight, Bang celebrates the sun's role in sustaining life on our planet, specifically, in the habitat of the ocean.

She begins by reminding us what we know about photosynthesis on land, and how every food chain begins with plants harnessing energy from the sun. Then she asks us to think about food chains in the ocean:

"All ocean life is part

of food chains, too.

And every ocean food

chain starts when plants

catch my light.

But where

are the ocean's plants?"

Where? In the billion billion billion phytoplankton drifting in the oceans! A microscopic pasture that feeds larger and larger organisms, all the way up to the whales.

That's interesting and mind-boggling, but then she takes it to a whole new level...to the dark dark bottom of the ocean. How do the animals there get to participate in a sunlight-driven food chain when they have no light? They recycle all the "junk" that floats down from the surface. And how do the nutrients created by the life forms on the bottom of the ocean get up to the phytoplankton on the surface? The sun. The sun causes the currents that stir the oceans.

The sun. It always comes back to the sun. Life on earth, the water cycle, food chains, photosynthesis, oxygen and carbon dioxide, consumption and production.

Happy Solstice. 

Take a minute today to appreciate our sun.

IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Back to IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING! I love this tradition created by Kellee and Jen at TEACH MENTOR TEXTS. My reading list grows every Monday when I read about everyone else's reading!

I read some great books this week. I am trying to focus my reading on new 4th grade titles as well as series that I may have missed in the last few years.

THE TEMPLETON TWINS HAVE AN IDEA by Ellis Weiner is a great new middle grade novel that looks to be the first in a series.  This book is about twins who have an inventor for a father.  But they get kidnapped because of one of these inventions. The kids are clever though so it is quite a fun adventure. The book reminded me a tiny bit of The Series of Unfortunate Events in the storyline/crazy adventure and the humor combined.  I love the humor in this book. The narrator talks to the read often, usually with quite a bit of sarcasm.  This would make a fun read aloud for older middle grade readers with a sophisticated understanding of sarcasm and humor. I am already looking forward to the next book in this series.







I am a huge Lisa Graff fan and was thrilled to discover her new book DOUBLE DOG DARE. I love Lisa Graff because she is a brilliant middle grade author. She understands the age she writes for and she is able to tackle difficult subjects in a way that makes them accessible to middle grade readers.  She combines the perfect combination of serious issues and humor to write great books. In this book, a new student moves in.  A battle for the news anchor job begins and each of the people wanting the job agree to "double dog dares".  The dares are fun and kids will love to read about the dares, and how each turns out.  Embedded in the funny story about dares are issues of moving to a new town, friendship, family, divorce and more. This is a perfect book for 4th and 5th graders--one that will hook them from the very first chapter.

A series book that I read this week (recommended by Tony Keefer) was THE CHAMELEON WORE CHARTREUSE:  A CHET GECKO MYSTERY by Bruce Hale. I was not familiar with this series and was happy to find a new one that might engage some 4th graders. I enjoyed the book and will definitely include a basket of these in my classroom. I am not a huge middle grade mystery fan but this is a good mystery series. The word play in this book was my favorite part. Clever language makes the story fun to read.

My friend Tammy sent me a new picture book biography that I loved. QUEEN OF THE TRACK:  ALICE COACHMAN: OLYMPIC HIGH-JUMP CHAMPION by Heather Lang is the story of the first African-American woman to win a gold medal at the Olympics.  I love good picture book biographies, especially those that introduce us to stories of people who are not as well-known as they should be.

Poetry Friday Roundup is Here

HOW TO BE A POET

by Wendell Berry


    (to remind myself)

i

Make a place to sit down.
Sit down. Be quiet.
You must depend upon
affection, reading, knowledge,
skill—more of each
than you have—inspiration,
work, growing older, patience,
for patience joins time
to eternity. Any readers
who like your poems,
doubt their judgment.

ii

Breathe with unconditional breath
the unconditioned air.
Shun electric wire.
Communicate slowly. Live
a three-dimensioned life;
stay away from screens.
Stay away from anything
that obscures the place it is in.
There are no unsacred places;
there are only sacred places
and desecrated places.

iii

Accept what comes from silence.
Make the best you can of it.
Of the little words that come
out of the silence, like prayers
prayed back to the one who prays,
make a poem that does not disturb
the silence from which it came.




We'll have to delay our practice of the middle part of Mr. Berry's poem as we share and enjoy our poems via electric wire, communicating quickly, gazing at screens.

Leave your links in the comments. I'll round up periodically, and in between times, I'll find some silence and write some poems.

If you're interested in hosting a Poetry Friday roundup in June-December 2012, the place to sign up is here. There are only six dates left, so don't delay! (Yes, I'll go back later today and add the blogs and links for some of the ones that are incomplete. Bad planning to do the roundup and the call for hosts on the same Friday...)

*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

Steven Withrow, at Crackles of Speech, shares an original poem about his Maine Coon Calico, Muffin.

Lucky for us, Tara, at A Teaching Life, continues to investigate and explore the new Poet Laureate's poetry.

Meandering is the mode of the day with Robyn Hood Black, at Read, Write, Howl.

Violet, at Violet Nesdoly / Poems, meditates on the meaning of a metronome.

Charles Ghinga (Father Goose) has an original moon poem for us this week.

Book lovers and independent bookstore lovers, head over to Jama's Alphabet Soup for a wistful remembrance of bookstores and booksellers.

Julie Larios, at The Drift Record, shares a poet with us, rather than a poem. Check out his rakish pose. (Some whimsical eye candy for Jama's blog?) And definitely follow the link to the new book on Frost and his poems. I'm predicting that sales will jump today.

Douglas Florian, at Florian Cafe, treats us to another poem from his baseball collection POEM RUNS.

Iphigene, at Gathering Books, has a "remembering home" poem that reminds me a bit of Jama's. Just a bit.

Check it Out. That's Jone's blog and what you should do. On Wednesday, Jone interviewed Susan Taylor Brown. ( I have serious office envy.) Today, Jone is sharing an original "Lily" poem by Susan.

Linda, at TeacherDance, has written an original Father's Day poem for her husband, a great father and grandfather.

We have another meandering post from Renee, at No Water River. She takes us from bales of hay, to a dairy farm in Iowa, to a "plowboy" farmer who loves cowboy poetry, to a silly rendition of a classic poem about a dairy cow. MOO!

Laura, at Author Amok, writes in response to current events in Syria.

Tabatha, at The Opposite of Indifference, shows us a different side of the Boogieman.

Katya, at Write. Sketch. Repeat., found a fascinating book/poem connection.

Ed DeCaria has a new gig writing baseball poetry for The Hardball Times. He uses one by Marianne Moore to convince readers that baseball and poetry can harmonize, and he follows that with an original sudoku haiku.

Diane triples with her Poetry Friday posts every week! She has FOUR offerings this week:
At Random Noodling I have Rita Dove's poem "Daystar." Kurious Kitty celebrates Father's Day with a poem by Peter Markus from the anthology, Fathers. And, over at Kurious K's Kwotes' is a quote by Peter Markus. The Write Sisters has a father poem by Seamus Heaney, "Digging."

Doraine, at Dori Reads, has a post full of laughter and joy.

At Writing the World for Kids, Laura has some thought-provoking lyrics, and lots of people took part in her 15 Words or Less prompt for this week. (I need to get back in the habit of participating...)

Debbie shares a J. Patrick Lewis cat poem with fun plays on words this week at her blog Debbie Diller: A Journey in Learning.

Amy, at The Poem Farm, says goodbye to a beloved pet bunny.

Donna, at Write Time, wrote a Father's Day poem for her sons (about their father) that will bring tears to your eyes.

At Mainley Write, Donna feels the tug of tides in her original poem.

Andi, at A Wrung Sponge, had an urban fox sighting just after reading a poem about urban foxes in a new book by Marilyn Singer.

Marjorie, at Paper Tigers, shares a poem from Talking with Mother Earth/Hablando con Madre Tierra, a collection of poems by Salvadoran poet Jorge Argueta.

Liz, at Growing Wild, has an original poem about the summer swimming pool that is simply PERFECT!!

Anastasia shares THE CONSTRUCTION CREW by Lynn Meltzer (Author) and Carrie Eko-Burgess (Illustrator) at Booktalking.

Need a poem for Father's Day? Sylvia has a list of poetry books about fathers at Poetry For Children.

Carol, at Carol's Corner, is trying hard to savor the last year before both of her boys leave the nest. Her poem choice today is perfect for savoring and noticing small moments.

Elaine is sharing an original memoir poem at Wild Rose Reader today. More savoring!

Pentimento shares a poem about the long healing that comes after the loss of an infant.

Rena, who is On the Way to Somewhere, shares an original poem about a sock monster.

(Now it's time for lunch, and then I'm going to make the birthday cake for my mom's 85th birthday tomorrow. I'll be back to round up a few more posts when the three chocolately layers are cooling!)

Ruth has arrived at her motel after a day of traveling and shares with us a poem about having two homes. Even her blog's name seems to be a comment on the theme of place -- There is no such thing as a God-forsaken town.

Janet, at All About the Books with Janet Squires, shares a Lee Bennett Hopkins anthology about the wonders of museums.

Lorie Ann Grover writes, "At On Point I have Memory's Shimmer, and at readertotz we have How Doth the Little Crocodile."

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 2012, leave your choice(s) of date(s) in the comments. I'll update throughout the day to make it easier to see which dates have been claimed.

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.

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.

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. (I'm rounding up today, so that post will appear this afternoon. Stay tuned.)

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 the Kidlitosphere Yahoo group, I'll set up reminders on the calendar there. Plus, I'll send the schedule to Pam to put 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

6 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

13 Jone at Check it Out

20 Tara at A Teaching Life

27 Bibliophile at Life is Better With Books

August

3 Rena at On the Way to Somewhere...

10 Violet at Violet Nesdoly / Poems

17 Andi at A Wrung Sponge

24 Dori at Dori Reads

31 Sylvia at Poetry For Children

September

7 Katya at Write. Sketch. Repeat.

14 Diane at Random Noodling

21 Renee at No Water River

28 Marjorie at Paper Tigers

October 

5 Laura at Writing the World for Kids

12 Amy at The Poem Farm

19 Irene at Live Your Poem...

26 Linda at TeacherDance

November

2 Donna at Mainely Write

9 Ed at Think Kid, Think!

16 Anastasia at Booktalking

23 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading

30 Betsy at Teaching Young Writers

December

7 Robyn at Read, Write, Howl

14 Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup

21 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

28 Carol at Carol's Corner

Egghead

EGGHEAD
by Karla Oceanak
illustrated by Kendra Spanjer
Bailiwick Press, 2012
review copy provided by the publisher

Aldo Zelnick is ESTRANGED from his best friend Jack in this fifth book in the Aldo Zelnick Comic Novel series.

The series is alphabetic, and we're up to the letter E. (My reviews of the other 4 books are here.) Aldo's laziness gets the best of him in this book -- his refusal to put forth enough EFFORT to do well in ESPAÑOL...even to accept Spanish as worth the effort...understandably causes a rift between him and his best friend, Jack, a native Spanish speaker.

I wasn't as patient with Aldo as his parents and his other friends were. I didn't like this completely EGOCENTRIC side of Aldo. But he came through in the end, even sacrificing his Halloween candy, which, if you know Aldo, was a huge sacrifice.

There were lots of fun subplots in this book -- Aldo is reading A WRINKLE IN TIME, and he even makes a "Bacon Boy" (his own original comic character) cartoon retelling of the book. It is raining through most of the book, and Aldo and his friends build dams in the gutters, just like I did when I was a kid. And, because Aldo is doing a report on EINSTEIN and dressing like him for Halloween, there are lots of fun Einstein facts and science EXPERIMENTS woven into the story. (Make sure you don't miss the nod to EDWARD Gorey on the last page of the book!)

Next up in the series are FINICKY (looks like Aldo might need to start eating more healthily) and GLITCH (looks like a take-off on the Grinch).

IT'S A TIGER!

I was thrilled when I found a review copy of IT'S A TIGER in my mailbox from Chronicle Books. The book is written by David LaRochelle and illustrated by Jeremy Tankard. I immediately recognized Tankard's illustrations as he is an illustrator whose work I love (Me Hungry!).

This is a fun book that would make a great read aloud, especially for primary students. In the spirit of WE'RE GOING ON A BEAR HUNT, the narrator takes us through a jungle. We don't go looking for a tiger, but soon into the journey, readers spot a one and must run from it.  Readers are instructed to follow the narrator past vines, up a ladder, and onto an island in order to escape the tiger.  But at every turn, the tiger seems to appear.

This book is due to be released in August.  Right in time for the beginning of the school year!  Young readers will love the surprise and the predictability of this book. The illustrations make it an enjoyable kind of scary and the ending is a treat.  Definitely a great read aloud for primary classrooms. Kids will be dying to join in this journey!

GIANTS BEWARE! A Fun New Graphic Novel

I bought a copy of GIANTS BEWARE by Rafael Rosado and Jorge Aguirre at our Selections Book Fair. I hadn't seen it but it was a hit with the kids.  The cover grabbed my attention immediately and I knew it was a graphic novel that I wanted to read.  I read it last week as one of my #bookaday books and I LOVED it. It might be my new favorite graphic novel. It is perfect for middle grades and middle school. This is the story of Claudette, who lives in a town safe from evil. The town is walled in and no one can go out and one main reason is the giants. But Claudette isn't afraid and she wants to fight the giants rather than hide behind walls. She convinces (slyly and a little dishonestly) her brother and her best friend to accompany her on her journey to slay the giant.   I love this book for so many reasons:

1. I love the characters.  I love the way they are drawn and I love the development of each of the characters' personalities.

2. Claudette is a funny heroine--a female fighter at heart.  She is definitely one of my new favorite characters.

3. The graphics are engaging--I have trouble with graphic novels because I don't often spend enough time with the visuals. This book makes that part easy to do. Lots to look at and make sense of throughout.

4. I love Marie's hair. Marie is Claudette's best friend and she is an aspiring princess.

5. The humor is brilliant. And surprising. Throughout the book, there were these great lines that made me laugh out loud.

6. The combination of scary adventure and fun is perfect for middle graders.

A great read and I am hoping to see more Claudette books sometime soon!