Author Visit in the Library

"Every spring, Dario and his mom move from Brazil to the beach at Cape Cod so that his mom can work. Dario is having a hard time making friends, not quite knowing how to join in the sandy fun with the other children. He is thrilled to see a young whale one day, swimming off of the coastline. The whale is also very curious about the boy. An immediate bond is formed, and the two visit daily, communicating with whistles, spouts, waves, and breaches. One day, Dario gets the sniffles and his mom orders him to bed until he is well. He is worried that his whale will have migrated before he gets to see him again, but Dario gets his chance to say goodbye." - School Library Journal

We were lucky enough to have the author Cheryl Lawton Malone came into our 2nd grade classes today in library to read her book and talk about the small moments that inspire stories.  Cheryl read aloud and answered questions and talked about some of the decisions that go into making a book.  We also had time for students to write down some of their own memories and ideas that could make good stories.  Cheryl signed a copy of her book for the Upham Library and also gave us an extra copy that we will be raffling off to the 2nd grade after the April Break.

If you would like to know more about the author please visit her website at http://www.cheryllawtonmalone.com/

April is poetry month

I probably shouldn't admit this, but I'm not a great lover of poetry.  Or I wasn't.

Now that I am a teacher and have the month of April to spend exploring poetry with my students I have found so many delightful and unexpected aspects to poetry that I really enjoy.

Poetry can be fun.
Poetry can be playful.
Poetry can be playing with words. 

Here is a brand new book of poetry that qualifies as all of the above that I will be sharing with classes this month.

Poetry can be simple.
Poetry can be surprising.

One poet I admire for his deceptively simple poems that are remarkably unforgettable is William Carlos Williams.  For a long time I hung this well-known and beloved poem of his on my refrigerator door:

This Is Just To Say

William Carlos Williams, 1883 - 1963

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold

A colleague of mine noticed a recent article in the New York Times that reveals some interesting background information about William Carlos Williams' poem,  The Red Wheelbarrow. The NY Times article tells a fascinating story about the real person behind this poem. These few simple lines of poetry years later ended up inspiring a historian to research and uncover a lost story. Which now gives us an opportunity to remember. Amazing.

April is Poetry Month.
I encourage you to take a moment and read a poem.
It may very well surprise you.

March is National Women's History Month

This is the first year that I can remember connecting that March is Women's History Month.  All of a sudden all of my third grade students were coming into the library and checking out biographies of famous women to use for a research project. It finally hit me that there was a connection.  One of my favorite things about being in a school library is that I get to make connections between events such as Women's History Month and work that students are doing in the classroom and in the library. The really fun part is getting to share those connections with my students.

This month, I discovered a new book that made all sorts of connections and the 2nd grade and I had a great time discussing and working with some of those ideas.  Solving the Puzzle Under the Sea: Marie Tharp Maps the Ocean Floor by Robert Burleigh,  tells the story of a woman scientist who was the first person to create a map of the ocean floor.  While sitting and reading through the book for the first time I thought, "Wow, this book would be great for Women's History Month. Wow, this book would be great to share with 2nd grade because they are working on geography and mapping right now in the classroom."  It is fun to find a book that connects so many areas into one great story.

I read this book to my second grade classes and we talked about Marie Tharp and her love of maps. Students had a chance to make their own maps of the Upham Playground and practice using colors and labels just like Marie Tharp did with her revolutionary map of the ocean floor.

Read Across America Day: a celebration of reading

Sometime in the middle of this week's rehearsals of our school flashmob song and dance for our Read Across America Day Assembly I realized that all of this hoopla about reading is kind of silly.  After all, reading is something we do on our own in a quiet spot.  I slip away from all the things I should be doing and curl up on the couch with a story I just can't put down.  Reading is a solitary activity for sure and a quiet one.  Every now and then, however, it is fun to connect with others who have enjoyed the same book or who love the same simple pastime.

The singing, the dancing, the crazy antics are silly, but celebrating the joys of reading, well that certainly is not.  This Wednesday, we will be acting, cheering, dancing and singing (and jumping up and down and most likely screaming) all to acknowledge how much fun we have every time we sit down in a solitary spot with a great book.

Happy Read Across America Day!
Read On.

The Power of Reading for Pleasure

image from: www.rustyandrosy.com

The School Library and Reading for Pleasure

The more a child likes to read, the more he reads.
The more a child reads the better at reading and writing she becomes.
Believe it or not, the research shows that there is great educational power in children reading for pleasure.

One of the most important roles of the school library is to help students get books they want to read into their hands.

image from: http://www.theguardian.com

What helps a child learn to enjoy reading?

Children love to read when...

.... they get to select the books themselves
.... they can curl up in a comfortable spot to read.
... they are excited about the topic




Here is some great, practical advice from Daniel T. Willingham, the author of Raising Kids Who Read, 2015:

"As children age, their teachers place increasing demands and limitations on reading. Children are given less choice, the material becomes more complex, and they are expected to do more with the texts. Make sure that your child remembers that leisure reading is different from reading for school. Leisure reading is purely for fun, so you can drop books if you want, skim over the parts you don’t like, peek at the ending and so on.

Second, children’s schedules become more crowded as they grow, so make books easily available for snippets of free time. Put a basket of books in the minivan next to the car seat, and keep a book with you when you run errands. And because most children will choose a video (or video game, or phone app) over a book, put limits on screen time to make space for reading.

Finally, and most important, parents should model good reading habits for children. Show your child that you believe reading is valuable. Talk about what you are reading, and ask your child about what he or she is reading. Children read more when they know their parents value reading for the pleasure it brings, rather than its role in academic success. So pick out a great book for yourself, and let them see you read!" (excerpted from the New York Times, March 19, 2015)

Reading aloud to children is a great way to inspire children to love reading. Even older children enjoy being read to. 

Bedtime Stories for Young Brains from the August 17, 2015 New York Times

There was even a study done in England about how reading for pleasure makes us more empathetic. The message here - reading for pleasure makes us better people. Why reading for pleasure is important.

Newbery Award winning author, Neil Gaiman, says Let Children Read the Books They Love.

Other Resources and Research on The Power of Reading for Pleasure

Books

The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller
The Essential Guide to Children's Books and Their Creators edited by Anita Silvey
A Family of Readers by Roger Sutton & Martha V. Parravano
Great Books about Things Kids Love by Kathleen Odean
The Power of Reading: Insights from the Research, 2nd Edition, 2004 by Stephen D. Krashen
Raising Bookworms: Getting Kids Reading for Pleasure and Empowerment by Emma Walton Hamilton
The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease

Reading Magic: Why Reading Aloud to Our Children will Change Their Lives forever by Mem Fox

Videos

The Power of Reading for Pleasure - Ms. J's Animoto on reading for fun
The Power of Reading a lecture by Stephen Krashen

Caught Reading... in the garden!

I don't know about you, but for me summer is about good food.  My daughter has a fabulous garden and we eat out of it all summer.  I read all the food sections of the newspapers trying to find the best recipes and ideas for all of that zucchini and all of those green beens.  Yum.  I hope you are having a delicious summer too.

Caught Reading... on the beach

This is the beach I grew up going to in New Hampshire.  It is still one of my favorite places in the world, but oooh the water is so cold.  I was excited to be reading this book that just came out on Tuesday.  I'm going to try to finish it this week.