Another Great Read!

Just finished reading another book and again it didn't disappoint! The book is Need by the author Joelle Charbonneau. I was walking through BAM yesterday and saw the book for sale and loved the cover so I thought I have to read it. If you are looking for a good mystery to read please check out this book.

Here is a blurb about the book from Goodreads:

One by one, the teens in Nottawa, Wisconsin, join the newest, hottest networking site and answer one question: What do you need? A new iPhone? Backstage passes to a concert? In exchange for a seemingly minor task, the NEED site will fulfill your request. Everyone is doing it. So why shouldn’t you?

Kaylee Dunham knows what she needs—a kidney for her sick brother. She doesn’t believe a social networking site can help, but it couldn’t hurt to try.

Or could it?

After making her request, Kaylee starts to realize the price that will have to be paid for her need to be met. The demands the site makes on users in exchange for their desires are escalating, and so is the body count. Will Kaylee be able to unravel the mystery of who created the NEED network before it destroys them all?

My Reading Life Over Break

Yes, I am addicted to reading and I love it. I have many friends and family make fun of me and say things like, "Oh you are reading again?" or "How can you read so much?" Well truth me told, I really enjoy it. What I really like to do is read books that will get my students excited about reading too. I'm excited to go back to school next week, and book talk some of the books that I've read and continue reading, so I can have more books to talk to them about. I love when I have recommended a book to a student and they come into the classroom and talk to me about the book. It's exciting, and then it gets other students excited about the book too. One book that had many girls in my classroom excited this year was 

This book is my Tamara Ireland Stone and is exceptionally good. Here is brief look into the book from Amazon: If you could read my mind, you wouldn't be smiling.

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off. 

Seriously if you haven't read this book, it is great and you will be in for a treat.

So over the last week or so I have been reading quite a bit. Right before break began I finished reading the Slated series. I am reading Slated in my 7th grade reading classroom right now as a read aloud. I had to know what was happening in the other two books in the series so I read them right before break. This is a great series and the kids love it and we are finding tons of "Signposts" in our reading to help us to comprehend the book. 

Here is a blurb about the first book in the series from Amazon: Kyla’s memory has been erased, her personality wiped blank, her memories lost forever. She’s been slated. The government claims that she was a terrorist and they are giving her a second chance—if she plays by their rules. But scenes from the past haunt her as she tries to adjust to a new life, family, and school, leaving her unsettled. Who is she really? And if only criminals are meant to be slated, why are so many other teens disappearing? As she and her friend Ben seek answers, Kyla is torn between the need to know more and her instinct for self-preservation.

Another book I finished reading the day before break was Gone by Michael Grant. Another Sci Fi Dystopian fantasy book. This book hooked me!! I can't wait to talk about it either.

A little about this book from Amazon: In the blink of an eye, everyone disappears. Gone. Except for the young. There are teens, but not one single adult. Just as suddenly, there are no phones, no internet, no television. No way to get help. And no way to figure out what's happened. Hunger threatens. Bullies rule. A sinister creature lurks. Animals are mutating. And the teens themselves are changing, developing new talents—unimaginable, dangerous, deadly powers—that grow stronger by the day. It's a terrifying new world. Sides are being chosen, a fight is shaping up. Townies against rich kids. Bullies against the weak. Powerful against powerless. And time is running out: on your birthday, you disappear just like everyone else. . . .

The first book I read over Christmas break was the 2nd book in the Gone series called "Hunger"

another great book in the series: It's been three months since all the adults disappeared. Gone. Food ran out weeks ago and starvation is imminent. Meanwhile, the normal teens have grown resentful of the kids with powers. And when an unthinkable tragedy occurs, chaos descends upon the town. There is no longer right and wrong. Each kid is out for himself and even the good ones turn murderous. But a larger problem looms. The Darkness, a sinister creature that has lived buried deep in the hills, begins calling to some of the teens in the FAYZ. Calling to them, guiding them, manipulating them.

The Darkness has awakened. And it is hungry.

My 2nd book read during break was a book Called "Boy 21" by Mathew Quick. 

This was a very good read and I have a few students in mind when I get back to school that may enjoy this: 

Amazon: Basketball has always been an escape for Finley. He lives in broken-down Bellmont, a town ruled by the Irish mob, drugs, violence, and racially charged rivalries. At home, his dad works nights, and Finley is left to take care of his disabled grandfather alone. He's always dreamed of getting out someday, but until he can, putting on that number 21 jersey makes everything seem okay.

Russ has just moved to the neighborhood, and the life of this teen basketball phenom has been turned upside down by tragedy. Cut off from everyone he knows, he won't pick up a basketball, but answers only to the name Boy21--taken from his former jersey number.

As their final year of high school brings these two boys together, a unique friendship may turn out to be the answer they both need.

The 3rd book I read over break was a book called "Willow" by Julia Hoban. This is a book I found on Amazon and thought it looked good so I ordered it. It didn't disappoint. 

A brief blurb about this book from Amazon: 

Seven months ago, on a rainy March night, sixteen-year- old Willow's parents drank too much wine and asked her to drive them home. They never made it. Willow lost control of the car and her parents died in the accident. Now she has left behind her old home, friends, and school, and blocks the pain by secretly cutting herself. But when Willow meets Guy, a boy as sensitive and complicated as she is, she begins an intense, life-changing relationship that turns her world upside down.

Told in an arresting, fresh voice, Willow is an unforgettable novel about one girl's struggle to cope with tragedy, and one boy's refusal to give up on her.

The 4th book I read over break was the book called "House Arrest" by K.A. Holt. This was is written in verse about a boy that has gotten into trouble and is on House arrest after stealing to help his mom take care of his sick little brother. I loved the character Timothy. 

Here is a blurb from Amazon: 

Timothy is on probation. It's a strange word—something that happens to other kids, to delinquents, not to kids like him. And yet, he is under house arrest for the next year. He must check in weekly with a probation officer and a therapist, and keep a journal for an entire year. And mostly, he has to stay out of trouble. But when he must take drastic measures to help his struggling family, staying out of trouble proves more difficult than Timothy ever thought it would be. By turns touching and funny, and always original, House Arrest is a middlegrade novel in verse about one boy's path to redemption as he navigates life with a sick brother, a grieving mother, and one tough probation officer.

The next book I read over break was "Vanishing Girls" by Lauren Oliver. Another great book full of mystery that had a plot twist at the end. 

The blurb from Amazon:

Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara's beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged.

When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it's too late.

The 6th book I read over break was "All the Rage" by Courtney Summers. This one kept me going the whole way through. A tough topic,  but wow was it good.

Amazon blurb: The sheriff's son, Kellan Turner, is not the golden boy everyone thinks he is, and Romy Grey knows that for a fact. Because no one wants to believe a girl from the wrong side of town, the truth about him has cost her everything-friends, family, and her community. Branded a liar and bullied relentlessly by a group of kids she used to hang out with, Romy's only refuge is the diner where she works outside of town. No one knows her name or her past there; she can finally be anonymous. But when a girl with ties to both Romy and Kellan goes missing after a party, and news of him assaulting another girl in a town close by gets out, Romy must decide whether she wants to fight or carry the burden of knowing more girls could get hurt if she doesn't speak up. Nobody believed her the first time-and they certainly won't now-but the cost of her silence might be more than she can bear.

With a shocking conclusion and writing that will absolutely knock you out, Courtney Summers' new novel All the Rage examines the shame and silence inflicted upon young women in a culture that refuses to protect them.

My 7th book during break was another book by Lauren Oliver called "Delirium". This is another Dystopian Sci Fi book. It is set in the future and "LOVE" is against the law. When you turn 18 you have an operation to remove your desire to love. This book was one I couldn't stop reading and it had me hooked from the beginning. I can't wait to read the other two books in the series.

Blurb from Amazon: In an alternate United States, love has been declared a dangerous disease, and the government forces everyone who reaches eighteen to have a procedure called the Cure. Living with her aunt, uncle, and cousins in Portland, Maine, Lena Haloway is very much looking forward to being cured and living a safe, predictable life. She watched love destroy her mother and isn't about to make the same mistakes.

But with ninety-five days left until her treatment, Lena meets enigmatic Alex, a boy from the Wilds who lives under the government's radar. What will happen if they do the unthinkable and fall in love?

My 8th book that I've read over break is "Taken" by Erin Bowman. Another Dystopian trilogy that was great: 

Blurb from Amazon: Gray Weathersby has grown up expecting to disappear at midnight on his eighteenth birthday. They call it the Heist—and it happens to every boy in Claysoot. His only chance at escape is to climb the Wall that surrounds Claysoot. A climb no one has ever survived . . .

My 9th book over Christmas break is  "Unwind" by Neal Shusterman. Okay now this was really had me on the edge of my seat. Another Dystopian book. 

This book is addicting and I know I will have students wanting to read it. The topic is hard to take, but when you take into account that this is Science Fiction it is okay. Here is the blurb from Amazon: In America after the Second Civil War, the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life armies came to an agreement: The Bill of Life states that human life may not be touched from the moment of conception until a child reaches the age of thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, a parent may choose to retroactively get rid of a child through a process called "unwinding." Unwinding ensures that the child's life doesn’t “technically” end by transplanting all the organs in the child's body to various recipients. Now a common and accepted practice in society, troublesome or unwanted teens are able to easily be unwound.

Currently, I am reading the 2nd book in the Unwind series called "Unwholly" and hope to finish it before school begins on Monday. Since today is Friday I think I can do it!

Blurb from Amazon: 

Thanks to Connor, Lev, and Risa—and their high-profile revolt at Happy Jack Harvest Camp—people can no longer turn a blind eye to unwinding. Ridding society of troublesome teens while simltaneously providing much-needed organs for transplanting might be convenient, but its morality has finally been brought into question. However, unwinding has become big business, and there are powerful political and corporate interests that want to see it not only continue, but also expand to the unwinding of prisoners and the impoverished.

Cam is made entirely out of the parts of other unwinds; he is a teen who does not technically exist. A futuristic Frankenstein, Cam struggles to find identity and meaning and wonders if a rewound being can have a soul. And when the actions of a sadistic bounty hunter cause Cam’s fate to become inextricably bound with the fates of Connor, Risa, and Lev, he’ll have to question humanity itself.

Well Happy New Years, and happy reading! I hope to read many more books this year in 2016!

Notice and Note - Strategies for Close Reading!

Last night 7 other teachers and myself met in my classroom to attend the FREE webinar by Kylene Beers and Bob Probst on their book Notice and Note. The webinar was hosted by Heinemann who are also the publishers of this amazing classroom resource that is helping students across the country! If you haven't yet purchased or checked out this book you can purchase from Heinemann here!

The webinar was a short, but engaging 1/2 hour on Talking About Texts: What Matters!

Kylene Beers co authored this book and you can read more about Kylene on her blog here, you can follow her on Facebook here, follow her on twitter here and finally read about her on Heineman here. Bob Probst who also co authored the book can be read about on Heinemann here and you can follow him on Twitter here.

The webinar was focused on engaging students in authentic conversations about text. Bob and Kylene were discussing ways to move away from monologic questions (check for understanding) to a dialogic question where students are (creating understanding). They believe that monologic questions should still be used when a teachers goal is to check for understanding. However, when we want students to go deeper in their conversations and to really create understanding in their text, we need to be asking them dialogic questions.

As shared by Beers and Probst when dialogic conversations are used students really begin to create understanding. This slide was shared of the benefits of dialogic conversations!

If you are like me, you may be wondering how can I get kids talking in this way. It all begins first with getting our students to turn and talk authentically. Then as teachers we guide the class to change this language over time. However, according to Beers and Probst some of the students that are ready to move on will automatically guide other students in the process as well. We need to get our students to be independent thinkers and allowing them to work harder through discussion and dialogue is one way to get them there. We need students to slow down and think about what is happening in the text, and begin to question the text and notice the sign posts!

It was stressed if we can change how kids talk about texts, this will change how kids think about a specific text, and eventually this changes how kids think about any text! Bottom line: we must find ways to ensure kids are talking and thinking about texts!

According to Beers and Probst if you really want kids to have dialogic conversations we need to turn the questions over to them as well and we need to just let them talk!

After the webinar there was a Twitter conversation here is the link to the Twitter feed. Finally, for a link to more information about this great book and the webinar watched tonight, click here and for great resources on the Notice and Note Facebook page click here.

Still Walking!

We have had some glorious days outside for the month of October in Wyoming! With that said we have been enjoying our walks outside listening to our walkkits from The Walking Classroom! I blogged recently about how our classroom received a classroom set of walkkits FREE from a generous donation. If you haven't looked in to this great resource for your classroom you should really do so! My students are reaping the benefits of exercise while learning. They are also really gaining deeper knowledge of content that is supported by the Common Core Standards. Their listening skills are getting stronger as well. They love walking outside, and we have been so fortunate that our weather is cooperating with us as well.

Please check out The Walking Classroom on their website here, or their Facebook page here, or follow them on Twitter here.

The Walking Classroom

Our classroom has been awarded a grant this year for the "Walking Classroom". We are so fortunate to have this amazing resource in our classroom. My students absolutely love it, and they can't wait to get outside to walk and learn! What is the "Walking Classroom" you ask? The question is answered below and is taken right off the "Walking Classroom" website.

The Walking Classroom Institute is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the health and education of all students.  The Walking Classroom program is an in-school obesity intervention that promotes health literacy and develops and supports lifelong fitness habits for all students while addressing different learning styles.  The method combines standards-aligned academic content and exercise during the regular school day.

Using WalkKits pre-loaded with a year's worth of standards-aligned audio content, students walk, listen and learn.

The podcasts are directly aligned to the 4th and 5th grade English Language Arts Common Core State Standards(link opens new browser window).  Most podcasts last about 15 minutes, and each podcast is supported by an extensive lesson plan which includes a comprehension quiz. 

The teacher binder for the "Walking Classroom" is above. This binder is filled with 95 lessons that encompass all of the Common Core Language Arts standards. It's amazing. In addition our classroom was given 21 little WalkKits, which are little IPodish things preloaded with podcasts, and the students head outside to listen and learn. The Podcasts are filled with interesting topics from Idioms, Christopher Columbus, Westward Expansion, Slavery and so much more.

The pictures above are of us enjoying our walk around the school. My students are thrilled to be out listening, walking and learning. Today we learned about Negro Baseball leagues and how they finally were integrated into the Major Leagues. However, I'm so excited because in the next few walks, we will be learning more about Explorers. Currently, we are studying explorers in Social Studies. Now, we can integrate our Social Studies content in our reading/listening time and will learn more about this fabulous topic through the Walking Classroom.

If you are interested in learning more about the "Walking Classroom" and how to apply for your own grant. Please click here. Currently, there are Walkkits for both 4th and 5th grade classrooms. 

Please let me know if you have any questions? We are going to continue learning while walking and getting fit! 

World Read Aloud Day is Coming!

I love to read aloud to my students. They love to hear the stories as they imagine themselves in the book. As much as I like to read aloud I know there are classrooms out there that don't read aloud as much as they would like to.

Well guess what? World Read Aloud Day is on March 5th. Please click the link to read more about this amazing day in literacy! http://litworld.org/worldreadaloudday

I hope that everyone participates in this amazing day and spreads the love of reading!

Great Read aloud!

I have been reading the book "The Boy on the Wooden Box" with my class of 5th graders. I wasn't sure if I should read it, but I wanted to read them another genre and I thought a memoir would be a good choice. This book is about Leon Leyson who was the youngest Shindler List survivor from World War II.

I have to say my students love it! They have been completely engaged in the story, as have I. We are having some great conversations, and they are hearing first hand accounts of some of the suffering that occurred during that time. I am excited that they like it and the fact that we are able to have these rich and wonderful conversations.

If you haven't read this book, I would definitely put on your to read pile!!

No More Reading Without Support

What a gloomy rainy day! This is the kind of day that makes you want to curl up on the couch watching TV, surfing the internet and reading a book. Well that is what I've done this weekend. I read the book "No More Independent Reading Without Support". The book was co authored by Debbie Miller and it was a short book and an easy read.

This book gave some clear reasons why we shouldn't just let our students loose with independent reading. We have to be there with conferences to support them and ensure that they are growing. I knew what they were saying in this book, but it just solidified my belief about independent reading and how I know this is a great way for students to grow as readers. However, I also know that I must be there for support! Happy Reading!

How often do you conference with your students?

What I'm Reading!

Well, I always seem to be reading something these days! My goal is to make my students better readers and writers, and the best way I know how to do it is to educate myself! I love what I have been learning and I'm excited to keep learning as much as I can! Here are some of the books that I am reading or I've just ordered to read.

The above book I learned about this September at the Daily 5 conference in Denver. This book is a way to get rid of the regular spelling routines. Per the blurb on Amazon: "Cindy Marten responds to the demand for "direct, systematic, and explicit phonics and spelling instruction" that goes way beyond what to teach - she addresses the questions of how, when, and why spelling should be taught. More important, she situates spelling within the contexts of real writing and the individual learner's needs."

I've only just begun reading this, but so far it's very interesting!

I'm pretty excited about this book! I just recently ordered it and hope to receive it tomorrow. I've read the 1st chapter online and I'm excited to read what Debbie Miller has to say about ensuring that kids have support in the classroom when reading independently. I have been conferring with my kids daily with a para in my room and my kids have made some great improvements. I really hope to learn more in this book.

This is another book that was recommended to me at the Daily 5 conference I have the book, and it is on my reading list! Writing is one area I don't feel as strong in as I do reading. I can't wait to read this and learn more about read world writing!

This book was just released yesterday, and I haven't received it yet, but I've been reading about it on the blog, "The Nerdy Book Club". I'm excited about reading this book, because close reading is such a huge component to the CCSS. I have been working on close reading with my students and I hope this book will enhance my students learning and understanding. In addition, I hope it will enhance my teaching!

You and your students will fall for close reading. In Falling in Love with Close Reading, Christopher Lehman and Kate Roberts show us that it can be rigorous, meaningful, and joyous. You'll empower students to not only analyze texts but to admire the craft of a beloved book, study favorite songs and videogames, and challenge peers in evidence-based discussions.

Last but not least this is the book I'm SUPER excited to read! The bummer part is, the book has not been released. It was originally going to be released in October, but now it's not until November. If you've read "The Book Whisper" by Donalyn Miller, then you'll want to read her new book! I'm so excited to find out what Donalyn has to say about building lifelong reading habits in the classroom!

I've got quite a bit on my reading list, but it will all be worth it!!

Reading

I have been doing the Daily 5 in my classroom and it's been in full swing. I haven't introduced all of the choices quite yet, but the kids are doing well with what they have been doing.

The one thing that is going amazingly well is conferencing! I have a small class this year of only 14 students and with the help of some great para's in my room we have been able to conference with every kiddo in the class everyday! I am truly hoping this extra help for the kids will help them to become better and and more metacognitive readers! I will start strategy groups next week and we will be focusing on Close Reading! We will work on other strategies as well, but using Close Reading will allow the students to really dig in deep to their reading.

What kind of strategy groups do you use in your classroom?

Professional Development

Well I have been meaning to post, but have been busy! I had a pretty exciting September and got to see the Sisters in Denver for a Daily 5 and Cafe conference! It was AMAZING, despite the flooding that was occurring around the Denver area.

Another positive thing going on right now is our district has contracted with Stephanie Harvey and her company, and they are providing PD for all of our title schools. I feel very fortunate! Hopefully, this will help me to become a better reading teacher! Since reading is my passion, and want to help all of my students succeed in this area!

I will be posting more about news in the classroom soon!

Read 40 Books!

Well we started back to school last Wednesday and have been super busy practicing expectations and getting to know students. I am very lucky, as I've had the majority of my students a few years ago in the 3rd grade. Now they are 5th graders! I am also lucky, because currently I only have 14 students and I'm excited for all the things that we can do this year!! I read the Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller this summer and absolutely thought it was an AMAZING book. I plan on having my students read 40 books this year, but am still coming up with the amount of books that I want them to read from each genre. I will have it finalized this week.


Are any of you requiring your students to read a certain number of books this year? How are you having them do this?

Children's Illustrated Book

I was looking through some of my things and I ran into something I made in my undergrad. This book was made in my Music Methods class. The idea was to take a book that had music with it, and convert it into a picture book for children. The kids in your class can create a book in class using this same idea! Since I found it, I thought I'd share it!! Here are the pictures of the book. Note the cover is made from cardboard and covered with fabric. The pages are legal size and they are stitched into the book.

Hope you enjoy!!