All About Those Books

Check out this fantastic rendition of the pop song "All About The Bass" transformed to "All About Those Books" by the Mount Desert HS. We love it!

Reading is...

Goal:

Happy birthday Tomie dePaola!

Hug A Book Week

September 6-14, 2014 is "Hug a Book Week."  To celebrate this special week and love of books, students brought their favorite book to school to share with the class.  The students enjoyed sharing their favorite stories with their reading buddies.  Please share your favorite book with someone you love this weekend.  There are two more days to celebrate "Hug a Book Week!"

DO NOT READ THIS!

Great video to reinforce why reading is so important and why it is something you do everyday.  Celebrate the fact that YOU can read!

International Literacy Day

Today, September 8, 2014, is International Literacy Day.  According to www.readwritethink.org, "International Literacy Day is celebrated annually by the International Reading Association (IRA) and is designed to focus attention on literacy issues. IRA estimates that 780 million adults, nearly two-thirds of whom are women, do not know how to read and write. They also estimate that 94—115 million children worldwide do not have access to education. International Literacy Day is just one way the Association strives to increase literacy around the world."

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/calendar-activities/celebrate-international-literacy-20584.html

Today in Title I, we discussed that there are many people in our world who do not know how to read and write, and how lucky we are to be able to have lots of books, and education accessible to us.  We also talked about why reading is important.  The following are the students ideas as to why reading is important.

Brock- 2nd

Chloe 1st

Alyssa 1st

Jake 2nd

Kaiya 3rd

Isaiah 3rd

Adie 3rd

Books for Boys

Do you struggle to find books that you can get your boys interested in?  Here are some suggestions:

Books for Boys Who Are Emerging Readers

In her book, Bests Books for Boys K-8, Pam Allyn recommends the following books for boys who are emerging readers:

Action and Adventure

• Archie and the Pirates by Marc Rosenthal  
• Flat Stanley series by Jeff Brown
• Ghosts for Breakfast by Stanley Todd Terasaki
• Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow by Robert D. San Souci
• Superhero by Marc Trauss
• Tsunami! by Rimike Kajikawa

Art and Music

• Art by Patrick McDonnell
• The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola
• Grandma's Gift by Eric Velasquez
• Ish by Peter H. Reynolds
• I SPY:  An Alphabet in Art by Lucy Micklethwait  
• Mole Music by David McPhail
• A Mouse Called Wolf by Dick King Smith

Nature and the Animal World:

• Actual Size by Steve Jenkins
• Bug Butts by Dawn Cusick 
• Big Tracks, Little Tracks:  Following Animal Prints by Millicent Selsam
• Bat Loves the Night:  Read and Wonder by Nicola Davies
• Buffalo Song by Joseph Bruchac
• Farm by Elisha Cooper
• First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
• Gone Fishing:  Ocean Life by the Numbers by David McLimans
• Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest by Steve Jenkins
• Never Smile at a Money by Steve Jenkins
• Spiders by Nic Bishop
• What Do You Do When Somethings Wants to Eat You? by Steve Jenkins  
• Who Eats What?  Food Chains and Food Webs by Patricia Lauber
• Whose Tracks Are These?  A Clue Book for Familiar Forest Animals by James Nail 

And she has lists for biographies/memoirs, comic books/graphic novels, expeditions, how-to, humor, math and numbers, mystery and horror, sports, and more.  If you have a boy with a special interest, she is bound to have a list of books he might like. 

Allyn  also shares books for each topic for developing and maturing readers.

Remember, the most important thing is to foster a sense of belonging for your young readers.  One way to do this is to choose authors and characters with whom your boys identify.

We don't want to limit what children read, but instead strive to stock our classroom libraries with an expansive awareness and acceptance of the books all children will love.  

Allyn's book is a great resource not only for books for emerging, developing, and maturing readers, but also to answer your questions on how you can support the development of your young male readers.   

Source: Iowa ASCD newsletter

How was your day?

25 Ways to Ask Your Kids 'So How Was School Today?' Without Asking Them 'So How Was School Today?'

I came across this article today on Twitter and had to share.  Great ideas on how to have rich conversations with your children about their school day. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/liz-evans/25-ways-to-ask-your-kids-so-how-was-school-today-without-asking-them-so-how-was-school-today_b_5738338.html

Ready to Read!

Are you ready to do a lot of reading and writing this year?  We are!  Looking forward to meeting my Reading Rock Stars today as we start Title I classes for the 2014-15 school year!

Jenga

On our last day of Title 1 we played Sight Word Jenga.  Students had to read a sight word correctly before removing a block from the Jenga tower, using steady hands to make sure not to tip the tower.  It was a lot of fun!  You can play Jenga using math facts, sight words, spelling, etc.  It is a great way to have fun and learn.

All About Sharks

Three first graders read the book, "All About Sharks."  Their excitement could not be contained.  Each student wrote four sentences about what he learned about sharks and then made an imovie to showcase his learning.

Sharks by Parker

Sharks by Brock

Sharks by Brayden

Roadrunners

Avya and Susie read the book The Roadrunners. Here is some of the information they learned from reading the book.  Enjoy.

 

WRAD

Happy World Read Aloud Day!  Even though we didn't have school, I hope you found time today to read aloud to someone or listened to someone read aloud to you. 

World Read Aloud Day (WRAD)

To celebrate World Read Aloud Day on Wednesday, March 5^th, I am asking your child to bring his or her favorite Read Aloud book to school to share during our Title I or Reading Recovery class time.  The book can be one that your child knows how to read by him/herself, or it can be a book that he/she loves to hear you read aloud.  I will be reading aloud to the students and then they can either read their book to the class or I can read their book aloud to the class.

Let’s see how many books we can read together in celebration of World Read Aloud Day, Wednesday, March 5, 2014.  Please let me know if you have questions.

Read Across America

There were A LOT of fun activities in school today celebrating Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss' Birthday.  We celebrated in our Reading Room by "Camping out and Reading."  Students brought a flashlight from home, chose a Dr. Seuss book and Dr. Seuss stuffed animal character and headed into the play tent to read.  Students ate colored goldfish crackers as they enjoyed reading the fun filled books by Dr. Seuss.  Mrs. Foster also read some books to the students.  Some of the Dr. Seuss books that we read today included:

• The Cat In The Hat
• Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!
• Go, Dog. Go!
• The Foot Book
• In a People House
• One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish
• Ten Apples Up on Top!
• And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street
• The Tooth Book
• Hop on Pop
• Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Below are some of the pictures of the different students and groups sharing their love of reading and Dr. Seuss!

1st Graders

3rd Graders

2nd Graders

 3rd Graders

First Graders

READING IS FUN!!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Camp Out and Read!

To help celebrate Dr. Seuss's Birthday and Read Across America Day on Monday, March 3rd, we are going camping!!  Please send a small flashlight to school for your child to use during our Title I Reading time.  If you do not have a flashlight, I will have a few to share.  We will be reading books written by Dr. Seuss and eating a small camping snack inside our classroom tent.  Reading is FUN!!!

What to do in a Blizzard Warning...

Third grade students read the book, "The Invention with a Thousand Uses" by Christine Kiel.  This book was about the history and many uses of duct tape.  Students were encouraged to make something at home with duct tape.  Here are their fabulous creations! 

iMovies about African Elephants

Second grade students created iMovies after reading a book called, "All about African Elephants," using information they learned from the story. Enjoy!

 

ReadKiddoRead.com

I came across this website today http://www.readkiddoread.com/
James Patterson is an author and on this website he suggests how to get kids to become readers.  He gives suggestions of where parents can find books for reluctant readers, boys and also gives book titles for different age groups.  He states the obvious: The more kids read, the better readers they become.  When the weather outside is cold, snowy and windy (like this week has been), grab your kids, snuggle up, and read a good book or two together. You will be building a bonding relationship and helping your child become a reader.  Enjoy this time together!

Welcome To My Reading Room Blog!

This is my very first attempt at creating a classroom blog.  I am not really sure what I am doing yet, so you will have to bear with me as I learn what blogging is all about.

I have high hopes for this blog.  My hopes include:
1. Sharing reading strategies for parents and students,
2. Sharing student work,
3. Giving updates on what students are reading and learning, and
4. Providing websites students can use to work on reading skills.

I hope you visit often! Please contact me if you have any questions or comments.
Here's hoping this blog goes well!