Llama Llama I Miss My Mama!

I'm adding The Children's Book Review to my blogroll. I especially like the read alouds of Llama Llama by Anna Dewdney (See video below).


Their Quest for Literacy sections has good tidbits and general information for parents about teaching reading.


This site is especially good for parents looking for a good book for their kidlets.



What good sites have you come across lately?

I'm Linking up to Learning All The Time. Please visit and check out the other posts from this week!

Be Well Read On!

Reconnecting to Community Literacy

Before I became a teacher, I worked as a youth program director for a local non-profit here in Oakland. I loved so many things about it: having flexibility on how you get to work with kids (socially, emotionally, academically, spiritually, etc...), the more casual nature of the programs, ability to create unique relationships with kids/community/families, and gaining creative control with curriculum and programs. Having the ability to work with the WHOLE child- their hearts, their souls AND their brains- was quite wondrous. And it's very different than working with kids in a classroom. It just is. No matter how wonderful of a teacher you are you'll always be an authority figure in an institution. For some reason, being at a non-profit breaks downs walls, and allows parents and kids to be less on guard and to feel more at home. Sometimes you have to put academic excellence and rigor aside and deal with a child's personal issues. This can most certainly be done in a school setting, but it's a lot trickier. Of course, there were also downsides to working at a non-profit: inconsistency with students (you can't force them to come daily), my lack of professional training, lack of money and support, etc...


Kids playing hockey at Harbor House in Oakland

I left Harbor House, the non-profit where I worked, so that I could learn how to teach reading. I had so many program participants (grades K-12) that didn't know how to read. I tried my darnedest to help them, but I knew my knowledge of teaching kids how to read was limited. I tried Hooked on Phonics and other efforts, but I knew I wasn't giving the students the reading support they really needed to become successful.

All that to say...after 5 years in the professional world- teaching middle school, going to grad school, and become a literacy specialist (and becoming a mom), I've recently become reacquainted with Harbor House and their new Director. She encouraged me to come in weekly and read a book aloud to the K-1 students. The school year is almost through, but for the last month, I'm going to go each week and share a book or two with them.

For the next month, I'll share here the books that I read to the kids from Harbor House's after school program. It's fun for me to talk about books and authors, so I thought it may be fun for you too. I took a trip to the library and picked out a few good read alouds.

Last Thursday I shared two books by Mem Fox, a beloved Australian author, with about 15 K-1 kids at Harbor House. The two books I shared were silly, repetitious, and filled with word play and rhyme-all excellent things for the listening ears of K-1 students. Reading books aloud with rhyme and repetition is excellent for beginning readers- it builds phonemic awareness (awareness of sound), builds a motivation to read early on, and encourages kids to become engaged with the book (they can't help themselves but to join in as the book is read). Mem Fox is very well known. If you haven't picked up any of her books for your kids/students- I encourage you to do so!

Boo To a Goose is such a fun book to read. The students soon join in with the refrain. They commented that they liked the silly pictures too. This was perfect for K-1 students.



I read this book second. I think students may have lost steam after the first read. But I wanted to show them a couple of Fox's books. This was a little more complex than Boo to Goose, and it seems to end more abruptly (it could have been that the kids were getting squirmy). I love the illustrations in this book. I also love her rhyming patterns in this book; a keen reader can guess what will be coming next- which makes a book fun to read, especially for little ones.



Hopefully my relationship with Harbor House will continue next year. It's fun to be surrounded by a gaggle of enthusiastic kids- where you can connect on a personal level, and when you don't have to constantly redirect them to focus on their work, book, etc... Don't get me wrong, I love teaching. But sometimes us teachers get so busy, and pour so much of ourselves into our classroom, that we don't get a chance to invest in our local communities as much- I am guilty of it myself. It's taken me 5 years to volunteer outside of my classroom, that's much too long of time for something so enjoyable and beneficial to the community. 

Library Visit

I'm trying out this new feature where I report out about what I checked out at the library for the week. If I was one of those super organized moms/teachers, I would visit the library with my toddler weekly. But my visits are not as consistent as they should be (reason being-we have a lot of great books at home and I have a Kindle). Hopefully this new feature will inspire me to take a weekly trip to my local library (only a short walk away!). My social, book-loving daughter certainly loves it- and that's reason enough, eh?

I do love going to the library. I like browsing through the new fiction books, DVDs, and cookbooks. I absolutely love running into neighbors, talking with friendly strangers, and feeling connected to the local community. It really is such a gift that books are made available publicly- for anyone and everyone to access.

My local library- The Dimond Branch, Oakland CA

Here's what I checked out:


For my daughter (17 months):

• My First Spanish Word Board Book, by Angela Wilkes My daughter loves these DK board books with real pictures. This book is packed with small images of everyday things, and showcases a lot of the words that she knows (banana, duck, apple, bread, table, book) or has heard often. My daughter also goes to daycare in a home where they speak Spanish only. I thought this books would help me brush up on some Spanish vocabulary, and help her to make a connection to the words she uses at home and daycare. We'll see how it goes...

For my students (elementary):

This spring I began doing read alouds (when you, as the teacher, read a book out loud to your students) weekly. Since I am a reading intervention teacher I usually have specific goals I'm working on with the students (expression, comprehension, teaching reading strategies, etc...) and much of the time I am working through a reading intervention curriculum with the students. I felt these different curriculum were effective on many levels, but weren't fostering a motivation to read (and that needed to change!). Reading a book to the students once a week for 20 minutes has dramatically improved their motivation to read (while building their knowledge about the world and their vocabulary!). Engaging read alouds are essential for many reasons (I could go on forever!), and my students' change in attitude proves it! I usually use read alouds as a teaching tool to focus on particular reading strategies. But sometimes we read a book just for fun!

• Owl Moon, by Jane Yolen I love Jane Yolen. I was introduced to Owl Moon during my teaching credential program. This book is beautifully written. A daughter and her father go "owling" together. I would use this book to focus on author's craft or visualization. 
• Mrs. Katz and Tush, by Patricia Polacco You'll probably see Patricia Polacco turn up often on this blog. I love her books- and her characters, themes of love, community, and the importance of history, all keep me coming back to her books again and again. And since I love her books so much, my students always do too (funny how that works). I chose this book blindly- I had never read it. But it's simply perfect for this week. There's a Seder in it (Passover is observed this week, I think). What a great way to teach my students about Passover (building their background knowledge) and share a heartfelt story about friendship and community. I'm excited to read this one. Bonus: The setting of this book is my hometown- Oakland, CA.
• My little Car, by Gary Soto. Again, I love Gary Soto. I chose this blindly too (well, knowing that i enjoy Soto's writing). Soto stories often convey the life of the Mexican American youth, and my students have always connected to his books. This story I like, but don't love. I would use this to have the students share connections and reflect on the character's poor decisions.

For Me:

• The Essential New York times Cookbook, by Amanda Hesser Recipes for me and my hubby!
• Too Many Cooks by Emily Franklin Recipes for the family!
• Ortho's All About Additions We may add on to our house- we'll see.
• One-Yard Wonders, by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins  I would love to learn to sew well. This book motivates me to make my Christmas presents this year.

Why do you like your library? What book(s) have you checked out recently?

Take your kids to the library early and often!

Read on!

The Goodness of Patricia Polacco's Books

Patricia Polacco has to be my all time favorite children's book author. I was introduced to her in my teaching credential program, and each year I discover that she has (yet another) book that is perfect to share with my students (and my toddler) for a myriad of reasons.

Reasons why I love her books:
1) Vocabulary: Her books are rich with challenging, beautiful, and imaginative vocabulary.
2) Her characters: My students (and admittedly, myself) connect to the struggles and hopes of her characters.
3) Perspective: She lived a great part of her life in urban Oakland (my home turf), and now lives on a farm in Ohio (or Michigan?).
4) Plot: She knows how to tell a good story.

Her books range from board books for babies to books for an elementary student or the young adult. And despite the diversity in subject matter and content of her books- all are high quality literature that I choose to read to my students time and time again.