The Lightning Thief

     We were just a few days into the school year, and I was meeting with our assistant principal.  In walks a first year teacher, who had done a few maternity leaves for us the year before, and he says, "Leah, I really want to read The Lightening Thief aloud to my class.  Do you think that would be ok?"

     I had never read The Lightning Thief before, but of course I knew about it.  I knew it was on the longer side, and I almost hesitated, but I also knew this teacher.  If it mattered to him, it would matter to his students.  So, I said "Of course!  When are you starting?"  I figured I would find the book, read it, and give him tips before he began.

     "In 15 minutes, if that's ok."

     "Sure.  I'll be up there in a little bit."

     Slight Panic.

     I ran to another classroom, borrowed a copy, and joined him.  I listened to him read that first chapter to his kids, and I heard his voice become Mrs. Dodds.  Then I went home and read the book so that I could offer coaching support along the way.

     A year later, this showed up in my TimeHop.  It turns out, we both now see that as the day he really became a teacher.  Now, I'm not Mr. Harvey, so I can't speak for him.  But, I'll tell you why I think he became a teacher that day.  He took his own passion, and began to use it as fuel for learning in his classroom.  Teachers who know who they are, and what they believe in, and use that to focus the learning in their class, are often very successful in transferring that passion to their kids.  Here is my view of how that happened with Mr. Harvey.

     It started as a read aloud of a book that he really loved.  It turned into an anchor for the literacy environment of his classroom. 

     After the first few chapters, we decided to use The Lightning Thief to introduce the students to sketchnoting.  We taught them one sentence summarizing and gave them a sketchnote toolbox of strategies, and they were off.  

The sketchnote I modeled to introduce the quest, and digital sketchnoting.

     Once they got that down, we further focused the learning on character development, rather than summarizing, and focused on his quest.  Now, if you teach 4th grade, you probably already realize that the Common Core Standards for 4th ask us to analyze character development and compare and contrast events, like the quest, in RL3 and RL9.  So, that's what he did.  

     When the book was getting a little too long to read, we found a copy of the graphic novel, and started using excerpts of that novel.  What we discovered is that is not only help students visualize the myth based setting of The Lightning Thief, but is also introduced them to the genre of graphic novels, and supported their ability to read them with more rigor.  It also helped his focus on the Greek Gods, and they started close reading passages about those figures that are so pivotal to the novel (more secret Common Core lessons embedded there).

     Then, as the year went on, some of his students started independently reading the other books in the series!  Others were reading more nonfiction about Greek myths.  Some had found a love for fantasy.  Others moved on entirely to different genres, and that's ok, too.  He was still able to refer back to those key lessons on characters, and text comparisons, and how to sketchnote, with The Lightning Thief in mind.  

     To end the year, he actually bought 28 copies of The Lightning Thief, and gave a copy to each of his students with a note.  This year, one of his students actually returned to 5th grade and had that book as her Me Bag item.  It had defined her as a reader, and so many others as well.

     One of my goals as a teacher, literacy coach, and Literacy Coordinator, is to grow READERS.  My goal is not to achieve mastery on the Common Core Standards, though doing so will help them as readers, but we cannot have them as our only target, and forget to inspire our students to actually become a reader themselves.  How can we get our students to see the value of reading?  One of the easiest ways, in my humble opinion, in modeling our lives as readers, too.  

     Do you love reading the sports page?  Show that side of yourself to your kids.

     Do you love comics or graphic novels?  Pass that genre on to your students.

     Do you love nonfiction texts?  Show your students why.

     What is your favorite novel?  If it is grade level appropriate, can you use it to leverage a reading environment in your class?

     Thank you, Mr. Harvey, for sharing a piece of your heart with your students, and in the end creating a room full of readers.  

Trick or Treat?

     This trick or treat is coming from the 3rd grade team at Hiawatha!

     Every year, Halloween comes, and so do the costumes and the parties and the boundless energy that seems to exude from the students.  Pumpkins and music and Halloween read alouds fill the classrooms in anticipation of the big day.  Oh, Halloween.  We either love it, or we hate it.  

     This year, our third grade team decided to let Charlotte's Web take over their Halloween festivities.  There is not a whole lot of Halloween in the book, except for the fact that the main character is a spider.  But, when that novel falls as your read aloud in the month of October, it only makes sense to make a big deal about it.  

     So, what did they do?

 

     For starters, they made the characters come alive by dressing as Charlotte, the web, Wilbur, and Fern on Halloween.  They even "recreated" the cover of the book in costume for a team picture.  :)

     

    The messages from the web were their classrooms decorations, both on windows and in costume.  

    They have also been using Charlotte's Web as their anchor text for developing character.  They are working on RL3.3, and have been developing strong character traits across the grade using Charlotte's Web as their example.  Before their party in 3ROWA, they had the kids write about an assigned character on giant writing paper.  Then, at the party, they were give a pumpkin to decorate as their character for their Character Pumpkin Patch!

Welcome to the Character Pumpkin Patch!

Wilbur

Charlotte

Templeton

Charlotte

Wilbur

     Thanks to our third grade team ( +Anna Waszak +Christine Flowers +Kathy Ross Theresa Carrillo)  for bringing their love of literacy into fun activities for the students!  They will certainly never forget this book!  Thanks for modeling that reading can be FUN, and that when we read books that we enjoy, the possibilities are endless.

Close Reading, Grinch Style

     My daughter is home with a fever today, which means I am home with a daughter with a fever.  What does one do with a sick daughter?  Go to Pinterest and make Christmas crafts together, of course.

     Her current favorite Christmas character is the Grinch.  So, we made some fun crafts together in honor of the Dr. Seuss seasonal icon.

     It started the other day with some ornaments for our tree.

 

     Today, we painted a paper plate brown and turned him into a reindeer, just like Max.

     Next, we found a way to make the Grinch by painting a paper plate.  (Pinterest has everything.)

     Then, we drew the Grinch and Max, his dog, following step by step directions we found.  This time, we each drew our own.  Keira was happy that we drew the same things.  Mommy/ Daughter bonding with smelly markers and dot dot markers.

     My favorite thing that Keira made, though, was her own picture of the Grinch.  She clicked on a picture of the Grinch from the ones I had searched in Google, because it was the picture of when he got his "wonderful, awful idea."

     As a literacy coach mom, I immediately thought about how my daughter close read that image.  She knew the exact moment in the story when that happens simply because of the expression on his face.  She has, in fact, noticed some differences between the cartoon version and the book.  But, most impressive to me is that she is inferring a character's feelings using illustrations and story events.  Take this conversation a few hours later:

"Mommy, why do some people hate Christmas?"

"Who hates Christmas?"

"The Grinch."

"I think it is because he didn't have love."

"But he has Max!"

"But did he really love Max?"

"He said "hating the Who's" in the movie.  I know he didn't love them.  He loves them now, though."

     Talk about character development.  That Grinch certainly develops over the course of the text.

     I love the Grinch, because it has always been a holiday tradition of mine.  But, perhaps he could mean just a little bit more.  Perhaps, it can be a door into deeper thinking with a mentor character who really leaves an impact on our students.

     On my search for Grinch crafts, I found a few fun things, and a great blog post from Scholastic, about how to actually use the text to do some close reading.  Here is the blog post.  She mentions some possible themes and social issues to explore, and gives some picture examples of annotated text from the book.

     On Fairy Tales and Fiction, they give some freebies for the Grinch.  There are some fun character activities for K-1, maybe 2nd grade kids.  Here is the link to their blog and freebies.

     This is a fun number identification coloring sheet, that I do not really think is Common Core aligned all that much, but makes the Grinch when complete.  Fun activity, not deep thinking.  Here is the link.

     I saved the best link for last.  This lady loves the Grinch AND taking photographs of her kids.  We had a conversation this week in 2nd grade about character traits vs emotions vs physical traits.  Her anchor chart is really a combination of the three things.  I suppose when asking kids, at 1st and 2nd grade, to describe a character we hope for great vocabulary, and less about which of the three categories the word falls into.  We want them to go beyond "happy."  But, using the word adjectives instead of "character traits" removes the argument about categorization, I suppose.  Perhaps that is a way to start the conversation with kids.

These images are from thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com

     This post is really about holiday fun, mixed in with a little literacy fun.  Enjoy the season with your students and your family.

The Power of Balanced Literacy

     In our 2nd year of Reading Workshop in D100, we have really started to find the value of seeing things in more of a Balanced Literacy approach at Hiawatha.  Our days can be really segmented and choppy, teaching 15 minutes of this, and 15 minutes of that, and feeling disconnected and out of sync.  But, if we see all those 15 minute pieces as pieces of the puzzle, things start to "fit" and flow can be found in our days.

     I was recently at a 5th grade ELA planning meeting, and I was struck with just how much more their unit has flowed this time around.  We got through the 1st year of workshop last year, but we were just struggling to get through it all.  Anytime you adopt anything, that is what you do the first time around.  Our kids struggled with the content, we struggled with the content, but we got through it.  The 2nd year is here, though, and with a balanced literacy approach things have gotten easier.

What changes did they make this year?

1.  They have a common read aloud across the grade level.  This has helped immensely when it comes to assessment.  They have used their read aloud (The Apprentice) to design mid book and final assessments around the CCSS standard 3, as well as the Calkins Unit of Study.  

2.  They use their read aloud as their shared reading and close reading experiences.  If we see shared reading and close reading as separate times in our day, like we did last year, they learn the skill, but don't always apply it.  When they hand every kid a copy of the novel, the kids start to see how to apply those lessons while they are actually reading.  Kids started re-reading the chapters on their own during Read to Self!  

3.  They used their read aloud to set up their Reading Response Journals.  What a great way to make them accountable for their listening, and still model the types of entries we hope to see in our journals. 

4.  They are using their current theme, the Renaissance, and their current novel, The Apprentice, to set up their predominant genre: Historical Fiction.  This work is going to set them up for book clubs, for sure!  Establishing the importance of setting in historical fiction through a shared read aloud is a great way for students to really understand the importance of time and place in historical fiction.  

5.  They were also able to build content area vocabulary around their theme.  By using The Apprentice to teach about the Renaissance, it was easy enough for them to build content area vocabulary.  They then used that vocabulary to do short, focussed research writing about the time period.  They also used quick writing ideas, like Wordles, to explore the important vocabulary of the Renaissance.

6.  They use big ideas, mini lessons, and vocabulary from their unit within guided reading.   When I observed a group performing below level, they were still using some of the concepts the class had been introduced to in workshop and read aloud to spark conversation in guided reading.  They used text that was at their instructional level, but elevated the conversation with grade level discussion around it.  

     My favorite moment of the unit so far, though, was when those fabulous teachers practiced a new lesson idea using the book during their ELA plan time.  Kate Cardelli had found a new structure to use post it notes with groups, so they all practiced using post it notes together.  They then realized that they were answering the question as teachers, not their students, and re-did their responses.  What a powerful moment for them!  By using the shared read aloud, they were not only able to talk about a shared text, but they used that text to really think about what their kids are able to do in class.  It is that type of thinking that will really move our students forward.  We have to start where they are at.  Always.

So, what is the one sentence summary of this post?

Use a shared read aloud to help teach the big ideas of your unit, your reading workshop mini lessons, and writing, creating flow in balanced literacy.

Blasting Off A Great Year (with No, David!)

     One of my favorite books to start the year off right in primary grades is the David books by David Shannon!

Image From Kayla at The Chalkboard Garden

     At the beginning of the year, we are always trying to not only get literacy instruction off on the right foot, but we also want to set clear behavior expectations, too.  The easy readability of the No, David books (as I lovingly call them) paired with the engaging illustrations make for a great mentor text!

3 Ways to Read a Book Mentor Text

     When using it to set literacy expectations, it is a great book to read as a mentor text for a 3 Ways to Read a Book lesson.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the Daily 5 and the Sisters, they have a mini lesson where they teach their students the 3 ways that readers might "read" a book during Read to Self.  They are:
1.  Read the Pictures
2.  Read the Words
3.  Retell the Story

     I like this lesson so much, because it really makes ALL the students in the room readers.  In one simple lesson, the emergent readers, as well as those who are decoding and reading fluently, can read and practice stamina. The two anchor charts below are both examples from my building using
No, David to teach the 3 ways to read a book.

This anchor chart was in Molly Surma'a kindergarten room, and actually has a picture of each child reading, using one of the ways to read a book, during their stamina practice.  

This anchor chart was in Stacy Rammer and Maggie Daly's 2nd grade room, also as an example of the three ways.  This one used illustrations from the books to demonstrate the meaning of the 3 ways to read a book.

       When I went into the 2nd grade room today, I saw their 2nd mini lesson about the 3 ways to read a book.  Yesterday, they went over "Reading the pictures" and "Reading the words."  Today, they were using a hand graphic organizer to retell the same No, David story and they modeled the 3rd way to read a book.  

Behavior Mentor Text

     The reason the No, David make a perfect back to school mentor text is because not only does it help teach some literacy behaviors, but it also serves as a model for behavior expectations.  David makes some poor choices, but he is a good kid.  He learns lessons, and he tries again.  Just like our students!  

     My building uses PBIS, and our first few weeks spend a lot of time naming specific behaviors that model our rules. 

Be Ready  

Be Respectful  

Be Responsible

     The anchor charts below are from our bilingual kindergarten class.  They used David as their model for bad behaviors, but also for good behaviors.  They then hung the charts side by side and had anchor charts for behavior in their classrooms.  

Ms. Gelacio's chart, just waiting for her kindergartners to arrive.

These are both anchor charts of the "bad choices" David made.  The first one is from Lucy Carrera's bilingual kindergarten, and the 2nd is from Molly Surma's class.  They also posted the "good choices"  David made as well.

These "Davids" were made by Sarah Berry's first graders.  They wrote the lessons they learned about behavior from David on the shirts.  

     Students come to school with so many emotions, and David is a very helpful resource when it comes to naming them and helping them pay attention to body language of themselves and others.  Below is a graphic that might help name feelings students' are feeling, especially during team building and cooperative activities.  Right from the beginning, if we train our students to be aware of their own feelings as well as those of their classmates, our rooms will be more conducive to learning. 

Image from Kayla at the Chalkboard Garden

Year Long Mentor Text Possibilities

     No, David is a mentor text!  Don't just use it at the beginning of the year.  Come back to it all year long!

     Think about it... If you start to think about all the things that, throughout the year, David can teach us, you will soon see it as one of the well loved books that keeps coming back, again and again and again.  Let me list a few mini lessons off the top of my head:

• Fluency lessons:  Just imagine the fluency you can model with all the yelling, text sizes, and punctuation in that book.

• Inferring character's feelings:  Our little friend David goes through quite the emotional changes through the course of the book.  Just look at his face and body language- they say so much!

• Themes:  There are few books that teach the theme of compassion and forgiveness like No, David.  Just think about the end of the book when David's teacher gives him a gold star, even after his naughtiness.  Or perhaps when his friends are waiting to play with him, despite his behavior in school.  What a great lesson for our kids.

• Character Development:  Read a few of the David books together, and you have a character study.  

• Personal Narrative Genre:  This is an excellent example of a personal narrative.  David Shannon wrote the stories about himself as a child.  What a great way to get kids writing stories that are true about them!

• Vocabulary:  The reading level for the book is in the first grade band, but there are a few good words that could be vocabulary words.  "NO! It's not my fault! I didn't mean to! It was an accident!"  Ask any young kid to define "accident" and you have a good discussion.  :)

• 3 Ways to Read a Book:  The text is nice and simple to read, the pictures practically tell the story all on their own, and the kids love to retell this one!  

• Rereading Text:  Kids are always so hesitant to read texts more than once, but for some reason David allows them to do that.  The David books are often the ones that fall apart due to overuse.

• Voice:  One of our 6 Traits of good writing is found abundantly in the words of the No, David! books.  

     Thanks for reading my first blog hop post!  On to the next stop you go!