Our Literature Footprint

What is the literature footprint in your classroom?

I love reading workshop time in my class. I am in book heaven. This week as my class was reading, I looked around and checked out their literature footprint.  Here are a few of the titles.

·      Son of Neptune

·      Lunch Lady, a graphic novel

·      Smile, a graphic novel

·      Ancient Weapons

·      Go, Dog. Go!

·      Mortimer! Mortimer!

·      Warriors

·      A Tale Dark and Grimm

·      Fancy Nancy

·      A Field Guide to Dragons,

Conferring with my students about these books takes us to very diverse places. Let me offer you a quick snapshot of some of our discussions.

The other day I was able to reread Go, Dog. Go! with a student. This was one of my favourite books when I was a kid, and it doesn’t take much persuading to entice me back into it. I love listening to the rhythm in the words. It is a happy place to be.

Now reading about Ancient Weapons is something that I wouldn’t likely pursue on my own. In fact, I can’t tell you the last time that I pulled a book on this topic off of a library shelf.  Yet, as we discuss this book, I am intrigued by my student’s description of “the evolution of weapons throughout history.” I need to know more.

The graphic novel Smile, an ALA and Eisner award winner, was very popular in my classroom last year, and is making the rounds again this year. I shared with this student that the author, Raina Telgemeier, was the illustrator for the Baby-Sitters Club graphic novels. We pulled that series from the shelf and we spent some time comparing the character illustrations. I think I can predict what book she will read next.

Next week, I’m looking forward to exploring Fancy Nancy and Son of Neptune. I invite you to have a look around your classroom and check out what your students are reading. What is the literature footprint in your classroom?

Angry Verbs

How do you motivate students to learn about parts of speech? Easy, play Angry Verbs, err…. Angry Birds. Start by teaching a quick lesson on verbs and then do things a little differently.

How this lesson looks different

·      Hook up your ipad to the smartboard.

·      Play Angry Birds. Describe what you see.

·      Have students identify verbs that you are using.

·      Now have students describe what they see.

·      Listen for the use of powerful verbs.

·      Students who use sentences with powerful verbs get 3 turns on Angry Birds

My students loved this lesson. The room was humming. Every single student volunteered at least one sentence. Every single student was able to generate sentences with powerful verbs. They played with their sentences and made them really descriptive, and they didn’t mind trying a few times to come up with a powerful verb.

Why did this work so well? First of all, this is just a great game to play. Secondly, since I used Angry Birds, the lesson had some great elements of game theory embedded within it.

Students had multiple activities for practice

-       They could choose their own level

-       Each time they suggested a sentence, they returned to the game

Students had a rich and stimulating visual environment for building language

-       The game moved through diverse settings

-       There were opportunities to use a variety of verbs

They had opportunities to learn from the game players around them

-       They heard many sentence models

-       They adapted strategies that other players were using

-       The activity was its own reward

After we practiced playing Angry Birds and creating descriptive sentences with powerful verbs, each student was asked to write 3 sentences. From these 3 sentences, each student chose his or her favourite. They wrote their favourite sentences on Angry Birds with sharpies and then coloured the birds. We created a display so that we could share our learning with everybody.

I think they look great. What do you think?

I’d like to say thank you to @saraallen who shared her own blog post about Angry Verbs.
http://pvroom121.blogspot.ca/2012/03/angry-verbs.html

Here is a link to some bulletin boards designs for Angry Birds.  Have fun!

Who will dance? Who will sing?

I want to tell you about one of my students. D. entered my Gr. 4/5 classroom in September. Although old enough to be in Grade 6, she is reading several years below grade level.

D.  started the year as a “what else can I do during silent reading” reader. She looked around the room. She ate snacks. She cleaned her desk. She poked her buddies. It was clearly not a fun time for her, and I have to say a little painful for me to watch.

I did notice one day when she found an “Arthur” book on the shelf. She read it cover to cover. I found another “Arthur” book in my stock of books. I passed it to her and said that I noticed how much she enjoyed the series. I told her it was hers to take home and keep. I helped her find some Arthur books in the library, but although she picked one up, she put it down and took a different book instead. During silent reading, she went back to her pattern of mainly avoiding reading.

I decided to pull her into reading through audiobooks. Everyday during silent reading, I would let her sit at my computer and listen. Most of the sites that I showed her had text and pictures as well. She’d sit at the computer, immersed in the story, ignoring the rest of us.

Last week when I asked her to confer with me, she grabbed “Stephanie’s Ponytail” a Robert Munsch book. She read, and I listened and laughed. As we were discussing the book, I asked what she had learned about herself as a reader. She said that she liked funny picture books, and we decided that she could look for more Robert Munsch books in the library.

During reading a few days later, we were discussing genre and the kids started making book recommendations for each other. D. surprised me. She asked the kids for titles that she might like. She talked about herself as a reader and asked for   books that had talking animals in them. They hopped up and pulled 4 different books from the shelves for her.

This week, she started reading books, really reading, and has read to herself for half an hour each day. She got out a Mr. Gumm book from the library and read 3 chapters the very first day. When we were doing research in science, she chose her own book about polar bears. She studied the book and made notes for over half an hour.  D. even read a picture book to the class.

D. is a reader now. And yet, on any scale that would test this child, there would be very little growth to measure. She is far below grade level and she still reads at about the same rate as she did in September. She has language needs that are going to dog her through any formal testing.

How then do we measure growth? If it is true that assessment is a motion picture, and not a snapshot, then you need to stay and watch the whole movie. D.’s progress, and that of students like her, is magnificent, but you won’t see it on a piece of paper. You need to spend some time with real students and their stories. You will hear it if you step into their classrooms.

This November, I am celebrating picture book month. This is the genre that sparked D.’s awakening as a reader. I am singing and dancing because D. is reading. You can celebrate with us too. Just visit D. and ask her to read to you. I hope you like Mr. Gumm.

* I wrote this post back in November, but it's only now that I have created a blog where I could publish it.