Reading + Pinning + Doing (11)

Reading

One Day and One Amazing Morning on Orange Street by Joanne Rocklin:  I'm reading this book aloud to my 4th and 5th grade students.  We've read the first couple of chapters. The kids that live on Orange Street have a mysterious visitor. With the visitor, comes a sneak into the street's past. I'll let you know how it turns out, but it has begun well.

 

Pinning

I just found BoomWriter today. This FREE online writing website encourages your child/students to write narratives. A celebrity writer starts a story, which is then collectively completed by young writers. This is a project of Citizen Schools, a non-profit that runs awesome programs at my husband's middle/high school. Check it out!

This was a lovely pin from the week. I love this poster:

Doing

We went to Little Farm in Berkeley last weekend. We checked out the farm animals (see rooster below), and took a walk to a pond (below). Even though my daughter was quite tired, we had a great morning.

It was my brother's birthday this weekend. His girlfriend had this awesome cake made for him (he's a huge Phillies fan)- I just had to show it off! We had a great time at my big bro's surprise party!

What are you Reading? Pinning? Doing?

Learning All The Time!!

Mouse Grows, Mouse Learns

September Read Alouds: Everyday Animals

I read aloud to my reading intervention students every Thursday. My main instructional goals for these read alouds is to build students' background knowledge/schema, teach new vocabulary, and to build students' fluency. I strategically focus on building schema and vocabulary because many of my students are English Language Learners whom can benefit greatly from being exposed to new vocabulary through natural language experiences.

 

This year I decided to have a theme to my read alouds, so we are building a store of knowledge though out the year. This year we'll be reading about animals of the world. Each month we'll cover a different region of the world with its respective animals. I tried to find a topic that is appealing to students in grades 1-4. I also work with 4th-5th graders, but I have a different read aloud focus with them.

 

Here are the books we read in September. We started first learning about animals close to home. Before I read each book, kids shared what they knew about insects, ducks, or bees. During the reading they asked questions or fixed misconceptions about prior knowledge. After reading, they shared out what they learned. I only have about 20 minutes for the read aloud, so we move quickly.

 

Insect Detective, by Steve Voake, illustrated by Charlotte Voake

Students enjoyed learning these new words:

• dragonfly
• moth
• wasps
• earwigs
• scuttle

Facts learned:

• Insects have 6 legs
• wasps are different than bees
• wasps make their own paper nests
• insects use camouflage protect themselves

Ducks Don't Get Wet, by Augusta Goldin and Helen K. Davie

 

Students enjoyed learning these new words:

• oil glands
• preening/to preen
• bill
• waterproof

Facts learned:

• Ducks have feathers (not fur)
• Ducks migrate to warmer places in the winter
• Some ducks eat fish, other ducks eat dragonflies or other insects
• Ducks can be different colors
• Duck have bills, not beaks

The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive, by Joanna Cole, illustrated by Bruse Degen

Students enjoyed learning these new words:

• pollen
• nectar
• beekeeper
• beehive
• guard bees

Facts learned:

• There are guard bees outside of the hive, that do not let in bees that don't belong to the hive
• The queen bee mates with the worker bees
• Bees communicate to each other by "dancing"

All in all the students enjoyed the Magic School Bus book a lot. They thought it was silly!! But each week a student brings up a connections they had to one of these read alouds, outside of the read aloud time. This month we'll be learning more about the animals of Africa!!

 

I'm linking up at Hope is the Word. Visit the link to check out other awesome read aloud posts!

Be well! Read on!

Read Aloud Thursday: A Young Sudanese Refugee Comes to America

I read another Karen Lynn Williams book aloud to my students this week, My Name is Sangoel.  If you haven't done so already, check out Williams' website. I think I've found a new favorite author!!

　
Check it out:
A TEACHER’S GUIDE FOR MY NAME IS SANGOEL

Book description (from back flap/author's website):Sangoel is a refugee. Leaving behind his homeland of Sudan, where his father died in the war, he has little to call his own other than his name, a Dinka name handed down, proudly from his father and grandfather before him.

When Sangoel and his mother and sister are resettled in America, things are supposed to be better but life in their new home is strange and lonely. The refugee camp seems better than this place where no one can pronounce his name and some even make jokes about it. Sangoel quietly endures the homesickness and ignores his mother’s suggestion that he might want to take an American name. He finally comes up with and ingenious solution to this problem and in the process begins to make friends and perhaps feel a little at home.
Co-authored with Khadra Mohammed and Illustrated by Catherine Stock in bright detailed scenes this is a poignant story of identity and belonging that will help young readers understand the plight of many children around the world as well as in their own neighborhoods.

Behind the Story (from author's website):
Four Feet Two Sandals, takes place in Peswar, a refugees camp in Pakistan. Khadra and I knew we wanted to write another book about a refuge child after resettlement in the US, a child who has left the camp, an a story about a refugee from another part of the world, a boy this time. My Name is Sangoel again grew out of Khadra’s intimate knowledge of and experience with refugee children around the world. I too was well aware of the importance of names to all peoples as individuals. It is common knowledge that many immigrants and refugees who have come to the United States have had to change their names or for various reasons had their names changed for them. My own grandfather changed his name after emigrating from Hungary. Like Sangoel he felt unwelcome in his new home. He hoped an American name, easier to pronounce would help him fit into a new culture in his new home. In this story Sangoel solves his problem without changing his name.

How I used this book in the classroom:
I read this book to students in my reading intervention small groups this past week. We talked together about the importance of activating background knowledge while reading. I told my students about a movie I saw about the Lost Boys of Sudan, and how many experiences the characters have in this book are shared by the refugees in a documentary I saw about the war in Sudan. They were eager to share the knowledge they had about refugees and Africa.

I also think this book would I work well when talking about connections with my students. Many of my students are ELL whose families have immigrated to America,  and because of this, they connect strongly to the experiences of a refugee.

I'm linking up to Read Aloud Thursday!

Be Well! Read on!

Read Aloud Thursday: Circles of Hope

This week I read Karen Lynn Williams's Circles of Hope to my 2nd-5th grade reading intervention students.                 

Book description (from back flap/author's website):
Young Facile wants to plant a tree in honor of his new baby sister, but he faces many obstacles. The first seed he plants is eaten by a goat, the second seed is washed away in a storm, and another is burnt by scrub fire. Will Facile ever be able to plant a tree that will grow strong for baby Lucia?
This story of determination, faith and love introduces the reader to the realities of rural life in the mountains of Haiti. Imbued with brilliant colors, expressive characters and vivid landscapes, Linda Saport’s illustrations capture the indomitable spirit of hope.

Behind the Story (from author's website):
When I was living in Haiti, I took a hike with a friend. As we climbed higher into the mountains above the Artibonite Valley we saw several stone structures in the distance. They came and went out of our view as we followed the path over and around dusty, treeless ridges. They were round structures made of sun-bleached stone. Curious, we tried to guess what they might be. Ovens for baking bread? Vessels to collect precious rain water? This experience gave me the idea for Circles of Hope.
I knew about the effects of erosion and had observed the desperate state of the environment on this tiny island country. I used what I learned first hand about the frustrations of tree planting and effort put into reforestation along with the significance of trees for the people of Haiti to write this book. It began as a story for adults and as with most of my books it went through many rewrites.

How I used this book in the classroom:
I read this book to students in my reading intervention small groups this past week. I live in Oakland, CA, so I feel like I often use the tree as a metaphor in my teaching. This year I labeled my books with 4 levels, and they are a quite wide range, considering I work with students in 1st-5th grades. The labels are oak tree tree themed images I found in clip art on my computer: (acorn [emergent readers], walking acorn [decodables/transitional readers], oak tree [fluent readers/easy chapter books], oak tree with roots [proficient readers/longer, more complex chapter books]. I also have an oak tree decor on the wall with my student's names on the leaves. When I saw this book, Circles of Hope, at the library, I knew I had to grab it. I wanted to reinforce my year's theme of "Growing Strong as a Reader," and this book spoke directly to that.

My student's connected with the main character, Facile, on many levels. They all are determined, yet have had their fair share of struggle, especially with reading. I am going to go back to this book throughout the year, reminding my student's of Facile's determination to plant a tree for his sister, despite his many failed attempts.

Williams' book takes place in the mountains of Haiti.
The dry earth, brush fires, and erosion make it difficult for vegetation to survive.

Williams set the book in Haiti. I had not read any of her books before. But now that I found this gem, I see that many of her books are set in Africa or Haiti. I loved how she gently dealt with the environmental factors distinct to Haiti, along with the cultural nuances, without overshadowing the simple narrative about a young boy's determination. I may start every year with this text. 

See Karen's Lyn William's Website (with blog) here.

I'm linking up to Read Aloud Thursday:

 

Be Well! Read On!

Read Aloud Thursday: Night Night

I've been staying with my husband's family at a beach house in Michigan. There is a gaggle of people around- cousins, grandparents, aunts, and uncles. My social toddler is in heaven. Every morning when she gets up she says, "people, people. go, go." And every night before bed (and before each nap), she makes her rounds saying "night, night" to all of her people, hamming every second of this up, of course.  Being at a house with the possibility of continuous interactions excites my extroverted 20 month old. There is always someone to be silly with, go to the beach with, or pick up a book and read to her and her other cousins.

Her cousin brought with him a new favorite of ours, Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann. My husband and I have read it to our daughter several times. Young ones will enjoy the emphasis on zoo animals, and everyone, young and old, will appreciate the sneaky antics of the escapist gorilla.

My sister-in-law mentioned that its' a great book for free-styling and embellishment. I agree. There are few words on each page, but a lot of drama is created with the illustrations. It would be a great book to practice inferential thinking with preschoolers ages 3-6. Even though my daughter at 20 months isn't ready to verbalize her inferential thinking, I try to use cognitive modeling, or speaking my thoughts, to help her along.


It's been a fun treat to be around so much family, especially for my daughter to have the opportunity for multiple read alouds every day!

Watch the embedded video below:



And check out this link at First School for printables and activities for Good Night, Gorilla.

I'm linking up at Hope is the Word. Cruise over are read the other Read Aloud Thursday posts.


Be Well! Read On!

Read Aloud Thursday: One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Over the course of the summer, a couple of soon-to-be 5th grade girls are coming to my place to get some low-key reading support. Considering that today was such a beautiful sunny day in Oakland, California, we decided to do our reading at a nearby park. We grabbed the Radio Flyer, our books, my toddler and her sand toys, and were on our way.

The girls did some partner reading, snuggled in the wagon we toted to the park- it was very sweet, and hopefully enjoyable for them.

Then as my daughter played close-by, I began reading Rita Williams-Garcia's One Crazy Summer aloud to the girls. This book is above their reading levels, but I wanted to share it with them- so a read aloud made perfect sense.

Many of my students are Latino, have been raised in East Oakland, but know little about the rich cultural diversity surrounding them or about the history that has shaped the Oakland they live in. The 2 girls I'm working with this summer are also Latino. I asked them what they new about Bay Area or California history, and they could tell me that there were 21 missions and that California used to be Mexico. While these are both true, I was hoping they'd have more of a sense of our history: Chinese Immigrants laid most of the railroad tracks out west; Japanese Americans immigrated to California through Angel Island, and many were placed in Japanese Internment Camps after during WWII ; African Americans migrated from they south to work in Oakland's Shipyards in the 50s and 60s, the Black Panther Movement; Mien, Vietnamese, and Cambodian families came to Oakland in droves after the Vietnam War, and so on... Well, okay, I knew they wouldn't know a lot of this history, and that's one of the reasons why I chose to read this book aloud to them. I want to build their background knowledge about the world they live in, and besides, it's a great story, regardless of the setting.

I really enjoyed this book. I feel like it gave me a bigger sense in the Oakland I live in and the world of the Black Panthers. I think I wanted to read this and have a sense if the Black Panthers should go on my good/bad list. But Williams-Garcia does an excellent job portraying the positive side of the panthers, while also exposing readers to the more dangerous aspects of the political movement.

Her characters are very 3-dimensional. You hurt for them, and relate to them completely. I also like the way she writes. In the future I can see using this book as a mentor text in teaching writing with imagery- she does this very well.

I would recommend this book to kids grades 5+, and I would encourage adults to read it as well!

It was pretty awesome to be sitting in the sun at the park, my baby playing nearby, reading aloud to eager students. Oakland today feels like such a different Oakland in so many ways.

Listen to the author reading an excerpt of the book here.


From Good Reads:

Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even though her father and Big Ma will send them from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to stay with Cecile for the summer. And even though Delphine will have to take care of her sisters, as usual, and learn the truth about the missing pieces of the past.

When the girls arrive in Oakland in the summer of 1968, Cecile wants nothing to do with them. She makes them eat Chinese takeout dinners, forbids them to enter her kitchen, and never explains the strange visitors with Afros and black berets who knock on her door. Rather than spend time with them, Cecile sends Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern to a summer camp sponsored by a revolutionary group, the Black Panthers, where the girls get a radical new education.

Set during one of the most tumultuous years in recent American history, one crazy summer is the heartbreaking, funny tale of three girls in search of the mother who abandoned them—an unforgettable story told by a distinguished author of books for children and teens, Rita Williams-Garcia.

Hardcover, 218 pages

Published February 1st 2010 by Amistad (first published January 8th 2010)

I'm linking up at Hope is the Word. Check out the other great RAT posts!

I'm also (belatedly) linking up to Book Blogger Hop at Crazy for Books.

Question for the Week: “When did you realize reading was your passion and a truly important part of your life?” I started really enjoying reading in my senior year in high school (I know, pretty late in the game!!). Reading became a passion when I started working with kids and I was introduced to more and more books! It also helped marrying someone that was an English major in college. We love sharing books and talking shop together (he's also a teacher). I always wished I loved books as a kid, but I didn't. I hope that that won't be the story for my own kids and the kids I work with!

Be Well! Read on!

Read Aloud Thursday: Time for a Feast!

Even though my 18 MO daughter has a hard time sitting through an entire read aloud- we try quite a bit. We read several books before bed, and we like to grab a nearby book and read anytime we're lounging around the house snuggling- which happens pretty often (and is usually the highlight of my day)!

Pre-kids I didn't see the point in board books, but now I love them. I love that they allow my wee one to interact with text at any early age- turning pages, understanding how we hold a book, pointing to pictures/illustrations that interest her, etc...

Today we read Feast for 10, by Cathryn Falwell. We picked it up at the library last week.

Reading level: Ages 4-8
Paperback: 32 pages
Publisher: Sandpiper (February 1, 1995)


As a mom, this is a book I would want to read to my child again and again. It gently teaches good family values (cooperation, responsibility, and sharing). It's a counting book and I like that it goes through 1-10 twice, once while the family is shopping for the feast, and then when the family is preparing the feast.

As a teacher, I see how the book encourages early literacy skills and number sense (it is a counting book, after all!). How does it teach early literacy skills? The rhyming scheme builds phonemic awareness (awareness of sound patterns in words), which is a foundational literacy skill. The words Falwell uses builds your preschooler's ever-expanding vocabulary (for example: cart, grocery, fry, bunches of greens, dill pickles, ripe, plump, peel, platters, jar, hungry folks). Building your child's knowledge of words early on will help them to be a better reader later on.

I think this book makes a great read aloud for any preschooler.

The only caveat I have is the absence of the father in the book. I feel like this book is trying to be modern(the family does recycle after all), but the father is at home while the mom shops with 5 kids. Does that really happen anymore? My husband shops, cooks, and cleans just as much as I do-- and if I had 5 kids, I'd make sure I would have my husband around to help at the store. Also when the family is in the kitchen the dad is taking out the trash and the mom is baking- hmmm, a little too stereotypical for me. I don't want to scrutinize the book too much, because it's a great read (and nitpicking is no fun)...I just wish it was a little more in sync with the changing roles of the modern family.

Have you read this book? What did you think of it?

p.s. Reading aloud is one of THE BEST ways to make your child a reader. What have you read aloud to you child/students this week?

I'm linking up at Hope is the Word. Join the fun!

Be well! Read on!