Reflections on myself as a reader

Only during the summer do I take the time to read an adult novel. During the school year I'm constantly on the hunt for the best children's books to use in my classroom.  This summer I chose Water for Elephants. It was supposed to be a great love story and I wanted something pretty mindless to get lost in for a few days. The book itself was good, the ending was disappointing but that's another story.  As I was reading, I started to think about myself as a reader; the things I do, where I read, how I read. 

Let's just say that's it's a miracle I'm a even reader as an adult.  In school, I was always in the high reading group and given the hard books to read but I was a slow reader, really slow; or so I thought. I would take me two days to finish a chapter. I was always behind in my reading and never really remembered what happened. I remember in 4th grade we had to read Little House In the Big Woods by Laura Ingles Wilder, I HATED it. I didn't care about the characters, didn't care what happened to them and frankly, didn't ever want to see that book again. My mom would read to me just to get it done.  I remember crying because I would rather do anything than read that stupid book. 

This process happened over and over throughout my school career.  I was made to read Little House on the Prairie, All Quiet on the Western Front, Great Expectations...and on and on and on.  Did I ever get to pick these books? No! Did anyone ask me what I wanted to read? No! Luckily for me I had a family who thought books were important.  I had a neighbor (retired first grade teacher) who always got me at least one book for Christmas and my birthday. I wanted to read, just not the stuff I was forced to read. I LOVED anything by Beverly Clearly, I loved nonfiction animal books, I loved The Indian in the Cupboard, I loved The Borrowers, I loved Romeo and Juliet, and I loved To Kill a Mockingbird.  It wasn't until I was in high school did I realize that I wasn't a bad/slow reader, I just liked to chose my books.

I started thinking about my students as readers.  A lot of my kids aren't lucky enough to come from families where books are a priority.  I have many kindergartners who's first experience with books and reading is on the first day of school.  It's obvious in my classroom that books are important when you walk in the door.  The shelves are lined with buckets of books, I have then displayed and I'm constantly moving more of my stuff out to move more books in.  I'm excited about books and try to get my kids excited about them. But am I doing enough? Is it enough that I give them time everyday to explore and read from our classroom library? Should I read one book a day chosen by a kid? 

Then, I started thinking about environment when I read. I read on the couch, chair or in my bed. I'm never wearing shoes and never sitting at a table on a hard chair.  I let my kids read around the room but is it comfortable enough? I don't think it is. I need soft places to sit or lie down. During read aloud I need to sit on the floor and be closer to them, they should be able to chose how they sit just like they would at home.  

These are my thoughts as I look at myself and my kids as readers.  I'm going to keep thinking it through and see what I come up with.  Thoughts? Comments? Questions?

A Very Full Morning

I picked up "A Very Full Morning" by Eva Montanari the other day mostly because I liked the illustrations and it was about the first day of school.  Wow, was I pleasantly surprised when I read the book all the way through. The story starts with Little Tooth going to bed early, "tomorrow morning she has to go to a very special place".  The only clue the reader get as to where Little Tooth is going is on the front cover.  The story winds along until she finally gets to school and a little surprise is revealed. 

The illustrations are what make this story amazing.  The illustrations are dramatic with the use of extremely over sized and under-sized objects and characters.  Montanari uses minimal words and lets her illustrations tell most of the story.

After learning with Matt Glover at Lakota I've read this book a couple of times trying to "read like a writer".  I think this book could be used over and over again to talk about word choice, many different ways illustrations are used, and the set up of text on a page.  I think this will be a book I read on the first day of school and then come back to later.

*I don't know that this review did the book justice, check it out for yourself.

Books for students and my learning

We have a discount store around here called Ollie's.  They have a hodge podge of things including brand new books.  The first time I went here I had no expectation of finding quality literature but was soon surprised by what I saw.  I've never paid more than $3.99 for a book and often leave without buying everything I really want.  This picture is from the trip I made today.  The authors include Thomas, Cronin, Carle, Gravett, Clements and many more.  In the past I've also bought books by Kevin Henkes and Peter H. Reynolds here.  It takes some work to search through the stacks but when you come out with gems like this, it's well worth it.  Look for my thoughts on these books to come.

I also have a stack of the professional books that I plan on reading this summer.  This is the only time I feel like I have a chance to read and appropriately absorb what I need to from these brilliant people.  First on my list is Jan Anderson's The Next Steps in Guided Reading.  I've heard great things and can't wait to dive in.  Hopefully the sun will come out tomorrow and I can take my book outside.

What are your reading plans for the summer?

Lakota Literacy View-New Learning

For me, teaching writing to kindergartners is the most unsure time of my day.  I have pretty high expectations of my kids for everything else but during that time I didn't really know what to expect.  The most consistent advice I've gotten is "if they get words and pictures on a page you are doing great" or "pictures and words matching is a huge deal".  I always felt like my kids could do more but didn't really know where to begin. 

Then last year I attended the Lakota Literacy View and met Ann Marie Corgill.  She talked about using mentor texts and letting the kids have full creative power.  I set up a writing area a lot like the one Ann Marie had in her classroom.  I think that my kids writing this year was better. They wrote different kinds of things but it still where I wanted it.

This past week at Lakota I took sessions with Matt Glover.  I hadn't heard of him but after a little research I found out he believe that kids can write a book on the first day of school...a book!  I thought he was crazy but he quickly convinced that this is the expectation I should have for my students.  Much of what Matt teaches go along with Ann Marie so I feel like I can seamlessly raise the bar next year.

So here it is...on August 24, the first day of kindergarten, my students will write a book.  This is big for me but I think it will make me the kind of writing teacher I've wanted to be.