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?
