New year changes

Been back at school for the last three weeks! Instruction is going well though in the next two weeks we have 3 of 10 days off ( Labor Day, Rosh Hashana and primary elections) Wondering how to keep classes together yet separated by the interruptions.
I may plan by grade level but each class is different. All classes Will get the basic plan but we have to change and expand for each.
This year I am trying to pull my autism classes into the reading incentive program, called Chessie. Working on Smartboard quizzes we can do after we read the book. The student aides can help with this too. We will start with non fiction at the beginner level.
Almost finished with Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson.The book is written is all letter format, letters from brother to sister who are separated and in foster care system. Very sensitive. I like the flow of the words and Lonnie personality.

Looking forward to another day off before Back to School Night!

summer break almost over

In another week I go back to work and the summer break is over. But summer won't be! My bingo card is almost full three more books to go.
Recently I listened to Where the Mountain meets the Moon by Grace Lin. I was able to download it for free from my local public library. Wonderful book which the reviews don't do justice. Mountain/Moon is a frame story, stories within the story. These are Chinese folktales woven into the plot, as in the Canterbury Tales and the Decameron and the Arabian Nights. This book is resonating with me as did When You Reach Me has.
Catch Grace Lin's interview with Al Roker for the back story on her creation.



And I finally read, after all these years, Mr. Popper's Penguins. I think son James had it assigned in school. Nice ideas, sweet and simple, I can recommend to some students. This year's table theme is biomes so I can fit it into arctic areas. Each of the library tables has a name or a color assigned. Last year it was continents. Anteartica was away from the other tables. Not always nice to go there!

weekend reads

Finished Dean Pitchford's "Captain Nobody". Story starts at the end and brings you back to where the final dilemma is happening. My only question is where are the parents and why is it okay to let your ten year old cook for the whole family ? otherwise the story is good. Captain Nobody is the younger brother of a town somebody, but that;s not the problem or is it? Anyhow the book is cute and cleverly written, reasonably realistic. I can recommend it. Do you have an older sibling who is really good at something? Do they get all the attention? Do you like him/her?

And I have read three more Junie Bs she is names after the month of June with a Beatrice in one she had to get glasses in first grade because like me she couldn't see the board from way at the back of the room. And then she learns about loosing things and getting to the Lost and Found Box. Graduation from Kindergarten. I like Junie's classmates they got behind her when she spills on her graduation gown. I have started "Skinny-Bones" to round out my Barbara Parks selections.

Thinking about using Smartboard senteo more for assessment. I have a list of questions for the first day third through fifth and wait until later to do second later. I will have to assign pin numbers to each student. Collect the results and reset the questions for the next class, and now I must download the software so I can work at home.

more reads

I finished the 2010 Newbery winner, "When You Reach Me" by Rebbecca Stead, almost in one sitting. I kept flipping back to the beginning to check that the setting dates was fall 1978 to spring 1979. The book felt timeless which is funny because the theme center is about time travel. Really enjoyed it, the first person narration, the kid-ness of how the relationships were described. And the explanation of relativity and physics. I am now inspired to try to read L'Engle's "A Wrinkle In Time" again, another Newbery winner.I say try because I did try to read it about ten years ago and just couldn't get very far. Maybe because the story developed very slowly? Going back for a revisit. The text in AWIT is much denser than WYRM how young adult books have changed since the 70's! I am thinking about how I can sell both books to my students. Time travel, imagination, images of NYC during the 70's hmmm.
I am now starting "Neil Armstrong is my Uncle and other lies..." by N.Marino which feels, in the first pages like "When You Reach Me".

Break Time

Summer is here! I have been writing curriculum with a team of school librarians. Went to a two day conference on differentiation and got back to my library for a day to begin ordering for the new school year.
In between I have read "Princess Mia" by Meg Cabot. Breathless and amusing. I hope to read another, probably one of the earlier books in the series. I do like series fiction, especially in my personal reading. It's part of that what happens next question. Sherlock should live, Mr. Doyle, readers want to know what happens next!
I have been reading other titles mostly adult fiction and a biography. However I am not going to include them on my "Summer Read That" list (24 books for the bingo card).
I am trying to read titles that I haven't made time to read before. The plan is I will start modeling book talks for classes using podcasting. Podcasts easy to create and great for higher level thinking. Students must create a script with an intro, content and closure. This could be done by writing it out, using a web or a bulleted list. I had better get a format pulled together now.

Keep reading !

June in Tune

Today was the first day of my summer vacation. I got outside did some clean up. Then went inside and did some more clean up, on my computer. Pulling files into order deleting, saving to a flash drive. I am putting together a slide show I hope will be shown at Back to School Night, describing my students as 21st century learners. The slide show is a motivator to get parents to sign permission forms. I am planning to introduce wikis to 5th, 4th and 3rd grade this coming school year. I need permission forms signed by parents before the students may use my wiki. The wiki will be protected no one gets in if I don't authorize it.
I have been working on the wiki on and off for the last three months, trying things out, getting very comfortable with the formats. And I built a wiki for the curriculum team I am working with this summer. Just wanted to see if I could do it fast.

I am going to finish "Masterpiece" tonight so I can get on to another. Only 70 pages to go.

Reading Challenge Continued

I read a "Junie B. Jones" by Barbara Parks, "Shipwrecked". First time ever for a "Junie", and I enjoyed it. "Junie" kept a journal in this one so I'll have to check out some other titles to see if she does it again. "Junie" corrects her spelling mistakes in the journal or is that her teacher? I see why my primary teachers love this series. "Junie" is funny, observant, self-centered and cute!

Now reading "Masterpiece" by Elise Broach. A family of beetles, a boy named James ( I have a James) and the MET as in Museum of Art. James is the son of divorced parents with a stepfather and baby brother. The beetle, Marvin is the artist. They are copying a work of Durer.

So by my count I have orphans (1), motherless child (1) divorced parents (2) in the books I have read, so far. Many of the titles on my summer list come from the Black Eyed Susan Nominees for 2010-2011. Go here I plan to read all of the 4-6 grades novels before the end of summer and do a podcast for each one. These will be opening activities for grades 4 and 5. Other books will be podcast for 2 and 3.

The theme of orphan is not new to popular fiction. The protagonist must struggle against something and what is better than orphan status?

Check out "The English Orphans" by Mary Jane Holmes, who was the Danielle Steele of her day.

daily reading

I read a "Junie B. Jones" by Barbara Parks yesterday "Shipwrecked". Never read a whole one before and I see why she is so popular with my primary teachers. This one had a journal in it so I'll have to check out another one to see if the format is the same. I know it's lame that I haven't read one before. "Junie" corrects her own spelling in her journal, which I think is so cute. And her vocabulary is splendid for a six-year old! Wow wow Wowie!
Now I am on to "Masterpiece" by Elsie Broach also cute. Beetles and boy, James( I have a James) who are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art duplicating a Durer drawing, with pen and ink. Very much feels like Blue Balliett's book set in Chicago. Poor James has divorced parents with a step father and baby brother too.

So let's see so far of the books I've read so far we have children of divorce (2) motherless child (1) orphaned child (1) sibling loss (1). Some of the titles I am reading are from the Black Eyes Susan Nominees grades 4-6 for this year.
Here's the link

The theme of orphan is very common. We probably don't realize how common. We all relate to someone who is going it alone. Where is the conflict if the protagonist doesn't have to struggle against something? Nineteenth Century popular lit is full of orphans including one of my favorites, "English Orphans" by Mary Jane Holmes the Danielle Steele of her day.

reading challenge continued

Oh no (!) I'm a day behind on my reading challenge to read a book a day. But since it's just me it's all good. Interupted by great conversation and dinner with librarian friend Michele. Last day of school we meet for dinner and a movie. This year was our third annual. So we talked and ate and then went to where else... a book store. I bought "The Sixty-Eigth Rooms" by Marianne Malone. Just looked intersting.

I finished "Extra Credit" and "Umbrella Summer". Now reading "Confetti Girl" by Diana Lopez. The chapter headings start with a dicho, a Spanish proverb. Very cool.

I am wondering how to work into fourth and fifth grade plans a novel about a topic they are studying. Have to make a list of suggested titles and make sure the books are in my little library. Reporting out could be an alternate to books reports (so many choices). Now I'm thinking technology and presentations they all need practice talking in front of group. Hmmmm

Back to the books!

Reading Challenge

Over the summer break, which began for my students two days ago, I have offered to play reading bingo with them. They read five books of a genre, or four if they plan their reading with the free space. I thought I would read 24 books for the card, but now I have changed my plan to read a book a day.
I finished Greg Mortenson's "Three Cups of Tea" two days ago, then I read Lisa Graff's "Umbrella Summer" yesterday. Today I am working on Andrew Clement's "Extra Credit", if I stay up a little beyond my bed time I can finish it. How long can I go on with this reading challenge? Stay tuned!

Looking for picture books

It's that time of the year when vendors call and I get to order books. Not much money and I have to stretch it as far as I can.

I am looking for picture books and fiction, plus books about nutrition that are good for primary readers.

I am planning a first unit of research for grades 2-5 to be about nutrition. Needing a topic for study so students learn how to use resources in the media. Within the first five weeks we need to practice research, using graphic organizers and presentations; which format? slide shows, movies, skits or jokes, puppets who knows? 4th and 5th grade will have web links to locate and use but 2nd and 3rd will use print media for the first round. Hope I can find enough! Magazines and news articles would be great for extending the resources.

Long Time No See

As they say. I am currently enrolled in a short online course , Using Wikis in the Classroom. Considering the options and where I want to start. Probably with 3rd grade- the make or break year.
Right now I have a web page for my 3rd grade students to explore the topic Imagination. They look at links to Authors, J.K. Rowling, Chris Van Allsburg. Music, some program selections they listen to online and then write a reaction to two of the four pieces. A biography of Walt Disney; they must create a time line with three dates they think he used his imagination. Dreams is another section, using R.L. Stevenson's poem "Land of Nod" and a dreams chart. Students will make a drawing use some lables to describe they reactions to dreams and imagination. They must write about Rowling and her imagination where do the ideas come from?

I believe I could turn the webpage into a wiki and get a more immediate response and discussion going with the wiki. Some thing to think about.