Summer Reads

Yesterday I mentioned this post about 14 Books to Read Before They Hit the Big Screen.

I personally feel like books are always better than their movie counterparts, so I am totally on board to read these before I see any of the movies. I can cross off about half of these books because they just don't seem interesting to me. They're probably great, but after reading the story descriptions I am out. I have become very averse to movies that are violent. That's a whole other blog post, but I'll just say I do not think watching gun violence of mass chaos is entertaining. It just hits too close to some of the tragedies our country has experienced this past year. I don't do zombies or ghosts either. Or Sci-Fi. Yet, Mr. Sneaker drags me to a lot of movies that I wouldn't choose and sometimes I like them.

Anyway...

 There are a few I have already read. 

The Book Thief was SO good. It was pretty long, but I couldn't put it down. I am very curious how the movie will come out. 

I really enjoyed Gone Girl as well. Definitely a page turner because it's suspenseful!

Reconstructing Amelia was good too. Another book where the story unfolds as you read and you really anticipate finding out what happens. 

The ones I want to read from this list are

I already started The Fault In Our Starts. It's about a young girl who has Cancer who falls in love. So far so good, but I'm not that far along yet. 

Divergent is the first in a series of three that is compared to The Hunger Games, which I loved. The third book comes out in October. I've heard from many friends that it's good, so I am excited to give it a try. I always love a good series because there's nothing like knowing that you get more of the characters when you finish. 

The Spectacular Now is a love story. It is described as a page turner, so it sounds promising. 

When I'm really into a book I typically finish in only a few days. I'm not really good with my reading comprehension in terms of remembering the details of books once I've finished them, but I'm not getting graded, so I'm just in it for the enjoyment factor while I'm reading. I'm so glad I finally have several books on my list to read. I have already downloaded them on my Kindle so they are reading and waiting. 

Kelly turned me onto Good Reads, so I've been trying to keep track of what I've read, what I'm currently reading, and what I want to read. It's fun to keep a list and connect with other people for book recommendations and reviews. 

I also have the Good Reads app so I can see updates and enter books I want to read or mark when I have finished a book. 

Have you read any of these books? Any favorites? 

Do you always read books before viewing the films?

Current Reads

Even though I still have lots to do in my classroom, I decided to take the weekend off. It seems silly to take time of from getting stuff done considering I have only really spent one full day going at it, but for some reason I really have an aversion to being in the school when it's not officially open. I was always afraid of setting off the alarm at my old school and I just prefer to be there when there are other people around in case I need to ask for assistance or get some information. I am planning another full day on Monday, but then pretty much every other day next week is busy, so hopefully Monday allows me to finish up.

Today was somewhat of a lazy day. I went to the gym, did some grocery shopping at Trader Joes, played with my roomie's dog, and did some reading.

I think I mentioned in a previous post that I was asked to be a peer reviewer for the International Reading Association. People submit book ideas and they have other professionals review the ideas and sample chapters and provide feedback. I have to read what was submitted and then say whether or not I think the book should actually be published. I completed a form online indicating what literacy areas I am most interested in, so a few days ago I was offered an opportunity to review a proposed book on comprehension. I read a few sample chapters today and it was really good! I was very interested and felt the author did a good job balancing the research based information with actual example and vignettes in order to illustrate how to make it work. I hope the book gets published because I want a copy! I still need to complete the actual review which involves providing comments to the author and answering some specific questions that were provided to me, but I think the actual reading part is the most time consuming.

I also finished reading the book I recently got on morning meeting and afternoon wrap-up. Overall I would say that it was a pretty good read. I particularly liked the author's suggestions for games to play at the end of the day to provide a review and wrap-up of the day. There were many creative fun ways to get the kiddos thinking about what they learned in interactive ways that I know would be engaging for young learners. She created these ideas to combat the typical child's response of "nothing" when a parents asks what he/she learned at school that day because kids need some opportunities to think about and process what took place during the day. One suggestion she has is incorporating the senses. Instead of just asking kids what they did, she recommends asking them what they saw, what they heard, what they did with their hands, etc. That gives them the opportunity to be a bit more focused and specific in their answer.

I also appreciated how the author included lots of black line masters of the forms/letters/sheets she mentions so that it is quite simple to take her ideas and run with them. Sometimes I like to tweak and make an idea my own, yet sometimes it's really nice to have easy access to something that can just be copied and distributed or put to use without any adjustments.

The main message I got from this book is the importance of building community and taking time at the beginning and the end of the day to meet as a group. Kids should know what to expect throughout the day prior to beginning the activities and they benefit from having a little bit of time to reflect on what they accomplished or what they learned during the day. I know I will be very tight for time, but I would like to do my best to incorporate some of her games and community building ideas so that we are not always on the go. She really does a good job giving examples of how community meeting times can be used for instruction and assessment affirming that time is definitely not wasted when these practices are put into effect.

Next on my reading list is The First Six Weeks of School, which many of you said is a terrific resource and then I would also like to start Bright Beginnings for Boys. And, I ordered one of Debbie Dillers books from amazon regarding literacy spaces and stations. The other Kinder teacher I met said she does everything whole group and that was not at all what I was picturing to do with my groups, so I want a resource that dives into setting up stations, particularly ones that focus on literacy activities kids can do independently or explore with one other student. I have heard great things about Debbie's books, so hopefully it will be a good resource. It's possible that the other half day Kinder teacher does stations, but this could be one aspect of my classroom that is different and I am okay with that. I know I have to do what I feel is right for my teaching practice and my students. I want to be able to work with small groups which means the other kids need  activities and different areas to access that won't require a significant amount of monitoring or adult help. Now that I have the basic room arrangement ready to go, I am not super stressed about getting each area 100% perfect because I want to know the kids and get into the year a bit before I introduce certain stations/areas. I have lots of work to do, but I realize not everything has to be done before the first day of school. Once the kids are actually in the room I always have some realizations about what I imagined in my perfect world scenario classroom and I end up putting certain materials in different locations and making other adjustments.

Time for some reading in bed before I go to sleep!

Unhealthy Obsession?

I think you should all run out and invest in Amazon stock because I am doing my part to keep their business booming!

Thanks for all of the detailed feedback on my question about The First Six Weeks of School. I haven't gotten that many comments on a post in awhile and I love your blog love!! The majority of the comments indicated that this book offers a lot of great stuff and many teachers return to its wisdom year after year for back to school inspiration and help with teaching routines and developing community in the classroom. And, many of you who really like it and find it useful teach Kindergarten, so you sold me on it. When Mr. Halpern and Kelly say it's good...I am willing to bet it will be great for Kindergarten!

::blog hugs to everyone commented and gave me excellent info!::

Back to single-handedly keeping Amazon in business...this purchase gave me a prime opportunity to try out my new Amazon Student account. Anyone who is a student (with an .edu email address) can sign up for this new type of account that Amazon is offering. By registering, you get a free year long trial of Amazon Prime which gives you free 2-day shipping. I always get super pumped and excited to receive my books once I order so I heart 2-day shipping. I have had this benefit for the past year through Amazon.de and it is absolutely glorious to receive stuff so quickly. Why waste gas going to the store with that type of service?

So in the spirit of getting my hands on some motivational/organizational reading for my return to teaching in the US, I ordered both of these...

I will definitely post my thoughts/opinions once these bad boys are read, highlighted and properly flagged!

I love books more than chocolate....seriously. These beauties will be happily waiting for me upon my arrival on the 15th. Have I mentioned that I am not going to live in the dorm...I have a wonderful friend who has offered up her guest room and I was more than happy to forego walking down the hall to the bathroom that is shared between strangers and living in a box for a much more friendly place that comes with a super fun roomie :0)

If you wrote a book, what would it be about?

It's one of my life goals in addition to running a marathon, making a quilt, and being a super teacher/wife/someday mom

Tell Me What You Think!

Do any of you have this book?

I can't remember where I first saw it or heard about it, but I put it on one of my many To Do lists for when I get back to Oregon.  It's not as if I feel like I don't know how to begin the school year, but I always enjoy a good back to school book for encouragement, inspiration, and ideas. I'm wondering if it's good and worth tracking down or purchasing. If you've read it, I would love to hear what you thought of it!!

When I student taught, I worked with a teacher in PA who had been through Responsive Classroom training and we incorporated a daily morning meeting into our schedule. I read The Morning Meeting book back then, but I know that I simply do not have time for that within the very limited 140 minutes that I will have with my kiddos. I wish I did because I LOVED it and I don't think I have ever worked with a group of kids who got along as well as they did since then. I am on the lookout for some strategies to get a great classroom community going,  and I know that investing time to develop that at the beginning of the year is important, but I am worried about the time needed to maintain those great connective lessons and experience that help the kids feel like a true community.

What do you like to do to create a sense of community in your classroom?

Books to be Excited About!

Mrs. Mimi (you all know Mrs. Mimi, right!?) recently posted about a giveaway that she is doing with Little Pickle Press for one of their books which I just discovered are totally amazing.

Check them out!

Love it!

 

 

 

 Love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Love it!

I seriously want them all! I entered her giveaway and my fingers are crossed that I win a free copy of What Does It Mean To Be Present, but I am pretty sure I am gonna buy one, two, or possibly even all three of these great books. In addition to the giveaway Mrs. Mimi's post says that Little Pickle Press has created a special coupon code [FLOWERS] for teachers to purchase any two of their books for $29.95 (normally they are 16.95 each).

What I like about GLOBAL==> I really want to encourage my students to be open to differences and to appreciate other cultures/countries/languages/traditions. I always appreciate a good book that can help teach those attitudes. Description from Little Pickle Press...In this whimsically-drawn and thoughtfully-told story, 4 to 7 year old children learn what it means to be global by visiting the pyramids, eating sushi, celebrating Kwanzaa, and learning how to say "hello" in Swahili. The book is a conversation starter for parents and educators to teach children about the goodness in exploring, appreciating, and respecting other children's traditions, religions, and values the world over.

What I like about GREEN==> Oregon is all about sustainable resources and protecting our environment and after living in Germany for a year, I am definitely more aware of recycling (we recycle and sort 5 different ways!). So many of us go through life without a conscious awareness of how we are abusing our world and this is a great lesson to teach early on. Description from Little Pickle Press...What Does It Mean To Be Green? is a colorful, whimsical picture book that explores how children can help to protect the earth's natural resources each and every day. This colorful, insightful story, demystifies for children what it means to be green by helping them to view everyday tasks through an environmentally-friendly lens. The book empowers children to do whatever they can to protect the earth's precious resources. Don't be surprised if they start coming up with suggestions of their own for you!

What I like about PRESENT==> It sounds like this book does a great job teaching students how to truly be present when they are at school and to really appreciate life.  Description from Little Pickle Press...This refreshing, vibrant picture book engages all of the senses to demonstrate the myriad of ways a child can seize the moment. The story sparks meaningful discussions about the important gift of appreciation, giving children and adults alike the opportunity to live more fully and richly.

I am excited to have discovered not only these interesting books but also a great company whose goal is,  "helping parents and educators cultivate conscious, responsible little people by stimulating explorations of the meaningful topics of their generation through a variety of media, technologies, and techniques."

Which one is your fav?

Head on over to Mrs. Mimi's blog so you can enter to win one!

Literacy Bags

Ever since I came across the cute little Literacy Bag online that went along with The Kissing Hand, I have had Literacy Bags on the mind. I started brainstorming ways I could incorporate some themed bags into my classroom and ways that I might be able to get parents involved. Since I will have such a short time during each session with my students, I definitely want to encourage reading and other educational and literacy activities at home as well as family involvement in the students' learning. When I searched around on the web for information pertaining to Literacy Bags, there were quite a few teacher's sites that provided information on how they use them and examples of themed bags. Some great theme ideas that I am excited to try out are:

• a birthday bag for students to take home on their birthday which could include some birthday stories (one of my personal favorites...Benny Bakes a Cake that my mom read to me when I was little) and perhaps the counting cakes from Lakeshore in addition to an activity where students can draw/write/dictate about how they celebrate their birthdays.

• a lost tooth bag that students can take home when they lose a tooth which could include some stories about lost teeth, a tooth fairy doll, a tooth pillow, and an activity where students can draw/write/dictate about how/when/where their tooth fell out.

• a frog bag with some books from the Froggy series, a Frog & Toad book, some non-fiction books about frogs, the lily pad frog toss game from Lakeshore to practice matching numbers, and maybe some plastic frogs with an activity to sort or describe them. 

Other theme ideas==>

• dinosaurs
• shapes
• ABC's
• transportation
• families
• colors
• all about me
• five senses
• earth and environment
• bugs
• holiday/seasonal

great for bugs bag!

I was thinking about how spendy this process could be so I decided to look into creating another project proposal from Donors Choose. I took a look at Lakeshore since that is one of my favorite teacher resources and  I discovered that they offer lots of themed learning libraries in many of the themes listed above. I started adding some to my cart and I am in the process of creating the proposal. I will add additional activities that go with each theme and probably purchase some plain canvas bags that can be written or painted on. I definitely want each bag to include several books and also some math and/or literacy activities/games. I also want to provide a writing/drawing/dictation activity where students can add their ideas to some sort of collective work that gets added to each time a child takes home the bag. Instructions and a list of materials would need to be included as well.

I would love to get parents involved in this process and I came up with a few ideas. I could gather some supplies and have parents come after school and help me decorate the bags and put them together. I could also share the Literacy Bag idea in a letter to parents and put it out there that if they are interested in a donating one to the class so they could pick a theme and purchase a few books and/or related activities. I would not at all want to put pressure on parents to pay for something like this, yet I do think there might be parents who would love to help the classroom in that way.  I was also thinking that it would be a great way for families to have an outlet for sharing what makes their family unique. If they come from a different culture or country, maybe they would be interested in putting together some materials to share that with other kids about that country/culture. Maybe parents could help with theme bags related to their jobs or they could help their child with a theme bag related to particular interest. I don't think this necessarily requires a big cost. We could have  a classroom camera for taking photos of certain activities/jobs or whatever theme they chose and they could even write information instead of including books. If they were to select an interesting theme I could take it from there and include some books and additional educational games or activities.

I know I can't possibly create enough bags for every child to be able to take one home at the same time, but some would be for special occasions and typically several kids don't share the same birthday or lose a tooth on the very same day. The theme bags could be used with a type of lotto system or I could pull popsicle sticks out every Friday to see who gets to take a bag home for the weekend. I came across a great letter that a teacher had written describing the Literacy Bag system and she had the parents choose whether or not they wanted to participate. Then she also explained that they would be responsible for all materials and replacing anything that got lost or damaged. Additionally she made the rule that if a child were to not return the bag by the designated return date on two occasions, they would no longer be able to participate. I saved her letter because I think it would definitely be important to have a specific procedure outlined for parents with clear expectations.

I can picture kids getting really excited to have a turn taking home the Literacy Bags and I am excited to share this idea with my new team and hopefully put it into action this year. It would be awesome if I could get some of the themed learning libraries and games through Donorschoose, but even if I can't, I can try to copy some of the activities they offer in a DIY fashion and I could even use library books and just continuously change what themes would be available for students to take. Also, even though getting the themed libraries from Lakeshore would be awesome, I do think that creating my own collections could be even more fun (more work, yet more fun!).

I think it would definitely take a lot of time to put these bags together, but I really hope I can make it work because I think it would be so much fun for my kiddos! I would hope that as long as I explained it and shared my expectations that the kids would know to take great care of the materials.

Check out these adorable bags that I came across!!

The website that this photo is from would not load and I am sad because I really want to know more about what this teacher did! The bags are super cute!!! This is exactly what I am picturing that I want to do.

I also came across these bags that can be purchased, but I would prefer making them/having parents help contribute to the process.

I'm excited!!!

What activity/idea are you going to try out this year that is making you excited!?

Do you think parents would be interested in being involved in this activity? Either enjoying the bags with their kids or helping to put the bags together?

Literacy Instruction for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students

I have been working my way through this collection of articles for the past few weeks and finally finished last night while on the stationary bike at the gym. My personal copy contains almost an entire package of turquoise blue Post-it flags marking various pages and sections that really spoke to me. I have read and written a lot about multicultural education in the past year and I am inspired to teach in a way that reflects appreciation for differences rather than a way that views differences as deficits. I have so many ideas, hopes, and dreams floating around in my head, yet I still feel a huge struggle to transform all these flagged quotes and ideas into actual teaching practice.

I am particularly interested in the use of multicultural principles and literature when it comes to reading instruction, yet the programs that my district has chosen imply a particular way of teaching that I either have to subscribe to or override it (which I am really not supposed to do, yet feel compelled to). I know that my district is also very invested in meeting the needs of all kinds of learners, yet I still feel conflicted over how to make it work with all that I have taken in from what I have read while at the same time utilizing the purchased reading program according to the district's intentions.

This particular book breaks the overall topic into 6 categories:

1. Awareness & Attitudes Towards Literacy
2. Principles of Instruction
3. Enhancing Reading Comprehension
4. Using Writing to Develop Reading
5. Selecting & Using Multicultural Literature
6. An Annotated Bibliography of Multicultural Children's Literature

Given my role as a [future] Kindergarten teacher, I found sections 5 & 6 to be the most directly applicable. I took a Global Literature course online last fall, but I have not taken one specifically focused on multicultural literature. Both types of literature share similar goals, but I believe a particular distinction is that global literature includes stories from various countries where multicultural literature involves different cultural groups within the US. [that was the distinction in a text that I read, but it most likely differs from source to source].

What I liked most about section 6 in particular was the inclusion of a table listing the book titles vertically and also major themes horizontally. For each book, important themes included in the story were checked off. I think this is a very helpful tool given that as teachers we simply can't be aware of all the great books that are out there. I have become familiar with quite a few titles and have purchased books that I really liked or that I think discuss a good message, yet this allows me to find a book given a particular theme I want to discuss. Themes include--Accomplishment, Community, Courage, Cultural Event, Death, Family, Food, History, Humor, Intergenerational, Play, Pioneers, Relationships, Survival, and Unity. This section also includes an annotated bibliography which provides a brief description of the stories, genre, and what group is represented.

Often I read through a book and put it back on the shelf, yet this book contains sections that I feel like I will refer to for my instruction. I know that the themes and stories for the Kindergarten reading program are already organized in the core program, yet I now feel more comfortable inserting some different stories that may prove to be more meaningful.

I am still left with the burning question--How can I possibly fit in everything that I want to do in 2 hours and 20 minutes. I guess I have to remember I can't do it all every single day, yet I will make a strong effort to incorporate some of what I have learned in order to make the process of learning to read more suitable for children whose backgrounds are different than what our core program anticipates.

As I finished up this book, I was reminded of another text that I read this year called Black Ants and Buddhists by Mary Cowhey. I loved this book because the author demonstrates how she truly incorporated the elements of critical thinking and teaching about differences in her primary classroom. Her stories were very inspirational to me and I would love to be able to watch a teacher like Mary in action!

Also, I have been meaning to mention this for the past week....Jen at Following the Footsteps is doing a Back to School Teacher Idea Swap again this year each Friday in August. The first link up will be this Friday August 6th. It's a great way to share your ideas about fun back to school activities and see what other teachers are doing as well. Last year we posted some pics of our freshly cleaned/designed/decorated classrooms and lots of great ideas were shared. I have my first idea ready and I will be joining her swap on Friday!

Magical

Neuschwanstein Castle was amazing! I took this picture as I stood on the very wobbly Mary's Bridge that was high over a little waterfall... It was a little scary, but the view was so worth it!

It was truly magical and it's amazing to me that a beautiful castle like this exists only 3 hours from where we live! We didn't get to ride in the horse drawn carriage because we were told that the wait was too long and we would not make our tour time if we waited, so we walked the forty minute (uphill) trail, which I think I actually liked better because we got some exercise in!

We were not allowed to take pictures inside the castle, but we got to take pictures of the view out the window. A-ma-zing! 

It was so picturesque, lush, and green!

We stayed the night in Austria (just over the border) in a cute little hotel and drove back today. We pulled over a couple of times as we drove out of Austria because the views were gorgeous! The water reminded me of Neverland. I only have a few more weekends with Mr. Sneaker before I pack up my sneakers and leave for OR, so it was wonderful to have such a glorious weekend together.

At the hotel I spent a good amount of time finishing up this book, which I will post some thoughts about tomorrow.

How was your weekend?

Ideas

I am currently reading two "teacher books" since they have been sitting on my bookshelf in my summer reading pile for quite a few weeks now and I have been neglecting them for my fluffy romance novels. I finished up One Fifth Avenue today by Candance Bushnell (author of Sex and the City) and decided that it was time for some more intellectual reads.

Both of these are comprised of different articles on the subject matter and I am slowly making my way through each one with highlighter in hand and Post-it flags close by. I keep coming across passages to which I think, YES! when I read, so I highlight and flag away knowing that when it comes time to write my dissertation, theses meaningful words will come in handy.

As I was reading, I got to a part that discussed talking with parents about literacy and involving the entire family in the children's literacy and learning. I was thinking that it might be fun to invite families to join me at the library on a Saturday in order to sign their children up for library cards. It would be a great way to spend a little bit of time with the kids and their families and I would love to know that the families are utilizing the free resources at the local public library. Maybe I could even do this once a month to continuously encourage families to check out books so they are available at home on a regular basis. I know the library puts on some good events, so I plan to familiarize myself with the programs they have and encourage my students and their families to participate.

I was also thinking of doing a guest reader program again ( I experimented with this during my first year of teaching) and inviting older siblings, parents, and grandparents to come in and read a story to the class (maybe every Friday?). I just feel like I will be so short on time with the half day Kinder schedule. According to the schedule my team member gave me, there is about 10 minutes for a story and/or student of the week which apparently includes pack up time...that seems near impossible to me. I contemplated having an extended story time that allows kids to stay after/come early, but that would then require parents to bring them/pick them up because that activity would be before/after the bus routes. I think that some parents would be willing, yet not all parents are available to come to school so I would be afraid it would exclude the kiddos who need to take the bus to and from school.

I am trying to come up with some fun ways to buy myself more time with the kiddos because I don't think there is enough time built in the schedule for read alouds and story time. That is sad!

What kinds of creative literacy activities do you do with your students?

Do you use guest readers? Who was the most popular guest reader?

I heart reading

Before moving back to the states, my friend Jill gave me a stack of books to read and I am furiously making progress.  I always read a lot--even during the school year--but the nature of my reading content is pretty different now than it is when I am reading for school (university courses). During the school year I read about teaching, learning, special needs, language acquisition, policy, curriculum, instruction, etc. Now, I am enjoying some very light "fluff" reading and I love it. In the past three days I have read Something Blue, Baby Proof, and The Undomestic Goddess. When I read books like these I tend to want to just curl up on the couch (or in bed...or on a lounge chair in the sun) and read for hours. It only takes me about a day and a half and then I am on to the next read. I just (in the last 10 minutes) finished The Undomestic Goddess (which is by the same author at the Shopaholic series) and I have already selected the next victim: Bed of Roses by Nora Roberts. Mr. Sneaker also bought me two books when he was in London, but they are a bit more heavy than silly romantic mindless stories so I am saving those for when I am done with my girly reads.

I almost feel guilty about the amount of time I have spent reading and relaxing in the past week, yet the truth is, I have nothing pressing to do. The "to do" lists have not come to a complete halt because there has still been loads of laundry, organizing, and grocery shopping, but there is much more idleness going on and I love it. I am kind of craving a little more "teacher text" so tomorrow I may also tackle The Reading Teacher I got in the mail awhile back.

Also, tomorrow evening my mother-in-law and grandmother-in-law are arriving for a visit which means tomorrow will be a full day of cleaning the apartment and getting everything all nice and shiny and dust free (with some breaks for reading time!).

It is such a nice feeling to be hanging around on a Sunday night knowing that I do not have to go to work in the morning....

Reads

I completely fell off the wagon with reading from the list of top 100 novels because as the school year came to a close, I needed to return the piles of books that I had borrowed from the library. I started so strong often reading 2-3 novels a day, but towards the end I started a few that I never even finished (gasp!). I didn't make it through the Borrowers or Ramona and Her Father. It wasn't at all that I didn't like these books, I just couldn't get through them in time and decided to take a break from the list. When I get access to the library again in August I will start up again, but for the time being I am enjoying some big girl books.

I read House Rules by Jodi Piccoult and I loved it. The story is told from the perspectives of many characters, but the main character is an 18 year old boy with Asperger's who is obsessed with forensic science. His fascination and detailed knowledge about crime scenes leads to him being arrested for the murder of his tutor who is found dead in her home. I really like how autism/Asperger's is explored in the book and thought that for the most part the depiction of the autistic character was very well done.

I also started reading The Essential Guide to Selecting and Using Core Reading Programs and I LOVE it. I am only two chapters in, but there is so much fantastic information that is absolutely perfect for the research direction I want to take with my dissertation. I feel like I am getting a really solid background on core reading programs which will ultimately help me be a more effective reading teacher when I use the program adopted by my district in the future.

Tomorrow afternoon we are leaving California and heading to Connecticut to spend some time with my family. I am SO excited to see my parents and my brother and his family! I am also excited to catch up with US Weekly (my mom always saves the recent ones for me when I come home). I am interested to read the recent articles about the breakup between Vienna and Jake....

One of my favorite things about summer is how much time I have to read.

Core Reading Webinar

A few weeks ago, I participated in a webinar that I thought was really interesting based on this book about using core reading programs. We were able to view a power point presentation and listen to the voice of the presenter as he talked about his research on the effectiveness of core reading programs and how they should be implemented for the best results.

I received an email the other day that the presentation was available for download and I wanted to share it because I thought that it contained some good information.

You can download the presentation materials here (right side underneath photo of book cover) or you can view it through my scribd account.

Core Reading Webinar

I also wanted to point out these articles relating to fidelity:

•  McGill-Franzen et al. (2006)
• Dewitz, Jones, and Leahy (2009)
• Brenner and Heibert (2010)
• Piasta, Connor et al. (2009)

At some point I want to look these up because I am really interested in the research behind implementing with fidelity since often districts insist it should be done....


Also, I really liked the 10 points about using core programs well:

1. Create a literate environment
2. Read extensively outside the basal (yes!!)
3. Differentiate instruction
4. Modify the scope and sequence as needed
5. Use children's literature for read alouds (wahoo!!)
6. Develop more prior knowledge than the program suggests (especially for students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds with value placed on hearing their ideas and not looking for prescribed answers from the book!)
7. Select vocabulary carefully
8. Be more explicit than the program suggests (includes teaching students the strategies, when to use them, how to use them, and why they are important)
9. Developing guided reading lessons
10. Use core assessments selectively (amen!-- it was discussed during the webinar that IRI's are a great source of information about reading skills, therefore it is a good idea to choose assessment materials carefully and based on what truly helps to inform your instruction)

I really recommend that you take a look at this information because it really helped me to gain a better sense of what elements from core reading programs are really important and which ones are better off left out. 

From the other Kindergarten teachers I will be working with next year, I found out that we use Fast Track Phonics more than Treasures which is the program my district has adopted. I am happy about that and I hope to utilize some of the points listed above to create a solid overall program that gets kids excited about learning to read and proficient in their beginning skills.

New Book

I ordered this book back in October when I was doing a paper on multicultural education and I was really surprised when it arrived today because I had given up on it ever getting here. With my Amazon Prime account, I can get most books the day after I order them. Some books, however are more difficult to get through the amazon.de website and this was one of them. The delivery date kept getting pushed farther and farther back and I actually thought I had canceled the order anticipating that it was a text I would have to wait on until I am back in the U.S.

Now that this book has shown up, I am really excited to read it! I think it relates well to the research I plan to do for my dissertation. I am always looking for ways to be a more effective teacher for students whose backgrounds are different from my own. I am leaning towards researching the effectiveness of core reading programs for students from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds and I am going into with the belief that reading instruction needs to be more directly related to the particular students in a classroom, especially when students are learning English and come from cultures other than the mainstream. In my opinion, core programs don't do this since they are scripted, so I am interested in reading up on research that supports different methods for these populations of students.

***

I have been slacking on my reading this week. I was in the middle of The Borrowers, but I honestly was not digging it as much as some of the other books I have read from my list. I put it aside and started Island of the Blue Dolphins, which I have heard great things about. Neither book was bad, but I guess I overloaded the week before and now my brain just can't handle all the reading. The truth is I never just give myself a break, so it's probably time to do just that. I will try to finish those two books before school is out next week since I have to return them to the library. I have a few other teaching books I ordered waiting for me in California, so maybe it's time to switch back to PD books instead of children's novels....

Details

I heard back from my new teaching team yesterday and got some fantastic information about the year to come. From their email I can tell they are SUPER organized and I am really happy to have an idea of how the schedule works now!

This is what the day looks like....

 

     8:10-8:20        Table work as the students come in
     8:25-9:00        FastTrack Phonics
     9:00-9:30        Literacy Activity (Word of the week, Letter of the Week, writing)
     9:30-10:00      ELD students leave for ELD; other students have playtime and a  
                            supplemental activity.
     10:00-10:30    Math
     10:30-10:40    Story, Star of the Week

**Where is the time alotted for packing and cleaning up? That can take a long time with 5 year olds!
**The kiddos will also have specials, but I guess not everyday and they change throughout the year. One of the teachers said they go to library then computer but not PE or Music....

They also sent me a cop of their YEAR LONG plan and said they will create the plan for next year in August (which hopefully I will be present for). They have an Excel document that lists what topics will be covered in every subject/category for every week of the school year including special events, holidays, and field trips. WOW! It is great to know the different topics/themes that will be covered since I feel like Kindergarten does more with holidays than I ever did with my first grade classes. I was really happy to find out that they work very closely as a team because that is important to me. I find it really helpful to work alongside one another when planning to maintain consistency between classrooms. I don't think it's necessary to always do the exact same activities in the exact same way, but it's good to have a master plan that everyone agrees to. 

I will also admit that I am happy the reading program is based mostly on Fast Track Phonics and less on Treasures because I think Kindergartners need a strong phonics program and Treasures does not offer it (at least we found it to be weak at the first grade level). I have tons of games and activities that quickly became too easy for first graders, so it will fun to use them for stations and small group activities. 

I am not too sure I like how ELD (English Language Development) is set up because personally I feel like all children in Kindergarten would benefit from language development, but in our district only students categorized as ELL receive this instruction. At my old school it was taught by some classroom teachers and ELL teachers, but I guess at my new school it is just taught by the ELL teachers. ELL students leave the classroom and the district policy is that ELL students cannot miss content instruction while they are having an ELD lesson. In a day that is already short, I feel like that creates a period of time that cannot be used as effectively. Because ELD is supposed to be specific language instruction taught to students according to their acquisition levels, you can't just have everyone in the class participate in the lessons since they would be different levels of English speakers including both ELL and native English speakers in the mix, which is why ELL students are pulled out and grouped according to level. I just wish that somehow all students could be involved...it's complicated, but the 30 minutes of ELD time was always a source of frustration because the other children could not be working on content areas or receive new instruction during that time. Since we always felt short on time (and I am sure it will be intensified with SUCH a short day) it is frustrating to feel like you have to spin your wheels waiting for 1/3 to 1/2 of the class to return. I guess that is a good time for additional  literacy/math activities, however I want my ELL students to have those opportunities too. Regardless of what we do when they are gone, they are missing something because I am not just going to provide a recess time for other kids during that time (and even if I did...don't they deserve time to play too?). 

I am still trying to brainstorm good ways to stay organized this year. In addition to creating a binder of songs and rhymes, I of course, need to put together an assessment binder and files for each child. File maintenance will be a bit larger of a task with about 50 kiddos...

***

It is so hot here today, I can't even believe it. We are having this pattern of extreme heat during the day and then wicked thunder storms at night with heavy rain and lots of lightning. This has happened for the past two or three nights! I was so afraid the power would go out! No hubby and no power would not be a great combo.

In reading news, I have read a few Ramona books this week in addition to The Penderwicks, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, and Love That Dog. I am currently on The Borrowers, which I am hoping to finish today. I am not really sure why three different Ramona books are on the top 100 list. I think she is a great character (the trouble finding silly girl character before Junie B. Jones without the incorrect grammar!), but I honestly don't think the stories are that worthy of having three spots on the list of must reads. Some of the others in my stack are Dear Mr. Henshaw (actually not on the list but when I saw it in the library I wanted to read it), The Island of the Blue Dolphins, Ramona and her Father, and The Hobbit (still avoiding that one...)

I got a feeling...

Check out this awesome video that Sarah@Confessions of an Untenured Teacher posted!

Ah....visions of group dance parties with students excited about reading!!! I usually end the year with my kiddos by having an all out silly dance party on the last day of school with conga lines and funky dance moves. It is great to just enjoy those last moments of the year together by going all out and getting down!

***

Tomorrow I am subbing for my friend's third grade math period because she will be out. We took some time to plan a fun lesson together and I am really excited to see how it works out. We have been noticing that some of the kiddos in her group need some reminders about good listening skills. I came across an activity that divides the class into two groups: talkers and listeners. Each student gets a slip of paper with a direction on it. The talkers get instruction to speak about a particular subject for two minutes while the "listeners" get instructions to do something like look at the ceiling or take out a book while their partner is talking. After the kids have about two minutes to follow their directions in their partnerships we are going to come together as a group and discuss what the purpose of the activity was and how to talkers felt when the "listeners" were quite obviously not listening. We will then discuss what the qualities of good listeners are.

After we have chatted about what good listeners do and look like, I am going to read them a short non-fiction story then play another game based on the text. I am going to call on students one at a time to share something they learned from the text, but I will randomly tell them to stop (even in the middle of a thought) and ask someone else to continue the sentence so they can practice really tuning into what other students are saying. The other day in class my friend asked a question and about 6 different kids gave the same wrong answer because they were not listening to what others were sharing. I really think they will enjoy these activities and I hope they refocus some of their energy on really listening to each other and their teachers.

***

I have also been trying to get in touch with some people from my new school so I can get some info about Kindergarten. I want to utilize my time off this summer in the best way possible to get prepared for next school year. I emailed both the principal and the two other Kinder teachers I will work with. I am used to working with a fabulous first grade team where team planning was a huge part of how we operated. With Kindergarten it is a bit harder because one teacher teaches a full day session, the other teacher only teaches AM and I will teach both AM and PM with two different classes. So between the three of us, no one has the exact same schedule. It will be hard to plan with the full day teacher because her schedule will be SO different. I am still trying to wrap my brain around how anything can be accomplished in a day that lasts 2 hours and 20 minutes. We certainly won't be getting in 90 minutes of reading and if you subtract the time for a recess break and the time it takes 25 five year olds to clean up and pack up at the end of the day, I think I am left with about an hour and a half of instructional time.

It is going to fly by! I can't even image.

I inquired about what special topics are covered throughout the year so I can begin to accumulate resources and I wanted to know if the core reading program is even used considering the time constraints. I know our full day Kinder last year was using Fast Track Phonics, which I really liked, but I just don't know what there is time for! I will be really happy to get an idea of how much time is allotted for different activities in the half day schedule. Seems hard to get kiddos ready for first grade with that little time.

I just have this huge excitement to go to the teacher supply store and purchase my lesson plan book so that I can start planning for the year! My goal this year is to be all about organization so this summer is truly Operation Organization!!!

The Reading Teacher and more Books

I just opened my mailbox to find my first edition of The Reading Teacher. Yay! Ever since I joined the IRA and signed up to receive this publication, I have been anxiously awaiting my May edition. I guess it really takes a long time for it to get alllll the way to Germany, but it arrived just in time for my sunny Sunday.

I have been continuing to read up a storm in the attempt to finish all of the books from the top 100 novels list that I took home this weekend, but I did take the day off from reading to join my friend Jill in Heidelberg for a day of shopping!

 view of the Heidelberg Castle which I visited yesterday with my friend Jill

The Neckar River

 

You are supposed to touch the monkey's mirror in order to have wealth in your life.
If you touch its tail you will have many children.

I finished Bridge to Terabithia this morning and I am now reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Again, I recall reading this book in 6th or 7th grade, yet my recollection of the story is pretty vague. I love that it takes place in Connecticut (where I grew up) and I am enjoying the writing so far.

As I read through these books, I am really noticing why they have become such favorites. The writing is great and some of them contain wonderful examples of literary elements. I really enjoyed the similes in Bridge to Terabithia like, "Mama would be mad as flies in a fruit jar if they woke her up this time of day." I guess many of the books that I now read as an adult (and of course all those education texts) just don't compare when it comes to fantastic writing. Some of them do, but it's refreshing to go back and read these stories and really appreciate the authors' skills and what students can learn from the texts.

I have also noticed a major theme emerging among these books. It seems that many of the main characters have experienced the death of both of their parents.

Anne of Green Gables
Mary in the Secret Garden
James in James and the Giant Peach
Jeffrey in Maniac Magee
Kit in The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Harry Potter

In the grand effort to practice what I preach, I have been trying to make connections as I read and oddly enough, it seems that each new book I begin has some connection or similarity to the previous one. It's cosmic! I am hoping to finish The Witch of Blackbird Pond today and I also have the Hobit waiting in the wings. I am not super excited about that one though (anyone have some great things to say to pump me up?). Between the two books to finish and my newly obtained copy of The Reading Teacher, I think you can guess how I will be spending my day!

How is your weekend going? 

How is the weather where you are? 

The sun finally decided to make an appearance again in Germany and I have a pretty good sunburn to show for it...

Mini

Just a mini post to say how happy I am that I just submitted my last paper of spring term and I am officially done with year one of my doctoral program! 1 more to go plus a year of dissertating and I am set!

:) Now, sunshine and children's novels are calling my name!

Completed today: Stargirl and Tales of the Fourth Grade Nothing
Next Up: Bridge to Terabithia (read this one in 6th...vague recollections and never saw the movie that came out recently)

Don't forget to read my post below about the great webinar I participated in this morning!

Webinar

 This morning I participated in a webinar on selecting and using core reading programs.

My evaluation: LOVED it! 

Although I was pretty tired because I didn't get much sleep prior to the start of the webinar, I thought it was absolutely fabulous. So many things that were discussed were exactly on par with what I have been thinking about core reading programs. There was some technical difficulty with the sound throughout the hour long presentation, but it was completely worth waking up for and I am even more excited to get my hands on the book written by the presenter Peter Dewitz.

What is a webinar you might ask? Good question. I didn't know either until I took part in one. But I have to say, it was pretty cool!

I was imagining that it would be a video presentation that I would get to watch, but it was actually a lot different than I anticipated. It was better because it actually allowed the participants to utilize a chat function in order to ask questions and make comments throughout the presentation rather than simply listening. Instead of viewing a video of the presenter, we were viewing his power point presentation and we could hear his voice. I tried to take some photos of what the screen looked like so I could post about it.

Here is a close up of the chat window

I found it hard to focus on both the presenter and the chat conversation so I mostly just listened and viewed the slides because  I was more interested in his research than what the other participants were discussing. This interactive chat feature was great though because it allowed us to ask questions which were then answered at the end of the presentation.

 Twice during the presentation, an additional window popped up asking us to answer a question. We were given about a minute to respond. then the group results were posted.

I thought that was a really cool feature as well. 

By no means was this presentation meant to discredit the value of core reading programs, but the Mr. Detwitz did share research indicating that this type of program is best if not used with fidelity. 

Go figure. 

Some of the more salient points that really resonated with me were:

• core programs do not allow the gradual release of responsibility that is most beneficial to students
• most of the stories are not written by actual children's authors.
• the programs are research based, yet some of this research is market research conducted with teachers to see if they like the lessons and the program design. 
• one slide showed the average number of minutes that students who are below grade level readers spend actually engaging in the act of reading during a 90 minute core lesson and it was astounding. For the Treasures program that my district uses, the figure was about 10 minutes. TEN minutes a day spent reading!
• the basic design of core reading programs has barely changed in the past 20 years despite the ever increasing diversity of our student populations.

At one point, Mr. Dewitz shared an example of the vocabulary that was selected for the book Thunder Cake.

On the left you can see the words designated by the reading program to be the "vocabulary" words for instruction, yet the left column shows 9 more words that most likely would also be challenging for students, but are not considered vocabulary words for this text. He emphasized that a scripted program cannot gauge where your students are in their vocabulary knowledge, therefore it is very appropriate for the teacher to select vocabulary words and stopping points based on your knowledge of your particular students. Also, he mentioned that the vocabulary words selected for study should have relevance outside of the particular text being read so students grasp a more universal understanding and can apply the words elsewhere in their lives. 

I love that he validates teacher knowledge and skills, don't you?

Overall, I was really pleased with this presentation. I was told the power point would be posted on the IRA website, but I don't think that has been done yet. When it is, I will try to attach it in a different post so you can read through the entire presentation. It was really informative and made me feel confident that my misgivings about using core programs with fidelity are warranted and quite common among teachers. He actually cited four research studies about fidelity that I will try to track down and post for you as well.

Although the sound was a little sketchy throughout due to a storm in VA where Mr. Dewitz was located, the quality of the webinar was very good and it provided me with lots to think about! My amazement with technology continues to grow and I feel so fortunate to be teaching and studying in a time when there is so much potential for the use of technology to increase learning.