Friday, November 08, 2013

READING IN THE WILD Blog Tour!



A Year of Reading is VERY excited about the release of Donalyn Miller's new book, Reading in the Wild!  When we fell in love with The Book Whisperer, we had never met Donalyn, but we knew that if we ever did, we would be great friends. She believed all that we believed about kids and books and reading.  We were part of her original fan club and we quoted her words everywhere!

Now, almost 5 years later, we do know Donalyn!  We have both worked with her and laughed with her.  She is a colleague and friend and we both feel so very lucky to know this brilliant teacher.  We have learned so much from her and we continue to learn from her every time we hear her speak, read her writing, or have a conversation with her. And how fun to have the chance to get a sneak peek at this very important new book and to be part of the kickoff blog tour for her new book!  

This new book adds to everything Donalyn taught us in her first book. This new book takes a look at the ways in which we, as teachers, can build lifelong readers. Donalyn is clear that if we really do want to build lifelong readers, we have to spend time on those in classrooms.  We have to be as thoughtful and strategic in our teaching to build lifelong reading habits as we are about our teaching of other skills and strategies. Such important work:-)

Donalyn has been on tour all week!  You can follow the tour at the following locations:

November 4 The Goddess of YA Literature
November 5 Mr. Schu Reads
November 6 Librarian's Quest
November 7 Nerdy Book Club (Katherine Sokolowski)
November 8 HERE!
November 9 Teach Mentor Texts
November 10 Sharpread

FRANKI: What are you most excited about in sharing your newest thinking in Reading In the Wild?  

DONALYN:  My colleague, Susan Kelley, and I surveyed hundreds of readers—both adults and children. Their observations about reading are scattered throughout Reading in the Wild. It is fascinating to read the similarities in reading experiences no matter their age or background. Looking at these commonalities, Susie and I were able to identify several habits that could be modeled and taught. Becoming a reader isn’t random or predicted at birth—we develop these traits over a lifetime. It’s exciting to see how we can intentionally foster students’ independent reading self-efficacy and engagement.

FRANKI:  Has your thinking changed at all since you wrote The Book Whisperer?

DONALYN: Since I wrote The Book Whisperer, I am less critical of other teachers. I have a deeper understanding of the role that school and district administration plays in creating shortsighted policies and structures like schedules that don’t allow for independent reading time, school library closures, lack of funding for books and professional development, and over-emphasis on test prep and scripted programs—these school-wide factors hinder students’ literacy development and are beyond one teacher’s control.

FRANKI: Tell us a bit about the title, “In the Wild”. Where did that come from?

DONALYN:  There is a disconnect between many students’ school and home reading lives. While students must master the ability to read and comprehend text, reading as a lifelong habit involves much more than a list of skills. Readers “in the wild” possess attitudes and behaviors that are not always supported or appreciated in a school setting. The conditions that we know encourage students’ reading engagement and self-efficacy—choice in reading material, access to books, significant daily reading time—these conditions are often controlled or defined at school. Reading at school is often reading in captivity, and many students never develop the ability to read avidly away from school.

FRANKi:  You’ve changed grade levels a bit in the last few years. How has that influenced your teaching? 

DONALYN:  Moving from middle school to elementary school two years ago, I learned that younger students need more shared reading experiences to become engaged with reading. I increased read alouds and developed a reading buddy relationship with a first grade classroom. There is also a difference in the types of books my elementary students like to read. Students are reading more nonfiction and realistic fiction text than my middle schoolers chose to read. I don’t have dystopian romances in the classroom library these days! Overall, the basic structures and goals for our class haven’t changed—students need to spend the majority of class time reading, writing, and talking about reading and writing.

FRANKI:  What are the things that remain the same in the teaching of reading and which things have you had to rethink with different age groups/teaching positions?

DONALYN:  I am teaching fifth grade language arts and social studies this year. Our social studies course is American History, so I enjoy finding ways to integrate reading, writing, and social studies when there is a natural fit. I have more students working on basic reading skills than I did in middle school, so my small group instruction looks different. I try to keep my small groups small (no more than three students) and focused (addressing one skill or concept at a time), but I need more groups to meet the needs of all of my students.

FRANKI: You make some great points about habits of readers being as important as skills and strategies. How do you make sure to keep that true in the day-to-day work of the classroom?

DONALYN:  I confer with students about their independent reading habits on a regular basis and build into my lesson plans intentional opportunities to teach, model, and practice independent reading habits. I explicitly show students how the reading skills and habits we discuss in class help them as readers over the long term.

FRANKI:  How do you manage to read as much as you do while still teaching full time, writing, and being a wife and mom?

DONALYN:  I carry a book with me everywhere I go and steal reading time whenever I can get it. I read a lot when I am traveling—reading on planes and in airports. I read before I go to bed at night. I read a staggering amount during school vacations.

FRANKI: Who have been your biggest influences when it comes to your work with children?

DONALYN:  My early influences were my professors in the Reading Department at the University of North Texas—Dr. Jeanne Cobb and Dr. Alex Leavell. They introduced me to reading and writing workshop and children’s literature. When I became a teacher, my principal, Dr. Ron Myers and my mentor, Susan Kelley, helped me connect the pedagogy I learned in school with practical classroom routines. Professional writers like Janet Allen, Nancie Atwell, Irene Fountas, and Ellin Keene expanded my understanding of good teaching practices and the importance of observing and listening to my students. These days, I am influenced by Penny Kittle, Kelly Gallagher, Debbie Miller, and Teri Lesesne. I still have a lot to learn about being a good teacher! 

FRANKI:  What are you thinking about now that this book is behind you?

DONALYN:  I gave myself permission not to jump into another project right away, but I am working on something with a few friends… I am not ready to talk about it much because we are still planning it. I can tell you that it is about reading and teaching!


Thank you, Donalyn!!


Poetry Friday -- Cinquains


I can't write a poem a day in November, of all months. Nor could I (ever?) write a novel in a month. No NaPo(a day)WriMo or NaNoWriMo for me!

But not one to leave ALL the challenges to everyone else, I have challenged myself to write a poem a week. Not just any old poem, I'm going to try writing one inspired by Tricia's Monday Poetry Stretch. This week, the stretch was to write a cinquain, and Tricia totally rescued this form for me. Lo and behold, cinquains were NOT invented to test a writer's knowledge of the parts of speech! They are more like a Japanese tanka, and follow a syllable pattern in the 5 lines of 2, 4, 6, 8, 2.

It was threatening to rain on Wednesday after school, so I kept the Environmental Club kids close to the building as we gathered gorgeously-colored fallen leaves from the Maples, Sweet Gums, and Bradford Pears out front.

When we brought our treasures inside, I had art supplies ready, and in less than 5 minutes, there was a creative hum in the room as the students tried to capture the beauty of the sky and trees on their paper. Vivaldi's Four Seasons played in the background.







Try to
capture Autumn's
color with paint, collage.
Today's art will be forgotten,
not lost.


Dark sky
Children's laughter
Brilliant colors of fall
Collect beauty strewn by the trees
New art


Brilliant
color against
heavy dark purple skies:
red, gold, green, orange, yellow, brown.
Rain begins.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013




Diane has today's Poetry Friday Roundup at Random Noodling.

Wednesday, November 06, 2013

Bugs in my Hair!


Bugs in My Hair!
by David Shannon
Blue Sky Press, 2013

**itches head**

Every teacher needs this book for her/his classroom. Buy it in honor of all the past, present and future students who discover to their great horror that there are bugs in their hair, feasting on their blood and having a "Lice-a-palooza!"

**itch itch**

Leave it to David Shannon to demystify a common childhood malady with some facts and a whole bunch of humor (both in the text and the illustrations -- my favorite is the closeup of the nit comb scraping those little buggers off every strand of the kid's red hair).

**itch itch**

Tuesday, November 05, 2013

CYBILS: Nonfiction Picture Books

I love being part of the CYBILS! It is always so wonderful to learn about and read so many books in a single category.  This year, I am part of the Elementary and Middle Grade Nonfiction Committee. I have loved discovering new books and am excited to share some on the blog.

It's Our Garden: From Seeds to Harvest in a School Garden by George Ancona is one I am so glad to have discovered.  A few years ago, I created a list of books to go along with the idea of community garden and I have only found a few more since then.  This new book is one that kids will love because they will see themselves in the book.  The book is told in narrative and follows the chronology of one New Mexico elementary school's community garden.  The book begins with one person's dream of a garden and takes us through lots of ideas, stages, learning and work.  It is clear that George Ancona spent lots of time in this school, learning about how the community garden is integrated into the school community.  The gorgeous photos not only capture the content of the information, but they also capture the joy and energy of the project.

Pedal It!: How Bicycles are Changing the World (Footprints) by Michelle Mulder is another book I'm happy to have recently discovered.  The book is a short chapter book (46 pages) about the history and impact of bicycles in our world.  The beginning of the book shares some important history in the invention timeline of the bicycles. The photos and artifacts bring these events to life for kids.  (The short news article about a woman wearing bloomers on a bicycle being warned of arrest was quite telling:-)  The rest of the book goes on to tell how and why bicycles are so important today and how they are used for different purposes in different places. Again, photos are an important way that this book shares information with readers. This book is packed with interesting information about bicycles and there are many possibilities for it in the classroom.

And what kid wouldn't like Toilet: How It Works (My Readers. Level 4)?   (I didn't realize that David
Macaulay has a series of these including one on castles, jet plane, and eyes.) This is a simple explanation of the way a toilet works.  The book helps readers make sense of how the toilet work through the use of words, illustrations and diagrams.  The book takes us from the meal we eat to the end of the cycle when the water is cleaned in a large tank.  An interesting read and a complex idea told in a way that young readers can grasp!

Monday, November 04, 2013

Looking Forward to These Books: November!

Lots of great new books coming out in November! These are those I am most excited about right now! I am so behind on my reading that I am sure there are lots more that I'm missing!?


 by Donalyn Miller


 by Ruth Ayres with Christi Overman


God Got a Dog by Cynthia Rylant












Fossil by Bill Thompson


The Sign Painter by Allen Say

Sunday, November 03, 2013

October Mosaic


Row 1: 1. Giants, Midgets and Oddballs at Ochs Fruit Farm in Lancaster, 2. Ochs, 3. Go This Way, 4. Mums, 5. More Wag, Less Oink (Fairfield County Fair)

Row 2: 1. Piglet Plea, 2. Goat Grin, 3. Fair Rides, 4. Stick Horse Race, 5. Sunflower Seeds (all Fairfield County Fair)

Row 3: 1. Goldenrod, 2. Preying Mantis, 3. Last Sunflower, 4. Heroic Grasshopper, 5. Last Coneflower (all school Land Lab + Yucca in the next row)

Row 4: 1. Yucca, 2. This one has a story. So our master bath is decorated with a bird theme. We've lived in the house for almost 17 years and I just noticed that there are two birds in the marbling of the vanity -- a short, stout Twitter-like bird on the right, and a caricature of partridge on the left. Imagine all I'd see if I really paid attention!!! 3. Fin du Monde beer bubbles, 4. Food For Thought tasting event at Old Worthington Library -- Bleu Cheeses, 5. Now Panic and Freak Out (we resisted buying this at Sur la Table when we got the new bowls...but it was hard not to...)

Row 5: 1. The five bowls that replaced the one I broke, 2. Which Contrail Do You Leave -- Delicate, Bold, or Meandering?, 3. X Marks The Spot Where The Moon Is, 4. Tic-Tac-Cloud-o (all three cloud pictures were the same morning -- inspirational sky!) 5. Celebrating Josie!

Row 6: 1. Who Made This Nest?, 2. Our Punkin', 3. Sunflower with new filter app, 4. Apple Crisp with new mosaic app, 5. Starbucks with new mosaic app


You can see the pictures full-size on Flickr.

My two new favorite photo apps on my iPhone are FilterMania 2 (I could play with this one all day!) and Mosaicam (shoot a mosaic rather than having to go back afterward and build it).


Saturday, November 02, 2013

Saturday Celebration


Ruth, you inspire us in so many ways!

This week, I started 15 Minute Friday writing with my class. We logged into our Kidblog, opened a new post, set the timer for 15 minutes, and WROTE.

Here's the first celebration: when I said go, the only sound I heard was the clicking of keys on keyboards. You know that feeling of tension in the room when someone is frustrated? There was none of that. EVERYONE wrote. Here's mine:

I can’t get the look on C’s face out of my mind. He was frustrated and confused in math, and rather than helping him, I just said, “Hmm…you’ll have to keep thinking about that,” and walked away from him. It killed me to do that. And if I would have looked back, I’m sure he would have been shooting daggers into my back.
However, after working ten more minutes, I broke into a wide smile when I heard him say softly to himself, “Oh! I get it!”

Thats what it’s all about for me.  That lightbulb moment. That obvious memorable moment when learning happens.

Because here’s what I believe: I believe in the power of learning. I believe that intelligence can grow. I don’t believe that we are born with all the smarts we’re ever going to have.  Learning sometimes hurts. It’s like growing out of a favorite pair of shoes or jeans. You wear them and they get tighter and tighter. Your toes hurt and you’re uncomfortable. Your bare ankles show. But…ahh…when you get your new shoes or jeans, they feel so good. They fit. Same thing with new thinking. The old thoughts are tight, but when that new learning or understanding comes along…ahh…it fits. It feels so right.

STOP

The first thing I celebrate about this new routine in our classroom is that my writing will live right there alongside theirs. I have been using my own writing in minilessons more and more often, and I am putting that writing in posts on Kidblog to create an archive of minilessons and anchor texts. 

Next celebration: I just finished reading through all of their posts and comments, and let me just say that mine aren't the only anchor texts on the blog! Wow! What a great way for them to read quick examples of each other's writing and learn from each other!

Celebration #3: They were so surprised at how much they wrote in 15 minutes (me, too!) and where their ideas went once they got started. Many think they have the seed for an idea they'll want to pursue in writing workshop!

And finally: It is going to be so powerful to have these weekly bits of writing to use for formative assessment, conferencing, minilessons, and small group work in writing workshop!

Thank you, Ruth, for your 5 Minutes on Friday writing, which inspired this new RICH-ual in my classroom!

Check out all of the Saturday Celebrations at Ruth Ayres Writes.

Friday, November 01, 2013

Poetry Friday: Leaf Hurricane

Flickr Creative Commons photo by Paul Stevenson

LEAF HURRICANE

Clouds darken
Wind gusts
leaves swirl
I twirl

          My wild spinning dance
          Is magic to me
          I dance with the wind
          I dance with the leaves

Rain spits
wind gusts
leaves swirl
I twirl
   
          I dance with the wind
          I dance with the leaves
          With every spin
          My spirit flies free

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2013


This poem was inspired by the children who danced yesterday (all recess long) in the leaf hurricane that forms on the playground in the corner by the cafeteria and art room windows.

Linda has the Poetry Friday roundup at TeacherDance this week. Have another handful of candy corn, and head on over for the after-Halloween party.


Thursday, October 31, 2013

Ghosts


Ghosts
by Sonia Goldie
illustrated by Marc Boutavant
Enchanted Lion Books, November 26, 2013
review copy provided by the publisher

This book holds explanations for all of those unexplained happenings in life -- GHOSTS! The ghosts of the chimney, TV, behind-the-curtains, and garden, along with the more ordinary ghosts of the attic, basement, night...and MORE!

Here are a few excerpts to give you the feel of this book:

The Ghost of the Kitchen

SQUAFUMPF...The door of the 
refrigerator is pulled open.
PLOP! A package falls
to the floor. Who's that

moving around in the kitchen?

It's a gluttonous ghost that devours

anything and everything

that's white. Sugar: YUM!
Milk: SLURP!

.
.
.


Don't you love the sound of the refrigerator door? So perfect!


The Ghost of Gray Days

It's cold and damp and rainy. It's gray.
Dull gray. Neither black, nor white, but
gray: gray skies, gray clouds, gray air,
even gray wind. Weak, tired, down in the
dumps, and grumpy -- this is what the ghost
of gray days is like.
.
.
.



This is a fun book with lots to look at and and small caption-y text. It will be released too late for Halloween this year, but (at least according to the book) ghosts are everywhere all year long...if only we pay close enough attention!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all of the ghosts and goblins and trick-or-treaters in your world!

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Emma in Buttonland



Emma in Buttonland
by Ulrike Rylance
translated by Connie Stradling Morby
illustrated by Silke Leffler
Sky Pony Press, October 1, 2013review copy provided by the author

I have already proclaimed my love for fantasies "with small worlds, or toys that come to life, or characters that shrink."

Emma in Buttonland is my newest favorite in this sub-genre of fantasy. I wrote in my Goodreads review that this book is "part Borrowers, part Wizard of Oz." When I checked out the only other review (so far) for the book, that person said the same thing!

Emma is stuck at her aunt and uncle's house while her mom is on a trip to Africa. Her aunt and uncle are preoccupied with their jigsaw puzzles, leaving Emma free to wander through their rambling, many-roomed house. She discovers a locked room, and the lure of adventure is too much. She swipes the keys from the sleeping cook, opens the door, and discovers a room full of buttons. Boxes and boxes full of buttons. When one of the buttons speaks to her, and then when her fingers touch it as she reaches under a cabinet to grab it after it runs away, the magic begins -- Emma shrinks to button-size and enters Buttonland!

The first character she meets, Louise, a small silver button with a large red hat, introduces one of the main themes throughout the book: What does it mean to be VALUABLE? Louise is on a quest to discover her value.

Next, she meets Gustav, a button from a pair of lederhosen. His quest is to find his true love, his matching button, Constance.

Both accompany Emma on her quest to find the gold button that made her shrink so that she can touch it again and perhaps be restored to girl-size.

The book is illustrated with full-color illustrations, mostly along the bottom edges of the pages. The illustrator, Silke Leffler (according to the back flap) was "trained as a tailor and then studied textile design." There couldn't have been a more perfect pick for an illustrator! Her collages bring all of the fabrics, sewing notions, and different buttons (and other small lost items) to life.

I can't wait to book-talk this in my 5th grade classroom. I've got several readers who I think will love it as much as I do!