March Madness #4

Sometimes I say smart things. For example...

Preventing the summer slide starts on day one. 

Yeah, I made that up. I believe it too. I believe in giving my students daily reasons to fall in love with books, and that has everything to do with reading irresistible books everyday starting on day one.

Well, my class is heading into day 115, and I'm still playing matchmaker. March is a perfect month to fall in love with reading all over again.

So welcome to my fourth year of March Madness.  

I'm excited to say, "Meet your new favorite book," 16 different times during the next few weeks. I'm even more excited to watch these books repeatedly loved on and adored.

(If you'd like to know more about how March Madness works, please check out my other March Madness posts here on my blog.)

Finger Flashlight Friday

Thanks to the Units of Study in Reading from TCRWP (Teachers College Reading and Writing Project), there's something called Finger Flashlight Friday in my room.

I bought mine last year on Amazon. A few died, so I just restocked for less than $6.00. It's a great deal.

As I mentioned, TCRWP inspired me to use them. They come in very handy in the first-grade reading unit, Word Detectives, which I just finished teaching and would highly recommend. Now the flashlights come out every Friday during reading workshop. As one can imagine, they're a hit.

And because I own a soap box about most things educational, I have to say something about reading workshop. To my knowledge, there aren't many basal teacher's manuals that:

• stress or make time for independent reading. 
• recommend children have their own baskets or boxes full of books.
• plan for teachers to sit down in a community space with the children at their feet and teach a short mini-lesson on how to be a better reader before sending the children off to read by themselves.
• Every. Single. Day.

I'm going to refrain from quoting all the gurus who explain why daily independent reading is a game changer. Instead I'm here to say, whether the basal says to or not, every child in every elementary classroom should experience a reading workshop every day. Period. Yeah, hang around me long enough and you'll know I'm not a basal fan, but this post isn't about bashing basals (at least not this time). Instead I'm calling all teachers to know what's best for readers and make instructional decisions based on them. Manipulate the basal to fit what's best for kids, not the other way around. 

Signed,
Feeling Feisty

Commonly Held Beliefs

This summer I read Regie Routman's newest book, Literacy Essentials. The book overflows with poignant stories, quotes, research, and suggestions. I found myself especially drawn to the chapter titled Embedding Professional Learning. Her wisdom helped launch my school into the year with a focus on learning and growing professionally together in a new and refreshing way. Regie has perfect timing. 

We began the year with this quote in mind from Regie's book. "Perhaps more than any other dynamic, positive and lasting change in a school accelerates and takes hold only when the principal and staff come together on commonly held beliefs that align with research-based practices." Based on Regie's work, my brilliant instructional coach and I designed three PD opportunities that led our staff to create six to seven common beliefs for reading, writing, and math.

For example, following a DBI on balanced literacy (borrowed from our generous Idaho Coaching Network friends), staff members individually brainstormed their reading beliefs. Vertical teams then created posters of their common ideas. Each person used sticker dots to vote for her top six beliefs. After some revisions, staff members had the opportunity to provide feedback.

reading

writing

math

The final beliefs for all three areas are now on our wall where we will be able to intentionally interact with them throughout the year. I'm excited to see where these important building blocks lead us.

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Craftivity?

I finally just have to say it. I'm not a fan of the word "craftivity." If you're an elementary teacher, you probably know of what I speak. Somewhere along the line, a very creative and lovely teacher invented this word. It stuck. It spread. I'd like to point out some reasons why it hasn't done so with me.

1. It seems like "fake" art to me. Finished pieces basically look the same.

2. I've noticed that craftivities are often loosely integrated with language arts, and I understand the good intentions. Yet with the limited time we have, language arts doesn't need to be cutesy. Activities and crafts muddy the waters and steal precious time away from authentic reading and writing.

3. One of the advantages to art is that it demands a growth mindset. It's two for the price of one. Making the 3D cats in the picture below was a perfect opportunity to practice optimism, persistence, flexibility, and resilience. I don't see any of that taking place when students are asked to glue pre-cut pieces together.

I realize that craftivities are not ruining our students or their education, and my opinion is simply just that - an opinion. Yet there's always room to ask "Why?" 

Right?

Miss McMorrow's Summer Book Club

I truly believe that preventing the summer slide starts on day one of school. If we wait until April, May, or June to attack this issue, we've waited too long. That's not to say there aren't some worthwhile strategies that teachers can implement as they launch students into the summer months. 

Of course, book access is key. In a perfect world, I'd send all students home with enough books to keep them engaged for the whole summer. (Did you know that Todd Nesloney's school actually made this happen? Read about it here. The whole idea makes me salivate!) I don't have the resources to pull off this kind of miracle, but I do have access to a local library and I have time to spare. 

For a few years now, I've donated an hour of my time nearly each week of the summer to meet with my students at our local library. I call it Miss McMorrow's Summer Book Club.

Logistics:
Since I don't want to be locked into a schedule, I simply choose a day and time on a weekly basis that works for me, so parents just have to flexible. One week we might meet on a Friday morning. The next week might be a Wednesday afternoon. I simply send an email and text to parents the day before. I invite them to drop off their child at a certain time and pick them up an hour later. I arrive at the library early enough to choose some good read-alouds, as well as some books I think students would be able to read with independence. 

Our hour together starts with time for everyone to share their summer stories. Then I read to them. That's followed by some partner reading using the books I picked out. Finally, they get to explore the library for books they want to read. 

Obviously, my book club won't meet during the week I'm away at church camp, and a few years ago, I abandoned the idea of book clubs altogether. Honestly, it was one of those years x 10, and I needed a break. Otherwise, giving up an hour per week of my summer really feels like no sacrifice at all. 

Not everyone has the luxury of time during the summer like I do, but minus incentives and myriad other "strategies" that when analyzed really don't work or align with our beliefs, how will we creatively increase the odds that our readers are readers even when they're not at our fingertips? It's a question worth asking.

March Madness Year #3

If you haven't heard of the book lover's version of March Madness, you and your students are missing out. This is my third year using it in my classroom, and though it might take some prep time to find the perfect 16 books for our tournament, it's well worth the effort. The right books will be the same books the children will then want to read over and over. They'll ignite questions between readers like, "Can I read that when you're done?" If you want to know more about my previous March Madness tournaments, find a free voting sheet that helps us keep track of votes, and get some great book ideas, simply click on topic "March Madness" on the right-hand side of my blog under "Labels."

Here's a picture of this year's poster. Enjoy!

March Madness (Again)

March Madness has officially begun in my room. We read two of our sixteen books today, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest in the next few weeks. I picked the books very carefully, hoping they would be irresistible and thus reread over and over.

This year I created a results form. Here's a look at a completed example.

Click on the picture for your own copy.

There's still time to get your March Madness started! Grab 16 books and you're practically ready.

DBI: Phase One

DBI stands for Document Based Inquiry. Although I'd heard my cousin Laurie refer to how she used it with her seniors, I didn't entirely know what it was until my experience this year in the Idaho Coaching Network. The following gives a bit of background on the DBI.

(Click on the graphic to read more and see some DBI examples.)

Although I've only experienced DBI at higher levels, I recently tackled it with my students. With the right modifications a document-based inquiry can be done at any grade in any classroom for any subject. There's not really a recipe for how a DBI must look and I'm not an expert by any means, so I'm simply going to describe how the process looked for my first try. There are four phases to the DBI, and this post is dedicated to phase one. 

It all started with this guiding question: Why do we have teeth?

Phase one: video

A video is a nice place to start, partly because it's the kind of "text" that's accessible to everyone. It eases the students into the DBI process, gives students early success, and hooks them.

I told my students they would be "reading" the video while thinking of our guiding question. We watched it once through simply to get acquainted with the content. After I described their note catcher, a place to write what they noticed and wondered, we watched it again. I paused the video at one point to give them time to write. (I should have paused it a few more times.) 

After the video, I gave them a few quiet moments to write more things they noticed and wondered. Then each student shared something from their note catcher to his or her group. I told the students to cross their fingers that they'd hear something new from someone at their group so they could add those thoughts to their note catcher. After sharing I gave them an additional quiet minute to add more notes if they wanted to.

Lastly we gathered together as a group with their note catchers, and I wrote down some of the things they noticed and wondered on a chart.

Check out all the "reading," writing, listening, and speaking that took place. If you liked what you saw, come back soon for phase two!

Wantability: Book Recommendations

I started the year thinking about reading wantability, and I'm still stuck on that word. Wantability increases the odds that my students will want to use all the skills and strategies we spend so much time practicing. Without wantability I'm simply dragging children through hoops. I do believe I've convinced most of my readers that all this work to become readers is worth it, but I refuse to assume my students have reached wantability satiation. I'm pushing myself to continually give them more reasons to love books, and so I again I'm wondering how to open the door to the literacy club a bit wider. 

Sometimes the answers to our classroom questions lie within our own experiences, which is how I decided on my most recent wantability project. 

I love book recommendations. When I get a good one, I typically can't wait to get my hands on that book. This is the exact feeling of wantability I desire for my students. So I began asking myself how I could use book recommendations with my readers. 

I eventually want my students to recommend books to each other, but first they need to experience what it's like to be on the receiving end. They also need some mentor texts before it's eventually their turn to write them anyway. So I gave this letter to the staff in my building.

Within hours of sharing this letter books starting showing up, and readers in my room fell in love with more great books. 

The story is unfinished. More books are on their way. Wantability is growing. This journey is never ending. I'll keep you posted.

Wantability (Again)

This year I've tried some new strategies for making books irresistible. I think I've decided there's no such thing as too much of this, so I'm determined to continually push myself to expand my repertoire of ideas.

Most recently I took a tip from the public library. I wrapped up some read-aloud books and wrote teasers on the covers. 

I just can't get away from the thought of wantability - a term from Kylene Beers. Wantability can help make up for lack of skill. It won't automatically fix reading deficits, but it sure can make the hard parts worth doing which can then lead to better skills. 

How are we doing at making books something that our kids, from youngest to oldest, want in their lives? I know I can do better.

P.S. Feel free to come see me on Facebook

Moo!

Moo! by David LaRochelle is my new favorite picture book. More importantly, it's a crowd pleaser in my room. Without giving away too many details, because you really must experience the book for yourself, the plot is told so cleverly with one single word: Moo. Who knew one could tell a whole story by repeatedly using the same word? The author pulls it off though. With the help of picture clues, inferencing, and punctuation, the word Moo tells such a clever, engaging, and funny story. And I love that any of my readers can read it, and they do....repeatedly and loudly. In fact, this is the kind of book that readers will read with the kind of enthusiasm that is just a bit distracting, which is a great problem to have. It just begs to be read with a fluent, expressive storyteller's voice. Go check it out. Even better, buy yourself a copy. You'll be glad you did.

Click on the book to see it on Amazon.

Wantability

Yesterday while reading Watch Me Throw The Ball by Mo Willems, the substitute next door slipped into the hall and quietly closed her classroom door, because there's only one way to read Watch Me Throw The Ball -- with enthusiasm! I actually considered the door closing to be quite a compliment, and it wouldn't be the first time a teacher's door has done that during one of my read-alouds. 

It's my job to make every book I read aloud come to life, even if that means people down the hall wonder why someone's screaming. "Oh yeah, Miss McMorrow must be reading to her kids again." Once I place that book into some basket on the floor or shelf, I want it to call the name of every little person who heard me read it. That doesn't happen without some passion from the first reader -- me.

I've been a believer of the importance of the teacher's role as a reading salesman for a long long while. This year though I've been throwing my weight into that role. I ramped up the number of daily read-alouds during the first few weeks of school. I checked out over 30 irresistible books from the library. I put 20 of them into a large box on the first day of school with a sign that said Do Not Open (until Friday). And I told the new teacher I'm mentoring about this all-important role she's taking on. If our students can't help but want to read because of how over the top we are about books and our love for them, they'll be more apt to try to be readers, even when it's not easy.

This morning I read a post by Kylene Beers that puts the exclamation point on the end of everything I've been thinking and doing. I love the way she talks about increasing "wantability" before increasing "readability." Read this post. It's short, brilliant, and worth your while.

Wouldn't it be really cool if all our school hallways were filled with the sounds of teachers reading aloud to their kids? Maybe we'd also have more classrooms filled with kids who want to read those same books themselves.

Books are Irresistible

This summer I had the privilege of hearing Dave Burgess speak about teaching like a pirate. I'd already read his book and was a fan, but hearing him in person brought his message to life. If you've ever sat in one of his audiences, you know what I mean. It's quite memorable. 

So this year I'm aiming to teach more and more like a pirate as I think of my students and how to bridge the gap between their motivations, interests and the curriculum. At the same time, I want to ramp up my sales pitch for reading. I always say the prevention of the summer slide starts on day one. 

On the first day of school, my students found a large box in my room with an important sign attached.

I actually didn't hear too much about the box throughout the week, but on Friday morning Kellen's first words to me were about that box. I also heard from some parents that it was a topic of conversation and anticipation at home. Score!

I made a big deal of the reveal. It was practically a Christmas morning moment. After the opening, I read a few titles to wet their appetite, like Dinosaur vs. The Potty or Vegetables in Underwear. (I was very intentional about the types of books I chose for the box.) The kids responded just like I'd hoped with squeals and laughter. I've a feeling there were some who might have been slightly disappointed that there wasn't indeed a kitty inside, but I'm hoping that my sales pitch is having an affect, even if I can't tell yet.

Then I tried some book speed dating with them. Although it wasn't a fail, it didn't go as beautifully as I had envisioned in my head. I cut it short but gathered some good information nonetheless. I definitely got a good feel for who my readers are. I also noticed those whose interest and stamina are weak. 

Next week, I'll begin reading those books for read-aloud. I imagine some of them will become future favorites, and even my reluctant little ones will begin to experience the fact that books are irresistible.

A Traveling Visual

Does anyone else still struggle to help their littlest people with b and d? I was pretty sure I had seen all the tricks of the trade until this last year when I thought I invented a new one. Come to find out it wasn't so new, and I still wonder how in the world I just came to know about it 22 years into my career, but it really makes a ton of sense. Maybe there's someone else out there who hadn't seen this either. Anyway, I realized that you can make a lowercase b and d on each hand as a way to check on directionality. Since b comes before d in the alphabet, the kids could tell that b is on their left hand and d is on the right. The best part of this trick is that the visual is mobile. It travels with them wherever they go. They don't need to look anywhere but on their hands. Brilliant!

Summer Reading Share

The school year isn't even over and I'm already pondering how I can prepare next year's students to be readers who couldn't possibly stop reading during the summer between first and second grade. I'm already thinking about this because I know that preventing the infamous summer slide starts on day one of the school year. I'd better be ready.

In the meantime, I'm also thinking about this year's crew, and I've got a few things to help them along the way through their summer of books. A few years ago, I borrowed an idea from Miss Trayers. (She has many ideas worth borrowing. Click on her name and you'll see some of the ways she helps her readers during the summer.) 

I've modified her original idea a bit by specifically including trips to the library. Click on the graphic below and you can get your own copy. If I've done it right, you can edit.

I've also recently come to the conclusion that many parents don't quite understand how important the library is to their child's summer reading life and they might not even know how to best use it, so I'm also sending home information about library tips. Check it out here.

Summer Library Trip Tips

Summer is knocking on my door, and I'm working on making sure my readers are as ready as they can be. (P.S. Summer reading preparation actually starts on day one of school. Think about that one.) 

Today though I had a new thought. Do all my parents know how to use the library during the summer? Do some of them feel overwhelmed when walking into a library with a young reader? Might they profit from some tips? I decided that they might, and here's what I came up with. If you want a copy, feel free to click on the graphic.

If this helps even one parent and their one reader, then it was worth my time. I'm hoping for more than one though. :)

In Context

If I'm going to teach nouns, I'm going to teach them in context of real literature instead of in isolation. That's where shared reading comes into play. We can share authentic text, remove a skill from the text, practice and play with it, and then put the skill back into the text as we read the story again (and again and again).

So this week Joy Cowley and Ratty-Tatty helped us learn  about nouns. Here's how that adventure played out.

1. We read Ratty-Tatty. 

2. We made lists of things the kids saw in the pictures of two different pages. As the kids called out the words, I sorted them into groups but didn't tell the kids why. When the lists were finished, I asked them what they noticed. One reader said that they were people, things, and places. That's when I labeled the columns and listed these words as nouns.

3. The kids then hunted for nouns in the room and wrote them on their whiteboards.

4. After reading Ratty-Tatty on the next day and reviewing what nouns were, I gave everyone a copy of a page from the book. They labeled all the nouns in the picture. They also eventually circled the nouns in the text.

5. On the following day, we read Ratty-Tatty again. I wrote examples of nouns and words that weren't nouns on small post-it notes. Each child had one on their forehead. They created a yes/no t-chart on their whiteboards and meandered around the room, sorting their neighbor's forehead words as nouns or not nouns.

6. On our final day after another reading of our book, we created a classroom book. Each child drew their favorite nouns.

Shared reading is a practice worth using daily. Give me a big book (or other large text) and I can teach most any reading skill while never venturing far from real literature and contextual understanding. 

(No worksheets were harmed in the making of these lessons.)