Best Summer Ever - #12 and #17

Well I guess technically summer has not yet arrived,

(especially because the weather outside is breezy and overcast)

however, my mind has been on summer vacation for a little while now.

When my students and I set goals,

I always remind them

"If you can talk the talk,

can you walk the walk?"

We always talk about how the action

is always harder than the plan.

Well, people,

my "Best Summer Ever List" is already in action!

Exhibit A:

My amazing dessert this evening!!!

I have already consumed massive amounts of 

strawberries and cantaloupe galore!

(I think I have a cantaloupe addiction.)

Thanks to my mother who always provided tons of 

summer fruit as a child.  

I'm convinced that's when the love affair began.
I won't lie.  
The cantaloupe you see above?
Yeah thats the 3rd cantaloupe I've cut up
in the last two weeks.
Nom, nom, nom!! I just can't get enough of it!

So, I suppose I won't have any trouble  crossing off #12: 

Eating a crap-TON of my favorite summer fruits - cantaloupe, strawberries, pineapple, blueberries, raspberries, etc!

Exhibit B:

The first book on my Summer Reading list!

Well I guess I will jump on the latest book bandwagon.

I'm not even sure I'll like it.

However, this is the first book up on my list for summer reading.

So that begins the quest to complete #17:

Reading at least 1 book for every week of summer vacation - 7 total.

I got this idea from Donalyn Miller, 

who wrote The Book Whisperer.

(one of my favorite teacher books!)

She has this awesome little challenge called

Book-A-Day,

where you read 1 book for every day of your vacations.

This includes summer, Thanksgiving, winter, and spring breaks.

I have to admit, I'm not an avid reader,

but I aspire to be.

So I gave myself a challenge I think I can stick to.

Well, Summer Vacation, you're almost here!

And I still have hope that this will be

The Best Summer Ever.

And I look forward to "walking the walk" 
as I post more 

PROOF

that it really was!

Stay tuned! 

new books!

I remember when I was in the credential program

I had this professor who was obsessed with literacy.

She was always so amped to share

her latest idea to hook kids into loving reading.

I always thought she was nuts.

Don't get me wrong,

obviously as a future teacher, I thought literacy was

super important and should be promoted to students.

But I never really saw what she was so excited about.

But now, two years into my teaching career,

and I'm starting to see what she was so hyped about.

There is nothing I love more than 

having discussions about reading with my kids.

I love when they ask me what I'm reading

and I love when they ask me to help them pick out a book.

I love the look on their faces when I ask them

how their latest book choice is going.

Or when I ask them if they think I should read 

their book choice next.

And I especially love the surprised looks they give me

when I tell them it's okay that they need to abandon a book.

You're actually telling me it's okay to put this book down?

Yes, yes I am.

But I'm also asking you to go find one that you won't want to put down.

---

A few months back,

I got an email from Donors Choose,

a website that helps teachers fund projects for their classrooms,

saying that many companies have been fully funding

projects and encouraged members to post a new project.

Sadly, I had already posted two projects with no success.

But I thought, eh, why not?

So I created a project called "Reading Like Its Going Out of Style."

I chose over $300 worth of books

I thought would never actually make it to my classroom.

But then yesterday,

I awoke from a well-deserved nap,

and checked my email to find a message that said

Bank of the West had fully funded my project!

I have to admit I almost even forgot I posted the project in the first place.

But I was so excited!

Afterwards, I had the best time looking through

the list of books that I had chosen.

After rereading the synopsis of each one,

I made mental lists of which students in my class

might want to read each of the books first.

But hopefully among the stacks of books that will be arriving 

will be the one that a student just can't put down.

I guess I wouldn't say that I'm obsessed

with literacy like my professor was.

I think I'm just more obsessed with

my students actually loving to read.

So hooray for acts of kindness

and hooray for new books!

It's Monday! What are you reading?

So recently I've been a little inspired

by a wonderfuly adorable blog

by a fellow teacher.

Teaching in Cute Shoes.

Who then,

inspired me to follow another blog,

Teach Mentor Texts.

Well this week I've decided to link up,

and join in on the

"It's Monday!  What are you Reading?!"

party.

Lately, I've been pushing myself to

read a few books from my classroom library

so that I can recommend them to my students.

Sounds kinda geeky,

but I'll do anything to get my kiddos hooked on reading.

Thanks to the recommendation from

Teaching in Cute Shoes,

I just finished The Friendship Doll by Kirby Larson.

Some of my girls would love this book,

though they swear they hate historical fiction.

It's about this Japanese doll

and the stories of the girls who come across the doll.

Of course, I'm still reading Mockingjay

but part of me is slow to start it because I know

I'll have to reread it when the movie comes out.

And with my kiddos, we're right in the middle of

When You Reach Me.

I love this book!  Well, I am partial to realistic fiction,

but there is just something about this book that I love.

It reminds me a lot about my life as a kid

and the friendships I had.

And I'm a sucker for Newberry Award Winners.

And what's even better is

I hit the jackpot at the library last weekend

and scored a copy of this on audio CD.

And lastly,

my latest impulse buys at Barnes and Noble:

This looks hilarious!!

Kids with superpowers from their braces, inhalers, and more!

And I let my boyfriend pick out this one:

Ahhhh...I am so jealous of my students sometimes.

They love reading.

LOVE IT!

And it makes me love to share more and more books with them.

So they'll love it even more!

...

I wish I loved to read when I was a kid.

I love when I'm tricky!

I read to my kids every day after lunch.  

These days, not all kids have the opportunity 

and the treat of being read to.

I've made it a point to switch up the genres

every time we finish a book.

So far we've read

The Tale of Despereaux 

(fantasy)

 

And Maniac Magee

(realistic fiction)

In January it was time to start a new book,

so I let my kids vote on the genre.

I didn't give them choices that they were too familiar with:

historical fiction, poetry, or autobiography.

Though not thrilled, they were forced to choose

and they landed on poetry.

Little did they know it would be a genre 

they'd learn to love.

The first day I started on page 1

and began reading the poems in order.

A few days past, and I could see them

pretending they didn't like them

but they really did.

So then I decided to make it an assignment 

to choose a poem and read it to the class.

As I explained we'd be focusing on expression,

pace, and eye contact with the audience,

they looked at me as though this was my worst idea yet.

But after a few volunteers took a brave leap of faith,

they started to realize how great poetry can be.

It's February now,

and they have eaten it up!

They giggle. They smile.

They beg to see the pictures.

And they love the snaps instead of applause at the end.

The moment I knew they were absolutely hooked was this week.

I checked out Falling Up

I quietly set it on the whiteboard tray,

hoping someone would ask to read it.

First one girl, and then a few boys.

Now, we've got a sign-up list going on.

Then today, music to my ears:

"Miss Friedrich, can we read a poem for the class from this book too?"

I've done it again!

Caught ya!  

Loving what you're learning!

And you don't even realize it.

Ha!

I love when I'm tricky.

It's cool to read in my class

So the best thing happened yesterday...all by accident!

Yesterday was the day before Thanksgiving break.  The kids finally earned their hot chocolate party with their class points and we had an on-campus field trip scheduled in the morning.  In addition, we had a spelling test and a math test to get through before it was time for our Friday Town Hall assembly. Basically, there was much to do and lots of excitement in the air. 

Since most of the excitment was happening all before lunch, unfortunately (but fortunately for me) that left for the spelling and math test after lunch.  Grrrreat.  I was looking forward to the quiet time, but knew it wouldn't last long.  Knowing our freedom was a mere 2 hours away, I figured the second they finished their tests I'd be swarmed with a bunch of grumpy 5th graders.

I was wrong!  So. Very. Wrong.

Shocked in fact!  After about 35 minutes after distributing the math test, I took a scan of my room.  About 4 kids still working away at adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators, and what were the other 26 doing you ask? READING! 

Not whispering to their neighbor asking what time it was.  Not raising their hand, begging to go to the bathroom.  Not trying to sneak in time to draw a picture. READING!

It was the most amazing thing.  And what did those 4 kids eventually do when they finished their test?  They read too!

Why??

Because it's cool to read in my class!

Ahhhhhh!  I can't really express the feeling that I got in that moment.  It was so awesome!

For the past two months or so, I've really been talking to my students about reading.  About picking books that aren't necessarily the easy ones or the ones that are popular in the bookstores like Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  But about reading books that are good fits for them, and are stories that they actually like. 

We started plain and simple.  With a poster that says, Books We Can't Put Down.  And from there, they just started adding titles and titles.  Part of the hype was the fact that they could claim bragging rights by proudly writing their name next to the title.

Then I told them I basically don't care what they do during Reading Workshop, known to them as Daily 5.  I told them, "All I care is that you are reading and writing."

At first I figured they'd do the age old trick of opening a book and just staring at the words to "look" like they are reading.  But really, now, when you look, they really are reading.  And they are standing in my library corner returning a book, not because they are sick of their last selection, but because it's finished.

Ahhhhhh.  Awesome-ness, I tell you!  It's such a crazy feeling!

One of my students wrote in her Home School Journal (a family/school communication notebook we do each week), "Mom, I'm reading The Westing Game.  It's my first mystery!  It's so good!"  Ha!! Caught you bragging about what you're reading!  Without anyone asking you to!  SO COOL! 

The best part about this is that I'm fostering something in my classroom, that, sadly, none of my teachers ever really did for me.  I never really had anyone inspire me to read and that it was cool to read anything.  My mom took me to the library quite often, but I always found myself coming home with a stack of books that I never really ended up reading.

When I was young, Goosebumps and the Christopher Pike books were popular.  Well, I never even liked these books.  But because it was "cool" to read these, I just zoomed through the words as quick as possible so that I could appear "cool" reading them.  But did these books inspire me?  Not really.  Did they inspire me to keep reading other books?  Not really.

So I've found myself as an adult, wishing that I was an avid reader.  I'm not.  In fact, I'm a slow reader and I'm a picky reader.  It takes me forever to select a book, and then even longer to actually finish the book.  (Unless you count The Help, which I finished in the course of 3 days.  Good book!)  I could make you a list of some of my favorite books I've read, but it's a very short list.  And the sad thing, is when I recall my "favorite childhood books" that list is even shorter.

I feel a little behind on the times, because it's hard for me to recommend some of the classics or Newberry authors simply because I've never read those books.  So, silly as it sounds, I've now found myself reading kid chapter books, just so that I can recommend them to my kids.  So far, my favorites include From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Wayside School is Falling Down, and Stargirl.

It's a magic thing, when a kid trusts your reading judgement.  

On my run this morning, I was recalling the beauty of this realization.  This whole idea that kids can feel cool when they sit down with a book and read.  Because I know the feeling they get - putting their name on our class poster, finishing book after book, talking with me and their classmates about the books they read - that feeling will stay with them (hopefully) and reading with just become that habit or hobby I never had.  And to me, that's a pretty cool thing.

What was the book you read as a kid and couldn't put down?