Principal's Book of the Month

I’m not sure where I first heard of The Principal’s Book of the Month, but it was one of those things that I tucked away in the back of my mind. When my school got a new principal at the beginning of the 2020 school year (yes, during COVID) I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to build a relationship with my new principal and for her to build a relationship with the students, many of whom weren’t physically on our campus due to COVID. She loved the idea when I approached her with it and the planning began. The premise for our Book of the Month is for everyone to interact with the same text in a variety of ways to create a literacy community but also reinforce mindsets and habits we want to encourage.  I wanted to choose books that teachers could use as a mentor text for reading, writing, SEL discussions and refer back to  all year long.  I had recently seen Jo Ellen McCarthy talking about her book, Layers of Learning and really loved the C.A.R.E acronym she uses (Community, Agency, Respect and Encouragement) to talk about books.  I decided for our first year of the Book of the Month, we would use some of the books she recommended in Layers of Learning.    

For our book of the month, we wanted each of our 30 classrooms to receive a copy of the book, which was going to cost about $3,500. Unfortunately, most of the books I had chosen were recently published and only available in hardback. I had Scholastic Dollars left from book fairs and was able to use them on 2 of the titles.  Since I was not going to be able to have an in person author visit, I used that money on a few more of the titles.  Our student council was able to cover the rest of the cost.  

Galapagos Girl by Marsha Diane Arnold was our first book. We were starting in October so this would tie in with Hispanic Heritage Month as well as having animals which I knew would capture the attention of the students.  My principal and I delivered the book to each of the classrooms on October 1st. For the virtual classes, she was able to actually get on the teacher’s camera during delivery and tell the kids about the book. I sent the teachers a video recording of her reading the book aloud and a couple of extension ideas for the book.  Throughout the month, I received messages from teachers showing me things they had done with the book so I put up a bulletin board to showcase different activities classes submit.  We have had anti-bully posters, poems, letters to characters, pictures relating to the story, persuasive writing samples just to name a few.  

As the months went on, the students looked forward to the first day of the month when they knew we would be bringing the next book. It was so awesome to see their faces light up or the cheers they would shout out when we walked in the door.  My principal says it is her favorite day each month because she knows we will be visiting every classroom.  I personally loved seeing the connections students made to the books.  During one of my library lessons we were looking at the wordless book, I Walk With Vanessa and one of the students made a connection to The Invisible Boy which was a Principal’s Book of the Month 2 months prior to that.  It was also so rewarding when students would get excited to find one of the Books of the Months on the library shelves and want to check it out. 

Although a bit costly, this was such a great program for our campus.  Each classroom received 8 new books for their class library. My principal got to start a new tradition of positive interaction with students about reading and everyone was talking about BOOKS! 

We are going to continue this program for the 2021-22 school year with a few changes. First of all, my principal actually picked the books for next year. In May, I gave her about 20 books to look through and choose 9. She thought she had done a great job and when we counted she had only eliminated 5 of the books. So she had to go back and narrow down some more. I told her I would keep the 6 she eliminated the second time on our list for possible 2022-23 books. I am going to let the teachers know all of the titles in August when we go back to school, that way they can better incorporate the books as mentor texts into their upcoming plans. Lastly, we would like to get families interacting with books in some way. 

Things to think about:

• Titles: think about the goal of your program - will you have a theme? Do you want the books to teach a lesson? Portray a message? Or simply just be good books?  Look at reading lists like We Need Diverse Books or Reading Rocket’s Themed Book List for ideas.

• Cost of the Books: consider titles that come in paperback. Ask your book fair vendor what titles they have that you can spend book fair dollars on. 

• Funding Sources: Book fair, PTA, Student Council, Grants, Ask community business to sponsor one month

• Examples of other programs: Just Ask eNewsletter; Heathcote Elementary

Genre Tasting at the Library Cafe

Today I transformed my library teaching area into the "Library Cafe"  - the place to taste a variety of books!  I have seen book tastings all over the place, but have never tried it myself. I had a 4th grade teacher willing to try it so the tables were set.  

We gave the students a menu that had each of the genres and a little bit about each one and then space for their thoughts as they tasted each one.  Each table was set with books from the same genre but we didn't tell the kids what the genre was. They had to figure it out by looking at the cover and reading the summary. We gave them 5 minutes at each table to sample one book. 

The kids were super into it. Some were using Italian or French accents when they were talking. Kids at the same table were discussing what genre they thought the books were. We loved serving up these delicious treats.

When we finished tasting all 9 courses, we talked about how some books can fit into more than one genre and if they found any books they might want to check out or genres they might want to try. The kids thought the books were "delicious" and gave the Library Cafe 5 stars! 

Elephant and Piggie Speech Bubbles

At the beginning of year, I sat with our 1st grade teachers in a meeting with the reading specialist assigned to our campus as she talked with them about reading and writing.  One of the things she mentioned was noticing how authors used different things in their writing and then encouraging the students to try it in their own writing. I decided that I could do that in the library.  I read a few of Mo Willems Elephant and Piggie books to them and we talked about how he used speech bubbles to show what Gerald and Piggie were thinking and saying.  Then they went to a template I had uploaded in Seesaw for them. We looked at the pictures in the frames and talked about how the speech bubbles. 

Students then went to work adding in the dialog.  

Most of the students recreated the banana joke from the story We Are In A Book like this student did 

However, one clever little guy really understood the idea of a joke and came up with this (his teacher did help him with spelling).  The video is only 13 seconds long, he doesn't press stop though which is why it keeps recording.  Oops.



Don't you love that??

Woodstone Reads

I posted a month ago about my reading goal that I shared with my students for our school to talk about reading more this year.  Besides our reading interest activity that we did at the beginning of the year, I have shared with them some other ways we can talk about books.  Our district is using Seesaw this year so I created a folder in each teacher's class called Woodstone Reads where students can keep an online running log of the books they have finished reading.  Each time they finish reading (or listening to) a book - any book - the take a picture of the cover and record a sentence or two about the book and who might like the book. Other kids in their class can see these posts, comment on them as well as get ideas for good books they might want to read next.

I also shared with 3rd and 4th graders that I would like to start featuring some book talks on our morning announcements.  We read the Texas Bluebonnet Award Nominee Grandpa's Hal-La-Loo-Ya Hambone by Joe Hayes and then I showed the students 4 different scripts they could choose from.  I adapted the scripts from these that I found online.  We have not had any submitted yet, but I am hoping those are coming soon.  

Books are Meant for Sharing

One of my big goals for our library this year is to talk about books and reading more... to become more of a community of readers. That is not just me, the librarian, talking about books, but the students and teachers talking and sharing about books as well.

During the first week of school when the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders came to the library for the first time, I started by reading Hooray for Books! by Brian Won.

This book was perfect because turtle had shared his favorite book with zebra and when he went back to zebra to ask for it back, zebra had liked the book so much he had loaned it to another animal who had loaned it to another animal and so on.  Which demonstrated my goal that books should not be kept a secret!  Books are meant to be shared and when we find a book we like, we should talk about it! I explained to the students about my goal for us to talk about books more and share books that we like with each other in different ways this year.  

I am excited about this goal this year and can't wait to see all the sharing of awesome books we do!

The "Gift of Reading" Tree

Over the Thankgiving break, I saw this post on Facebook and reposted it on my library Facebook page.

On of my teachers texted me and said I should do that in the library.  I loved the idea, but wasn't sure about the logistics of it.  I had a few days to think about it and talk it over with my assistant and a few teachers and decided to do it.  I borrowed a small tree from another teacher and set it up the in the library. My assistant and I pulled enough books from my stash of book fair purchases and freebies to give one student in each grade level a book for each of the school days in December - 90 books!  We wrapped them and put them under the tree.  I asked the teachers to each send me the names of 3 students in their class that either came from a book barren home or could use an extra gift this holiday season.  I put the names in envelopes by grade level and every day on the morning announcements I would call one student from each grade to come to the "Gift of Reading tree to choose a book.  

The students were so happy to get a book of their own to keep.  

Teachers told me that every day students would cross their fingers, hoping their name was called. We wanted the students to unwrap their books in the library so we could see what they got, but a lot wanted to wait and open the book back in the classroom with their teacher. 

This was a really fun way to celebrate reading during the holiday season. 

You Can't Read That!

Go get a different book.

That book is too hard for you.

You can't read that.

That book is not on your level.

You need an easier book.

I must (sadly) admit as a previous classroom teacher of 12 years, I probably uttered one or more of these phrases to any given student thinking that I was helping them make a better choice that would further their reading.  But instead, what I probably did was make that child like reading a little less.  

Today I had the pleasure of hearing the one and only Donalyn Miller (@donalynbooks) speak in my district about Voice and Choice in Reading.  She spoke for 2 wonderful hours and gave information, personal anecdotes and research about students and reading and choice.  But this one quote, mentioned very early on, is what has stuck with me for the rest of the day.

So instead of building the student into a better reader by making them choose a book "on their level", what I did, was tell them they were not good enough or able enough to read "that" book.  

What could I have done instead? 

 *Maybe ask them to sit and read a page or two with me and see if they change their mind once they read a few pages.

*Have a "preview stack" of books ready for a child that continuously chooses challenging books and say "Take a look at these books I thought you might like!" 

*Ask "Are you and your mom/dad/grandma going to read that together?"

*Check to see if there is an audio version of the book and let them download that to a device to read along.

And then the unthinkable... let them check it out anyway!  

Maybe they have a desire to persevere and read through the book,  Maybe they hide a "baby book" in the pages of the bigger book so no one knows what they are reading. Maybe they just want to be like the other kids.  Maybe choosing a book in the library is the only choice they have control over that day.  

Maybe I need to find a way to support them and help them like reading because as Donalyn said, "If not us, then who?"

What key phrases or techniques do you use to help a student choose books?

What Happened to Summer?

I am not sure what happened to summer.  I feel like I spent most of it in my car.  I have an incoming Junior in high school and an incoming 8th grader, bith boys who play baseball.  So my whole summer felt like I was either taking them to practice, lessons or heading out of town for tournaments.  I did manage to get 2 weeks at my favorite place in the world, Fish Creek Wisconsin.  Otherwise I really would not have felt like I had a summer.

The good thing about all that baseball is that I got a lot of books read.  I am talking 35-40 chapter book. Bluebonnets, young adult, grown-up and professional books.  I got some of everything.  Here are a few of my favorites.

#1 Professional Book:  Kids Deserve It!

A perfect summer book written by Todd Nesloney and Adam Welcome.  A great reminder about why most of us got into the teaching profession... because Kids Deserve It.  With uplifting stories and humorous ancedotes, these two principals have started a revolution of educators who are in it to do what's best for kids.  I loved this book!  As a matter of fact, one of my teachers saw my tweet about it and asked if she could borrow it.  Then another one asked to borrow, and another and... now at least 9 of my teachers have read it and more are on the "waiting list".  We even gave it to our new principal as a welcome gift on her first day, signed by those of us who had read it over the summer. 

#1 Young Adult Book: Serpent King

I just love YA books.  Almost enough to make me want to be a middle school librarian... not!  But I really do love to read them.  Three high school seniors all trying to deal with their last year together in a small town.  One dying to get out, one content to stay and one who thinks he can never escape.  Told from all three points of view, but interwoven into an unforgettable coming of age story.  

#1 Bluebonnnet Book: Echo

I am afraid the sheer size of this book will scare off a lot of readers (over 500 pages) which will be such a shame because it is a wonderful story of three children brought together by a magical harmonica that comes in and out of their lives at the perfect time.  I could not put this book down. 

Emily's Blue Period

Emily's Blue Period by Cathleen Daly and illustrated by Lisa Brown is a sweet picture book on the Texas Bluebonnet List for 2015-16.

Emily is artist who finds out that even the best artists got through a "blue period" when things in their life make them sad.  Emily's blue period starts when her family gets mixed up and she has two houses to live in - one house for her mom and one house for her dad.  Which one is her "home"?  It isn't until her brother quotes a potholder... "Home is where the heart is"... that Emily gets an idea and her creative juices start flowing again.

 

Book Whispering

Over the weekend, I read the book The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. (I'm behind the curve in reading this, I know). But I am so glad I finally did.

It has taken me a while to write this post because this book spoke to me on so many levels- as a teacher, a librarian, a parent and as a reader.

My husband would call me an idealist and to me what Donalyn has accomplished in her classroom is perfect! Heaven! The epitome of reading class!  It sounds so simple... give them books and let them read!  Why don't more of us do it?

Twenty years ago when I began my teaching career in a third grade classroom, I read outloud to my students everyday and we always had silent reading.  I, like Donalyn, taught whole class novels.  I had been in college during the "whole language" teaching movement where topics were integrated in all subject areas for weeks of study.  My favorite of these was our Mr. Popper's Penguins unit.  We studied the heck out of penguins.  We researched the different kinds of penguins.  We did science experiments about blubber.  Every math problem was about penguins.  We capped off the unit with an overnight, YES OVERNIGHT with 100 3rd graders, trip to the penguin house at Sea World where we learned even more about penguins and observed them all night long.  I thought the kids were engaged and I thought I was doing it right, and to some extent I might have been.  I was at a pretty affluent school. We didn't even mention the "T" word until January.  Students came to us with a rich vocabulary and exposure to books at home.

Now, I cringe as see what miracles teachers are asked to perform.  They have a tremendous amount of curriculum to cover in less and less time every year as testing and benchmarks take over the classrooms.  I hate that they have to rush through skills or concept, just grazing the surface. There is no time to delve deeper or do the reteaching of some concepts that they know they need to do because they have to rush on to the next topic in time for the next benchmark where the students will be tested on it.  Things have to give and unfortunately, read alouds and silent reading have suffered.

Are there teachers, administrators and district leaders out there that still value reading in it's true form?  I sure hope so.  I hope that soon the pendulum will swing the other way and reading test questions will not be the reading that is taught in our schools.

Live Video Feed with Jarrett Krosoczka

Another fabulous opportunity for my students discovered on Twitter...

Last night I noticed a tweet about a live opportunity Jarrett Krosoczka was offering for students today.

 I immediately emailed my teachers about it.  As usual, most were skeptical, but my two go-getter, willing to try anything, 4th grade teachers jumped at the 11:00 opportunity.   They even asked questions during the feed and Jarrett answered them!  

Wanting to get more teachers on board, I asked these two to reply to my email about how cool it was (sneaky, I know, but hey, it worked!)  and I brought it up with them in the teacher's lounge at lunch since he was doing another one at 1:00 our time.  

Once they heard how easy and fabulous it was, the rest of the teachers were all on board.  During the feed, Jarrett introduces his Platypus Police Squad books and how he draws the characters.  Some of my kinder students were even drawing along!  

 

He also showed how he changes characters facial expressions by drawing different lines around the eyes.  Here is a 2nd grader practicing.

What a super way to connect with kids and get kids excited about reading.  With summer coming up, I know what books my students are going to be looking for at the library.  

 

Here are some actual quotes from some 5th graders about the experience.  

"We are learning about his books online without him actually being here"

"We loved that it was interactive"

"Not only did he talk about his books, but he showed us how he illustrated them too"

"He gave us a sneak peak of his next book"

"We got to look at a live screen at a famous author that students across the country were able to see at the same time"

Thanks Mr. Krosoczka for a fabulous 20 min that our students will remember!  

Read Around the School

Yesterday, we had our first "Read Around the School" of the year.  This is a fun whole-school reading activity that is a bit chaotic, but the kids and teachers really enjoy it.  At my school, the classes are paired up with reading buddies that they visit with once a month so that is how we do the pairings for Read Around the School (or RATS for short).  Buddy teachers get together and choose a book for the event.  One of the teachers will be the reader and one the traffic controller on the day of the event. They have to let me know what book they choose and which room they would like to read in.  Sometimes we have a theme, like Winter Wonderland (books with winter or snow settings) or Dog Days of Summer (books about Dogs) or sometimes it is just teacher's choice.  

Three days before the event, I send out a map of the school with the titles listed in the rooms they will be read and a schedule.  I try to keep the room where the teachers ask, but sometimes I have to change the location because of traffic flow.  

Two days before the event the teachers hang a poster advertising the book outside the classroom where it will be read.  

 

I love seeing the creativity that comes out in these posters.  Some teachers love to make it themselves and some teachers have students work on it.

The day before the event the buddy classes get together to take a "Poster Walk" around the school.  Some teachers give the older buddies the map and the buddies highlight the books they are interested in listening to.

 

The Day of the Event, I come on the announcements at the specified time and tell the buddies it is time to meet.  The teachers walk the kids to the buddy meeting classroom.  I give them about 5 min to do that.  Then I come back on the announcements and tell them buddies to walk to their first story.  This is where it gets a little chaotic.  Picture 900 kids all loose in the school traveling to different locations.  The traffic controllers and any extra personnel stand in the halls and remind kids to walk and help direct them to rooms.  This take about 5 min.  I come back on announcements and say they should be in a room and for the readers to start reading.

 

 

Some teachers show the book on the document camera.  Some use the projector to display things related to the books.  Some just hold the book in front of the class.  Some teachers dress up or have props. It really can be however they want.

We let them read for 10 min and then come back on the announcements and repeat.  Two or three rotations is usually plenty.  Then the big buddies walk the little buddies back to their class and it is over!

Sample Schedule
1:45 travel to meeting location
1:50 big buddies and little buddies travel to first story
1:55 Start reading
2:05 Stop reading travel to second story
2:10 Start reading
2:20 Stop reading and travel to third story
2:25 Start reading
2:35 Stop reading and take little buddy back to class

I love that this is a whole school activity centered around reading and that the big kids enjoy it as much as the little kids.

Reading Buddies

I love reading buddy day!  As one of my 4th grade teachers noted, "Our whole school shuts down once a month to do this... It is fun to see how excited the little kids get, and how motivated the big kids are to be a role model".  She's right.  As I see the kids walking through the halls, books in hand on their way to their buddy class, I ask, "Where are you going?" and they respond back with a huge smile, "To read with our buddies!".

2nd and 5th grader sharing a love of fact finding

1st and 4th grader reading Clifford

This year, writing is a school wide focus and so we thought about incorporating some kind of writing into the buddy time.

A kinder student dictates to her 3rd grade buddy her favorite thing about the story they read.